STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: In the Human Factor, we profile survivors who have overcome the odds. Confronting a life obstacle -- injury, illness or other hardship -- they tapped their inner strength and found resilience they didn't know they possessed. This week, we meet recovering drug addict Vinnie Marino, now one of the most sought-after yoga teachers in Los Angeles.

(CNN) -- Vinnie Marino grew up in the 1960s and says a "restlessness" drew him to reading about Buddhism, practicing yoga and eating a vegetarian diet.

But, while in high school, he also found drugs. After dropping out of college, he moved to San Francisco, where, he says, "My first week there I was introduced to shooting cocaine." Eventually, heroin helped calm his "crazy cocaine brain." He stayed in the downward spiral for years before fighting to get clean.

Here are five questions for Marino:

CNN: You started doing yoga as a teenager when you were living in New York, but you didn't really get serious about it until you moved to Los Angeles. What happened?

Vinnie Marino: When I lived in Manhattan, I would jog around Washington Square Park, dreading each lap. I was never a good jock, but yoga just felt so intense. There was a soft side and a strong side to it and a spiritual feeling around it. It really felt like it embodied my whole thing.

So I started going to a few vinyasa flow and power flow classes in Los Angeles. There was music at some of them, and it was really physically challenging. It just kept calling me back. I didn't dread it like, "Oh, no, I've got to go the gym tomorrow." I know people who love the gym, and they go, and it's a great thing for them. That was just never my experience, but with yoga, I was excited about it, and I just kept on doing it.

CNN: You weren't sure if you could make a career out of it, though. Then came a pivotal moment. What was it like teaching your first class?

Marino: I did a lot of teacher trainings. I was studying Iyengar Yoga, and I just resisted teaching as much as I loved it. A friend of mine was teaching at a gym in Hollywood, and he said there were like three students that came. It was in an air-conditioned room at seven in the morning. He said, "I'm going away. Will you please teach for me?" I said, "Absolutely not. I will not. Cannot." He said, "I'm going away. You have to teach for me." So I went and did it.

Read the rest here:
Former addict's relief and release through yoga

Published: Wednesday, May 1, 2013, 12:01 a.m.

"Be kind to yourself," Paul MacNaughton told his yoga students. "Karma yoga is compassion for the body, compassion for the mind."

The teacher leading a yoga class in an airy studio at Everett Community College's new Fitness Center on Thursday wasn't on the floor. He didn't move his body like a snake would, or a cat. The yoga poses he could demonstrate he did from a seated position in a mobility scooter.

With his arms and his measured voice, MacNaughton gave precise instruction and gentle encouragement. Motions and positions he couldn't do were demonstrated by his wife, Diane Brooks. From a yoga mat at his side, she is a partner in teaching.

MacNaughton, 64, has bone cancer, which is believed to have metastasized from prostate cancer first diagnosed in 2006. The cancer was discovered in February after an MRI found the cause of excruciating pain. A 4-inch tumor was found on his sacrum, a bone at the base of the spine, which had fractured. A later scan found a small tumor on a vertebrae.

In March, MacNaughton underwent three grueling weeks of radiation at Providence Regional Cancer Partnership in Everett. He was bedridden for more than a month.

Bone strengthening and hormone treatments are now aimed at slowing the cancer's spread. Recovered from radiation's exhausting effects, MacNaughton returned to the EvCC classes he hadn't been able to teach in months.

"It's healing for me to have this work. The people here have been so nice about it," MacNaughton said after Thursday's class.

Brooks said her husband is being helped by pain medications managed by a palliative care doctor at Providence. They have asked the hard questions, and have been told MacNaughton may live a year or two, depending on treatment.

"I feel that practicing yoga has helped me to have the willingness to face mortality, life purpose, these big kinds of things," MacNaughton said. "Yoga is especially good at helping us to follow -- destiny is too strong a word -- to follow our best nature."

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Practicing yoga keeps his focus on life

Have you ever tried yoga? It's not just for the thin, fit and athletically-built. Just about anyone who can breathe can practice yoga to some extent and reap its many benefits. We'll prove it. In this series, U.S. News talks with people who are changing the face of yoga.

Ryan Gambrell works in marketing in San Diego, where he also surfs, bikes, golfs and participates in triathlons. The 29-year-old tacked yoga onto his long list of activities after he injured his back a few years ago and wanted a gentle return to athletics. At 4 feet 2 inches tall, Gambrell struggled to do various poses at first, but he stuck with it. "I started getting the hang of it and challenging myself," he says. "As my flexibility got better, even poses that seemed impossible became more possible over time." Below, Gambrell shares his yoga story with U.S. News. His responses have been edited.

Why do you practice yoga?

The core muscles that yoga builds are pretty essential for my active lifestyle, and I also find that it helps me with my spinal stenosis. That's a common condition with little people, and it basically applies pressure to our legs and causes numbness and pain. It's something I've lived with my whole life, and I've found that through an active lifestyle, I can manage it without having to resort to surgery, which is always a huge plus for me. The pain and numbness directly correlates with my posture, so the more active and engaged my core is, the fewer problems I usually have with my back and my legs.

How has yoga improved your flexibility?

In one class, we'd always end in crow's pose. For me, that was the yoga position--like the black belt of yoga. I would always try to follow along as the teacher gave instructions, but I knew there was no way that my knees were ever going to rest on the back of my elbows because of the way I'm shaped. But I would always just kind of sit there with my hands on the ground and shift the weight between my palms. And then one day, after going for maybe two or three weeks, all of a sudden we were doing the pose, and I looked down, and my feet were off the ground. I was like, "Woah!" and then wound up face-planting. So I got up, shook it off and tried again. After that, I was pretty hooked. I was only planning on doing yoga for a little bit until my back got better, but now, it's one of my regular activities.

That's awesome! Is crow your favorite pose?

I don't know if I have a favorite, but yeah, it'd probably be crow's pose. Upward dog tends to loosen me up, and I feel all my muscles working in warrior II. And of course, these are modified versions.

Has someone been teaching you these modifications, or are you figuring it out on your own?

I think the trick is just getting to know what your body can do. I've been hopping around yoga classes; I don't really have one that I go to regularly. I've definitely found some people who have shown interest in trying to figure it out, but I realize they can't spend the whole class with me. So I kind of take what I can from that class and apply it the next time I go.

The rest is here:
Yoga as a Little Person: Ryan Gambrell's Story