I’ve always had big goals and worked as hard as I could to achieve them. I graduated from high school on the honor roll and moved to Chicago for college from my small Michigan hometown two weeks after my 18th birthday. For the next five years I worked non-stop putting myself through school while also working a full-time job at Bloomingdales. Within a year of graduating I was promoted to merchandise manger, on the fast track to retail success.

When I was 25 my life changed forever.

I was visiting friends and family in Michigan when I began to feel violently ill. It was the closest I have ever felt to dying. After a few days and an ER trip, I was prescribed medication for vertigo, told I had a sinus infection that should clear up in a few days, and sent on my way. Welcome to the American health care system!

In spite of numerous trips to an ear, nose and throat specialist in Chicago, my hearing never did come back. This left me feeling so unbalanced that it was hard to walk without running into walls. A coworker told me that yoga might help so I googled the closest studio. As fate would have it, my first class was led by a wonderful teacher with whom I developed a deep connection. She helped me learn to practice with kindness and gentleness. On the mat was the first time I felt like the “itty-bitty shitty committee” in my head was silent. I began to practice more and more, finding myself addicted to the calm that an hour of mindful breathing brought to my life.

This new-found sense of stillness and the growing strength of my body motivated me to complete my first yoga teacher training program at Core Power Yoga Chicago in 2010. Around completion of that program my Uncle Jeff was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. While he wasn’t given much time to live, I hoped to go home to teach him some of the breathing techniques I learned over the last few years. Unfortunately, he passed away shortly after his initial diagnosis, and while I wasn’t able to say goodbye to him in person, I was comforted by my yoga family who reminded me that I was simply in the the middle of my “hero’s journey.”

As I worked my way through my grief, yoga was a powerful tool in that process. I began to travel to Michigan weekly to be with my mom and help her clean out my uncle’s belongings. On these trips I thought about what it could be like to bring yoga to the people in my family. Folks who were dealing with grief on top of their own physical and mental health issues but who felt excluded from the spandex clad yoga studios that were popping up around town.

Bringing yoga to the people would have to wait; about 6 months after I made the permanent move back to Michigan my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, just like her brother. Unlike her brother, my mom had a much better prognosis and I felt uniquely prepared to be her caregiver during this time.

Post-pandemic, many of us have discovered that we need to take care of ourselves, but the idea of getting to a physical yoga studio is prohibitive in some way. That’s why Visions Incorporated exists; to build a virtual community that offers the care and love of a yoga studio, wherever you find yourself.