From Breakdown to Breakthrough: My Healing Path with Yoga

"That moment changed everything. I had taken control of my life and once again found the version of me I knew before anxiety and stress took control - not by fighting my body, but by learning to listen to it."

Reading time: 5 minutes

I’ll never forget my first panic attack.

My chest felt like it was caving in, my breath became shallow, and the walls around me seemed to close in. All I could think about was escaping - finding just one small sliver of light, some space where I could breathe again. At that moment, I knew something deep inside me wasn’t right.

In 2016, I was diagnosed with GERD and a Hiatus Hernia - words I had never even heard before, but soon became all too familiar. What I didn't understand at the time was that these weren’t just physical issues. They were the result of years of emotional build-up - stress, anxiety, pressure, that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel, let alone release. My body had been carrying what my heart and mind couldn’t hold anymore.

A few months prior I had just finished university, moved back home to my family, and was excited to be stepping into a world of opportunity. But instead of feeling free or hopeful, I felt stuck. I was trying to build a career for myself, but instead found myself in a job that drained me, with a routine that left no room to breathe. Every day felt heavier than the last. My eating and sleeping habits began to spiral, my blood pressure completely dropped, and anxiety slowly became the background noise to my life.

At the same time, I was finally coming to terms with my grief, after having lost my grandparents over the space of three years. I hadn’t given myself the space to process those losses. Instead, I just kept going, hoping that keeping busy would somehow make it all easier… But my body had other plans.

As my symptoms worsened - physically and mentally - I was told I had a choice: undergo a surgery as well as go on a course of antidepressants, or enrol myself onto stress management therapy and implement some serious lifestyle changes. The thought of surgery and medication terrified me. Deep down, I knew I needed to try another way with something more aligned with me.

So I chose to start again - with myself. I changed my diet to gradually remove the things which triggered my inflammation, I started moving my body again, and most importantly, I came back to my Yoga practice.

Yoga has been a part of my life since I was 13. It wasn’t always a constant companion - there were seasons where my practice took centre stage, and others where it faded into the background. The one thing that never changed was that every time I returned to my mat, it felt like coming home. There’s a kind of silence that happens when I close my eyes and connect with my breath. A moment where everything else - the pressure, the noise, the heaviness - falls away. And in that stillness, I could finally feel again.

As I moved through my practice - gentle stretches, rounds of Surya Namaskar, long savasanas - I wasn’t just healing my body. I was softening my heart and letting go of what I’d been carrying. I cried on my mat. I fell down trying to hold balancing postures. I breathed through the discomfort. And slowly, I began to feel strong again - not just physically, but emotionally, too.

Six months later, I once again sat in my doctor’s office for a pre-op consultation. But this time, something had shifted. I knew I had changed, and the scans confirmed it: “You’ll be happy to know that whatever it is you’ve been doing has worked. Based on this scan, it appears that you no longer need that surgery after all.” That’s what my doctor said to me. Feelings of relief and joy washed over me. My symptoms had eased, my body had calmed, and I had found a sense of peace I never thought possible.

That moment changed everything. I had taken control of my life and once again found the version of me I knew before anxiety and stress took control - not by fighting my body, but by learning to listen to it. Whilst all the changes I made in my life played an equal role, I believe that it was Yoga that gave me the tools to release a lot of my mental stress.

To this day, Yoga is my sacred space. It’s where I return when the world feels loud, when my thoughts race, or when I need to feel grounded again. That slow, mindful breath - the one I was taught in stress management therapy - still holds me when nothing else can.

Now, as a teacher, I share this practice with others not from a place of theory, but from lived experience. I know what it’s like to feel lost in your body, and disconnected from your own life. But I also know the quiet power of finding your way back - one breath, one pose, one small moment at a time.