Giving Yogis in our global community a chance to shine...
Each month we feature a yogi who has shown dedication in integrating his or her yoga practice into a healthy and empowering lifestyle. This month’s featured yogi is Dennis Jones. In this month's newsletter, you'll see Dennis's pictures and comments on how yoga has been beneficial to his health and well-being, and helped his father regain strength and movement after a debilitating stroke.

DENNIS JONES

For me, yoga has been a source of renewed energy. I started practicing seriously at a retreat run by Yamilee on the island of Kassa, Guinea. It was a long-standing desire of mine to really tackle yoga. The retreat was eye opening in that positions were not hard but they made the body work.

I am a former athlete who is now suffering from middle age aches and pains. I have used yoga to regain flexibility and to deal with some nagging knee injuries--in fact it's helped me rehab a damaged ligament over the past 3 months. I have a limited yoga routine of sun salutations and some other positions to open the pelvis and stretch the back, hamstring and quads in a variety of half lotus positions. I try to do 4 series of sun salutations 5 days a week, in the mornings before starting anything else. However I feel on waking up, I feel much better after my session; the warmth that has been generated in the muscles helps my body and mind feel that they can start to do activities. The yoga as a routine has also been about finding a little space of "inner peace" and I am not going to be mystical, but I feel good about me.

Yoga for me is also inspiration. To explain: my father (who lives in Jamaica) is now 78 and he retired in his mid 50s, when he started yoga, aerobics, and walking regularly. He suffered a stroke a year ago. He lost his ability to use his left arm and hand, and after several months regained movement in his left leg and foot. He now manages to walk from his bedroom to the dining room and back, with a stick and some guidance. He has also started to walk to adjacent houses to see his neighbours. He crows that "Yoga saved me!" Yamilee will remember him from his participation in yoga sessions she ran in Guinea, which he visited twice. When in bed he continues to do yoga stretches all day long. Yoga has kept him quite trim and his mind is as sharp as a razor. I want to be like him when I grow up!

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