Dinora Russell - October 2019

“Yogi of the Month”

Retired dental hygienist and native Texan, Dinora loves nature, taking long walks, connecting with others, practicing yoga and Pilates (she loves the blended classes!) and painting. Find out more about Dinora in her interview on our Facebook page at Willow Gardens Yoga.

Dinora in FIVE Words: Spiritual, loving, grateful, hopeful, loyal.

It all started when…

My son Aaron back in California started encouraging me to join a yoga studio …

For the better portion of my life I have gone to the gym, but my first yoga experience allowed me to understand very quickly how limiting I had been challenging my body towards a higher physical, mental and spiritual state of more enhanced wellness. I derived a wonderful calmness in my first class.

The benefits from yoga for me have been incredible. I had symptoms of very painful fibromyalgia all over my body. Fortunately tests came back negative, but the pain was terrible. My first weeks of yoga classes were done with pain even with the simplest of poses, but the calmness I felt in my yoga classes served as an immense encouragement to forge ahead. As I continued in my classes, these are the wonderful benefits I have derived.

a) Much more flexibility especially in my troubled areas of the hips and lower back. I am able to walk so much better now; b) My muscle and ligament pains have decreased substantially. I still have some lingering pain due to some degenerative arthritis, but I know that as I continue with yoga, there will continue to be diminishing discomfort; c) Because of my pain, I felt my body continually anxious thinking I was going to become some cripple. But as I entered Willow Gardens for my classes, the calmness and steady improvement in my body, began to take away all anxiety and therefore, I sleep much better; d) I have felt a heightened level of self-esteem within me because of the in roads I have been able to accomplish with my body through yoga due to all the benefits I have already listed. I have more mental alternates due to not being weighed down by pain and anxiety. The wonderful changes to my mental, physical and spiritual well being have given me a new chapter to my life after retirement.

Click HERE to read more of Dinora’s Interview - follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Willow Gardens Yoga