When Alison Drake was teaching in a primary school in Hong Kong in 2008, she learned that her father had just been diagnosed in the UK with stage four cancer – and did not have much time left.
The then-25-year-old was devastated, especially because they shared a close relationship.
“I was just always following my dad around since I was a little girl,” she recalls.
She began flying back and forth between Hong Kong and the UK – where she was born and raised – and found herself turning to running as an outlet for her feelings. Later, she discovered yoga and she credits both with helping her navigate the grief that came with her father’s illness and death.
For Drake, her father’s diagnosis left her simply going through the motions to get through each day. “I was on autopilot really, just trying to put one foot in front of the other,” she says.
