Sept/Oct of 2015 I weighed about 280-285lbs and was about 24% body fat. I also suffered from various other health issues: Hypertension, Low Testosterone, and Degenerative Spine Disease in my neck. On top of this, I also carried a pretty lethal depression.

I had once been in pretty excellent condition. I was a competitive martial artist as well as an instructor. For whatever reason(s) I let myself go to s**t. Got all obese, took alcohol use to an extreme, ate whatever I wanted, and pretty much just abused the heck out of myself in whatever ways struck me as attractive. Tried many times to get it back together and failed many times after experiencing marginal successes.

About Feb of 2016, I started drinking alkaline water and working out again. Had more success than before but it was only physical; I was still all FUBAR in my mind and heart. By June of 2016 I was down to around 255 - 260 lbs, and yet had slipped into yet another depression – this one damn near killed me. This is when I discovered DDP YOGA.

It was on a pretty rough afternoon. My family had all gone out to do something, I don’t remember what now, and I was alone (by choice). I was sitting in my office, had everything dark with the curtains drawn tight. Had my pistol out and my television on. Was scrolling through my Netflix watch list, because that is apparently what one does before opening their brain housing. I saw that I had put The Resurrection of Jake The Snake Roberts on that list to watch at some point. Now, ol' Jake is a childhood hero of mine, loved to watch that dude in the ring when I was a kid. So, for whatever reason, I hit “play” on that film and began to watch it. That film touched something in my heart. Seeing a dude reach out to his bros and help them out of their self-imposed suffering by sharing tools to regain ownership of their lives, well, that spoke to me. Dude did this for no other reason but love, I found that to be incredibly moving. By the end of the film, my pistol had moved from my hand back to my desk. I decided to put my plans on hold, opened my laptop (or maybe it was my smartphone dunno) and ordered the DDPY discs. I told myself I would postpone “the event” and give the workout an honest shot: heck, I could always go back to plan A if things didn’t change.

Last week my DDPY discs arrived. I read the guide and popped in Disc 1 and did Breathing, then I did Wake Up, and then I did Diamond Dozen. I kinda dug it. I decided that I would hold on another day and do it again. The next day I woke up and did Wake Up, wanted more and did Energy. Later that day I did Diamond Dozen again. I decided that I would hold on another day and do it again. This repeated a few days and then on Sat July 2 (what I consider my actual Day 1) I downloaded the DDP YOGA NOW app and started following the program calendar; when the calendar showed a “Day Off” I would do a workout anyway, did Wake Up every day (still do). I would put myself through the workout because I enjoyed putting my body in challenging and uncomfortable positions while using – or trying to use – my breathing to help me push through; I started to find encouragement in the stuff Dallas would say – “you can do this” “every day you get a little stronger” “you got this, go for it”. Dude didn’t know me, but he believed in me, and I know it was a recorded video but I really felt like dude was talking to me personally. After many days of doing this, doing the workouts and watching the Motivational Monday vids, something really interesting happened, I began to believe what Dallas was telling me... I began to believe in myself.

It hasn’t all been rainbows and pretty music, in fact, it seems life came at me even harder once I began to get right. A few weeks after starting DDPY I had a pretty big obstacle placed in front of me... my neck finally blew out. Uncovertebral Joint Hypertrophy was the diagnosis. I lost about 80% use of my right arm and was in serious pain. The doc wanted me to see a pain management specialist for injections into the vertebrae but I decided to dig into my DDPY practice even deeper, use nutrition through anti-inflammatory foods, and take the fight to this spine disease without injections or surgery. I have had a lot of success doing this as my pain is now minimal and I have regained use of my arm.

Life hit again a few months after the neck injury. In February of 2017 I had blood work come back with an elevated PSA, high enough that the doc got me to a urologist the day after getting the results. It looked like Prostate Cancer was in the cards for me. Went through the biopsy and waiting for the results. Thank God the results came back clear of cancer.

Through all of these intense challenges, I have leaned heavily on my faith and also on the lessons Dallas teaches us about living life at 90%. I am so thankful for all he has shared with us, the lessons he teaches are truly priceless.

Today I weigh 183 - 187 lbs and I am about 16% body fat. I no longer need blood pressure meds, avg BP is 110/50. I no longer get Testosterone injections and have the drive of a 20-year-old. My neck is behaving, and my chiropractor is amazed at the change. I no longer carry that lethal depression because I really love life and I like being me a lot. I didn’t get into this to melt fat and drop lbs, I got into this out of a desperate desire to fix my broken mind and heart, the weight loss was just like an added benefit. Today I am a certified Level 1 DDP YOGA Instructor and I get enormous joy from helping others with this stuff. I have found a purpose, hold value for all life, and strive to live every heartbeat I have to the fullest.

I am very thankful I watched the film that afternoon.

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If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts you can get help now. Call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. You can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741-741. For more information visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/