Although when you think of yoga you may think of stretching or fancy balancing poses, it’s about much more than what you see on Instagram. When I learned how to find alignment in my body, mind, and heart and tap back into my intuition, I was able to reclaim my wild spirit and go after my biggest dreams. Yoga saved my life and helped me build the self-confidence and bravery to travel full-time and propel me up thousands of feet to summit the tallest mountain peak in the Sawtooth Mountain range on my own. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s possible when you live true to your authentic self
By Kirsten Wild | Wild Wandering LLC
Around 9:00 a.m. on a September morning, only about a week after recovering from Covid, I found myself quite literally clawing myself up the last few feet of a mountain, hands numb, face bitten red from the wind, and knees aching from careful climb up icy scree. I had come alone and as I got my first glimpse of the top, I silently said a prayer of gratitude that I’d gotten there in safety and proved to myself I could do it. But when I actually arrived at the summit, stood up, and took a look around, all of those sensations fell away. There I was, solid and whole with air in my lungs, standing at the highest point for miles and miles, looking down on clouds, cliffs, and alpine lakes. Yet at the same time, I didn’t feel there in my body at all. It was ethereal and pure bliss. For a moment, I forget I existed as something separate from nature altogether. In true Kirsten fashion, I cried. And I cried some more. And I cried happy tears until I found myself uncontrollably laughing.
The path that led me to the top of Thompson Peak started long before the 4:00 a.m. hike I began that morning. Three years prior, on that exact date, what should have also been a blissful moment was actually the day I chose to ignore my gut feeling and marry a man who I had spent the last seven years in a codependent relationship with. And while I hesitate to say it was the wrong decision, it definitely wasn’t the one my intuition was trying to guide me toward. Within six months, Covid plagued the world, and my husband’s addiction reared its ugly head. He decided he no longer wanted recovery and threw our lives into utter chaos. Everything spiraled out of that delicate control I thought I held over my life, and I unraveled, not knowing what plan, what control to hang on to. I was scared every single day, and my nervous system was always in a state of fight-or-flight.
Thankfully, at that same time, I had made a decision that did serve my intuition: to become a yoga teacher. Even though I had been practicing for fifteen years already, diving deeper into the practice at this time is what saved me. You can experience many benefits from taking classes at a studio, but the real magic happens when you develop your own practice uniquely designed to meet your own needs physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Studying yoga philosophy and learning how to translate it to my life off of the mat helped me to finally let go of the perfect image I had for my life and surrender to what is.
By being present in my experience and body every single day, I allowed myself to finally feel all the pain I had been hiding, both from my family and friends and from myself. And on the day I officially became a yoga teacher, I made the healthiest choice I could (and quite possibly the hardest) and left my marriage for my own safety.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t graceful. And it wasn’t perfect.
But I learned that nothing really is, and it’s okay to be vulnerable, because in our suffering is where our real learning and growing begins. Rumi has a poem that says, “The wound is the place where the light enters.” And my light began to shine once again.
I used my yoga practice daily to find breath and presence, to learn to love myself again despite my flaws, to accept life as it comes, and to tap back into my intuition. Despite what social media will have us believe, yoga is so much more than stretching and finding fancy balancing poses. It’s about finding alignment in body, mind, heart, and spirit–and so much of that happens after we step off of our yoga mat. I learned to reclaim who I was and what brought me joy–not living my life through what others expected of me.
When I officially got divorced, I changed my name to Wild so that I may never forget again to sink inwards and listen to my intuition and reclaim what is mine. And then, I really did go off to the wild to explore what was next.
I sold my house, 90 percent of what I owned, and moved into my RAV4 to go explore the West. Despite everyone telling me I shouldn’t travel alone, quit my career, or go on an adventure without a plan, I did it because I knew it’s what I needed. I visited so many national parks, met amazing people, learned how to rock climb, rappelled into slot canyons, and even jumped out of a plane. I went on an unknown adventure to find what was next. And I was able to do all of that because I had done the deeper work first of building that self-confidence again.
And that’s how I found myself on top of a mountain. Reclaiming what was next. So now, September 7 is no longer the anniversary of a marriage that should have never happened; it’s the anniversary of my strength and my climb to witness something more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined. The path there wasn’t always pretty, nor graceful, but real and true and authentic.
A week after summiting Thompson Peak, I packed up everything I owned once again into my vehicle and drove to Southwest Utah where, for the first time in years, I unpacked everything again but this time to stay. I feel so blessed and honored that the next steps for me have been using what I’ve learned to inspire and encourage other women to do the same: to reclaim that wild spirit within and go after big dreams. I teach yoga, I guide women back to their intuition, and I remind myself that we don’t have to have it all figured out or live the life that people tell us we need to. We just have to listen in and take that next beautiful step that’s right for us.
About the Author:
Kirsten is a lifelong yoga student and is infinitely grateful for moments when she can share what she is learning with others. She believes in the healing power of yoga for the body, mind, and heart. Kirsten typically teaches slow flow yoga classes that are accessible to all levels, always offering variations based on who is in the class or requested focus areas. As she likes to tell people who say they can’t do yoga: “If you have a body, if you can breathe, you can do yoga.”
Originally from Michigan, Kirsten now lives in Southwest Utah where she works with women from all over the country to build their own unique yoga practice, tap into their intuition, and reclaim the wild spirit within. Learn more about how to build a deeper connection with your wild in just 15 minutes a week at https://wildbraveyoga.com/wildwoman.
Connect with Kirsten on instagram.com/wildwandering.life or her website www.wildwandering.life
Join the Wild Women Collective: https://wildbraveyoga.com/wildwoman
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November 2023 | Life Lovers Magazine.
Life Lovers Magazine® 