Welcome to Heal Yourself Yoga!
My name is Jessica Desai and I am the founding Yogi of HealYourselfYoga.com. Heal Yourself Yoga is a safe place for women suffering from Infertility. It is a place where women can go to feel better and to reconnect with themselves.
And we will do this through Yoga. Oh Yoga….such a gentle yet powerful support for we who are in need!
My love for yoga grew throughout my professional career in the corporate world where I eventually earned an MBA. Several life events interceded, however, and changed the course of my life. My mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was 30 and passed away less than a year later. She was the only parent I grew up with and her death left me devastated and traumatized.
A couple of years later my husband and I were excited to start trying for a family. However, after many years of trying unsuccessfully, we decided to stop.
These 2 events along with an overall ill fit with the corporate world led me to quit my job and travel to India. I lived in an ashram for a month earning my Yoga Teacher Certificate.
Upon returning to the U.S., I felt such an urgency to focus on Yoga for Infertility. From my own experience with infertility, I knew that there were very limited resources to help women going through this painful diagnosis.
I searched and searched for “safe” exercises to fight my growing midsection, but found none. While I needed to do these low impact exercises, I also very much needed stress-reducing tools. I desperately needed time each day to spend with myself to bring calm and grounding.
Because when I went through infertility, it became my entire world. I could only see down this very narrow tunnel. The rest of the world became very dim. The goals and hobbies I once had were replaced by ovulation tracking and doctor appointments. Who I was as a person didn’t matter anymore.
I honestly couldn’t remember what my life was life before infertility. Was I happy? What did I do with my time? What did I enjoy? Those questions become irrelevant in my dogged search for a successful pregnancy.
I had so many friends who continued on with fertility treatment without me who had to turn to anti-depressants to deal with the stress. Because the feelings that arise during infertility are overpowering and difficult to deal with on an ongoing basis. It’s like being on a “feelings” roller coaster:
frustration>sadness>hope>fear>shame>guilt
loneliness>embarrassment>defeat>depression
faith>acceptance>anger>hopelessness>assurance
impatience>obsession>bargaining>desperation>grief
And every woman I knew, including myself, were gripped by an all-consuming feeling of failure most of all. Failure as a woman 1st and foremost. We felt like our bodies betrayed us. Why couldn’t our bodies do something so simple?! So natural.
It cuts to the core of femininity.
I intimately know all about this infertility journey. And it’s because I know all about it, that I can help. I know what needs to be said during this time. I know all the places that hurt, physically and emotionally. I know how to bring relief and healing. I now use my experience with infertility to help women through the healing powers of yoga.
I am passionate about this work and have devoted my life to it. I do this because I know Yoga WORKS.
Through my customized program, you will come to know your value regardless of your parental status. Your core identity, what makes you YOU should never be in question despite this hardship. Your worth and merit are beyond reproach. Infertility has the tendency to make you doubt that, however. But it’s not any less true. And we’re going to get back to believing that truth. Together we will hold our heads high with dignity and strength. Our pure grit, tenacity, and hardiness are like none other.
So join me dear one. I reach out my hand to you. Please extend yours as well and let’s walk through this journey together.
Continue on to Healing during and after Infertility-Start Here! to begin.
Jessica with husband Sunny
