Hilton Head woman uses yoga to cope with illness, inspires thousands on Instagram
Katie Schroeder doesn’t let the plastic pouch permanently attached to her pelvis stop her from living life.
She begins each day soon after the sun comes comes up with a strict, 90-minute yoga routine in her Hilton Head backyard. She then shares photos of her small but taut body - upside down and folded into nearly unimaginable positions - on Instagram.
“This little guy loves to do yoga,” the 30-year-old Schroeder writes of her ostomy pouch to her 18,000 followers beneath a striking photo of her elongated body folded over backwards in tangled yoga pose. The flesh-colored ostomy sack is out for the whole world to see.
“I have to start every day doing yoga,” she said earlier this week. “I’m not me without it.”
In fact, she believes she might not be at all.
Yoga helped her overcome a lifelong digestive illness. Instagram helps her share that victory with others.
“Several events have reminded me why I'm still alive when I've doubted whether I should have had my surgeries,” she wrote on her Instagram - StomiYogi.
“I was given this body with all its disorders because I'm here to say you're perfect just the way you are, everything happens for a reason, and you're strong enough to face any obstacle.”
A matter of survival
Schroeder is an Illinois native who spent a majority of her life sick, in and out of hospitals, going from one doctor to the next and one surgery to the next looking for answers.
Why couldn’t she digest food or simply run without enduring pain.
She was born with a plethora of physical problems, starting with a condition called pelvic floor dysfunction, which tilts her pelvis and disables the muscle tissues inside so that they don’t function properly.
“It basically paralyzed my digestive system from the bottom up because it went so long undiagnosed,” Schroeder said.
Her illness derailed nearly everything in her life, including college. She had to move home her sophomore year as her condition worsened.
“I tried everything: natural healing, physical therapy at the Mayo Clinic, so many specialists in Chicago, and nothing worked,” she said. “I knew I wasn’t going to live another six months if I didn’t have an ileostomy.”
Between 2013 and 2014, Schroeder went under surgery twice for the ileostomy. The procedures removed her colon and attached the ostomy pouch permanently to her lower abdomen to collect waste.
“There are so many risks with the surgery,” Schroeder said. “But I knew I had to do it to survive. My surgery saved my life, and I’m so grateful.”
Getting in touch with your body
Schroeder first found her love for yoga while vacationing in Hilton Head in 2010.
“I went to a class here and I was amazed at how much fun everyone was having,” she said. “They were playing music and laughing and I thought ‘I could do this.’”
It also tracked with her doctors advice to stay active. Yoga was also something she could do without the strain of running or other more strenuous activities.
She also fell in love with the island lifestyle and, after her surgeries in 2014, relocated here from Chicago.
“I knew moving down here would be good for me with the warmer weather,” she said.
She continued practicing yoga through online classes at home - 90 minutes a day. They helped her move through the pain of living with ostomy and improved her overall health.
“If you can breathe, you can do yoga,” Schroeder said. “It starts with just simple mindful breathing, whether you are meditating or doing a simple pose. That’s yoga. It’s important to learn to get in touch with your body. That’s what’s helped me so much with my condition.”
Becoming StomiYogi
Schroeder stayed away from social media her whole life, but in 2014, her younger sister told her about Instagram, a platform where thousands of yoga enthusiasts post photos, offer tips, and inspire each other to try different poses with daily challenges.
She began posting photos of her yoga poses, along with messages about finding inner peace and living with an ostomy.
“I connected with so many people around the world dealing with the same struggles,” she said. “That’s what Instagram is about — connecting and inspiring others, and finding inspiration through strangers you wouldn’t meet otherwise.”
She took on the daily yoga challenges with other Instagrammers. That lead to friendships and more than 18,200 Instagram followers.
What means the most, though, is sharing her message and passion.
“The number of followers doesn’t matter and you can’t focus on that,” she said. “Find your passion, and find others who will inspire you to pursue your passion.”
Schroeder hopes to encourage others fighting illnesses through Instagram. She’s planning her website, writing freelance, and hopes teach classes professionally.
“People see that I have an ostomy and say that I’m an inspiration for doing a handstand and or a certain pose that might look intimidating,” she said. “I don’t consider myself an inspiration because I’m a complete goofball.”
Again, it’s all about the message.
“ ... I love that people see my Instagram and think ‘hey if she can do that, I can, too.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Hilton Head woman uses yoga to cope with illness, inspires thousands on Instagram."