My Story

Shanda Camu, Soul to Sole Founder

I’m one of you. I’m Bipolar.

I know the struggle intimately. I’ve lost and damaged relationships, lost jobs, dropped out of graduate school, put myself in financial hardship with excessive spending while manic, started and stopped goals because I couldn’t find motivation to follow through on them, behaved dangerously, been suicidal, had postpartum depression, and generally struggled to find meaning and purpose. I spent many years in this floundering state. Even after my diagnosis and proper medication therapy, I struggled to make life work. It seemed for all my efforts I had nothing to show.

At one of my lowest points, after yet another hospitalization, I found my way into a yoga class. I didn’t know a thing about yoga, and felt very self-conscious in that group of men and women who seemed to have it all together on their mats. I snuck in the back after class started and slunk away before anyone else opened their eyes at the end, but I kept going back because something happened that first day. I learned how to breathe with less fear. I learned to move my body in a purposeful way. I even found rest for my mind, albeit temporarily. After some months of practicing yoga regularly, I began to notice that I was more at peace. I still had the ups and the downs, but they seemed more manageable somehow.

About that time, I began psychotherapy, where I learned the DBT skills you can read about here. Using these skills along with proper medication management, yoga, and meditation has been transformative.

Since then, I’ve become aware that I can do things that once seemed impossible. I’ve found healing and hope. Most importantly, I’ve found meaning, purpose, and a passion for life I had never experienced before. The programs I run with Soul to Sole are all based in the pieces of my own healing journey and current research in the treatment of bipolar disorder.

I still have to fight those ups and downs, but I do it with more strength and dignity than I had before. I can start things and finish them, I don’t lash out and hurt others, I don’t get fired for being unreliable, I don’t spend money I don’t have, I don’t take unreasonable risks with my body, and I haven’t been inside a psych ward for a very long time.

I’m a mother, a wife, a graduate student (I graduate with my MS in Psychology in 2021!), a community volunteer, and a business owner. I’ve completed multiple yoga training programs and have countless hours of DBT skills practice under my belt. I’m passionate about the tools I use daily to maintain the life I have built for myself. It does take work and vigilance, but it is so worth the effort.

I want to share with you what has made me a functional human being, and a genuinely joyful person! Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, but it does not have to be a life sentence. Join me in the first step forward towards hope. You won’t regret the journey, but I think you may be surprised at where it takes you.