Ten years ago, Krystal Aranyani left Kamloops to teach yoga in women's shelters throughout Asia. It was a way to cope with her own past and to help other women in similar situations. She is now getting ready to publish two books to help empower women.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Krystal Aranyani

KAMLOOPS - As a teenager growing up in Kamloops, Krystal Aranyani never imagined she would have spent ten years of her life travelling and living in Asia to teach yoga in women’s shelters across China and Thailand.

Nearly a decade ago, Aranyani struggled with her own issues with several abusive relationships. She says her own past eventually pushed her to help other women who might be in the same position she was in, but it wasn't easy.

“I was in three back-to-back abusive relationships, and I wasn’t dealing with what kept leading me down the same path," she says. "I ended up at the women’s shelter in Kamloops because I thought ‘one of us is going to die.’”

Aranyani says she spent a year trying to move away from Kamloops to avoid going back to the abusive relationship she was in.

“I tried moving to Edmonton, I tried moving to Ontario and within a week I was always back in Kamloops with him, even when I promised my friends and family I wouldn’t do that,” she says.

One Christmas Eve she had spent with her previous partner was what finally pushed her to change.

“There was one really bad morning, it was Christmas Eve my (partner) had gone through messages of mine and he found something to get angry about and smashed my face against a toilet seat,” she says. “My lip was bleeding, it was seven in the morning and he threw me out.”

Aranyani says she started to walk towards the North Shore to her sister's house.

“It was freezing, and I remember at one point I decided to lay down in the snow and this van came up and I thought they were going offer me a ride home but when I looked up I saw it was this family and they were looking at me absolutely horrified, they quickly rolled up their window and drove off,” she says.

Aranyani was shocked but she instantly put herself in their shoes and wondered what they thought when they saw her laying in the snow.

“They were so scared, I obviously looked like a very troubled person, and that’s when I saw myself from another (person's) point of view and I knew deserved better than this, and that was actually the moment I realized I was not going back (to him).”

So she booked a one-way plane ticket to China.

“I didn’t want to go back and I also didn’t have the money to go back,” she says, adding that over time she picked up yoga in China.

After spending time around Asia, Aranyani found she was far from alone when it came to dealing with domestic violence.

“Domestic violence in China is a really big problem there so I just started going to women’s shelters and sharing my story and taught yoga,” she says. “They would be small groups and it was always really emotional and it was healing for me and other women and I realized that’s the path I wanted to do and still do.”

Aranyani says being back home is a bittersweet experience. She's been spending time between Vancouver and Kamloops doing public speaking events and is also teaching.

“It’s difficult and I didn’t come back for years because of the memories,” she says, adding that she is happy to be home to spread the knowledge she has gained travelling.

Currently, Aranyani is working on publishing two books and has started an online channel.

“My main focus right now is targeting younger women and empowering younger women,” she says. “I have a book coming out and I have also started a YouTube channel and I also go in the direction of what people are asking for.”

Aranyani says her longtime goal is to open a yoga and animal sanctuary in Thailand with her current partner.

"I really love it there," she says.

To check out some of Aranyani's work, she will be at Sun Peaks resort teaching and speaking at the Mountain Spirit Festival from June 22 to 24 which will feature yoga classes, women's health classes and more.

For more information, go here.

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