• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Smith's School of English

To provide English speakers the opportunity to own their own business teaching English in Japan.

  • Franchise Entry
    • Buy a Developed Franchise
    • Start Your Own
  • The Franchise
    • Work Visa & Taxes
    • Franchise Training
    • Franchise Support
      • What Franchisees get
      • SSE Products
      • FAQ’s
  • Testimonials
  • About
    • Coaching Confidence
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • English School Articles
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Blog · January 10, 2014

2013 My Year of Yoga

You are here: Home / Blog / 2013 My Year of Yoga

Outdoors (5)In 2013 I had a bad back. My hips and lower back were tight and if I twisted the wrong way I would be in agonizing pain. I couldn’t sleep on my front, I usually had to sleep on my side with 3 pillows strategically placed or else I would wake up in pain, unable to move. It got to the point of being a daily discomfort, causing lost sleep and making it hard to sit in class all day. As usual, my partner came to my rescue and through a little luck and some great advice, I am not [figuratively] doing back flips!

We love book-hunting. This has become a favorite pastime, done almost weekly in Book-Offs and used book stores around Shiga and Kyoto. How is book-hunting a hobby? Our challenge is to find English graded readers for our students for under 250 yen each. Mainly we hunt for Oxford and Penguin graded readers and usually we can get them for 105 yen. Our collection is growing and we hope our students appreciate it, although the hunt is a joy in itself. One day we went to the biggest and nicest Book-Off locations in Kyoto, located in OPA shopping center on Kawaramachi street, near Shijo. As usual we were in the English book section but Chiharu decided to hop over to the magazine section to look at yoga magazines. Moments later she excitedly returned to show me a treasure she had found: Yoga for Backaches! This was the lucky part mentioned above.

Chiharu recommended I try yoga to ease my back problems and after reading the book cover-to-cover, I tried it out. To illustrate how truly life-changing this has been, at the time I couldn’t lay on my stomach nor could I get up from my back, having to always roll onto my side and use my hands to carefully boost myself up. Today, I am completely pain and discomfort free, I can sleep in any position, I’m back down to 1 pillow and  I can easily bounce from upward-facing dog pose to downward facing dog pose! Yoga and my wife’s support have improved my health and I have never felt better. Next up: yogic diet to improve breathing, digestion and energy levels!

The best thing about this? I can play with my son for hours on end and never have back problems!

Namaste,

Edward

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • X

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Filed Under: Blog

Mark Smith

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Search

From the Blog

  • Blog
  • English School Articles
  • Smith's Sustainabilty
  • Sustainability Development Goals
  • Testimonials
スミス英会話メインページ

2 weeks ago

スミス英会話メインページ
-----🗣️ BREAKFAST CLUB MAY 2025☕Date: May 7th Wednesday Time: 10:00 - 11:00Place: スミス英会話大津校初心者🔰経験者🤠見学者🫣どなたでも大歓迎👌-----New Art Design: Ayumi (スミス英会話大津校)Thank you, Ayumi! Your designs are amazing! -----The 3rd photo: Lake Biwa in Otsu, Shiga#スミス英会話大津校#englishevent ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

スミス英会話メインページ

3 weeks ago

スミス英会話メインページ
今週のワンポイントレッスンはコチラです★What’s your plan for Golden Week?ゴールデンウィークの予定は?smithweb.co.jp/2025/04/one-point-lesson-6a90/#スミス英会話 #月謝制英会話 #ワンポイントレッスン ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Blog Posts
  • Discussing Milestones
  • A Common Listening Problem English Learners Have
  • Protected: The Japan Iwaskows
  • Christmas holidays in Germany (part 2)
  • German Christmas (part 1)
  • Autumn in Japan vs Autumn in Canada
  • Unique Japan- Smith’s School of English, Sagamihara
  • Edward’s Language Journey
  • Osaka Higashi Line – Convenient Fuse
  • Small Talk in Katsura
Smith’s School of English Franchises
#101,8-21-5, Hanafuku-building, Fukushima-Ku,OsakaTel: 0120-222-248 (Japan)
Tel: 81-6-6455-8050 (Other)
Fax: 06-6455-8052
E-mail: info@sse-franchise.com

Copyright © 2025 · Smith's School of English, all rights reserved. · Privacy · Log in

%d