She never stopped practicing

I want to tell you about Linda McGill. She is 77 years old. The epitome of Grit and Grace!

In 18 months she had a a shoulder replacement, and two knee replacements and a lumpectomy.

She never stopped her yoga practice. Most people won’t understand that when they read that first part, but read on…

Linda found yoga at a work retreat in her early 50s. She was hooked. She deepened it, did her teacher training, made it the architecture of how she moved through the world. Not just the movement — the full practice. Breath. Awareness. Mindset.

Each surgery required a pause from movement. But you cannot pause from breath. You cannot pause from the way practice teaches you to meet what is hard with curiosity rather than fear. That stayed with her through all of it.

Before each surgery she did prehab. Not to get stronger. To get regulated.

She said it simply: “If my body is not all tense and stressed about the surgery, I can focus that energy on getting better.”

That is not positive thinking. That is biology.

What I noticed first when she came back was not her strength. It was her curiosity. Let’s see what’s possible. That is the thing twenty-five years of practice builds — not flexibility, but the capacity to keep finding a way.

Today she tried pigeon pose for the first time since her knee replacements. She just decided — let’s see — and got there.

I didn’t say much. She didn’t need me to.

Linda says, “It’s living well. It isn’t aging.”

Linda, you have been teaching me for ten years. Thank you for letting me share your story.

Little by little. Again and again.

I am hosting a free live training for clinicians on Monday April 27 at 7:30pm MT on Zoom.

Regulation Before Rehabilitation: A Free Nervous System Training. Click here to join.