How 45 Years Dissolved My “No”
By Theresa Shay
This is the second part in a 3-part series honoring Scoliosis Awareness Month. Read Part 1 here.
One gloriously warm late fall morning in 2024, my spiritual director asked me how long I’ve been living with scoliosis. She knew it was a long time, since childhood, but the question was relevant. Once again, I was trying to explain aloud why I did not feel drawn to teach TriYoga with a focus on scoliosis.
I turned my head to look out over the lake and calculate.
Fifth grade, 10 years old, Gullet Elementary, Austin, Texas. With any mention of my diagnosis, I flash to the moment the school nurse told me to bend over again. We were lined up in the gym teacher’s office with a folding screen separating us from the boys lined up on the other side with Mister Chickarillo. The nurse was working her way through the 5th grade girls applying the Adams Forward Bend test. Standing in my one-piece bathing suit with my back to her, I hadn’t even come all the way up when she requested I go back down. That second Earthtouch made the world come to a halt. She said a few things to her note taker as I rolled up the second time, medical-sounding terms that I could not repeat. My turn was over, or perhaps more accurately, my turn was beginning.
I kept my eyes on the lake as the scene played through in its minuscule fraction of a second, then began to do my calculation: now I’m 55, so that means…
As I set those two numbers next to each other in my mind…10, 55… my eyes welled up. TriYoga would be celebrating 45 years in January. In that moment I realized that TriYoga and my scoliosis awareness appeared on the planet simultaneously 45 years ago.
Coincidence, divine alignment, orchestrated persuasion? I did not need to ask, as meaning and purpose had already coalesced. Beyond understanding, recognizing this timing dissolved my resistance about sharing TriYoga and scoliosis more broadly. It felt like a piece of the Cosmic puzzle had snapped into place. I knew I was needed for a task no one else could do. I left the session willing and motivated.
A few weeks later I met Kaliji at TriYoga’s 45th birthday. I told her of my realization about the timing of her receiving TriYoga spontaneously in 1980, and my stepping into my scoliosis journey. I expressed that I felt ready to start sharing more about what I’ve learned regarding yoga and scoliosis. Without skipping a beat, she shined light on the path. “TriYoga Therapeutics for Scoliosis,” she called it, and smiled with encouragement.
With this, my second reason for resistance (that some of the principles of Yoga for Scoliosis don’t fit with what we care about in TriYoga) transformed from a conundrum to a query. I suspect I will be exploring this with enthusiasm and curiosity for the rest of my days.
Tune in for Part 3 next week.
Theresa Shay is the founding director of TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania, where she teaches weekly yoga and meditation online and trains others to teach TriYoga®. Each week, she shares wisdom cultivated from decades of TriYoga study and practice.
Learn more about her here. Theresa can be reached at Theresa@PennsylvaniaYoga.com. Find her on Instagram @theresa_of_triyoga for more inspiration and light.