This week a man, in Australia, was trapped under water. But he had a lucky escape. He was driving an excavator and doing some landscaping on his property. But it fell over into a pond and trapped him under it.

The man, Daniel, was under water but he could breathe if he arched his back and pushed his arms down into the mud. But he could only hold his nose above the water and sometimes his mouth so he could shout for help.

Daniel was trapped for 5 hours and he says that yoga saved his life. He was using a yoga pose, the cobra, and it was lucky that he had been practising. He has been doing yoga because he likes surfing, is getting older and has a bad back. So his wife, who is originally from India, made him start yoga.

In the end Daniel's neighbour, who lives 500 metres away, heard him shouting and called the emergency services. And now he is recovering well and is looking forward to getting back to work in his garden.

Vocabulary

Trapped – unable to escape

Lucky escape – phrase, to get out of a very difficult situation

Excavator – a machine for digging and moving earth

Landscaping – making a garden or piece of land more attractive

Arch – make the curved shape of an arch

Yoga – a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, used for health and relaxation

Pose – a way of standing or sitting

Back – the rear surface of the human body

Originally – from or in the beginning

Neighbour – a person living next door to or very near to a person

Emergency services – public organizations that deal with emergency situations

Recovering – getting better

Think about

How would you feel if this happened to you?

What do you think about yoga?

Have you ever had a lucky escape?