I'm Ally Hamilton, author of Open Randomly: Fortune Cookies for the Soul and Yoga's Healing Power: Looking Inward for Change, Growth and Peace, and founder of YogisAnonymous.com. More than all of that, I am a mother, wife, stepmom, daughter, sister, friend. I've been practicing and teaching yoga for over 30 years. I meditate every day. I also drink coffee, say f&ck a lot (though not on the podcast because you might listen in your car, or while you're making a meal or doing laundry and I realize little people may be near you), and do my best to show up in the world with as much love as I can every single day.
I grew up on the Upper West Side in New York City, and I moved to Los Angeles in 2001. I've been writing for as long as I can remember. My parents split up when I was four, the week after my beloved grandma died. I went from having this very loving, intact family where we spent every day with my mother's mother, and most weekends with my aunt, uncle and cousins in New Jersey, to living alone with my mom. Eventually, I started going back and forth between my mom's house and my dad's. A lot of other things happened along the way that created a lot of fear and uncertainty. Some of it stemmed from my dad's Olympic-level womanizing, and some of it from my mother's subsequent alcoholism. For the last 30+ years, I've been fascinated by the ways we're shaped from the events that happened before we were even making decisions. I went through a couple of decades where past events were really wreaking havoc on my present, until I'd decided there had to be a better way ... and I'm happy to say there is. If there's one thing that drives my writing, my teaching and this podcast, it's my desire to share the ideas and tools that have helped me the most.
Welcome to the Come As You Are Podcast. Each week we will talk about childhood wounds and how much they shape who we become ... and what it means to heal. Healing to me is the point at which we are liberated from the events that have hurt us in the past, and the people who might have let us down along the way. Liberated in this sense means these past events are not driving our behavior or decisions today. Each episode will relate to my personal essay of the week which you can find right here. This talk happens live and sometimes viewers send questions in real time so we can take a deep dive, together. I'm so happy you've joined me, and always want you to Come As You Are!
