Sam, age 5, practicing yoga. Photo courtesy of author.
I started practicing yoga consistently about a year before my son, Sam, died. I had tried yoga in the past, but as a form of exercise. In the months preceding and following Samâs death, yoga became something else entirely. It gave me permission to spend time focusing on simple things like my breath and my body. It gave me a safe place to go. Yoga helped me find the spaces between and, in the process, a truer version of myself.
Sam was born with a rare, genetic condition called Ollierâs disease. We first noticed it when he was six monthsâ¦