The Creation Story of THyroid Yoga®

by founder Fern Olivia

Yoga found me when I was working 14-hour days in finance and muting my creative voice in exchange for a six-figure salary with two weeks vacation a year.

After work, I was binge drinking and dancing on tables in NYC’s most glamorous night clubs.

I was fiercely out of control and afraid of the woman I was born to be.

My relationships and partnerships didn’t give me the opportunity to shine, for my light was always dimmed by my fear of speaking up for myself. It was easier to play small, so there I stayed.

My body rebelled. I suffered from chronic congestion, puffiness, brain fog, constipation, food allergies, and severe stomach irritability for nearly a decade. 

One day, I fainted in the NYC subway, throwing up and barely conscious to get myself out to the street. I found myself in an ambulance which transported me to a chaotic emergency room in a loud and dirty hospital - a horrific experience I've tried many times to forget. This disaster was a blessing. It was a wakeup call. 

As my yoga practice deepened, I realized the way I was treating myself and showing up in my life had a direct correlation to the persistence of my Hashimoto’s hypothyroid symptoms.

Once I completed yoga teacher training and created a thriving wellness practice, I quit my corporate job. My symptoms cleared up, but I was still afraid to use my voice in class. I’d mimic the same alignment cues and the intonations of my dearest teacher because I wasn’t yet confident with mine. I was in a relationship that I allowed to make my body very sick as I shut off my own needs and forgot my feminine nature and innate beauty. I forgot who I was and was spiraling through patterns of self-loathing, binge eating, and insecurities about my health. 

It wasn't until I finally expressed my voice with integrity, created the work I was born to do, stepped up to be a true leader, and courageously followed my heart to move from New York to Los Angeles, to where I now live in Costa Rica, when I discovered my true healing power and intuitive gifts. 

Thanks to the wisdom given to me by my teachers and the powerful lineages of yoga and integrative medicine, I am no longer at the mercy of the diagnosis of a Hashimoto's Hypothyroid condition.

This has all been blessed into the birth and embodiment of Thyroid Yoga®.