How Not To Fail: Disabled to Inspirational: How Arthur Boorman beat the odds?

You may not have heard of this disabled man; Arthur Boorman, but you may have seen him on a video circulating on social media like Facebook & Twitter. Who is Arthur Boorman exactly? And why is he an inspiration?

Arthur Boorman
(Image Source: http://positivemed.com/2012/05/08/never-ever-give-up-arthurs-inspirational-transformation/arthur-boorman/)

He was a disabled veteran who serves in the military during the first Persian-Gulf war as a paratrooper. His job mostly involves jumping out planes and landing with his parachute. But his many parachuting missions had taken its toll on him, causing him so much pain on his back and knees. As a result, he was told by doctors that he would not be able to walk unassisted again. He accepted this as a fact.

As time went on, he was depressed and began to gain weight and was nearly reaching 300 pounds and his health was declining. Despite this, Boorman still manages to move around either by a wheelchair or clutches with leg braces, but he could not do certain things like dressing up by himself, running or even power walk. This was challenging for him, because he wanted to lose the weight but cannot do the typical exercises.

With little determination to change that, he decided to try to take up yoga as a means of exercise to help him lose the weight. The problem was finding an instructor to see if he can learn to do the exercises. Because of the condition he was in, he was turned away by all yoga instructors he could find, except one who saw that there is hope for him; Diamond Dallas Page, a former wrestler turn yoga trainer. Like Arthur, Diamond too had suffered from his injury for his field of work, but manage to recover with the techniques he developed, strengthening postures and resistance training.

Diamond Dallas Page
(Image Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-dambrosio/yoga-master-diamond-dalla_b_5660780.html)

Within the first month, Arthur was struggling to keep his balance by using a chair to assist him in doing certain yoga stance while maintains his breathing exercises, and each time he drops on the floor, he gets back up again, more determined than before. As weeks went on, he eventually maintain his balance, while manage to shed some of the weight. He gradually stops using the crutches, and opted for a use of a walking cane as his posture and health improve.

And for 6-8 months, Arthur loses nearly 100 pounds, adopt a healthy eating lifestyle, and maintain balance and endurance more effectively in his yoga exercises. But the greatest achievement in his life was proving the doctor wrong. He finally able to walk again; upright and unassisted.

(Image Source:DDPYoga.com:https://ddpyoga.com/arthur.html)

Today, Arthur Boorman is still doing yoga and continues to inspire other with his life story. What can we learn from Arthur is that you can never give up. Keep working hard to achieve your goal, no matter how impossible it may seem to be.