Managing Anxiety and Stress as a Young Mother: My Journey to Healing

There were moments in my life when I thought I wouldn’t survive the emotional weight I was carrying. I want to share this story—not for sympathy—but to show you that healing is possible, even when everything around you feels broken.

Elena Amani with her daughters, 2011

I was 34 when life felt like it was falling apart quietly, behind closed doors. We had just been posted to Croatia—my husband, a diplomat, and me, a mother of two little girls. From the outside, everything seemed perfect. But inside, I was crumbling.

I had no family there. No friends. No one to turn to when the nights got long and the babies cried and I couldn’t even lift them because my body was too weak. My thyroid condition had stripped me of my strength. I was underweight, exhausted, and constantly on edge. My heart raced even in silence. My hands trembled when I held my daughters. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I was disappearing.

I remember sitting on the bathroom floor once, the tiles cold under me, holding my knees to my chest, just trying to breathe through another panic attack while my kids napped in the next room. I didn’t recognize myself anymore. I wasn’t the woman I used to be. I wasn’t the mother I wanted to be.

I wanted to feel alive again. That’s when yoga found me. Gently. Slowly. Breath by breath. It didn’t fix everything overnight, but it gave me something I hadn’t felt in years: hope!

I started practicing yoga through pain, with no strength in my body—but I had a goal. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be healthy. I wanted to feel free inside my skin again.

In the beginning, even the simplest poses felt impossible. My arms would shake holding my own weight. I cried during savasana—not from the stretch, but from the release. All the fear, the loneliness, the pressure of holding everything together… it started to melt away, drop by drop, breath by breath.

Yoga became my anchor. It didn’t ask me to be perfect. It just asked me to show up—to be present, even in the discomfort. Slowly, I began to feel something shift. I felt my breath deepen. I was managing my anxiety and stress. My sleep returned. My nervous system calmed. I started hearing my own voice again, after so many months of silence inside.

How I Survived and Found Peace in Australia

In 2010, we relocated to Australia.

It was meant to be a fresh start—but it came with its own storm. I didn’t speak English, I had no family, and I was raising two little girls in a new and unfamiliar place.

During that time, I began studying yoga and meditation in Canberra. I was driven by a deep hunger—not just to learn, but to heal. To rebuild.

But it wasn’t easy. Every word in my textbooks had to be translated. I would recite the same sentence a hundred times just to make it stick. I was learning a new language from scratch while also trying to understand complex teachings of yoga and the human body. I studied late at night, exhausted, often crying quietly so my girls wouldn’t hear. My mind was scattered—how could I focus on study when my world was falling apart?

While I was studying, my marriage collapsed. I went through a painful divorce that left me shattered. I had no job, no money, and no family. My ex-husband, manipulative and cruel, tried to take our children from me. I was depressed, crying every single day. The fear and anxiety were unbearable—like a storm that wouldn’t pass. The only thought that lived in my mind was: how will I survive and keep my children?

And slowly, yoga became my lifeline.

Each breath brought me back to the present.

Each stretch helped release the fear trapped in my body.

Each practice reminded me that I was still alive—and that healing, though slow, was possible. Yoga gave me structure when everything felt chaotic. It gave me moments of peace, even when my world was burning. It gave me a way back to myself.

Today, I am grateful. I live in Australia with my two beautiful daughters and my loving partner - a man who supported us through some of our hardest days. I’ve built a peaceful life and opened a private yoga studio in Canberra where I now help others find calm, strength, and freedom from pain—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I work with people of all ages and backgrounds, many of whom are carrying invisible pain like I once was. My mission is simple: to remind people that they are not broken, and that healing is always possible.

I am also incredibly thankful to my dear friends who walked beside me during the darkest chapters of my journey. Their kindness, patience, and support reminded me that I was not alone. Together, we created light where there was once only fear. This new chapter of my life is built on love, resilience, and community—and I carry these values into everything I do.

To anyone reading this who feels broken or lost: I see you. I was you. And I want you to know—healing is possible.

That’s why I’ve created a 3-week course on managing anxiety and stress —to help others who are struggling just like I once was. It includes yoga, breathing, meditation, and simple tools that truly works.

Manage Anxiety and Stress

4 Tips Managing Anxiety and Stress:

1. Breathing with awareness

   Whenever I felt panic rise, I would close my eyes and take 10 deep belly breaths. This simple act brought me back to the present and reminded me: I am safe right now.

   
   

2. Gentle movement

   Yoga became my medicine. Even a few minutes a day helped release the emotional tension held in my body.

   
   

3. Talking to someone

   I stopped pretending I was okay. I found people I could trust—therapists, friends, or kind strangers—and shared my truth. Speaking it out loud helped dissolve the shame.

   
   

4. Creating a new rhythm

   I made small routines that gave me structure and hope. A morning tea, a five-minute stretch, a walk with my girls—these rituals became my foundation. You can always join my yoga classes in Canberra or online.

Join our Yoga classes

Today, I look back with deep compassion for the woman I was. She didn’t know how strong she truly was. And if you’re going through something that feels unbearable, I want you to know—you are not alone.

If you’re in a dark place, please know this: healing is real. You’re not alone, and you are stronger than you know.

With love,

Elena Amani