Made of Steel

10 years ago, at the age of 33, I was a fit martial artist practicing Tae Kwon Do. I loved the sport and was thoroughly immersed in the world of training and tournaments. Chronic pain, severe headaches, and numbness and tingling in my hands and arms forced me to stop training. After x-rays, CT scans, and an MRI scan, I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease that was causing herniated discs in my spine, and was forced to leave my sport for good. As my symptoms worsened over the next several years, simple tasks became difficult and my energy was at an all-time low.

At times, half of my body would go into an excruciating muscle spasm that could leave me incapacitated for several days at a time. Pain pills, physiotherapy and massage therapy helped me keep going. I became inactive and unhealthy. In 2010, my condition had reached the point where I was faced with the decision of having neurosurgery done on my spine or run the risk of losing feeling in my legs. I chose surgery and in February 2011, I had two prosthetic discimplants and a metal plate installed in the spine in the back of my neck. I spent 8 weeks in a neck brace. The doctors told me I would permanently lose much of the mobility in my neck and recommended I find new ways of staying active.

My physiotherapist suggested that I try yoga practice, and my good friend Shirley Hewko put out a Facebook invitation for friends to join her at the Abbotsford Bikram Yoga studio. I took her up on the invitation and started Bikram Yoga 3 months after my surgery. At first I was worried I would not be able to tolerate the heat and would faint away in the middle of class. I had to stop and lay down on my mat several times and forget about getting my arms over my head in Half Moon.

But as I sweat out all the toxic effects from the constant inflammations, medications, trauma, anesthetic, etc I started to feel the best I had in over 10 years. I no longer need caffeine to get through the day and I wake up feeling rested than barely alive. As my body gets used to working with a new spine, the yoga helps engage and strengthen muscles that had gone dormant. I am now able to complete a class without stopping to lie down, I am regaining some of my lost mobility, I have tons more energy, and instead of dreading the heat I now enjoy the way the heat and sweat flush out all of the garbage in your system. My husband noticed such an improvement in my health that he joined me and is now a devoted Bikram Yoga practitioner.

The saying is true: "Never too old, never too sick, never too broken, to start again..."

-Tracey Stonoski