Welcome first time guest author Katie White to the Yoga Living Project! A Cambio teacher and YTT graduate - of both our 200hr AND 300hr programs, Katie always finds a way to contribute straight from her heart. In this week's installment, you can read about her's bold and brave journey to find her true self in which her vulnerability is sure to tug at your heart strings.
Katie's story starts with the decision to not only uproot herself but to also plunge into yoga teacher training to build a new life around integrity and perseverance. As we gear up for our summer teacher training -- in which our 12 Week Intensive track will be offered ONLINE and/or in-person -- and as your LAST chance of 2020 to start Extended YTT, remember we are here to work alongside you and ensure you make the most of our cutsom-built program. We have a saying in Teacher Training: "All ships rise with the tide." Our goal is to help each trainee succeed, regardless of what it looks like for you. If you are interested in learn more and sign up for our upcoming Info Sessions or email
Read Katie's courageous story and if you have a story that you'd like to share with your audience, email Austin at
By Golly, It’s Chakra Night! by Katie White
It is over five years ago, and I am standing in a Chicago Public Library and staring at a perfectly arranged display of yoga books. One caught my eye- "The Heart and Science of Yoga: A Blueprint for Peace, Happiness, and Freedom from Fear" by Leonard Purlmutter. My life was in fierce juxtaposition to that perfect display of calming book titles, and I thought, "Oh yeah. I love yoga. I miss yoga." I heard an even bigger voice inside me say, "I NEED YOGA IN MY LIFE IN A BIG WAY, AND NOTHING ELSE MATTERS." Oh, really? I checked out the book, and as I read, the big voice inside me got louder. I had been practicing yoga for about 13 years at that point, and with a marriage falling apart and a me I didn't quite recognize anymore, I felt called to throw myself at yoga in a very intense way. I felt a deep knowing that doing a yoga teacher training was just what I needed to make things right again. And, moving to Colorado had to be part of the plan, too...because it's awesome.
After talking to Kristen Mack and learning about the intensive program, I felt very strongly that this was was my path. A few months later, I was pulling up at Cambio the morning of the training in a Uhaul, an hour late, and dragged myself up the stairs into teacher training. The trip there had literally been a nightmare as my husband was having increasingly frightening psychotic episodes. I sat my road-weary (and life-weary) self on the couch with a group of smiling, but apprehensive, souls who would become my family that summer.
Training was intense, physically and mentally, but I loved learning all the practical content right away. I loved learning all the cues that I'd heard in yoga classes, and now I was really understanding the "how" and the "why" of them for the first time in posture clinics. I was challenged to move out of my comfort zone as I was giving those very cues to others right away. It was such a safe space for learning with support from the incredible senior teachers who spoke of yoga in such an authentic way. They were living this path. As I delved deeper into the program, and as the training brought in more spiritual and eastern philosophy each week, I was experiencing how yoga returned us deeply to our true Selves. We were called into self-reflection throughout the program, and I came to realize that one cannot do the yoga and live an inauthentic life at the same time, not really. I looked at aspects of myself and my life that I hadn't wanted to see before training- the way that I had contorted myself to fit into a very unhealthy marriage, bound to a partner who was self-medicating and becoming more unhinged by the day.
Six weeks into my intensive training, I got my wake-up call and left my husband and didn't look back. I made a bit of a dramatic escape to America's Best Value Inn on Austin Bluffs (chosen for it's close location to Cambio). As rattled and shattered as I was, I dragged myself to training that night because, by golly, it was Chakra Night! By the end of the evening, two beautiful souls whom I had met just six weeks prior invited me to live with them for however long I needed. Community was one of the most unexpected gifts offered by this program. To go through something challenging, heart-opening, and soul-exposing with a group of people, online or in person, can bring such intimate connections and support, and one of the most beautiful treasures in the world- friendship. In just the last 24 hours, I have communicated with three of my fellow Cambio trainee friends because I cannot live without these people. Our training has bound us in a way that few things can.
I sought out teacher training to save myself. I graduated and walked away with a new life that would have been unrecognizable to me three months before. After ten weeks, I was armed with a set of practical skills to be a safe and effective yoga teacher, ready to hit the ground running, life-long friends and mentors, and a newfound confidence that surprised me at every turn. I also had a solid foundation upon which to carve out my continuing path of self-discovery. The learning about yourself and the vastness that is yoga never stops, but I am so grateful to have started this journey at Cambio.
