In summer 2003 I had a terrible case of Lyme disease, I was in Pittsburgh where the doctors didn't know what it was, despite my entire body falling apart around a rash focused on my left hip they still didn't know. If they did I could have taken a few pills and been done with it. Instead, by the time they figured it out, my spine was so filled with bacteria that it was diagnosed as meningitis. My legs and hands were having trouble moving, the left side of my face couldn't move, I couldn't feel my toes, and to put it nicely the Pittsburgh doctors did not give me a positive outlook. The pain was almost unbearable for most of the day, and it would wake me up at night until they came in with heating pads and codine. Oxygen was not reaching my brain in anywhere near the quantity that it should be (when they finally did the scan they said I was getting 40% of the oxygen I should be to my brain). So I couldn't even read books when I was awake because I couldn't concentrate on anything, I was stuck trying to watch TV, even that didn't go well. I went 8-9 months without really doing anything, the worst part was I had to be treated in NJ despite living in Pittsburgh, that's how poor the knowledge of the disease was there. The treatment was almost as bad as the disease, they put an intervenous tube in your arm and it goes all the way to your heart. http://www.math.cmu.edu/~kravitz2/myarm.jpg Once or twice a day they put in antibiodics, it's 2000 mg a day (in comparison, a normal pill like you would take for strep throat is 100-150 mg, not intervenous). I was usually left feeling sick after treatment, and Lyme is one of the very few diseases that leaves your symptoms WORSE as you're being treated. Again I'm only naming the most painful ones, among the others are irregular heartbeat, severe digestive problems, bad motion sickness no matter how long the drive, a certain part of your chest that always has a sharp pain, and one thing people forget about when half your face doesn't move is that your eye doesn't close, causing blurred vision and consequently serious headaches. The irregular heartbeat made standing up straight difficult for almost a year. The second treatment ended in March 2004, it appeared I was finally better, but in April-May whenever I did anything simple like walking around the block I would wake up terribly sore the next day. Not just my legs and back but even my arms would hurt, from walking on my legs. After doing some research I decided yoga was worth a try. Naturally the first 2-3 times left me sore but I stuck with it, and by the summer of 2004 I was not getting sore at all. I started exercising more and astonishingly I wasn't getting sore with anything, even things that made me sore BEFORE the illness weren't then. 2005 became the year when I got back in shape. In the first 4 months I lost 30 pounds that I gradually put on while I was sick. I was still taking yoga about 5 times a week, and I started playing hockey again (yes, hockey). Amazingly I wouldn't even feel hits from people twice my size playing hockey as long as I had yoga that day, that was truly incredible. 2006 became the "opposite of sick" year. I finished my PhD in mathematics at one of the very best schools in the country. I finished in 6 years instead of 5 because I couldn't work for a year, but I'll take it. I moved here to start my dream job. I trained for a marathon which I ran in January 07, the marathon was kind of the ultimate recovery for me. I started 2006 as the elected captain of my hockey team, I was probably the least-skilled player on the team but everyone seemed to feel I was the most inspiring. The NJ doctors are used to prescribing every pain reliever you can imagine to their patients, I haven't taken a thing for the last 3+ years, I think basic yoga done properly can avoid a need for it in a lot of cases, especially arthritis-related. The other problem was that I had major issues with anxiety right after I got better. Once I was ABLE to do things, I had a feeling where I wanted to do everything at once. That has since passed but yoga was wonderful for that as well. I know I'm one of very, very few people in the world who has survived meningitis so there's no one to really compare me to directly. I can tell you that saying "full recovery" would be an understatement. I have no symptoms, no residual effects, nor will I. I tested at 0 in 2004 and never looked back. I'm probably like a typical survivor of any serious illness mentally in that I appreciate everything much more, it's much tougher to upset me with anything trivial, and I just have a much better overall attitude. I also took a job that lets me give back more as opposed to one that pays me much more money. Unlike most other survivors I have never been in this good of physical shape, and I plan on staying that way with exercise that will always include yoga. My yoga practice has changed to include power simply because my body is so athletic now, but basic/gentle is what gave me my life back and teaching it is like spreading my true love. I workout pretty much every day and I do lots of different things besides yoga including running, climbing, hockey, dancing, soccer, lifting, swimming, and aerobics, but if I had to pick one it would absolutely be yoga (just don't tell that to my hockey team please...) I know I'm alive because of medicine, but I'm "alive" because of yoga.