April 3, 2013 at 1:00 AM

By Katie Busalacchi

For Erica Kaufman, practicing yoga is not just a hobby or a profession it is a way of life.

At a young age, Kaufman suffered from asthma and eczema. Tired of watching her daughter struggle to cope with the pain, Kaufmans mother, Florence, searched tirelessly for medical and therapeutic remedies to help alleviate her daughters suffering. After many attempts with varying degrees of success, something finally clicked.

Yoga did for Kaufman what no medicine could do it eased her pain.

I was suited for it, Kaufman said of her instant taking to yoga. As soon as she started practicing, she said there was no going back.

Because the relief from the suffering was so extreme, I didnt need any coaxing to practice, Kaufman said. It was never a burden.

Kaufman said she also realized at a young age that yoga meant much more than just the physical relief of pain. Yoga helped her to overcome the emotional burdens that came along with her illness, she said.

The very thing that was making me suffer and miss schoolbecame a source of great fascination of what I could learn through it and how could I bring about ease within it, she said.

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