My Journey to Conviction

12/02/2020

ALS is a difficult disease. You feel your body being stolen from you and have no

idea how to stop it. There is no therapy or treatment. It is a fatal diagnosis. Those

that know me, know that I am a passionate and hopeful person. I am also a

skeptic. I pose a lot of questions. I would rather have no answer that an answer I

can’t support. I believe this character trait helped me with the diagnosis as it gave

me time to find yoga. Yoga provided a key to unlock my disease.

• By March 2016, I was confident enough that my yoga practice was slowing my progression to share that hope with family and close friends.

• In January 2018, I was worried enough that my benign brain tumor would end my yoga practice to convince a neurosurgeon in Miami to operate on my Acoustic Neuroma with the surgical indication "to allow him to continue yoga." The tumor had grown so large that it was causing dizziness and near syncope when I practiced yoga and was putting pressure on my Trigeminal nerve causing half of my face to go numb. I was so sure that my yoga practice was necessary to my survival that I underwent a 6 hour operation in the hope that I could continue.

• In February 2019, I consented to be the subject of a short documentary film, Pizza and Prana, about my disease and yoga. I was confident enough in my yoga practice’s effect on extending my life that I was willing to make that claim so permanently. When I viewed the film, I was less confident that I wanted to make this claim so publicly.

That was nearly two years ago. Now I am absolutely positive that my yoga

practice is extending my life. I continue to get stronger by the day! Talk about

motivation to live each day to the fullest. I have been given a second chance at

life and intend to make the most of it. I have always tried to lead by example.

Now, I have found the perfect platform to lead from and I intend to use it to do

everything in my power to leave the world in a better place.