first choice or last resort?

“And now, Yoga”, the opening epithet that launches Patanjali’s famous compilation, the “Yoga Sutras”. His intention was to intimate to the reader that he knows you have tried everything and now, Yoga is possibly one of the last few solutions that you are exploring. And that, dear readers, was exactly what happened to me four years ago.

After severely spraining my back in 2004, I was told by an orthopaedic surgeon not to participate in strenuous activities (at this point, I was weightlifting five times a week) and to rest for the next 12 months. 12 months turned to 12 years as inertia set in and tapping at the keyboard and clicking the mouse became the only form of exercise. This, coupled with a rather intense work and travel schedule, unrestrained food consumption, late nights, heavy smoking, and hours spent…