Passions piece: I can only apologise for the cliche – but yoga did actually change my life

There’s always one who bangs on about how wonderful yoga is, and today, that is me.

I have spent most of my adult life living with chronic back pain, and most of my adult life refusing to do anything about it.

I’ll always remember a Dr Frankensteinesque physiotherapist tell me frankly “you were just built wrong” after attempting to discover why my back constantly hurt. My back is too long, and my legs are too short, my face is too wide and my eyesight is terrible. But I digress.

I spent most of my 20’s working in a variety of bars across the Capital, merrily living a life of excess. Six days a week, 12 to 15 hour shifts, living off nachos and pints of cider, cigarettes and pub lock ins. I attributed any pain to the cheerful and desperately unhealthy lifestyle I was leading. It was only in my late 20’s, when I went back to University, became a journalist, and found myself at a desk slightly more often than ever before, that I was surprised to notice the pain did not go away. The sore lungs did as I quit smoking, the blistered, aching feet did, but the back pain remained.

I especially remember covering the Scottish elections, being stuck on a bench in a sports centre, a laptop precariously balanced on my lap, watching the count, and my back was burning. Without proper seating, the pain almost made me vomit. I found myself lying on the grim, toilet floor with tears in my eyes.

If you are reading this and wondering why I didn’t try yoga before, I’m with you. I now look back and wonder. I suppose I was a bit anxious. Anxious of joining a class and my back stopping me from doing a pose, or having to give up half way through and the others in the class judging me and stealing my lunch money.

But eventually, I went. And reader, it’s brilliant.

It helps me relax my mind, feel focused and calm. I go along three times a week now, and often wish it were more.

The pain hasn’t gone completely, but it is more manageable. I have poses I can go into when it’s at its worst that offers release.

It has, genuinely, changed my life.