I have been so blessed and grateful for the opportunity to be the lead instructor for a 200 hours yoga teacher training and to create Choose2be yoga school. It has been amazing to spend 8 weekends with these 7 beautiful women, like Robin, and also incredible to have 11 different instructors to come lead part of the training. I am hoping that this will be the first of many yoga teacher training sessions and I am already starting to plan and dream of the next one ! It has been a really rich and amazing journey in so many different ways.

Part of the participants homework was to write an essay on the topic of their choice and they were aware that I would be posting it on my website. We also did an exercise in the first weekend to create a life affirmation and core desire feeling , I also invited them to share it with us. I am so humbled and touched that I got to support these amazing beings on part of their journey and I am looking forward to witness how life unfolds for them.

​Robin Minty

Life Affirmation: “I am like a tree- grounding roots to stay healthy & strong, reaching out limbs to connect to others and inspiring magic into the world.”

Core Desire Feeling: Connection – Healthy & Alive – MAGICAL

Getting Grounded

When I was little, I created “The Robin Minty Show” which started at bedtime and went until my exhausted parents could settle me down as I spun and danced around, desperate to not go to sleep and rest. At 28, I was still doing pretty much the same thing; my parents had long ago given up telling me to “take it easy.” I spent most of my life spinning wildly out of control… so it wasn’t too surprising when I had a snowboarding accident and sustained major injuries which left me with severe chronic pain.

It’s been just over two years now and I still live with that accident every single day. I began my Yoga Teacher Training journey to gain back fluid movement in my body and to find empowering techniques for pain management. I will continue this path of training so I can help others navigate the journey through pain. I understand the desperation that arises from chronic pain and the exhaustion from trying to learn the limits of a new, unfamiliar body. Daily living tasks become unbearable, social isolation ensues and the thought of any physical activity is overwhelming. It’s challenging to gauge your edge when you’ve been desensitized with a hyperactive nervous system and the pathways of pain are constantly firing. Less is more – an idea completely foreign to me until now.

It’s overwhelming when you first realize your body is no longer capable of doing everything you want it to. The key for using yoga as a tool for pain relief is to accept that it won’t “heal you” or necessarily take away your pain but it will equip you with empowering tools to embrace the way you handle the pain. Yoga strengthens the mind-body-spirit connection. You reteach your brain that movement is safe and accept the importance of deep breathing. The benefits of oxygen are so tantalizingly available yet when we’re in pain, breathing becomes superficial and we loose the healing power that oxygen provides. Relaxation techniques (tapping, breathing, meditating) help calm a tense, rigid body so that the body gets a chance to do what it does naturally, heal.

I’ve had my whole life taken over by pain and I’m just now able to move into a place of acceptance and understanding. It takes time. Sometimes we go through really rough times and when we come out of it, we’re wiser and more empathetic towards others. I’ve learned more in the past two years than I thought possible and I would love to connect with others on their healing path. If anyone wants to contact me regarding anything I’ve discussed, please do so at robinleeminty@gmail.com

Thank you to my beautiful, strong and inspiring sister Kendra who joined me on this training journey with her shining heart that’s as big as the universe! I couldn’t have done it without her and her joyful attitude just made it extra fun. Thank you to my parents for the love and encouragement and to my partner Adam for helping so much while I did this. Thank you to all my peers/ teachers in this training, to Danica, Chitos, Courtney, Geneviève, Cate and Kendra for giving me space to get through this and help me reach my next level of healing. You all inspire me so much and I’m blessed to have met you. And finally, thank you to Veronique, her encouragement and her gigantic heart (which is also as big as the universe) have made a huge difference in my life. Vero put together this teacher -training course from her heart and soul and it shows. This course has CHANGED MY LIFE and I couldn’t have done it without the help of this community. I aspire to bring this sense of connection, sharing and thriving together into my daily life. We have raised our consciousness and it will ripple out into this world…

Make sure you check everyone YTT essay:

• Stress in our life and how Yoga can support us, by Georgina.
• The importance of daily practice for teachers, by Matthew.
• The healing power of sound, by Melissa.
• The third eye chakra, by Aria.
• Indigenize your practice, by Ivy.
• To mirror or not to mirror: evoking the mind/muscle connection in yoga by Hilary
• How I let yoga and spirituality into my life, by Jana.
• The ebb and flow of conscious breath in our daily life, especially with yoga practice, by Deborah.
• Savasana also called Corpse pose, by Deborah.
• Pause. Definition: a temporary stop, rest or hesitation, by Samantha.
• The imprint of this life and past life is finally free from pain, by Yi-Shan.
• Getting Grounded, by Robin.
• Take a Break…meditate, by Danica.
• A spiritual journey through Western and Easter Medicine, by Kendra.
• Yoga far Eastern connection, by Chitose.
• Grief to empowerment: a personal yogic journey, by Cate.
• Mind over matter for the modern yoga, by Genevieve.  
• Doing a Yoga Teacher Training at 19 years old, by Courtney.