Need inner peace? If you are going through problems in your life, there is a way to release this painful anxiety. You can deal with this sadness, and become beautiful and fit at the same time! Read here how...

I must admit that for many years I thought of yoga as a very cheesy new age thing that must be avoided at all cost. I come from a martial arts background - I did Karate and Kung Fu for a while. I evaded yoga for as long as I could, backing out of every chance and offer to try it. I thought I would fall asleep during a class while the hippies were chanting their OMs, and imagined everyone naked in a big orgy in the changing rooms. Needless to say, yoga was as far away from my world, as meat is for vegans. Until one day, a cute guy I was dating back then convinced me to join him in a class, and I met my beautiful teacher, and now friend, Saskia D. Little did I expect this funny thing called yoga to change my life so much.

My close friend Gloria went through a tough bitter breakup with her boyfriend this year. I remember when they met it was like a scene from a movie. We were at a bar opening and she went to the bathroom. When she came out to wash her hands, she looked at herself in the mirror, and looked into her eyes. Yet somehow her eyes looked slightly different. She was confused for a split second, but then she realized there was no mirror hanging on the wall. It was connected to the men's bathroom with shared sinks. She was actually staring into a handsome man's eyes and not her own! Matt was washing his hands right across from her, and they had the same eye color. Needless to say, it was love at first sight!

Two years passed by, and Gloria decided to continue her education. She wanted to get an MBA and have a good job. Matt didn't like this idea. He wanted her always by his side and didn't want her to spread her wings. They had horrendous fights about this, and he said she either starts a family immediately with him or they break up. Gloria had to actually beg him to study! Instead of being supportive of her, he tried to manipulate her to do as he wants. Fight after fight, the relationship got weaker and harder for Gloria to deal with. She longed for her dream job and an education to be proud of! Matt wouldn't have it her way. It was either his way or the highway! He broke up with her, and Gloria felt her world shatter into many pieces. Matt married the next thing that came along, but his dreams for a family still didn't come true. Maybe karma, maybe not, but the fact that he kicked Gloria out of his life simply because she wanted to better herself, was respect less and actually a sin.

Gloria didn't know what to do. She loved him so much, and the pain was so strong that she was simply lost. She tried therapy and even medication, but nothing worked. She was dead inside and couldn't feel anything anymore. One day her mother gave her a gift certificate to Balance Yoga in Frankfurt. She started going there, and over the months saw a dramatic improvement. Not only did she loose the "extra relationship kilos", but she also started losing the pain. Gloria said that while doing yoga, she didn't think of her ex at all, and her mind could finally rest for those 90 minutes during the class. Yoga was the only thing that gave her release from her intense anxiety and sadness after the breakup. Gloria still can't explain why and how, but yoga helped her to let go of the hurt in her body and heart. Doing intense yoga would exhaust her to the point where she came home, dropped into bed, and slept without disturbance. She said that yoga "balanced" her emotions - and she didn't need the anti depressives anymore that her doctor prescribed after the breakup. Piece by piece, her heart was healing, and pain was melting away. Yoga allowed her to start “feeling” again.

Being a Kung Fu panda myself, I believe in using energies to heal what's damaged in the body. I have also experienced some hardships this year, and have to agree with Gloria. Yoga has some magical power, which helps to disengage from your problems and allow inner peace to enter your body and heart again. I can't tell you how the magic works, but it does. As much as I doubted yoga before, it also helped me to work on my problems and helped heal my sorrows. I can highly recommend it to you all, and we also have men in our group as well. If you are going through some problems, yoga can definitely help to bring peace of mind and balance back into your life again. It also helps to warm up and stretch your muscles, so you leave the class feeling 10 feet tall, and stronger than before! Helping your flexibility, yoga affects the way you walk and move your body. It adds sex appeal, boosts the self-confidence, not to mention make your body look smoking hot! So instead of crying your guts out after losing a job, or a breakup, go to a yoga studio and do something good for yourself. Life is short, so why get stuck on a man that didn't even appreciate you?

Start loving yourself more, and this will attract good people into your life that will love you too - maybe even your true love ❤