I don’t know about you, but until I started practicing yoga, I took my breath for granted. I hardly ever focused on it. After 5 years of practicing yoga and going through my yoga teacher training, I thought I was pretty conscious of my breath. Tonight, I realized that I still take my breath for granted. You see, I came across a video made for a woman by the name of Anna Young. Anna is a local yogini in the San Diego area who is struggling from a rare lung degenerating disease that there isn’t even a name for yet. She is young, beautiful, and only has 18% lung capacity. For Anna, every breath is a struggle.
Imagine how many times a day you inhale and exhale; now imagine that with every inhale and exhale it felt like you were breathing through a straw. Imagine how often you are aware that you are breathing at all. Pretty crazy, huh? Seeing Anna’s video immediately brought me to tears. Suddenly all of my so called “problems” seem minuscule. I felt compelled to do something, to live my life more fully and breathe more deeply. It amazes me that often times it takes a life threatening illness, or a tragedy, to truly open my eyes to the simple things in life. I am humbled by the thought this woman truly knows what it means to live, yet I can go out and enjoy all that the world has to offer but I let little things get me down.
Thank you Anna for being such an inspiration. I hope to get to meet you in person someday. Please click on the link below to help out this amazing woman. Even a small donation could help so much.
Anna’s Second Wind from Tyler Reid on Vimeo.
Anna needs over 100k to pay for her double lung transplant. To donate to Anna’s right to breathe deeply please visit- http://annassecondwind.com/
*Special note: as the owner and editor of this site, it is my hope that we can come together and help one another in our community through this medium. I hope you will take a moment to not only watch the incredible video, but also look at Anna’s site and consider donating. Let’s help a fellow Yogini out. Let’s be a family. -YogaMatt
