After being an athlete for many years, I needed to pursue alternative physical movement as I was incredibly stiff from running and playing sports. But I was also searching for a new identity of sorts after leaving collegiate athletics behind. I was lead to a local studio that focused on ashtanga and vinyasa practice. I began to be introduced to some yoga philosophy. The deeper threads I was looking for, began to reveal themselves. I even wrote my Spanish literature paper on how Patanjali's Yoga Sutras linked to theme in 100 Years of Solitude. Yoga helped me find connections everyone and the seed was planted.

During a subsequent move to Florida for law school, a explored Sivananda Yoga, but also got into long distance running. Being outside year round was a respite for the soul, but it was hard on my body. I decided to train for the Chicago half marathon while studying for the Bar Exam. I made it through both, I was worse for the wear. Upon beginning my first legal job, I simultaneously entered counseling for the anxiety that exercise and movement on its own could not help me shake. It was at that moment that the previous yoga samskara that had been planted manifested again.

I googled the nearest yoga studio to plot my return to practice. By the grace of the guru, I was lead to an Iyengar studio in Chicago where I slowly began to put myself back together. I was annoyed that I had to join an introductory beginner's class after having practiced yoga for several years before. I felt that the class moved slowly at first, but mostly because I had never paid deep attention to the actions in an asana before. Slowly, I began to realize the depth of the knowledge that had been missing from my practice all along. I started attending more Iyengar classes and less counseling sessions. I began a home practice.

I inexplicably cried after yoga class in those early days. What I didn't realize at the time was how I had a yearning to connect deeply with the hidden wisdom of this discipline which in turn enabled me to connect more directly to the infinite being within myself. I began to immerse myself in the teachings of Iyengar yoga. While living in Chicago, I began training to be a teacher in the Iyengar tradition.

I was motivated to share these teachings and create an Iyengar yoga community where I grew up in South Central Pennsylvania. The Iyengar Yoga teacher assessment and certification process is rigorous, but rewarding. Becoming a teacher made me aware of how little I really knew. Now in my 9th year of teaching as a certified teacher, I am still learning. I have studied with many U.S. senior teachers in the Iyengar tradition, and I am grateful for the guidance and continued support of my mentor, Holly Kostura, director of the Iyengar Yoga Center of the Lehigh Valley.

To be an Iyengar Yoga teacher is also to be a serious practitioner of yoga. I truly believe in Parker Palmer's adage, "We teach what we most need to learn." My yoga practice has remained one constant in my life that has remained consistent through challenges, transitions, and successes. I practiced yoga through multiple pregnancy losses, through an infertility journey, through two full pregnancies and two postpartum journeys. My yoga practice was there when I recovered from three pelvic surgeries for endometriosis and continues to be a constant companion in my dialogue with aging and living with scoliosis. The practice adapts throughout the changing circumstances of one's life, but it is always there to reveal our own hidden wisdom. I look forward to sharing and learning more with the Gettysburg yoga community.

Namaskar,

Alison Lintal

J.D., CIYT Level 1, E-RYT-200