I was diagnosed with quite severe Rheumatoid Arthritis on my 22nd birthday. I couldn't walk, stand or sit for long periods of time, and I had to be carried to and from the bathroom. I was bedridden for 3 months.
After 6 years of taking various types of medications that included weekly chemotherapy and daily cortisone, I found Bikram Yoga. I was living in London at the time and tried to find something that would help me get through the freezing winter. I convinced a friend to come with me and we were hooked. Bikram was the first exercise I had found in 6 years that didn't leave me sore for the next week, that I could do on a regular basis and that I enjoyed doing. Exercise had become such a struggle for me physically that I had pretty much given up doing it.
Nine months later I went on a yoga retreat in Italy. I did Bikram every day, sometimes twice a day, for 10 days and I was still walking! That was when I knew I had found the right exercise for me. It was on this yoga retreat that I stopped taking cortisone, a medication that I'd been taking every day since I was diagnosed, and one that I didn't think I would ever come off. I haven't taken it since, much to my doctor's amazement!
It hasn't all been easy though. It took me 6 months to get into fixed firm position. After 3 years I still can't lock my knee. I don't do toe stand as it hurts my knees. And some days I still need to sit down during the class. However, I am incredibly happy with my progress and I know that Bikram Yoga will always be part of my life.
"It's never too late, you're never too old, you're never too sick to start from scratch again, to be born again." Bikram Choudhury, Founder, Bikram Yoga
Bikram Yoga Fitzroy | 24-26 Johnston Street Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia | Phone : +61 (3) 9416 4422 | Email : Michael & Susan
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