Ex-NFL Star Keith Mitchell -- I'M A YOGA-HOLIC ... After Paralyzing Tackle

Former Pro-Bowl linebacker Keith Mitchell got his chakra on at a yoga retreat in Hawaii this weekend ... where he explained how yoga saved his life after being paralyzed in the NFL.

Mitchell -- who played for the Saints, Texans and Jaguars -- was a speaker at the Wanderlust Festival in Hawaii ... where he explained how the practice helped him "reclaim his life."

As for the hit, Mitchell says he was making a routine tackle in 2003, when something went terribly wrong -- "I had no movement in my extremities and a spine that had been traumatized."

Now, Mitchell looks like he's doing pretty well ... at least judging by the pics.

Namaste.