Back pain and Uner, my friend, are inseparable to the extent that sometimes he says, “I feel abnormal and odd when I don’t have back pain”. Back pain had been an integral part of Uner’s life for more than three decades!! Every time Uner whines about his back pain saga, I laugh mirthlessly and despise him: “Enough whining and do something about it…..” To be fair, Uner had been to all kinds of Ortho(s) in US, Canada, Singapore, India and Oman over the past fourteen years. I infuriated him when I quipped, “Don’t worry. You will meet your soul mate (ortho) someday”. From x-rays to MRIs to calcium supplements to physiotherapy to all kinds of precautions were tried. Nothing much worked other than leaving behind indelible memory of agony. Eventually, he resigned himself to the fate of living with pain. I guess the back pain was more palatable than the countless heart-breaking disappointments from the umpteen attempts of futile pursuits for cure.
For over a year, I had been hearing about a Yoga teacher who had helped many such souls who claimed to have found their Holy Grail for their health problems. Bringing up the “Y” word or “any” word as another pursuit for cure with a person like Uner who had “tried it all and nothing worked” was like adding fuel to fire. Well, I did dare to face the brunt though. The toughest part was to face the interview Q&A: Where is this place? Who is this lady? Is it too far? Don’t we have anything nearby? Would she come home to teach? When will this get cured? (Coincidentally, although there were many Yoga options available near our apartment, this particular Yoga place was far away.)
Boy, I developed back pain by the time I had answered all these questions. And, yes, finally, we have a winner!! Uner agrees to go for Yoga on condition that I will not jump the gun to make any commitments to the Yoga teacher during the meeting. The plan was to take a decision after a week or so. Well, there is nothing much for me to decide, eh?! I had only one answer to that question. I agreed.
I was told that it is very difficult to find a slot in the Yoga class and, in a worst case scenario, the only possible slot would be as early as 5.30am! Now, I wouldn’t disclose such delicate details of my insidious plan to a spoilt-brat like Uner who is already on the edge, would I?
Finally, we met the Yoga teacher and as we sat down conscious of the awkward pause that filled the air, I broke the ice with introductions. Realizing that Uner’s body language was not leading the conversation in the right direction, I was at the edge of the sofa trying to make amends to conversations in an anxious effort to maintain the delicate balance. Within a few minutes, the conversation had already progressed into a comfort zone and I wondered, “What’s next?” I was a bit pleasantly surprised as I read Uner’s face, emanating “intrigue”, “amazement” and “skepticism”. And, then Uner’s decision shocked me: “Can I join tomorrow at 5.30am?” wow!! I didn’t see that coming!!
Even at the very first class, Uner was sold to the idea of Yoga and since then, there has been a tremendous improvement with his back pain, acidity problem, diet, motivational levels, spiritual state etc. I am impressed and amazed with both his road-to-recovery and the Yoga teacher!! Incredible!!
Amazed and intrigued, I signed up for Yoga as well for once a week on Friday, initially, as I run on Thursdays. My purpose of pursuing Yoga was a coincidence!! For a very long time, I have been exploring ways to compliment my training for marathon. Bingo!! I fell for it. After the very first Yoga class, I signed up for twice a week.
Having lived a fairly active lifestyle with running and swimming, I was a bit taken aback to realize my inability to flex my body amidst a group of elder people bending their bodies as if they had no bones!! One of the toughest sports that had made me discover some muscles that I never knew existed was Squash, but Yoga would beat them all! The conditioning of mind and each part of the body – both internal and external!! – accompanied with systematic breathing and awareness-of-the-body in a gracious manner is simply incredible. One has to experience it to believe it.
It was truly impressive and amazing to hear the stories of other students whose age range from teenage to 60+. The benefit that these students had reaped from Yoga was clearly evident from their eagerness to voluntarily share their road-to-recovery stories ranging from knee surgeries to weight loss to acidity problems to back pain to neck pain……the list goes on. Most of these folks had gone through a turbulent time in their lives and after having explored all the modern-world-pill-solutions, Yoga has proved to be an infallible remedy and has gifted them with pain-free life filled with happiness and a strange, but priceless sense of tranquility in their lives. Here is the best part……for these people who had spent a significant part of their daily lives in a hospital….they have not visited a doctor in many years!! Simply beautiful!
Now, Uner - once a skeptic - was sold to Yoga, which meant that I can go back to my mean old ways of teasing him even in the topic of “back pain” which Uner had categorized it as a taboo once, even for me. After the Yoga class, as Uner and I were driving back, I couldn’t wait to poke fun at Uner and I snickered, although I did not speak a word. Uner, sensing my wry smile even without looking at my face, he said with a belligerent tone, “Alright, you win. Now, shut up.” I burst into loud laughter and laughed my lungs out. Another road to recovery has just begun…......all thanks to this amazing Yoga teacher and thanks to power of Yoga.
