Learn what draws our Desk Angel and dedicated yogi, Jay Hopler, to his mat at Bella Prana every day!
What do you love about yoga?
When I do yoga, I can feel myself relax and grow stronger at the same time. It’s the most incredible physical/mental/spiritual space I’ve ever been in and I’m so blessed! I get to be in that space every day.
How has yoga and meditation changed your life?
On May 2, 2012, I went into the hospital for a hiatal hernia repair, what the surgeons assured me was nothing more than a routine procedure. I came out of the hospital a day later with a nicked vagas nerve, a gigantic bacterial infection, and a ruined digestive system. I spent the next couple of years going from one specialist to an another—I even went to the Mayo Clinic!—looking for someone who could heal me. All any of those doctors did was prescribe me increasingly expensive, increasingly dangerous, drugs. At my sickest, I was taking more than thirty pills a day.
Then, someone told me about a doctor out in Utah who was known for helping people with impossible cases. I was skeptical, but figured, why not?, I’d seen everybody else. As it turns out, the guy wasn’t just an incredible gastroenterologist. He was from Mysore, India. He examined me and said, “Dude, you’re done with western medicine. You do Ashtanga; everything will be OK.” He wasn’t kidding. In just eighteen months, Ashtanga has almost completely healed me. Instead of taking thirty pills a day, now I take a couple of vitamins and a probiotic (when I can remember). My digestive system functions and I’m in better shape now than I was in my twenties.
Why do you barter at Bella Prana?
The people! Such beautiful souls shine in these rooms. The walls vibrate with their energy.