Connection is #WhyIYoga

Growing up, CPY studio manager Alicia Wilson had it all together. She excelled academically. She was an accomplished dancer. She had every detail of her life planned out meticulously… but something was missing. “Instead of living life, I was dictating it. I was preoccupied with being in control of every facet of my life.”

Homeschooled from the third grade through her senior year of high school, Alicia didn’t have many opportunities to connect socially with people her own age. “I was a very introverted person, very analytical. I couldn’t connect with kids my age.”

She found her outlet through dance, but along the way discovered that her tendency to demand perfection from herself was being negatively reinforced. “For me, dance created an expectation for perfection in order to be accepted. Dance tells you that you need to look and move a certain way or else you’re not good.”

Transitioning from homeschooling to college life left Alicia feeling unprepared. “I couldn’t get over my extreme introversion. I felt like I was thrown into college, and thrown into unknown social experiences. I had a hard time making friends. I pre-planned conversations in my head before I would even approach somebody. If I couldn’t see the purpose of talking to somebody, I thought it was a waste of time. I absolutely hated small talk. I knew this needed to change, but didn’t know where to even start.”

In 2011, Alicia recommitted to a regular yoga practice at CorePower Yoga. “I started coming to CPY after learning about it on Groupon. I thought that yoga could potentially be a substitute for the void that I was feeling from no longer dancing.”

“When I first started yoga, I demanded perfection from myself. Coming from a dance background, the expectation that I had for myself was that I should be able to do all of the postures perfectly — and my definition of perfection was not showing any emotion. I was drawn to the fluidity and the movement of yoga, but I was resistant to the emotional awareness that was taking place through my practice.”

As her practice developed, Alicia began to understand that yoga was about much more than just the physical postures. “Yoga taught me that it’s OK to be emotional. Little by little, I started to let go of what my yoga practice looked like and began to focus on what it felt like. At the same time, I was making these incredible connections with the people I took class with. I was initiating conversations with random people after class and that felt amazing.”

Alicia knew that something special was taking place, not only in her body, but in her soul. She decided to enroll in Teacher Training to expand her understanding of what yoga was all about. “In TT, I really began to tap into my emotions. I began to share those emotions with people and not feel weird about it. I was surrounded by amazing people and felt an incredible level of support that I had never experienced before. It was during this experience that I knew that I wanted to make a drastic life change; I wanted a career that prioritized authentic connections.”

Now the Area Leader for CPY's Atlanta studios, Alicia has the opportunity to connect with her students every day. “Yoga taught me to connect with others without any other agenda than to get to know them, because they’re worth it. My life is full, and it’s because of the people around me who I’ve allowed into my life.

Alicia Wilson

Area Leader - Atlanta