Meet Opogo wellness warrior Kirsty Raynor

Hi there!

My name is Kirsty and I’m working with the Opogo community on the #TeachFit Initiative. As an introduction to the wellness movement we are initiating throughout the Opogo community, I thought it might be nice for me to share a little bit about myself, how I got into yoga and the journey that I’ve been on since I started practicing.

I initially got into yoga after an operation I had 10 years ago. As an unexpected complication of my surgery, I had really bad tendon damage all through my left shoulder of my left arm; I actually couldn’t really use my left hand, and I’m left handed! After a few months of physio, it was suggested that I try yoga as a way of building up my strength and mobility. There was a yoga studio just down the road from me and embarrassingly I had never even ventured inside but I decided to bite the bullet and signed up for a 30-day pass!

In hindsight, I can honestly say, I was the worst person in the class for at least a month. I couldn’t hold a single posture for more than half a second and I felt fatigued really quickly. It was incredibly difficult to walk into that studio week in, week out knowing that you’re the worst person in the class every single time! It proved to be a real challenge to my ego and emotionally, it was tricky to accept the fact that I had so far to go.

“…you can find real personality and flair in these yoga classes”

After that first month I saw benefits that I could never have imagined; not just the physical benefits for my recovery, but emotionally and mentally too. They all helped to me to accept how long it was going to take for my body to heal and it was from this lesson that I felt inspired to share my experiences to show everyone how Yoga can be an incredible life journey.

After trying many different styles of Yoga, I found my passion, which was Vinyasa yoga. The beauty of this practice is that you move one movement, one breath, and constantly flow throughout the class. I would like to say that I am quite a creative yoga teacher and I’ll never do a sequence that is the same as one I have done before.

What’s magical is that you can find real personality and flair in these yoga classes. Once you start to try different classes you will really start to see the benefits of yoga, from mastering that posture you never thought possible, or emotionally feeling more grounded and focused. It’s safe to say that I am completely addicted to yoga and it has become a daily fixture in my life.

I try and mix up my daily practises from anything more physically taxing to a calming evening meditation. I really cannot recommend it enough and I cannot wait for you to join me and celebrate the benefits of yoga together.