Yoga helped this Sask. gym owner with his anxiety. Now he's paying it forward
CBC
When a crushing bout of anxiety saw Brandon Wicks admitted to the Royal University Hospital's adult mental health short stay unit last year, the nighttime routine of 9 p.m. yoga never felt like it could come soon enough.
This was when the lights were turned down in the unit creating a calm environment for Wicks to grab a mat and stretch, and calm his mind.
"I would stretch for an hour and try to focus on my breathing and meditating. It definitely grounded me and allowed me to pull myself back inside my body," said Wicks.
This experience with yoga inspired him to start a yoga program for patients at the mental health short stay unit with the help of paramedic and owner of the Ivy Yoga House in Saskatoon, Jen Rondeau.
Wicks loves being active. He is a personal trainer in Saskatoon and owns Rise Strength Lab, a gym in the city's south end. He watches his health closely, especially since he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome five years ago.
The syndrome is a rare condition in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves. It caused temporary paralysis in Wicks's legs and sparked what he describes as a "hyper-vigilance" in the years following his diagnosis when it came to monitoring his health.
The constant anxiety surrounding his health became too heavy a load to carry for Wicks on his own. He entered the mental health short stay unit and discovered how yoga could help with his recovery.
"I believe that go-go-go mentality is what kind of led me into the unit. I never really took the time to ground myself and bring myself down. I took that time in the unit to just really sit with my anxiety and be with myself," said Wicks.
He started attending yoga classes at Ivy Yoga House after his release and shared his story with Rondeau. She not only guided Wicks through yoga classes but was an empathetic ear for his mental health struggles.
"It was all very relatable," Rondeau said, adding she'd been through a major depression in her 20s and also had to seek medical help.
"The things Brandon was explaining about his racing thoughts and that he needed extra help brought back those thoughts when I was admitted myself."
Wicks shared an idea with Rondeau after attending one of her classes. He was grateful for the role yoga played during his stay at the hospital and wanted to give that gift back to patients.
Wicks proposed a yoga program for the mental health short stay unit that Rondeau and her staff would run and that he would fundraise for through his gym. Rondeau loved the idea and Wicks pitched the idea to Royal University Hospital's mental health unit.
"I just felt like, as a former patient, that this would be beneficial for the people who are there struggling. The hospital staff got back to me and loved the idea," said Wicks.
Members of CUPE Local 456, which represents city workers in Melville, Sask., have voted in favour of job action due to wage disputes and high employee turnover.
Some schools in Queens and Prince counties are starting one hour later Wednesday due to road conditions following yesterday's storm.
Edmonton's city auditor has made eight recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the city's paratransit service, saying clients who rely on the service will benefit from the changes.
Electric bus manufacturers hit hard by pandemic-era supply chain chaos could soon find themselves pummelled by a trade war.
A workshop will be held Wednesday evening to help give Windsor residents the necessary tools on how to interact with people experiencing homelessness.
Buy Canadian — that's the message being pushed across the country. But on the other end of the movement, some small business owners in Calgary who feel the pressure to pivot to Canadian products say that isn't as easy as it sounds.
Inside a community centre in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, poster board collages display photos of a young woman with a big smile on her face. She's shown with her arms wrapped around family members, being silly in selfies with friends, standing proud in a high school graduation gown.
As an outreach worker helping people with life-limiting illnesses in Thunder Bay, Ont., Julie Diner says she doesn't spend much time in the office.
A swift response by flight attendants, crews and emergency workers was among the key reasons why no one died in Monday's plane crash at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, an expert and officials say.
Health care, homelessness and the threat of U.S. tariffs were among the top issues addressed by Cambridge candidates as part of a panel discussion on CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition on Tuesday.
U.S. president Donald Trump's tariff threats and digs at Canadian sovereignty are forcing Canadian politicians of all stripes to adapt, and in Quebec, the opposition Parti Québécois is facing a particularly tough challenge.
Rough weather on Tuesday forced salvage specialists to abandon their inspection of a cargo ship that ran aground in a rocky cove along Newfoundland's west coast over the weekend.
Premier Tim Houston's government is using its supermajority in the legislature to give itself the power to fire the auditor general without cause and make reports from the office private.