The lesson
When I started practising yoga and meditation Tuwith dedication and seriousness, I did start with the intention to fix my knee, my badly broken, previously septic, intensely painful knee joint that was far more stubborn than a mule. I wanted to heal quickly but the knees take longer to heal than any other joints in the body.
During this time I was very confused, upset, emotional, filled with rage and anger at my situation and in many ways lost. I was lost because not only was I injured and helpless to walk, not expecting the outcome that I encountered post ACL reconstruction, but I learnt something about life at an age the 24, that nothing in this world is promised except death.
I went into an ACL reconstruction of my left knee; thinking that I would come out the same way I did when my right knee was reconstructed, but how that hope went right down the crapper. But the lesson I learnt was priceless, it was in fact, something that I decided to make into a positive lesson, and I didn't know until later I was doing that straight away. I knew that I was going to prove the doctors wrong about them saying I would always have difficulty walking, and never be able to use the full range of my knee, but I really had no idea to the extent of what I was going to gain as a yogi but learn as a human being.
Positive intention pays off
My mentality at the point of being in serious physical pain and being falling in and out of depression was very complex, and the first year was the hardest, I had to adapt physically, mentally, in friendships, relationships, not being able to see people as much, having to fight and try and make people understand close to me why I was extremely difficult to be around but I still kept a smile on my face (most the time). Not only that, I had certain people that did nothing to help me, and I was naive to think others would stop their lives to fit mine; something that took me a while to understand and accept that not all people think the same way you do.
During my yoga practise, I kept pushing through the pain, kept going back to yoga and I kept working at a craft that I knew would help me, because the way I felt after class was much better than I did before, and the logic and science behind yoga just felt right to me, and my body did start to change for the better, and even though it has taken 6 years for me to be where I am today, I wonder where I would be without the yoga.
And all the above came from pure positive intention, something I believe can help anyone going through a difficult time, whether it is yoga you use, or it's tai chi, or meditation, or reading or mathematics; regardless of what you want to achieve in your life if you start it with positive intention you can achieve even more.
And with that mentality, in the crazy world we live in, it can take you much further and to a place where you can understand yourself and others around you better.
I would like to leave you with a quote that I strongly believe in and even though I just wrote it down now, this has been with me internally for years.
"Intention is a powerful thing, and when used with positive affirmation we can achieve more than brilliance, we can achieve anything."
I wish you the best of health and happiness with everything you do, and with positive intention, anything can be accomplished.
Thank you for reading.
Written by Suraj Ghumra.