A One-Way Flight to Peace and Happiness

I was a gate agent at Miami International Airport. Sometimes I had to single-handedly de-plane and board passengers on oversold flights in record-breaking time to get the flight back out, and sometimes the scene got pretty ugly. A vegetarian for many years, I considered myself a relatively healthy young person, but I had fallen into some unhealthy habits and lifestyle choices and did not know how to relax.

It was around this time that I “accidentally” found a small book by Swami Sivananda at the airport. It was titled Inspiring Stories and instead of taking it to Lost and Found, I started reading it. It was also around this time that a co-worker noticed I was on the verge of a meltdown and said to me, “Hey, have you ever heard of this yoga retreat in the Bahamas? You should think about going there for a few days to chill out!”