Strengthened by the Tides

Strengthened by the Tides

Author: Scotty James

Life has a way of carrying us in directions we don’t expect. Five years ago, I thought I was stepping away from yoga for just a little while. But then the world shifted, and like driftwood swept into the current, I was pulled farther than I imagined.

At first, the drift was about survival—we had to close our studio during the pandemic. Then came deeper loss: friends, interwoven with my yoga world, passed away. The very practice that had always brought me comfort began to feel heavy, tied to grief and absence. Yoga no longer felt like a safe harbor. It hurt to unroll my mat, to sit in the silence that once soothed me.

So I floated. I let the current take me elsewhere. Into music, into performance, into creative expression. I pursued my MBA, stepped into tech sales, and built a new kind of resilience in unfamiliar waters. These years reshaped me—teaching me discipline, perspective, and strength in ways I didn’t expect.

And yet, yoga never left me. It remained in the background, steady as the shoreline, waiting without judgment. Over time, I realized that yoga isn’t only about peace and lightness. Sometimes it’s where we sit in the heaviness, the grief, the unknown. Just like the tide works on driftwood, wearing down its rough edges, smoothing and strengthening it, the practice was still working on me—even when I thought I had let it go.

Science tells us that driftwood is transformed by the sea. Salt water leaches out what isn’t essential, the waves polish away the sharp edges, and the longer it travels, the denser and stronger it becomes. That’s how I see my own journey now. I wasn’t broken when I drifted away—I was being reshaped, made stronger by what I had to move through.

And here I am again, carried back to shore, returning to yoga with a heart both softer and stronger than before.

If you’ve ever drifted—away from your practice, your passions, or yourself—know this: the tides don’t erase who you are. They prepare you for the moment you’re ready to return. And when you do, you come back not as you were, but as something beautifully transformed.

With gratitude,
Scotty