If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

(The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell, author and scholar of mythology and comparative religion)

I am sinking down into the mat, all muscle has let go and my bones are heavy on the earth; my breathing has slowed. This is peace; this is rest: my body has stopped, and I have separated out from all that I think I am, and from all the things associated with my life. My thoughts have untangled and are receding beyond my awareness like a herd of gazelles that has long left the watering hole. My mind is expanding out into infinite space, but I am neither lost, nor alone. I am light years away, and I am truly present in the moment. Light, indistinguishable from joy, floods through me …

The gentle, muted ting of the bell enters the stillness of the room, as natural and unassuming as water falling into a pond, and the familiar warm voice of Alison picks up where the bell tone leaves off, quietly inviting us back into conscious awareness. All ten of us roll to our sides, and slowly, as if awakening from a profound sleep, pull ourselves up to sitting.

This is savasana in Alison Strom’s yoga class at My Bliss Yoga Studio in Ladysmith. Savasana, also known as corpse pose, is the culmination of yoga practice, wherein the deep relaxation that the yoga poses have led to is followed by a figurative rebirth when the person arises from the mat refreshed, having integrated the mind body connection of the class into a new awareness and sense of well-being.

And, indeed, as I leave the studio, the congestion of a full mind from a long day of work has cleared and the fatigue of my body has lifted. As I walk home, powered by a deep internal hum, that I recognize as happiness, I reflect, once again, upon what is special about yoga with Alison.

Perhaps it is her talent for planning creative and varied classes that incorporate a wide variety of poses and sequences, yet always build strength and provide deep stretching, leaving us relaxed and not sore.

Or, maybe it is her ability to help each of us find our individual versions of each pose, and the way she encourages us to take whatever modifications we need.

It could be her unhurried and measured pacing, as she cues us with precision and grace through long flowing sequences that focus on breathing, allowing time to savour each pose and relax into it, with no pressure to perform.

Then, again, it could be the way she incorporates themes into her classes. A graduate of Vancouver Island University in English and Liberal Studies, Alison has a philosophical bent. She may do a short reading of something she finds meaningful, but more often than not, she will briefly share her own experience and thoughts, touching on universal themes, and leaving students to ponder their own questions and journeys. As Alison explains, she is not interested in providing answers: “Yoga is not about trying to solve the puzzle, but rather about learning to appreciate the pieces of the puzzle … it is about embracing the sensuous curves of the question mark.”

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Alison’s classes is the music. Alison chooses mostly instrumental pieces from a variety of traditions and looks for music that “makes the heart soar”. The studio also houses a number of Tibetan singing bowls, which Alison plays at the end of some classes. A firm believer in the power of music, and of sound, Alison explains that the vibrations of the bowls are believed to affect us at a cellular level, and to have healing qualities.

And I mustn’t forget to mention the blankets. Where else, as an adult, will you find someone who will tuck you in under a warm blanket, if you want one, the way Alison does as we prepare for savasana? Now, that’s special.

As I open the door to my home, ready to step back into my life for a productive evening, I decide that apart from all the wonderful teaching skills and yoga knowledge that Alison offers, it is Alison, herself, her personal qualities, that make her classes extra special.

Alison is a warm and expressive person, who radiates joy, good humour, and compassion. Full of fun, she doesn’t take herself too seriously and is open about her own life journey as a yogi, the ups as well as the downs. This generous sharing of herself, along with her passion for sharing the benefits of yoga, and making it enjoyable, puts her students at ease, creating a relaxed atmosphere in the studio.

Alison’s own discovery of yoga was a personal revelation. She describes attending her first yoga class as an act of desperation. For years she had been commuting daily from Ladysmith to Victoria for a high-pressure corporate job. She was tired, stressed and uncomfortably overweight. Then, she hurt her back. Months of physiotherapy and massage therapy followed, but nothing seemed to help. Alison credits her massage therapist for telling her that she needed something more, and for suggesting she try yoga.

At first she was hesitant. She had tried various sports and exercise regimes over the years and had never felt any of them was for her. Further, she harboured the image of a successful yoga student as a thin person, with the grace and flexibility of a ballerina. Nevertheless, she found a yoga teacher in Ladysmith, named Leslie Corbett, and took a class of restorative yoga. She found the class physically challenging, but she made it through it. More significantly, the experience of connecting with her body, her breath, and herself, cracked something open inside of her, and by the end of the class she was in tears. She went home and told her husband: “I found it. I found what I can do.”

For the next six months Alison continued taking classes, and started reading everything she could about yoga and yoga philosophy. She was amazed to find that yoga helped her “in every way”: she finally got some relief from her back pain, she started losing weight, and her outlook improved. The turning point for Alison was the day she told her husband, “If I won the lottery, this is what I would do with my life – be a yoga teacher.” His response surprised her, and it was to change the course of her life: “Why do you have to wait to win the lottery?”, he said. From that moment, Alison gave herself permission to, in the words of Joseph Campbell, “follow her bliss”.

She started spending every other weekend in Victoria, studying yoga with Laura Phelps of Feel Good Yoga and Pilates. She became a certified yoga teacher, as well as a certified pilates instructor, and has been continuing her studies ever since. The health and fitness business is a challenging one, but Alison didn’t sit down to do the numbers to see if her plan was viable. Instead, she followed her heart and, with the support of her husband, forged ahead. She used her earnings from her work to get her business started and she hasn’t looked back.

At first she rented studio space in Ladysmith, but then Alison and her husband decided to look for a suitable house, so that Alison could run the business from home. They soon found a beautiful, small character home on a quiet street, just a block from downtown Ladysmith. Previously an upscale Indian restaurant, the house had a commercial kitchen at the back, with a separate entrance and parking, as well as a bathroom. With new wood flooring, fresh paint, and the existing windows and skylights, the studio has a lovely clean and warm feeling, and is a perfect space for a class of ten.

Of course there are challenges. Alison has now taken the plunge and given up her lucrative corporate career to focus on her business. Undaunted, Alison knows in her heart that her business is viable. She has been steadily building loyal clientele, and offers a variety of different yoga classes, including hatha, gentle therapeutic, pre-natal, teen, yin yang, and more. She also offers private and semi-private yoga and pilates classes.

For Alison, the rewards are beyond measure. She enjoys the people she meets, and the positive energy and love that flows through the studio. She loves that she is always learning, and that she is able to be at home for her family. And of course, being able to do what she feels she is meant to be doing is pure bliss. Alison is passionate about sharing the therapeutic benefits of yoga, and its greater potential. For Alison, yoga is more than the mind-body connection: it’s mind, body, heart and soul.

An eloquent speaker and writer, Alison expresses her vision best herself: “I truly and passionately believe that yoga allows us to create an intimate connection to our bodies through breath and movement that can lead to a higher understanding of self and, ultimately, a path to joy.”

To find out more about Alison, to see the full range of classes she offers, and to book a class, view her website.

Deborah Graham
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