Yoga – It’s Not Easy Having a Handicap By Herb Benkel The recovery was slow. Physical therapy helped and I returned to a rather normal existence for a cancer survivor, always worrying about a recurrence and very slowly losing physical ability. I was active. I tried to jog. I was always fairly fit and even tried to compete in sports, but the injury from the surgery and radiation left me without much muscle in my leg. I slowly and almost imperceptibly deteriorated. In 1987 the Y in Washington Township opened and my partner asked me to accompany him to a yoga class that he wanted to try because he had heard good things about yoga. After two weeks he stopped coming and I stayed in some form of yoga for the last 19 years. Before I started yoga there were periodic bouts with sciatica, which come when you favor one side and you’re not balanced in your movements. A few months of yoga resulted in no more sciatica. This was pretty good and cheaper then a doctor. Now I realized that yoga was more than just exercise. Not only did I feel great after classes, I felt better all the time. I was hooked. I’ve always found that yoga three times a week was necessary and when I didn’t make three classes I would deteriorate. Getting back was hell. Over the years I have had only four or five yoga instructors that I have been loyal to. Today I see Rama on Tuesdays. He is 73 years old, strong straight and a gem. I know him for all 19 years, but he only gives one class a week. Three years ago I went to try Chaya’s classes at Shree Yoga. I was quickly torn by my loyalty to both Chaya and Rama. I did what I thought was most appropriate and decided to become intensely loyal to both Chaya and Rama. I am convinced that if it were not for Yoga and Chaya I would no longer be mobile. I certainly would not have that wonderful feeling of accomplishment I get when I can make it through a class with those of you who are so fit. For months I tried to do a headstand. Because of the disability it was so hard. I needed to get up with only one leg. Try to do yoga with only one leg some time. I learned to accept and modify. A few weeks ago, just around the time that Chaya was celebrating my birthday by having all of you doing sun salutations to six long breaths, I made it up to a headstand without help. It may seem like not a big thing, but with a handicap it really is a big thing. I also get a real sense of gratification when I see all the younger people I have talked into coming to Shree Yoga so content in the class. One of these has even thanked me for changing her life. That is an accomplishment that does not come along often. A few years ago as I looked back on my life, which has been wonderfully successful, I made a list of the five most important decisions I had made. Within that list of five decisions was starting and staying with yoga.
Student Stories:
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On November 9, 1968 I married Susan, Less than one week later I was at NYU Medical Center in New York being treated for a rare form of connective tissue cancer in my right leg. I spent three months in that hospital undergoing radiation therapy. I was there to watch the Jets win the Super Bowl with Broadway Joe as quarterback.
