Years ago, I had constant shoulder and back pain. Doctors couldn’t figure it out. Some said it was stress. Others told me it was part of the aging process, to be expected. These reasons were not enough for me. Still, I didn’t fully understand why.

I was getting older. I have had a great career doing work I enjoy. So, what was the issue? Why was I anxious? Why was I so tired? Did this place me in the path of yoga?

Some of my stress began in 2003 when my husband was first deployed to Iraq. Because he was a reservist, we did not have the community of, nor live on, a base. The Army wasn’t offering seminars—there were no services reaching out to families at that time. We were just left to deal with the pressure and tension on our own. I started taking yoga around 2001, but my yoga practice was not consistent, and even with my husband’s deployments, I did not keep up with it regularly.

Then my husband was combat wounded, and I became his caregiver. I didn’t think about it at the time, but who was going to take care of me? My husband was very supportive, as were my friends and family. But I’ve slowly come to realize that I needed to deal with my restless anxiety, sleep deprivation, and exhaustion, perhaps stemming from witnessing the effects of post-traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Maybe I simply wanted something more from life. And I know from personal experience that caregiving and exhaustion go can hand in hand. Yoga unexpectedly filled that void for me.

How “Why Am I So Tired?” Came to Be

Fast forward to 2012. Through all of my trials and tribulations, my secondary PTS, my exhaustion, I created something that I would want to be a part of—a workshop addressing the causes, symptoms, and solutions for getting more rest and better sleep. I was hearing from my yoga students too: there was a pervasive feeling of exhaustion often expressed during my classes and after savasana. People were craving time to restore, reset, and rest.

Not getting adequate rest and sleep affects every aspect of our lives—how we age, weight management, intimacy, how we grieve, mental and emotional capacity, and even our spiritual connection. And in this post-COVID world, we are suffering now more than ever because we never fully grieved our past, pre-COVID lives. Once COVID was “over,” we jumped back into the rat race, not giving ourselves the space to mourn what was. I wondered what it would be like to create something for people with this insurmountable level of fatigue, and set out to do just that.

What “Why Am I So Tired?” Can Be for You

My hope for this workshop is that you gain knowledge about yourself—your habits, challenges, and triumphs. You will not learn how to “cure” your sleep deprivation during the time we spend together, but you will gain a much better sense of why looking at rest through the lens of mind, body, and spirit is important. I hope to see you soon!