It was the start of a u-turn. Right after entering the turn, I saw a speeding car out of the corner of my eye, which caused me to instinctively hit the throttle. Unfortunately my hand slipped from the leftover remnants of oily sunscreen on my hands and the engine charged. Instantly the tires hit a patch of sand as the bike shot out from under me and I lost control, slamming hard into the pavement.
It’s a common occurrence for tourists in Thailand — folks not used to riding motorbikes receive all manor of injuries from small scrapes to broken arms and legs. Luckily I suffered no broken bones but just a sprained ankle, some rough scrapes and a banged-up arm in a sling.
The really discouraging part of the accident was that it was only the fourth day of a Bikram yoga 30 day challenge. There went the perfect schedule I’d planned out!
Having practiced yoga for over a decade, I’d heard lots of stories about how wonderful it is as a tool to recover from injuries and suddenly it became my turn to find out if that was true. After painfully limping around for a couple of days, I took the damaged arm out of the sling and I felt stiff almost everywhere, even in areas that weren’t specifically injured. (From overcompensating while trying to avoid pain in injured areas of my body.) After seeing my teacher in the neighborhood, he encouraged me to return to yoga class as quickly as possible, no matter if I couldn’t perform the yoga poses perfectly. It was an intriguing notion, so I soon took him up on the idea.
What occurred was nothing short of astounding. Although I could often complete only one minor part of a yoga posture, the benefits were instant and lasting. The recovery process improved dramatically through yoga’s intense capability of creating flexibility while stimulating the natural healing processes in the body.
The conclusion was extraordinary — there is no doubt that I healed faster and more effectively by getting back to class as quickly as possible. So if you ever experience any type of accident, when it’s time to recover, find a neighborhood studio or some yoga classes online. It doesn’t matter a bit if you can’t get anywhere near to performing the yoga poses as intended — simply showing up and working to your best ability will dramatically help heal your sore muscles and joints and get you running at normal capacity in no time.