Mayo-Clinic

The first time my back went out, I was 27 years old. I was about to go on a media tour, appearing on morning news programs to plug a book I had written, and I was terrified. I had a mortal fear of public speaking, and the very thought of waking up at 5 a.m. to talk eloquently about anything to thousands of people was … well, I can’t tell you because I couldn’t even ponder it. Whenever my mind wandered toward my impending TV debut, I froze. It didn’t take long for my back muscles to get the message to freeze, too — and pretty soon I was moving as gingerly as I could, whimpering with every step. And the pain lasted several weeks longer than the media tour.

All it takes is trying on a swimsuit and looking at your winter-white skin in the 3-D mirrors to get you whispering under your breath, “this year I’m losing weight!” And a good 5–6 pound initial weight loss can really motivate you to keep going. But when your losses taper to 1 or 2 — or zero — pounds a week, your interest in eating healthy and exercise begins to wane.

Insomnia isn’t a four-letter word, but it ought to be. Lying awake at night is no fun, but everyone’s doing it: A survey by the National Sleep Foundation estimates that 58 percent of American adults experience insomnia at least a couple nights a week. Good ol’ yoga to the rescue once again! Selected with doctors at Mayo Clinic’s Complementary and Integrative Medicine program, the three yoga poses guided in the video clips below will calm your mind, release muscle tension and help you sleep like a baby.

I am in a small airplane on my way to the Mayo Clinic to do a satellite media tour with a Mayo Clinic doctor. We are going to talk about Integrative Medicine, and for me specifically, how yoga can help with many of the symptoms that patients deal with from their illnesses. The time has come for Western and Eastern health practices to merge, to find a united front in both preventative and curative health care.