From black sheep to unicorn

My yoga journey begun in September 2015, when I attended my first yoga class. With no expectations beyond a physical activity, my life never looked the same. In that yoga sala in the heart of Copenhagen, I slowly learned that yoga is so much more than just a physical practice.

I had my ‘‘middle life crisis’’ a year later - a crisis that started as a deep depression and became a long journey towards finding who I really am. The most difficult decision I made during that time was the choice to say yes to life. I started therapy, I practiced yoga and I tried to do things that felt good.

The crisis lasted around two years and was a period full of ground-shaking situations, difficult conversations with myself and working through traumas & shadows. The one positive thing that I was capable to do for myself through that period was a little yoga practice everyday. It started with a 30 day challenge from myself to myself - even 10 min a day would qualify as completion. From 30 days I reached 150 days, and because of that challenge my real journey with yoga begun.

Today, I am so grateful for that crisis, as I left behind the idea of who I was / should be, realised who I was and embraced my real self with love and respect. Working with my shadows and recognising my gremlins, as Brene Brown calls our shame, was revolutionary. One of my gremlins was the characterisation that I was the “black sheep” , the rebel, the misfit, the odd one out. Instead I started characterising myself as a unicorn.

Interestingly, the unicorn was a mythological animal resembling a horse (or goat) with a horn on its forehead and was first mentioned by a Greek historian around 400 BCE (monokeros). The unicorn was a strong, fierce animal, a symbol of purity, protection & magical / medicinal abilities. Fun fact, as a child I was obsessed with She Ra (masters of universe) & hoped I could become her, so this made so much sense.

I embraced the identity of unicorn in many creative projects I am involved with as well as in the story I say to myself about myself.