Suzy Midbrod-weyenberg

I first stepped on a yoga mat because I'd heard the Hollywood buzz about it being the best way to get fit. Well they weren't wrong but I also found that the fitness and strength benefits were only the beginning of the amazing and healing journey where yoga would take me. I grew up Minneapolis and my father and mother met during the Vietnam War. My mother being Vietnamese, I learned early on that there were differences in the approaches to healing from an eastern perspective. I remember my mother using herbs, oils and plants for healing and using food like ginger, spices, and fruits for good health and prosperity. I began studying eastern philosophy and how it can be integrated in a western lifestyle. I explored Chinese philosophy, Chinese medicine and Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Adding the physical yoga practices helped to bring forth the truth that our minds, bodies and souls are connected and we must take care of the whole self to feel our best and to be our best. After only a short time of daily yoga practices I had some major shifts in my physical, emotional and spiritual health. I was more energetic, more confident, and more focused. I was letting go of fears that were holding me back from living my best life. My struggle with childhood obesity propelled me into years of disordered eating and poor body image. I am still amazed at how Yoga helps me to see myself in a true light and to let go of my issues with food that had been such a heavy burden for many years. "When we feel disconnected from our bodies we can't love them or to see how amazing and beautiful they are. Yoga helped me reconnect with my body and heal." I realized when I practiced Yoga daily I didn't have to struggle with my weight or food anymore it became effortless. After I had been practicing yoga regularly it was changing my life, improving my relationships, and helping reduce my tension headaches from stress. I was compelled to take a yoga teacher training just to deepen my knowledge and my practice. I found that I loved sharing this healing gift with others and began teaching Yoga in Minneapolis in 2005 at Core Power Yoga. I soon left her full time job and moved to San Diego to teach Yoga full time, at the newly opened Core Power Yoga studio. A moved to Appleton, Wisconsin helped me to pursue my dream of opening a Yoga studio. My brother was getting help for his severe depression when a man volunteered to teach them Yoga daily in the treatment center. He called me and said, “I knew you taught Yoga but never thought it was for me.” He also commented on how amazing he felt, how at peace and relaxed he felt when they practiced Yoga. He said he loved at the end when you just lie there and relax; he had never done that before. He also commented that he would not have tried Yoga if it were not for that volunteer Yoga teacher. I knew in that conversation that we as a studio needed to evolve to help others like my brother gain access to the healing benefits of Yoga. So Jill and I brainstormed and searched for ideas on how to make it happen and came across People’s Yoga of Portland, a low cost studio utilizing a social business model. I knew this was exactly how I wanted to offer Yoga to the community, not just for profit but giving us the ability to put mats and the tools necessary into the hands of Yoga teachers willing to volunteer and teach those who don’t have access to Yoga. So this new journey of Empower Yoga Appleton begins and I couldn’t be more proud!