AFTER a traumatic year yoga teacher Girish Patel took his son Nikhil into the foothills of the Himalayas on a voyage of self discovery.

Now he has come down from the mountains and is keen to get back to work in Stroud.

He spoke to Sam Bond about how the people's joy at being alive had helped him put his own worries in perspective and find a new lease of life.

Widely known in Stroud for his yoga classes and occasional Indian cookery, Girish Patel has been notable by his absence in recent months.

But while trauma in his personal life made him want to distance himself from the town he is now back with renewed vigour and keen to get back into the swing of things.

Girish has recently returned from a life-affirming trip to the Himalayas, a far cry from life in the Five Valleys.

"It's an extraordinary place, another world," he said. "The atmosphere, people, everything about it is so different.

"If anyone who is going through trauma could manage going into the mountains for a few weeks I would highly recommend it. "It has an effect on your whole being."

"I think mountains of that calibre have an enormous presence about them and you can really feel that. "As you get higher and see the snow peaks it's just awesome.

"And the people have an incredibly simple life with contentment that really hits you. "When you meet these people it's in their personality, their eyes, their posture and gestures.

"There's a sense of joy at simply being alive and it really makes you question your own suffering and make you realise how lucky we are generally in the West. "Everyone there is living from the land, hand to mouth and content with so little.

"They've got a very different attitude to life and it's very freeing. "They have such a degree of acceptance of how things are.

"They just get on with it without complaining and learn to live with all these things." Girish said their acceptance of the lot life throws at you had helped him come to terms with his own problems.

His return to Stroud has seen him launch into a raft of projects and now, alongside his yoga classes, he will be running one-to-one yoga therapy sessions. "You can apply yoga to any condition whatsoever," he said.

"It is of great benefit to asthmatic and heart conditions and anything caused by stress," he said.

"And while it doesn't claim to cure everything it can help people manage long-term conditions."

He has also made a yoga video, which he hopes to be the first of several, and plans to write a book on the discipline too.

Anyone who would like to get in touch with Girish about his video, classes or yoga therapy can contact him on 01453 759006.