Dorchester resident Hansa Edwards came to the United States from Barbados as a teenager with a distressing medical diagnosis. Doctors told her that she suffered from Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited condition that slowly constricts vision and for which there is no cure at present. They told her she would gradually go blind over the next several years.

Now, legally blind, Edwards teaches meditation and yoga – she is a certified yoga instructor. She pointed out that when one door closed for her, another opened.

“As my vision continues to fail now is the time for me to focus on my life passions – yoga and meditation,” she said. “I became a yoga teacher. Now I teach private and online classes along with volunteering in the community to share this knowledge of well-being. If my eyes were healthy, I might have continued in business management. I might never have made this leap of being an entrepreneur in the health and wellness field – and I love it!”

Edwards is a graduate of South Boston Yoga and recently began teaching yoga at St. Mary’s Center for Women & Children in Uphams Corner and at The South End Branch library in Boston.

She is also a HempWorx affiliate, one of thirteen certified CBD companies providing high-quality CBD oil that helps her clients find relief from pain.

In addition, Edwards is a key associate in United Senergy or US founded by her life partner Danquell Bradford. US focuses on reducing the economic, health and technological disparities that plague our people, our communities, our nation, our world.

“I am grateful and blessed to have these opportunities and relationships,” said Hansa. “They outweigh by far the difficulties caused by my failing eyesight.”