There is life beyond the cubicle. Don’t take this the wrong way…there are many people that I am sure love their jobs in offices, in cubicles, in the corporate world. However, I am not one of those people. I am a dreamer. A vagabond. A hippie. A lover of all things beyond the cubicle. And yet I am also analytical, an entrepreneur, a lifelong student, and a yogini.

“There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love;

there’s only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.” -Wayne Dyer 

People ask me all the time how I got into the business of yoga. The yogi answer? The universe presented me with all the perfect opportunities, at all the right times, and I left my fate to the infinite energy around me that I manifested through meditation in the multitude of yoga classes I was taking. Sounds nice, right? The real answer? Hard work and resolve…and a little bit of that yoga magic.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself.

Life is about creating yourself.”

– George Bernard Shaw

Costa Brava

A brief history of my post college life. Stay with me for a moment; I have a point here. I graduated with a very (un)useful degree in Political Science and went directly to work…not in anything political or scientific, but to a corporate insurance job. I moved away from my friends and family, isolated myself in my work, and slowly saw my internal light dim to a mere flicker. In college when I felt this way I found yoga, and now I was stuck in a place that had limited offerings in my practice. I knew this was not how I was going to live my life so I manned-up, quit my job, and moved to Europe to find something more meaningful. What I found was culture. I found a world so much larger than I had allowed myself to discover. I didn’t find myself, I found a reconnected passion to my yoga practice, and a desire to create a life of travel, exploration, health, and happiness. I was ready to create my life, not sit by and hope to “find myself.” I eventually made my way back stateside, went back to being a daytime office drone, and spent every after work hour available in the studio. Here is where the yoga magic happened…the universe aligned, the timing was perfect, and I enrolled in teacher training. The end.

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” -Cicero 

Every day I wake up and I am thankful I get to go into a yoga studio as my workplace. I am thankful I get to meet new people, forge friendships with clients, and spread the words of love and light. I am thankful I get to wear stretchy pants all day, and never have to wear another pair of heels unless I want to. I am thankful for opportunities that have come my way in the yoga world, but even more thankful for having the drive and resolve to create this world that I am infinitely happy existing in. I am thankful for those who support me in my endeavors, and thankful for those who have doubted my choices. I gather strength from both. We must make a living at something…but If you do not wake up every day and feel excited, thankful, and in love with the work you do every day, I urge you (challenge you) to pinpoint that passion, stop making excuses, and have the tenacity to love your life.

Michelle Young, E-RYT and PRYT is a yoga teacher, business owner, mother, and lover of life. She has been teaching in the Atlanta area since 2008 in the disciplines of Hot, Vinyasa, Hatha, and Prenatal yoga. Michelle owns and teaches at Lime Tree Yoga in the Old Fourth Ward, and is the private instructor for the Atlanta Hawks. She combines her love of yoga and travel by leading yoga retreats around the globe. You can reach Michelle at michelle@limetreeyoga.com.