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Erika McDougall, founder of Transition Yoga, began practicing yoga back in the 1990s. “The first time I went to a yoga class at the university athletics centre, I felt incredible!” she says. “I’d suffered a sports injury when I was 17 and had chronic back pain ever since. Yoga helped me manage that pain. Looking back, it was also a great way to cope with the stresses of university life.”
After graduating, she had a 20-year career in communications and publishing. But in early 2020, she fell on the stairs and suffered a life-threatening brain injury.
This brought Erika onto a new path. She drew upon 25+ years of yoga practice to heal, beginning with simple movements on a yoga mat at the foot of her bed.
“It was a tough time,” she says. “It was two and half months before I could walk to the end of my street. I had heart trouble and extreme fatigue. My vision and hearing were impaired. Staying balanced on my feet required concentration.
“By coincidence, the pandemic hit when I was in bed recovering. I heard news about our elders suffering alone in long-term care beds. Like them, I was dependent on caregivers to meet my basic needs. But I was lucky enough to be at home with the love and support of my husband, children, friends, and neighbours.
“I was so grateful to have support at home and felt a strong sense of purpose to give back. I vowed that if I recovered, I would help people like our elders who suffered alone during the pandemic.” This is how Transition Yoga was born.
Erika received yoga teacher training from Felicia and Ante Pavlovic at Yoga Therapy Toronto. She is also certified in teaching yoga to seniors following a course with Andrea Peloso and Breathe Yoga Studio. She has studied teachings on death and dying with Andrew Holecek and Pema Chödrön, and through the writings of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross among others. She is a death doula candidate with Home Hospice Association.
“When I did my yoga teacher training at Yoga Therapy, my teachers used to say, ‘You have to experience it to know it.’ I came to realize the gift of my injuries. I help others from a place of embodied experience–as they learn how to navigate changes in their physical abilities, complex health care systems, caregiver support, fears about death, and all the emotions that go along with those transitions.”
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