September is National Yoga Awareness Month

 

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PRACTICING YOGA?

Does Yoga really help alleviate some of the pain associated with autoimmune disorders?  Obviously, the answer lies in the functionality of your disease and open communication with your doctors, but research suggests that the answer is yes.  Yoga is non-impact exercise that can provide benefits such as increased flexibility, stronger muscles and connective tissue, alignment of the vertebrae, toned and rejuvenated internal organs.

Utilize yoga as a way of dealing with side effects from the autoimmune disorder you are facing.  It can help in the battle with fatigue, muscle pain, irritability, depression and mood disturbances often associated with autoimmune disorders.
Look into Yoga and see if it works for you!
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  • I have started my yoga exercises a several of years with movie lessons, but soon after that I chose to participate in class. It actually assisted me to strengthen my health conditions and retain my body bodyweight.

  • Unicorn

    The benefits of attending a class are many. First you are out of the house and doing something. Not only something, but something many healthy folk see as being beyond their capabilities, and in the same vein, something that improves and demonstrates your advanced body functions. And boy, do spoonies need to grab each and every opprtunity to do this : )

    It is something outside of your illness to talk about, to shop for (sssh I know many of us live in yoga stylee pants any way but we can buy new class ones!)
    Of course getting knowledgeable advice on anything that may be contra-indicative is important but a good teacher shouuld should always be demonstrating many levels of the moves and alternatives, and if nothing else, the relaxation at the end is fab.
    Go for it, folks : )

  • I also have several auto-immune disorders, I have Fibromyalgia, Lupus, Graves Disease and also Glaucoma in addition to many more medical issues. I have a great deal of fatigue and pain associated with these diseases. In the past I’ve had multiple surgeries the most recent being spinal fusion @ C-3-4 and knee arthroscopies and just this week a capsulectomy from breast surgery. A few years ago a friend asked me to go to yoga classes with her. I was always so stiff, and sore and had no range of motion my flexibility and strength was non-existant but I decided to give yoga a try. I was the biggest (weight wise), from all the meds I was on, and the least flexable in the class, but I kept it up. Eventually, it became so much easier, I felt better, I could move, I could button my clothes, I could reach around and zip up my dress (this was amazing!) I hate to miss a class now and try to go at least 3 times a week, sometimes flares prevent this from happening but I’m back in class as soon as possible. My instructor is wonderful, I can’t do many of the inversion poses due to the Glaucoma but she always has another position she can put me in, she always looks out for anyone in our class that has health/medical issues, she tell us to modify and it works for me. Yoga is the best thing I have done to help me, I have even been able to come off of some of my medications and I feel so much better. I know it’s not for everyone, but for me it is an answered prayer.

  • Renee

    I have three auto-immune disorders – Sjogren’s Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. I have a great deal of pain associated with two of them. I started practicing yoga 14 months ago, not having any expectations. I had practiced yoga as a young woman, and I remembered how wonderful it was, but I had lapsed many years before and did not expect it to do much for me. Still, I had read of its benefits, and both my rheumatologist and my orthopedist recommended it.
    It was a humbling experience to begin the class, with loss of muscle tone, loss of strength, and loss of flexibility from so many years of not being able to do any exercise because of the pain and fatigue. However, I am not a quitter. I stuck with it day after day. My muscles were sore, and I despaired of ever being able to go deeply into some of the poses. Little by little, day by day, session by session, I began to see results.
    My pain is much less; my strength and flexibility have increased, and I have more muscle mass than before. I tell people in my yoga classes that yoga saved my life. If it were not for yoga, I would surely be bed-ridden. I know it is not for everyone, and you should all certainly seek the advice of your physicians.
    All I know is that for me it was the answer to fervent prayer.