As a middle-aged man in a first world country, survival and longevity in such an environment meant chasing the 5Cs. There I was 3 years ago, advancing in a career path in IT and keeping my clientele and bosses happy, but something didn’t feel quite right in the inside. It could be that my age had finally caught up with me as I fell sick at a steadily increasing frequency, suffered painful gout attacks in between bouts of sickness and caught infections as quickly as I could design the next awesome IT solution at work. My weight was the heaviest I had ever been, and I was panting by just a simple walk up a slope! What compounded the entire situation of my poor lifestyle was when my shining light at the end of the tunnel of any situation, my girlfriend, said, “I won’t marry you if you get sick again for the next one year”.
It was this realization that I knew that I needed a 360-degree change in my lifestyle and habits if I ever wanted to live a life that did not include a doctor’s visit every other weekend. My body was not invincible like it has been for 36 years and I had to take care of it so that it can take care of me. At a relatively young age, I had truly reached a crossroad in my life where my decisions could adversely affect my long-term health.
Fast forward to 3 years later and now doctor visits is a rarity. The gout problem is also under control and most of the excess weight has made way for muscle. And most importantly, I feel mentally stronger. This has been largely due to the introduction of yoga into my life transformation journey which played a huge role in not only improving my fitness with asanas but also helping my mental well-being with the practices that included meditation, pranayama and savasana.
