simple position/pose to calm/balance ANS & STIMULATE THYROID???

[Mary]

I've been struggling with post-lorazepam taper insomnia for several months now (and making a little progress!) and @Wayne kindly provided me with this link, which shows a pose or position which, according to naturopath Stephen Stiteler, will balance the ANS within 14 days, when done daily for 30 minutes.
https://www.healthrising.org/forums...nce-autonomic-nervous-system-in-14-days.4332/

I don't know if it will rebalance the system; however, I can say with certainty that it is extremely relaxing - after 15 minutes, I can feel my brain calm down, sort of like a small hit of valium or something, and within 20 minutes I'm on the verge of sleep, and I never sleep during the day unless I'm very sick. A few times I have fallen asleep while doing it (and now set a timer).

Here's a link to an article about Dr. Stiteler which also has a picture about halfway down of him doing the pose: http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Hawaii_Health_and_Beauty_Review/dr-stephen-stiteler-naturpath.php After reading about him, I went to see him last week in Los Angeles for sleep. He gave me a homeopathic remedy, a Bach flower remedy, some little magnets to be used for self-acupuncture (! very interesting), and told me to do this pose twice a day. I think it's all helping a little.

The way I do it is I place a mat on the floor in front of my couch or an armchair. I lay on the mat, place my thighs at a 90 degree angle to my body and rest my legs on the chair or couch. My cat often joins me as I provide an nice cushion for her!


6/30 eta: see post on next page, this apparently has stimulated my thyroid after doing the pose for several weeks, such that insomnia is worse than ever .... but this might be a good thing if someone wanted to boost their thyroid functioning

 

[raghav]

@Mary Is it to be done 30 minutes twice a day (i.e totally 60 minutes ) or totally 30 minutes ?

 

[Mary]

@Mary Is it to be done 30 minutes twice a day (i.e totally 60 minutes ) or totally 30 minutes ?

You can do either. I read that 30 minutes once a day would be effective; however, Dr. Stiteler recommended that I do it twice a day. I don't always get it done twice, but am aiming for that.

Just try it, see how you feel and you may want to do it twice a day or once may be enough.

 

[raghav]

Thx. Tried it for the full 30 minutes. Afterwards felt sleepy. Will follow through for the whole 14 days.

 

[Basilico]

Thanks for these links, @Mary . I read through the 5 page one on HeatlhRising, and I think I will talk my husband into trying this with me before bedtime. Not to improve an ANS issue, but to see if it can induce a good relaxed/sleepy state since he's got a reversed cortisol pattern so bedtime often seems to have issues. And, hey, if it improves some OI issues, I won't complain!

 

[Mary]

@Basilico - keep us posted how it goes! I think it may be helping some with my intractable insomnia ....

 

[kangaSue]

Here's a link to an article about Dr. Stiteler which also has a picture about halfway down of him doing the pose

Do you do the pose with your arms in the same position as shown in the photo too and is the right hand under the head?

 

[Basilico]

So we both did the position last night right before bed, laying on the floor and using the couch to put our knees at a 90 degree angle, rather than a chair. I found it to be very comfortable. The first 15-20 minutes, I didn't notice feeling any differently, but then eventually I felt a mild 'wave' of relaxation. It was nice, and I think it lasted a few minutes. My husband said he couldn't tell if he felt more relaxed, it was inconclusive.

After being in the position for 1/2 hour, we immediately got up and went to bed. He ended up having trouble because a few minutes after getting into bed, he said his heart felt like it was beating faster and couldn't fall asleep. He said it felt like a glucose spike, but he checked his blood sugar and it was perfect (86). He said he had a feeling his increased heart rate had something to do with being in that position, though he couldn't be sure.

Have you ever experienced an increased HR (or heard of others who have)? I don't remember seeing this mentioned on the HR link on this topic.

So, first time trying it wasn't successful, but I also am not ready to give up, because I think it takes a few weeks to notice improvements, right?

So I think today we'll try it again during the day, to see if he gets he faster heart rate again or not. Perhaps this is something that we just shouldn't do right before bed.

Is it important to be quiet/meditative while doing this positive? Since we were side by side, we were chatting the whole time, I don't know if that makes a difference. He has tinnitus, so laying without talking or having background noise is uncomfortable for him. Plus, we love talking to each other, so it's often hard for us to be together and be silent.

 

[Mary]

Do you do the pose with your arms in the same position as shown in the photo too and is the right hand under the head?

I don't, I just put my hands on my stomach or wherever feels comfortable. Sometimes I stretch my arms above my head. I think Dr. Stiteler was just doing a quick demonstration of the leg positions.

 

[Mary]

@Basilico - I just don't know about your husband's increased heart rate. Did he actually measure it, or just go by how he felt?

I should have put in my initial post that I had been doing this for probably at least 10 days, am not sure, before I really noticed the definite calming of my brain. It was always comfortable to do the exercise, but the noticeable relaxation and falling asleep did not happen right away.

Early on, maybe my 5th day or so, I did it 4 times in one day because my sleep was so bad I was desperate. And I slept worse than ever that night! Of course I don't know there if there was a correlation - the insomnia could have happened anyways. Anyways, I went back to once or twice a day, and I think I am getting some good results now. I've been doing it for about 3 weeks now and my sleep is improving. I'm also doing several other things for sleep - something is helping so I'm going to keep it all up.

It's nice you and your husband enjoy talking to each other so much! Though I suggest trying it at least once where you don't talk ... just for an exercise to see how it goes. I'm assuming it would be more beneficial to be quiet or meditative while doing this. Your husband could try ear phones with white noise or something to help with his tinnitus.

One other thing I've been doing while lying on the floor is a set of breathing exercises (4, 7, 8 exercise) recommended by Andrew Weil - it's the second set of exercises here: https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/body-mind-spirit/stress-anxiety/breathing-three-exercises/

 

[Basilico]

Thanks, @Mary . I will definitely try to stick with this longer to see if there are positive effects.

He didn't measure his heart rate, he could just feel it beating really fast after getting into bed.

I think for now we will definitely stick with doing it during the day. I'm not sure if we'll be able to do it in a meditative way...he has pretty severe ADD, so his brain will be in overdrive even if we are not talking. But, maybe I can play a podcast or something for us to listen to. Maybe I can try it meditatively on my own.

 

[Mary]

@Basilico - I wonder if the exercise will be able to help calm down his ADD. I don't have ADD but my brain definitely goes into overdrive in the middle of the night and this is starting to help. The breathing exercise might help too, and could give him something to focus on maybe? I don't have experience with ADD, am just guessing here -- good luck!

 

[kangaSue]

I don't, I just put my hands on my stomach or wherever feels comfortable. Sometimes I stretch my arms above my head. I think Dr. Stiteler was just doing a quick demonstration of the leg positions.

Thanks and I thought that would be the case.

I have a chronic GI problem with having gastroparesis and have a constant pain in the epigastric area (above the navel, between the ribs meeting junction) which has been diagnosed in part as being intestinal ischemia so gave this a shot seeing as it helps to pool blood back into the abdomen.

My GI pain was a lot worse than usual following a rather brutal abdominal examination by a vascular specialist on Friday but pain is something I just have to put up with as the only analgesic med I tolerate is Fentanyl injections and that requires spending at least half a day in the ER, and raises suspicion that I might be a drug seeker so very demoralising to do so.

Well lo and behold, doing this pose for 1/2 an hour worked just as well for me as a jab of Fentanyl and actually relieved the pain considerably for the best part of 4 hours afterwards, much longer than a single dose of any analgesic med that I've thrown at it before. I can see this becoming a daily routine for me if it keeps up.

Sincere thanks for your post.

 

[Mary]

@kangaSue - that's amazing - I'm very glad it helped you, and hope it continues to do so!

 

[Janice Hargreaves]

I think this is a really brilliant thread. Thank you Mary for putting this out there. I too find horizontal yoga really helpful. I use a book by Judith Lasater called "Relax and Renew" which has more poses which encourages the body to relax and let go. For me I find I get bored easily so a bit of variety helps me keep doing the good stuff. Perfect.

 

[Mary]

@raghav, @Basilico, @kangaSue, @Janice Hargreaves - I've just made a discovery for me. I've found it does make a difference getting my head lower than the rest of my body. In the thread I linked above in my initial post here, they talk about getting your head lower than your butt. I've been laying on a mat while doing this and sometimes have had head fully on the mat, and sometimes hanging off the edge, so it is about 2 inches lower than the rest of me, and I have found that getting my head lower than the rest of me really does increase my level of relaxation.

Another way to do this, as they suggest in that thread, is to put a pillow or bolster under your butt so it's higher than your head.

 

[Basilico]

Thanks, @Mary , will see if I can add this in. I'm thinking I could put my foam roller on the floor next to the couch and rest my butt on that. Or maybe I'll just go with a pillow. I will try this and report back.

 

[alicec]

That position is designed to relax the psoas muscle.

This muscle begins with attachment to the lowest thoracic vertebra, runs along either side of the spine attaching to the lumbar vertebrae, then runs down in front of the pelvis and ends in attachment to the top of the femur.

It is part of the deep core, stabilising the spine and helping with hip flexion. It is a great joining muscle - connecting top to bottom, inside to outside and back to front.

Tightness in this muscle is an important contributor to pain/spasm in the low back, pelvis, groin, knee etc.

The muscle has fascial connections with the diaphram and is activated as part of the fight or flight response. This probably explains why the position is helpful in calming the autonomic nervous system.

 

[Mary]

@raghav, @Basilico, @kangaSue, @Janice Hargreaves , hi all again. I'm keeping you updated in case any of you run into the same issues as me.

I've just discovered that doing the pose at night, especially with using a pillow under my butt, does apparently interfere with my sleep. I know @Basilico wrote about her husband's heart rate increasing when doing the post before bed. I hadn't really noticed this issue before last night; however, I think last night was the first time I used a pillow. I had trouble falling asleep and then was awake every hour, after sleeping very lightly. I finally got 2 real hours of sleep at 5:00 a.m., after getting 7 good hours the night before.

Anyways, am going to stick with doing the pose in the daytime only and see what happens.

 

[Basilico]

@Mary, that is interesting. I meant to do the position during the afternoon, but it got away from me and we ended up doing it at 10pm. We both used pillows under our butts to get our head a little lower. We went to bed around midnight, and neither of us could sleep...I haven't had trouble falling asleep in quite a while, and it's unusual that we both have insomnia at the same time. We finally had to take a sleeping pill. It didn't even occur to me that it could have been due to doing that position, but after reading that you had the same issue, it makes sense.

I think I will definitely not be experimenting with this at night. I'll have to get more on top of things and try to do it during the afternoon.