I participated in Shakta Khalsa’s Yoga for Women's Retreat in Asheville, NC, and it was truly an empowering weekend for me.  I am a breast cancer survivor and currently working with women and men with the same diagnosis. I facilitate a breast cancer support group, publish a calendar featuring local breast cancer survivors, and have raised over $100,000 for the patients of our area who cannot afford mammograms. Several participants in our project have received their diagnosis with the monies that the Through Healing Eyes project has raised.  I am also a Reach For Recovery volunteer and am in the process of getting my certification to teach yoga to survivors in hopes that they too can begin to feel acceptance of their “new normal”.

Attending the Women’s Retreat in the soothing atmosphere of Namaste Yoga Center was a culmination of many emotions I’ve experienced since becoming a breast cancer survivor 4 years ago. Having been quite competitive in my cycling, running, and yes--even yoga--I had a hard time returning to yoga after my double mastectomy. I even had to quit practicing for a while because the idea of not being “whole” or able to do what I’d been used to doing was too overwhelming. In the past 6 months I’ve returned to my yoga practice with a vengeance! The weekend retreat with Shakta confirmed I am whole again despite my scarred new body and its limitations.

Shakta reminded me that it’s not all about the asanas but the freedom that yoga brings to one’s life. The Angel Walk exercise helped me to realize that I need to honor and love my body for what it is.  I now look forward to each yoga practice with a renewed reverence that God has allowed me this wonderful state of health.

Sincerely,
Katheryn M. Harlan
Hickory, NC