If you are one of our members, past, present, or future, I’m grateful for you. Your support means we at Glo also have the opportunity to become a more cohesive team. Our work enlivens us and you are a source of inspiration. Hearing from you is a gift.
Your stories share experiences of learning and life-changing transformation that impact the world. Revealing your vulnerability, you privilege us with your attention and abilities to reveal deeper self-understanding and care.
We see ourselves in your stories. You help us see the world differently. You help us to see more world. You challenge us and remind us of the positive differences we make together.
Thank you!
Inspired by your stories, each month I’ll be sharing a conversation with a member of Glo, where we dive into how their practice has affected their everyday life. This month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Megan.
Megan is a nutritionist. Her passion for what we eat was ignited by witnessing her grandfather recover from cancer via both medical treatment and a complete change in his diet. She discovered yoga while completing her master’s degree in Nutrition and joined Glo during that time in 2013. While she was learning the importance of exercise in school, she had very little time for her health routines. She solved for that by chunking her meditation and movement practices into smaller pieces throughout the day.
In our conversation, she reflects on how as a child she wasn’t taught how to deal with stress. Her consistent practice now helps her respond to moments of stress in daily life. She has come to learn what she needs for herself, and how to let those around her know, even if that means facing the pain of guilt while telling her four-year-old daughter she needs mommy time. She shares her joy in her daughter’s attempts to do poses next to her, that she is learning stress management techniques, and learning to breathe through tantrums. She now asks for “medication” (meditation) time.
Some passages from our conversation are below. The eight-minute audio version of our conversation is here.
If I don’t exercise regularly, or if I’m not as regular with meditation, I’m just not as good of a person. I feel like that really helps me be a better parent for my daughter. Not everyone thinks they have the tools. I think that once you start to practice this, you can see, oh I can do that, this isn’t impossible. I can change myself… You can actually change patterns and habits you’ve developed your whole life through meditation. It’s pretty amazing.
One of the great things about yoga is that you get a workout but there are little nuggets of wisdom in there that really click especially when you are in the middle of movement.
I could go from my practice, then be at the subway and the train isn’t coming and I realize, oh wait, I can breathe into this situation, I’ve practiced how to respond to something stressful. … There are moments of discomfort all day and it’s really helpful to have a practice that reminds me that I can deal with that.
For me, self-care is acknowledging that I do need exercise and meditation nearly every day. With a toddler, they constantly want something from you, and it’s really hard to say no. So for me, self-care is saying, mommy has needs too, and I think kids need to hear that. It doesn’t feel good to say that to her… It’s really hard to find that clarity, to prioritize yourself sometimes.
Megan’s three favorite classes right now:
Forget the Story, Find Your Fire with Kathryn Budig
Vinyasa Flow – 60 min
Have Fun & Let It All Go with Stephanie Snyder
Vinyasa Flow – 60 min
Practice to Help You Get Through Your Day with Jason Crandell
Vinyasa Flow – 30 min
