Iyengar yoga helped this man cope with multiple sclerosis. Now he teaches others how to deal with the disorder through yoga
- Garth McLean’s doctor recommended yoga for stress management when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is incurable, in his mid-30s
- It helped so much he trained to become a yoga teacher, and now helps others deal with their MS
As an aspiring actor in his mid-30s auditioning for roles in Hollywood, Garth McLean was no stranger to adversity. But he could not imagine the challenge that lay ahead. In the midst of producing a play, he felt a tingling numbness in his right arm. He put it down to a pinched nerve from an earlier gym session, but it soon travelled to his left arm, and within a month his entire body felt numb.
“I was numb from head to toe and was unable to even button my jeans or hold a pen,” recalls McLean. After a battery of tests in a hospital, while he was lying in bed awaiting the results, he thought, ‘What if I can’t feel my body for the rest of my life’?”
He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system, leaving scarring on the myelin sheath – the nerves’ protective coating.
Messages from the brain are unable to effectively reach the rest of the body, resulting in loss of balance and co-ordination, limb numbness, chronic leg pain, problems with speech, vision and bladder control, severe fatigue and depression.
“I freaked out,” says McLean. “My doctor explained that multiple sclerosis had no effective cure and had to be managed with medication. He suggested swimming to keep the body cool and yoga to manage the stress.”
Friends recommended he try Iyengar yoga, named after the late Indian yoga master BKS Iyengar.