SPRING 2020 BOX PARTNER
This season, the female founders behind the Spring Box are diving deep into the pivotal moments in their lives that helped them get to where they are today.
Dr. Anna Persaud, CEO of this works®, shares how her commitment to exercise was put to the ultimate test after being diagnosed with dysplasia.
I don’t remember a time when exercise wasn’t a part of my every day. I trained as a PT in my twenties and taught step and aerobics classes while I was studying for my Ph.D. in biochemistry. My love of fitness stayed with me, and I continued to run regularly and enjoy an active lifestyle with my young family.
As I entered my mid-forties, I felt strong, fit and as confident in my physical capabilities as I had been in my 20s and, just at that point, the body I had always trusted began to push back. Trouble with one of my hips evolved in a debilitating pain that made running impossible and walking a challenge.
Suddenly the lifestyle I had known of running, cycling and long dog walks in the park was too painful to endure. When double hip dysplasia was finally confirmed, it felt like a life-limiting diagnosis, compounded by the fact that anti-inflammatory medication upset my gut and I was faced with the prospect of a double-hip replacement in my forties. I looked for alternatives.
It was at this point that I discovered yoga. I had dabbled in yoga over the years, but to relax versus work out. At the start it was a go-to fall back exercise option, a compromise to relieve the tension and stress that I would have normally burnt off with a 10k run, but over time I came to realize that within the focus and discipline of regular classes I was slowly regaining faith and strength in my body.
It also opened up a new global community to me. In my work, I travel extensively, and whilst at one time I’d have thrown on my trainers and pounded the streets of whatever city I was in, now I am able to book myself into a yoga studio (anywhere in the world) and find myself surrounded by people of similar values.
As I enter a new stage in life I cannot pretend I don’t miss the freedom my younger self enjoyed, but I have experienced both a sense of healing and personal growth within a yoga studio that I did not expect and which has impacted every area of my life. It’s helping me navigate and balance the ever-changing needs of my family with the challenges of coping with the day to day challenges of overseeing a fast-growing international business.
As I head towards 50 I have no doubt that I am the fittest mentally and physically that I have ever been and if you’d told me I’d feel that way just three years ago, I would have never believed you.
xx, Dr. Anna Persaud
Want to read more stories from female founders? Read about how this founder used her beauty brand to create an incredible nonprofit organization.
