263: Plot Twist: Overcome Setbacks, Heal, and Find Balance Through Yoga and Spirituality with Koya Webb

In this bite-sized Plot Twist episode, Light Watkins revisits an inspiring moment from his conversation with Koya Webb, a track star turned spiritual leader. Koya shares how a sudden back injury during her college track career changed the course of her life forever. At the peak of her athletic success, Koya suffered a stress fracture that left her unable to run, plunging her into a period of uncertainty and depression.

Her journey took a surprising turn when a counselor introduced her to yoga, and a chance encounter with the book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay opened her eyes to the powerful connection between emotions and the body. These moments became the foundation for her healing and transformation.

Koya’s story is a testament to resilience and following intuitive nudges. From rebuilding her athletic career and training for the Olympics to discovering her true purpose of helping others find balance and healing, Koya’s journey is both relatable and empowering.

Listeners will hear how Koya overcame self-doubt, heartbreak, and setbacks, leaning into the spiritual path that yoga offered. Whether it was breathing through the pain or cold-calling a top coach to pursue her Olympic dream, Koya’s story is filled with lessons about persistence, intuition, and self-discovery.

If you’ve ever faced a life-altering setback or struggled to find your purpose, this episode will inspire you to trust life’s unexpected turns and uncover the strength you didn’t know you had.

Transcript

KW: “ That time with going through yoga, I got more spiritual and I realized like I don't need a gold medal to like make a difference. I had been making a difference in community. I'd been working at the YMCA. I did a kids fit program. So I started to see the value of my life and I learned to live in the present through my yoga practice, through the eight limbs of yoga. I started to find gratitude and just being. So even though I had fun on the track after really diving deep into spirituality and yoga, it was no longer this ego is like, I got to win a gold medal to be important. It was like, I like running and it's fun, and it's a passion of mine, but  I didn't need it anymore. I didn't desire it to feel like worthy or accomplished or anything.”

[INTRODUCTION] 

I'm Light Watkins. And today I've got another bite-sized plot twist podcast episode for you, which is a shorter clip from a past episode where the guest shares the story of that pivotal moment in their life that directed them toward what ultimately became their path and their purpose. And sometimes that plot twist looks like getting fired from a job or losing a bunch of money.

Or in the case of today's guest, Koya Webb, she was at the height of her college track career when a mysterious back injury brought her to her knees – literally. It turned out to be a stress fracture that forced her to stop running. While battling depression from this setback, a counselor suggested she try yoga. And that simple suggestion, combined with discovering spiritual authors like Louise Hay, opened up a whole new world for Koya. Though she eventually returned to track and even trained for the Olympics in California, she found that her true calling wasn't winning gold medals – it was helping others find healing and balance in their lives.

Let's listen in…

LW: Talk to us about when you felt like you got shot, but it wasn't really getting shot. You just fell to the ground. What was the circumstances around that?

KW: I felt like, what in the world? I felt like Superwoman. I felt like nothing can stop me. I came to this new school. I was doing good. I was in the gym every day. I lost the weight. All my time's up, my heights were up. We had really good coaches and great facilities there, which we actually didn't have at the first school. I was just on top of the world. Grades were great.

Then, I felt this sharp pain in my back. I remember falling to the ground and looking around like, “Oh, my goodness. What happened?” I thought I got shot. Out of nowhere, it’s a stress fracture. With stress fractures, you don't know how they happen. They just happen over time. When I found out I had a stress fracture, my coach said, “Koya, I'm sorry. You can't run with that. You literally have to stay off your feet.” I was just like, “What do you mean? I just got good. I just figured things out. I feel good at this school. I'm not bullied.” I was the team captain. I was just like, “No.”

I felt like everything that I worked for and all the progress that I had made had been taken away from me. I know a lot of people feel like that now, because the world has changed. You’re, one day, enjoying the world as one thing and, the next day, it’s something else. I just felt confused and slighted. I went into a mini-depression. I was crying in classes. I didn't want to be there. My teacher sent me to the counselor. The counselor is the one that told me to try yoga.

LW: You were also in a bookstore, and there was a book that caught your eye. What book was that?

KW: Oh, my goodness. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay was one of my favorite books. The reason it was one of my favorite books is because I realized that some of the emotions that I was feeling had physical manifestations. Some of the emotions that we feel, your body can give you signals that something's going on. Reading her book and understanding, basically, about the mind-body connection was the key and the catalyst to a lot of my healing.

Even now today, I resort back to like, “Okay, I'm having this pain here. What is that connected to? What do I have grief about?” I remember, my friend got sick with cancer. I looked it up and I was like, “Oh, that's deep-seated resentment.” We did work on like, “Okay, what do you have deep seated resentment? Who do you need to forgive?” Yeah. That was one of the favorite books early on in my career.

LW: Were you in the bookstore looking for books on the psychosomatic connection? Or what were the circumstances of that, of you coming across that particular book on that particular day? Because I know, I used to go to bookstores all the time, just to peruse, but I didn't think anyone else was like me. What were you doing there?

KW: I don't even remember how I got the book, to be honest. I don't even remember. All I remember is having the book and reading and I couldn't put it down.

LW: Because you had been told your track career was over, due to the stress fracture in your lower back. What was the plan? Did you feel you could heal yourself?

KW: Oh, yeah. Since I was a little girl, my parents had anything that happens, you drink some water. I broke my leg, drink some water. I got a cold, drink some water. Drink some water was the solution to everything. On our bookshelf, we had a hall full of books. I would always get the natural healing, natural remedies and looked at, water doesn't fix anything. Let me let me figure out some more natural things that I can use to help me with some things. I think, I'd always gravitate toward natural healing and natural remedies because of that.

I was looking for spiritual guidance. I feel like, being in college and being away from that church once a week. I hadn't found a church home in Kansas, and so I decided to just go to books and look at books, and I found Louise Hay. I found Wayne Dyer. I was like, “Ooh, this connects, but it connects in a different way.” I really loved the spiritual connection that I felt through Louise Hay and Wayne Dyer. That began my search for just deeper meaning in life, and the deeper healing, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

LW: How did you end up in your first yoga class?

KW: After this injury, my teachers sent me to the yoga class. I was like, “Can I do this? Because is this worshipping different gods? Do I have to worship Buddha?” I had no idea. She was like, “No, it's just stretching.” Of course, we know it’s more than that. That's what she told me at the time.

I remember going in this class, and I kid you not, I could not touch my toes. I was a tight athlete. I could do a backbend, but I had tight hamstrings. I couldn't touch my toes. I was just like, “This is not for me.” No one looked like me. I felt out of place. I felt out of place. I felt frustrated. I’m like, “Why am I here?” At this point, I'm like, “Why am I even – What is my life worth?” I questioned my life. I questioned just like, “What am I going to do now?” I put everything I had, and I got this full scholarship. My coach was like, “Oh, you can be a coach, or you make good grades.”

Of course, I didn't want to hear that. Here I was in this class, super frustrated. The teacher looks at me and she's like, “Just breathe.” I took this deep breath with her and I felt chills all over my body. I remember back when I was going to church as a young girl asking my mother and my father like, “When should I get baptized?” They said, “You'll feel it.” I’m like, “Feel what? Is it going to be a tingle, a jolt?” I was really like, I want to clear direction on what I was going to feel, so I can get dunked in the water, because it seemed like the thing to do.

I remember, when the preacher was preaching, I felt these chills. To this day, I know that full body yes, that full body orgasmic feeling, is a way that I connect to spirit, is the way connect to divine. When that happened, I got baptized. When that happened in this yoga class, that was a sign for me. After that deep breath, it was like, “You're in the right place at the right time.” I was like, “All right, I'm just going to commit to it.”

Mostly, I was just breathing, because the poses hurt. I was looking at other people like, how do you – I'm sitting in Lotus now. I remember it being so much pressure on my shins. I'm looking like, “Does this hurt anybody else but me?” Everyone’s sitting there blissed out. I'm like, “This is not blissful. You all quit lying.” I'm like, “How are they keeping this up?” I felt like, everyone was putting on a front and I was the only one that couldn't do it.

The teacher kept saying, “Just do the best you can. Don't force it.” There was are really great instructor that really guided me to the breath. Now I know, breath is spirit and that's why I was connected. Since then, I've been on a spiritual path. That's been the guiding force through the rest of my life.

LW: When you returned a year later, you were a spiritual warrior track athlete, not just a track athlete.

KW: I mean, I was always spiritual. To be honest, I didn't continue my yoga practice. I was like, “Thanks, yoga.” I went back to the track and I was full-on, ended up winning the conference meet and the high jump, long jump, and the heptathlon, and leading Wichita State to their first Women's Championship. I went in, because I end up swimming and biking. When I go, I go hard. I went hard. I took my team with me. It was just so much fun, but there was no yoga involved. I was like, “Yoga healed me. Thanks.” Actually, didn't get back to it until I moved to California. After I was ranked 13th in the nation, I was like, “I can go to the Olympics.” I was like, “I need to go to the Olympic Training Center. It's in San Diego.” 

At this point, I got so much ambition and I'm like, “I can do anything. If I can heal my body, I could do anything.” I called this coach, Rahn Sheffield at San Diego State. I was like, “Will you coach me?” He's like, “Who are you?” I'm like, “You don't know me, but I looked you up and I need a coach,” and he was close to the Olympic Training Center. I was just a couple inches away. I was like, “All I can do is promise you I'm going to get better every day. This is what I want to do.” He was like, “All right.”

Once I got that yes from him, that's all I needed. I had saved money in college and I flew. I flew to San Diego. In college, I taught at the YMCA and I started personal training. I took all my coins, put them together and I moved to California.

LW: When you were researching coach Sheffield, had you seen or read something about somebody who called someone out of the blue and it worked out you thought, “That's what I'm going to do.” How did you get this idea to just cold call one of the most famous coaches in the country and just get him to coach you, get him to agree to coach you? Who did you bounce it off of before you did it?

KW: I don't remember. I don't remember a story. I feel like, this is just spirit. It was literally just spirit-lead. It was just like, I got to find a coach to coach. I think, because in high school with my coach, Durrington Reed, he helped me in track and field. Not only did he help me on track and field succeed, he also helped me get to the basketball team. Something in me knew, if I can find one person to believe in me – and I don't even remember calling anybody else. I don't even know.

All I know is sometimes when I get spiritual hits to do something, I just do it and I don’t ask any questions. I looked. Literally, this is how I chose him though. I looked at where the Olympic Training Center was. I looked at the closest college there. I looked at who was the coach and that was him. I didn't have any background on him. I mean, once I chose him, I looked at different students that went there. I looked at his picture, I knew what he looked like. He looked like a cool guy, and I literally chose that school.

LW: Was there a gatekeeper, or he answered the phone when you called?

KW: Oh, my goodness. I wish I knew. It was so long ago. I feel like, he answered the phone. I don't remember the process. I think, I get like that sometimes. When I have my sights set on something, I just go for it. I don't remember what else. I don't know who I talked to. I don't remember it being too hard, to be honest. I feel like, it was just a couple calls and I was talking to him.

LW: It must have been so exciting for him to say yes.

KW: I was so excited.

LW: Because you were in a relationship, too. That was a big dilemma for you, right?

KW: That was the beginning of my heartbreak. I was in love with this guy. When I told him I got this opportunity, that he was going to be –

LW: That you created this opportunity.

KW: Yeah. He was just like, “No, I don't want to go to California.” I’m like, “What?” I was just shocked. I was sad. It was bittersweet. It's me following my dreams, but I lose this guy who I loved and we were making plans together. I knew that this was an opportunity that doesn't come. This is not often. No one from my hometown has gotten this close to going into the Olympics. After healing myself, I wasn't willing to just stop and just let that dream go. I sacrificed a little bit.

LW: What's the exchange? If the professional Olympic great coach says they're going to coach you, what do they expect in return from you? Do you have to pay them by the hour? Or they just want to be able to influence you? How does it work?

KW: I don't remember what I paid him, but I know it wasn't much, if anything. I feel like, I've paid some coaches, but anytime I've paid coaches, it hasn't been much. I don't even remember if it was anything, to be honest. His thing is like, “Okay, if you coach an Olympic athlete, then you go to the Olympics too, as a coach.” I think, that's why coaches commit. I kept my promise. Every single day, I got faster. Every single day, I got faster. He was like, “Wow.” He was very impressed.

I forgot what yoga taught me. I forgot balance. Not only was I training every day for four hours, I was also personal training to pay the bills, because I realized that California rent is not the same as Kansas rent, is not the same as Tennessee rent. I was staying in a place that was almost a $1,000 a month. It was just me. I was like, “All right, I got to do this.” I remember, my eye was jumping. I was super stressed out. I pulled my hamstring, because we know when you don't take care of yourself as an athlete, if you're not doing the cold pool, you're not getting the massage, if you're not taking care of yourself, injury is a guarantee.

I got injured. This time I went back to yoga, and I decided to get certified, which of course as you know, changed my life. I was heartbroken. I was heartbroken, one, because I broke up with this guy. Then two, after a year, I was in injury again. I got just really sad again. This time, yoga was able to – I was learning so much. I was like, “Wow, what is it about yoga?” I want to find out why it's so healing and why I feel so good.

LW: I guess, at this point, you've had so many intuitive hits. Maybe you even have language for it at this time and you know the feeling more intimately. When it was time to leave the track behind, was that a big choice, or were you just like, “Yep. I'm getting the feeling again. I know what I have to do.”

KW: I don't think I ever said I'm leaving track behind. I believe, I could train now and still go back to track.

LW: You weren't going to make it your priority, as your priorities were shifting.

KW: To be honest, I always thought like, once I heal myself again, I'm going to go back to the track. Actually, I did. After I moved from San Diego to LA, I got into a little acting and modeling. I was like, “I'm going to do all the things I always wanted to do. I'm going to do some modeling. I'm going to do some acting.” I was in some runway shows. I really started to have fun with life, because I realized that at that time, going through yoga, I got more spiritual and I realized I don't need a gold medal to make a difference.

I had been making a difference in community. I'd been working at the YMCA. I did a kid's fit program. I started to see the value of my life. I learned to live in the present through my yoga practice, through the eight limbs of yoga. I started to find gratitude in just being. Even though I had fun on the track, after diving deep into spirituality and yoga, it was no longer this egoic like, “I got to win a gold medal to be important.” It was like, “I like running and it's fun, and it's a passion of mine, but I didn't need it.” If that makes sense. I didn't need it any more. I didn't desire it to feel worthy, or accomplished or anything. I can thank yoga for that.

[END]

If you'd like to hear how the rest of Koya Webb’s story unfolds, head over to episode 77 and start at around the 45-minute mark. And be sure to follow Koya on Instagram @koyawebb for more inspiration on wellness and spiritual growth.

And if you enjoyed this conversation, check out episode 79 with Caroline Burckle, an Olympic medalist who turned her post-competition depression into a program helping young athletes navigate the mental challenges of elite sports. Also try episode 70 with Jessamyn Stanley, who went from hating yoga to becoming a groundbreaking teacher challenging body image stereotypes.

And if you know of someone else who's had an incredible plot twist in their life, and they're making the world a better place, please send me your guest suggestions. My email is light@lightwatkins.com.

Please take a few seconds to rate and review the show and I'll see you on Wednesday with the next long form conversation about an ordinary person who's out there in the world doing extraordinary things to leave the world a better place.

And until then, keep trusting your intuition. Keep following your heart. Keep taking those leaps of faith. And if no one's told you recently that they believe in you, I believe in you. Thank you and have a fantastic day.