Molly Knott, MA, RYT

Mindfulness Coach

In many ways, the great journey of my life hinges on the knife’s edge moment when I first discovered Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain. By that point, I had lived with daily, debilitating pain for six years and, quite frankly, was unsure if I could keep going.

Like many women with Endometriosis, it took nearly two decades of dismissal by doctors to be diagnosed. By the time I found a doctor who recognized the disease, it had destroyed my fertility and put me into full-blown menopause. At age 37.

Soon after, I developed Interstitial Cystitis, an incurable bladder pain condition that frequently coexists with Endometriosis. The research on both conditions is woefully inadequate, leading to barbaric, ineffective treatments and medical trauma.

In what can only be described as a pelvic pain “perfect storm,” I was at the time a horse trainer and began to experience Pudendal Neuralgia, an extremely painful nerve pain condition related to riding horses and cycling.

These were the hardest years of my life.

I spent close to a year mostly lying on my side because the pain of sitting was so excruciating.

I would have wild fits of laughing and crying at the same time, in near-hysterical disbelief at the intensity of the pain and the fact that no one could help me.

I gave up riding.

I sat with my beloved grandmother as she was dying, unable to find the words to tell her I had just learned that I would never be able to have a child.

I waited three years for an adoption, only to have the process fall apart and end in driving home - shellshocked - from an unfamiliar city with an empty car seat.

When my pain specialist referred me to the eight-week Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain program, I thought “What do I have to lose?”

MOLLy & GRIZZ in TRUCKEE, CA

It sounds like hyperbole, but after the very first Mindful Yoga class, I recognized a shift in how I could relate to the experience of pain. There were even short moments of relief.

The gentle posture practice got me moving again after years of guarding and restriction. Through the breath exercises and meditation, my nervous system began to unwind, allowing me to decouple stress and pain.

It was as if my system was saying… keep going.

Slowly, I began to feel comfort in my body and notice longer periods of relief. Most importantly, I reconnected with a fundamental source of support and well-being, always right here inside of me, that does not change.

It was nothing short of a transformative healing.

At the end of the eight weeks, I asked the teacher if she would be my mentor so I could keep practicing and learn to share the program with others. She said yes, and this commenced four years of studying directly with my teachers, Kimberly and Jim Carson, the creators of Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain.

From the moment I felt called to teach this program, I had you and your healing in mind. Now, every time I facilitate the course, I hear from participants for whom it has improved symptoms, provided powerful new skills for navigating challenges, and reawakened joy. It would be an honor to have you join me on this journey towards well-being.