Name: Joseph
Location: New York, NY/Mumbai, India by way of San Diego, CA and Dallas, TX
Age: 25
Diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at age 8
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How has your condition impacted you? RA and Heart Disease have impacted my life tremendously. At a very young age, I had to learn to deal and live with my conditions. This made my childhood very difficult. I was unable to grow up the normal way healthy kids do. I would dream of being as strong as my athletic twin brother and living a disease-free life. I found yoga and decided to follow my dreams of a disease free lifestyle. Since then, my life has changed and any pain I feel in my body only fuels my desire to transcend the limitations within myself - mentally, physically, and emotionally.
What would you like for other people to know about your condition? I was diagnosed with JRA when I was 8. I had many complications from the physical stress and from taking all the medications. Between the age of 11 and 13, I had major knee surgery, suffered from migraine headaches and had stomach ulcers. At the age of 13, I had a heart attack. I found yoga when I was 19 and have been been in remission for the past 6 years of my life.
What would you like to tell someone who was recently diagnosed with your condition? Not to settle for the cards you have been dealt. If you do not learn to have joy in life and accept your condition(s), then you might as well live in a box. We are given our condition to learn from it and to become stronger and wiser about the way we live our lives. All conditions can be controlled, if not reversed, through our own minds. It's our willingness to change and not live under the shadow of our disease that gives us joy in life.
Here is the first quote that popped into my head after I wrote this. It's from my teacher, Bikram Choudhury - "Having doesn't mean anything if you don't know how to use it."
I like this quote because it reminds that my conditions were a gift. A gift which taught me that anything in great life is worth suffering for. :)
Thank you so much Joseph! Your smile and positive attitude are contagious!!
Be sure to check out more of Joseph's amazing success with Bikram Yoga here.
6 comments:
He really is an inspiration.
oh wow. what an amazing story not just about RA but life, too. if we could all have such a great attitude, the world would be such a great place. fantastic!
--elizabeth
Great guy,and I am fortunate to have him as my Yoga Instructor here in Mumbai.......
Hey, he is a TEACHER and a HEALER not an instructor...yes, you're fortunate to be together with him
I love Joseph's smile! He radiates peace & joy. Just found Yoga myself & feel so recharged after class.
First and foremost, yay! You're not in the dark anymore, and that's half the battle. Secondly, don't get discouraged. Although it might be hard to not beat yourself up over the ups and downs (it took going through an entire category of medications, endless rounds of physical therapy, multiple casts, different specialists, and finding a drug that wasn't even FDA approved back in 2003, for me to find something that gave me relief and stopped the progression of things), do the best that you can do, and give yourself a break. After you have a chance to process, well - everything - decide how you're going to treat this new aspect to your life. You don't have to suffer alone, and it's okay to ask for help. It also doesn't have to be a constant demon, as you'll get to know your body and yourself in a much deeper way than most people. Take advantage of this, as it will help you appreciate similar qualities in others - although you might not want to share things at first. I'm still coming to terms with openly talking about everything, but I'm also learning that that's okay. You'll come to notice who really sticks around, and who offers to carry that extra heavy bag. Or maybe, someday you'll be able to carry that heavy bag yourself, and these little things are the things that matter. :)
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