The Hole in my Pyjamas

Today, in the ashram, I met a girl from Quebec who shared her story about how she got into yoga. A year ago she was in a horrible bike accident which resulted in her voice box being crushed in. The doctor in hospital told her she would never be able to speak again. She spent the first few weeks going out dancing at night; because she couldn't talk, it was the only way she could express herself. Completely at a loss about what to do next since she couldn't work, she went to the Sivananda ashram just outside Quebec for a sense of calm. On arrival she discovered they were starting a teacher training course in a few days and so she signed up. During some of the asanas (poses) in the physical component of the course, she starting coughing a lot, and was concerned she should stop, but the yogi told her to continue. Upside down, in fish pose, her voice box punched back into shape and she could speak again. Back in Quebec the doctor at the hospital wanted to know exactly what had happ...

When I was 17, I did World Challenge with our school. We went on an expedition to Mongolia. One day, we set out to climb two mountains, it was one big peak followed by a dip and then a second, smaller peak. The group was split into roles and those responsible for choosing our food rations made the mistake of selecting just two or three dry crackers per person for the journey. We also had very limited water and the trainer didn't check until it was too late. It took eighteen hours to ascend both and return. Some girls opted out of the second peak and waited for the others. Some couldn't make it down easily and I remember helping to carry someone down. At the bottom the group were too tired to continue and three of us trudged on to the camp to get help. I remember it took us a very long time to make the short distance, because we would take three steps and then our legs would give way and we would collapse and clamber up again and then the same thing would happen. At that point,...

The Instagram photo I pinned up of the idyllic mountain view from the balcony of my hotel room shows the epitome of peace and serenity. A wide angle lens would reveal the construction of a new set of apartments about a meter away, and a video would include the constant noise of drilling and the clamoring of other tools. Like my experience traveling solo in Sri Lanka, it is wonder marred by less happy circumstance. I have lounged in paradise and acquired forty mosquito bites, eaten delicious curry and got food poisoning, seen incredible wildlife and had to exit the vehicle to go to the toilet, hoping not to be the second British tourist in a year to be taken by a wild animal in the act. I have witnessed the most stunning scenery and awoken alone on a hillside. I have met interesting people, but made no lasting connections and climbed little Adam's Peak to watch the sunrise, then gone to bed and stayed right through until the next day, too exhausted to bother going out to get dinn...

After some weeks on the road, I feel better qualified to assert the following top tips for those thinking about backpacking with chronic fatigue: 1. It's probably best that you don't. Grab a villa in France with the family instead or stay at home. 2. Consider traveling alone. Travelling with well people is a bit like traveling with wealthy people when on a shoestring: you're always stretching yourself or watching others splash out. 3. In the rare instance you've found a companion who's willing to alter their travel plans to accommodate you, good for you! Otherwise, try finding someone in the same boat. There must be a website like "findtravellerswithailments.com" or "chronicallyillcompanions.org". 4. Take more money with you than you ever remember needing in the past (taxis for short distances, more comfortable accommodation). 5. Think about how long you'd like to be away for, then halve it. 6. Only consider staying in places tha...

Isaac left for India and I went with Imran to meet two of his friends that had just arrived at another spot along the coast. Unawatuna is the sort of beachside town where locals are as good at catching tourists as they are fish. We hung out for a few days. The beach was an idyllic stretch of sand with little boats and lightly filled guesthouses stretching all the way to the other end. The overpriced menus offered Western dish-a-likes such as battered fish and chips that turned out to be strongly smelling tuna. One afternoon we saw some of the neighbouring old Dutch fort town, Galle. I was interested to learn that when the 2004 Tsunami hit, the old town was saved by the fort's walls and the renound Dutch irrigation system, but the new part suffered. On the last morning, I decided to go diving with the guys. I'd brought my own mask and snorkel and didn't want to miss the one opportunity. The sea was slightly rough and I started to feel seasick on the way out. The boat ...

Two girls were heading south to the beach after Vipassana so I went with them. It turned out both had been marketing managers -the Dutch girl for Nike and the Turkish girl for Microsoft. They quit their jobs suddenly, one to become a yoga instructor and the other was free wheeling it. They had separate hotels booked and so I ended up in the surfing town, Welligama with the Turkish girl, Neji. She wanted to go surfing in the afternoon. It felt a bit soon to be so active, but for some reason I didn't want to say no and surfing sounded fun, so I was game. The hotel was by the beach and it was a beautiful paradise of white sand, fishing boats and lush tropical vegetation that made you feel like you're in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids", because all the plants look like enormous shrubs. We had two instructors who showed us some of the theory on the sand and took us into the water. I'm not so active these days and waiting for a wave, I felt like a beached whale on the bo...

Why mediation? Well, it's something to do. Without meaning to be facetious, if you have chronic fatigue, there are very few activities that you can actually do that don't lead to symptoms and are actually restorative. Apparently Napolean frequently mediated for short bursts to replace sleep. I like a challenge and just about everything is off the table. Meditation is something M.E. sufferers may even have an advantage at: they're probably more adept at getting deranged with boredom than the average person. For anyone who thought meditation was about 5 minutes peace, as it transpired, I got a lot more than I bargained for. I expected there to be other foreigners at the centre, but not 9 women all with the same profile as me (5 even had blonde hair). 4 were from Holland, 1 from the UK, another from France and Turkey and 2 I didn't speak to before they told us to stop talking. I realised this was serious when we were asked to hand in all reading and writing materi...

No medicine has ever healed the body, rather it provides the right conditions so that the body can heal itself . Those closest to me have wondered what prompted this 3 month break from work to travel to Sri Lanka and India. Well, some months back I got a hole in my pyjamas... And not just any old hole, from a snag or radiator burn... It was from wear. The problem was, I'd only had them about 2 months. Since getting chronic fatigue 4 years ago, I have been gradually getting stronger, but in the past year my job has been getting more and more demanding and I've been compensating by spending more and more time in bed. I felt the denial had to end, with my thoughts of, "It isn't so bad"... "Some people are much worse off than me" ... The hole was real and evidence of festering. It was the sort of hole that was worth risking my job over, and so I asked if I could have time off. I didn't just want a half recovery, I want a full recovery. Ch...