Nick Graham/Bikram Yoga TT

In January 2008, as I was preparing to move from Chicago to New York City, I was on a weekend trip apartment hunting where I suddenly experienced a blackout that lasted for over three minutes. I remember hearing a loud explosion and waking up feeling disoriented and, oddly, relaxed. I had just experienced a stressful week with work and travel and decided that I was probably exhausted and needed rest. Two days later I experienced this same thing prompting me to visit my doctor as soon as I arrived back in Chicago. Upon calling my doctor she instructed me to report to the nearest ER for she feared I might have had an aneurism. I did as instructed and was admitted to the hospital for four days where I underwent a series of tests including three MRI’s and two spinal taps. I was prescribed a number of pills for a myriad of symptoms and the pain I was starting to feel. I had debris floating in my brain and it couldn’t be diagnosed. Over the next three months my doctors couldn’t tell me anything more that they couldn’t explain what was happening to me. I was not able to drive, be alone, sleep, or work at my best. I was feeling angry, sad, depressed, pain and, simply put, bad. I started doing research and became more confused with the more I learned. One day as I was walking home to my apartment in Chicago I passed a Bikram Yoga Studio. I had read about Bikram but never had done any yoga in my life and didn’t think it was for me. I decided to go in to the studio to get information and walked right into a check-in for a class that was starting in twenty minutes. I was fascinated and stayed for class. I struggled, sweat profusely, and felt weak but I felt something different than what I had been feeling and that night I slept better and longer than I had been. I went back again and again. It was my secret. I didn’t want to tell my doctors, who had strictly forbidden physical activity, that I had been doing this yoga four times a week for over a month. It was all mine, my alone time. I was feeling better than I had felt in months and was experiencing small moments of profound insight with myself. I knew I had to seize my life and trust my instinct. I weaned myself from the doctors. At my last visit to my neurologist I was told that I might have Multiple Sclerosis. I was not willing to accept a life in pain and on meds. I stopped seeing my doctors. I continued to practice Bikram Yoga. I moved to NYC in September 2008. I continued to practice under the tutelage of Rafael Pacitti and the staff of Bikram Yoga Manhattan until it closed. I have been practicing since at Bikram Yoga LES under the tutelage of Tricia Donegan and her staff of teachers. The neurological condition that affected my life for almost a year can be attributed to many things but what is most important is that since I began my practice my symptoms decreased, eventually disappearing. The biggest reward for me is the community I have become a part of. I am proud to manage the LES studio and am honored to be a leader in the community Tricia has created. I decided two years ago to leave my career path behind to focus on my practice and to find my place in this world through Bikram Yoga. I have found that and it’s not something I want to keep a secret any longer. I want to attend teacher training so I can spread the undeniable benefits and amazing joy and happiness I have received from Bikram Yoga. I hope to one day have a studio where I can combine everything I have learned from my teachers, my peers, and my experience to provide a resource for others to find their journey. It would be my honor and my privilege to attend teacher training in the Fall of 2014.


http://www.bikramyogales.com/staff/nicholas-graham/