How Yoga Saved My Life

Do you desire less stress, anxiety, and tension? To encourage self-care and self-esteem? Improve your flexibility, strength, balance, digestion, focus, sleep, bones, joints, and posture? All these and more are the benefits of yoga. Besides those innumerable benefits, I’ll bet you never dreamed that yoga was a lifesaver. Yes indeed, yoga saved my life.

After cancer

Those that never had cancer might think that after you complete your cancer treatments and are considered “cured” you should be happy and able to go back to living a normal life. Quite the reverse was true for me. I did not know how to deal with being a cancer survivor. I mourned my old life before breast cancer, “BC” as I called it. Going through the motions of life with no joy, I felt alone, isolated, disconnected. How do I move forward with my life, knowing I had a fatal disease? Or that cancer could recur and I would surely die from it? Worry, stress, and fear of death and the unknown future filled my mind, and I had no hope.

Initially, having a couple of glasses of wine when coming home from work to an empty house was not a problem. It merely took the edge off my depression and loneliness. Until a couple of glasses became a whole bottle. Every day. I tried to cut down on my drinking with willpower alone, but I was unsuccessful. My lack of self-control disgusted me. The silence and loneliness of the empty house after a stressful day at work was suffocating me like a prison cell. As I drove home from work, I thought, “no, don’t stop, don’t turn into that grocery store parking lot. Just keep driving.” Inevitably, I turned into the grocery store entrance for a quick stop that surely included buying a bottle of wine. 

Yoga saved my life

Of course, I had no energy to get to the gym after work to exercise. I only wanted to make it home to drink, anyway. My expanding waistline added to my low self-esteem and depression. Subsequently, I thought perhaps yoga would be something to do at home without facing all the attractive and physically fit people at the gym. So, I bought a beginning yoga DVD and a yoga mat. Thus, it was a major victory to make it home without stopping at the grocery store. 

I started doing the workout with the DVD as soon as I got home. Immediately, the stress of the day melted away. Meanwhile, I connected with my body and learned to breathe again. Ahh, at last, my anxiety and worries did not overwhelm me. The house was less empty and lonely. Later, the urge to drink abated, and I slept better at night.

Hope for the future

In the meantime, I discovered a faint glimmer of hope that sobriety was attainable. Perhaps I could live the rest of my life without alcohol. Eventually, I found sobriety through God, Alcoholics Anonymous, and counseling. That was almost fourteen years ago. Above all, yoga saved my life because it gave me hope that life was worth living, even with the inevitability of death.

Final Thoughts

Undoubtedly, yoga is all-inclusive. People of all ages and abilities can practice yoga. Besides, you do not need any special equipment, though a yoga mat is useful. Nowadays, you don’t even need a DVD. There are so many online courses, and many offer some classes for free. Even if you cannot get on the floor easily, there are chair yoga and gentle yoga classes that are adaptable for all levels of fitness. With yoga, you are just competing with yourself. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. It’s your body and your practice. 

I recommend finding a class in your neighborhood, gym, or recreation center to get started with the basics. You will find one that suits you if you enjoy taking part in a group. Or just try it at home and see if you enjoy it. 

Thus, yoga may save your life too, or at the very least, I am sure it will enhance your health and well-being!

Resources

If anything in my story rings true for you or someone you know, please seek professional help. If you have a problem with alcohol, please find help from Alcoholics Anonymous.

In addition, you can find an AA meeting near you here. Or call 888-486-0889.

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

By Reinhold Niebuhr