Michael, 60, Montreal, Canada

“Suffer from Bipolar. I was diagnosed in 1992 and up to the age of 50, I took medication.
At 50 I decided there has to be a better way so I started walking.
Slowly I dropped the medications with the advice of how to do this from a pharmacist. By the time I was 60 I have been med free and suffer no symptoms at all. (I am still titrating off a medication because it was an addictive one).
In January of 2015, I wrote my story Moving Beyond: The Journey from Mental Illness to Creative Life.

I built a foundation of Yoga, Meditation, and Nutrition to help cope with the symptoms of Bipolar. I also keep a journal.

I find that when this practice is done regularly, and even on good days when the bad days come to my body and mind seem protected from depressive or manic episodes. It’s like I’ve built up a deposit in a symptom bank and I can draw on this bank to lessen the intensity and the duration of my episodes.

Another key area also a trigger is sudden stress. When this happens and I have been faithful to my practice of Yoga, Meditation, and Nutrition, the stress seems diminished and doesn’t create a problem for me anymore.

There is a lot of people who suffer in silence. This is where you can come to be inspired to write your own story without being criticized. Did you know that by writing your story down you will feel much better? I certainly have. Now I feel I have at least bled my troubles onto the page, and cleared up my brain cells to absorb new information, and to be here to help in any way I can.

Welcome to the movement. Write your own story in a journal. Read my story to get an idea of how. And begin to feel there is hope.”