While living in New York City, in 1996 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. After many years of working in the fashion industry and a high-speed daily routine, I realized I would have to make radical changes to my lifestyle in order to heal and make peace with my fears on a deeper level. During this challenging time, yoga became my salvation and my teacher. I soon learned that life’s perils can be made into pearls.
Hello, my name is Hillary Rubin. I currently live in Los Angeles, and I teach Anusara Yoga. I also work as a health and wellness coach assisting others on their personal healing journeys.
I work with many people who range from the ages of 6 to 80; some are flexible, some have injuries. I have even helped others to walk after car accidents and heal through their personal life threatening situations.
My yoga classes are online at hillaryrubin.com. You can also subscribe through iTunes for my Podcasts.
After my diagnosis, my doctor asked me to wait for a new medication called Avenox. I didn’t know what else to do, so I waited and went on the meds to see if this would help my feelings of uncertainty. Being that the meds required once a week injections this made me uncomfortable, but I trusted the process.
But I believed that I could find a better way. We have many ways of healing such as positive affirmations, diet, exercise, Ayurvedic medicine and Macrobiotics. Even laughing can heal.
The local health food store had the book Prescription for Natural Healing and a practitioner who was happy to assist me. I learned many ways to help MS like getting rid of the metal fillings in my mouth, change the foods I ate, and began to feel a lot better from the inside out. This was the first bit of light that was to shine in the darkness of my despair.
I also turned to trusted friends. A dear friend of mine’s wife who had Lupus gave me the book by Joan Byorseynko "A Pocketful of Miracles". This became an amazing book and guide that helped me to heal. She also introduced me to acupuncture, and then I began to educate myself more on the powers of healing oneself through alternative modalities. Self-healing is a project and a way to explore the intelligence that surrounds us. By listening to ourselves we will know the right way to go. For some it’s Qi Gong, martial arts, jogging or even tennis. For me it’s yoga.
After my diagnosis, I took some time off, and then I returned to the fashion industry on my terms knowing that I still had more to accomplish.
Yes it was stressful, but I had new tools now to stay in good alignment and find balance: yoga, a new food diet, support of my friends and the strength to see this through for all that it had to offer me. I was also doing well with the meds, but my attitude coupled with acupuncture was vital to my feeling good and keeping the energy lines flowing within me. I felt better and I was getting better.
In 2001 I left fashion and was working as a waitress, but I wasn’t sure what I was meant to do in the world. I was lost.
One night after work my legs gave out, and I fell to the pavement. I knew that this was a sign for me to make more significant changes. So I decided to take a trip to Hawaii, and I went on my first yoga retreat, and I began to heal in such profound ways. I kept these experiences close to my heart and I knew that this was the beginning of facing the changes that I was afraid to make.
Before going back to New York City I stopped in LA to visit a friend. It was there that I found a Yoga teacher training program, and I made one of the best choices ever in my life: to sign up. It was there in the teacher training program that I found my love for teaching and helping others.
Ultimately I relocated to Los Angeles to teach yoga full time and share the power of self-empowerment through the practice of yoga. My journey has been an enabling process in which MS has actually become a tool that has connected me not only to my heart, but to the heart of others.
Funny enough, we all have challenging days. On some days we just feel better than others. As a result of my disease, at times I felt depressed, even disconnected and many of my doctors recommended that I take medication for my depression. But this is where I drew the line. Yoga and meditation were my way of working through this obstacle. I found peace and empowerment by embracing the dark feelings that I was experiencing. I finally found the pearl in the peril.
The teacher will appear when the student is ready. This is a wise quote and so true. In the end I believe that we have to have the desire and willingness to connect to our personal process of getting better.
Please send me your personal story of transformation or any questions about how to change your peril into a pearl.