Yoga

[Paul M]

Hey guys, I'm going to start to look into some yoga classes. Wondering if anyone found Yoga helpful and could recommend certain types? Its not the most intuitive thing for me to understand.

 

[Ema]

My Yoga Online is a great resource. They often have free 14 day trials as well which would be good for you to see if you like it.

 

[Sushi]

Hey guys, I'm going to start to look into some yoga classes. Wondering if anyone found Yoga helpful and could recommend certain types? Its not the most intuitive thing for me to understand.

I think whether Yoga is helpful for us depends on what symptoms we are dealing with. If you have OI or POTS and go to a class with a lot of standing postures, you would likely have a problem.

Also, many of us don't tolerate aerobic exercise--some class styles are more aerobic than others. And for those with Ehlers-Danlose III, the stretching is probably not good for us.

Just some things to check out when choosing a class. For me, pilates done lying down and with machines, is a better choice, but we are all different.

Best,
Sushi

 

[Paul M]

Hmm ok. I may just try some around town. I rather do it outside of the house to actually go do something.

 

[baccarat]

Weird chronic illnesses such as ME have an underlying spiritual aspect that is underestimated and the wrong practices are likely to lead to more difficulties, not only health related, even if you feel some physical and mental benefits particularly at the beginning.

Yoga in this respect is controversial. If you get involved in the spiritual side of it (eg kundalini, etc) it may make your illness worse and more difficult to recover. It can cause all sorts of personal problems, difficulties and sufferings.
If you purely stick to the physical exercise aspect it should be ok. But it's a very fine line.

But please don't take my word for it, I speak purely from personal experience, there are better experts out there and testimonies on actual dangers (one of many http://www.yogadangers.com/ChristianityandKundalini.htm)

 

[Paul M]

I think I'll be fine with the spiritual side. I'm not looking for that anyway. I'm pretty much an Atheist not in search of any dogmas anyway hah.

 

[Patrick*]

I've been doing Yoga and Tai Chi at home through videos and apps. I'm finding that I have to give up on Yoga however, because all of the twisting and squeezing of internal organs makes my kidneys extremely sore---but that may be my unique problem. It's too bad because I used to love Yoga when I was healthy.

Tai Chi is a good alternative and might be something you want to check out if Yoga is too difficult or makes you crash. Good luck.

 

[taniaaust1]

I had to give up yoga due to this illness. I'd previously loved yoga and did it for years. Some of those postures are hard work and I think make my body try to go into an aerobic kind of state so hence can make me feel unwell. Also the balance postures.. I lost my ability to balance well when I got ME.. so then couldnt do what I'd been doing for years. I'd go to yoga class and just keep falling all over my mat... I was at risk of really hurting myself (I may of sprained my wrist from falling from postures if Im remembering back right).

I cant do Tai Chi either and had to give that up too thou I'd done it for years before getting ill as it also caused me issues. With the Tai Chi.. my body responded weird to it and I developed painful hard knots in my back immediately after a session which also caused me to loose the flexability I previously had.. I ended up having to have weekly massage for maybe up to 2 years to get rid of those from the Tai Chi. (A Tai Chhi Master told me that that happened cause my energy wasnt flowing right and hence then I got hard knots).

Ive given Tai Chi another go not too long ago.. but I found i cant do it now due to the Orthostatic Intollerence (POTS). After 10-15 mins of Tai Chi and I was unwell from it and not then as good the next day either.

Anyway..for myself, neither of those things are suitable exercise. Maybe some slow moving pilates exercises wouldnt cause the issues I have with these two things.

ps. I also talked a yoga teacher into allowing me to try the pregnancy yoga class thinking that may be more managable to me (even thou there as someone 97 or 98 years old managing the standard yoga class I used to go to). I thou couldnt thou do the yoga for pregnant woman either as it caused me PEM

 

[peggy-sue]

I used to do vimi yoga. It's a gentle slow one which can be tailored to your needs and abilities, the movements are all anaerobic.
I couldn't hack the so-called "spiritual" side of it at all. I'm an aethiest, so my brain went into it's usual analytical mode and I was working out the biochemical physiology of what my body was doing... the "spiritual" explanation was just irritating nonsense which got in the way of achieving the correct sort of calm state I did get from understanding the physiology.

One time, our teacher said; "Now, just imagine you have a fluffy little chick in each palm of your hand.."
I'm afraid I collapsed and snorted loudly. If you have a fluffy little chick in each palm of your hand... you have two handsfull of chicken poo. Been there, done it, had the handsfull of (very runny) poo!
The breathing exercises which went with the "spiritual" stuff just made me sweat and feel lousy. I only did them in class, not at home. Social pressure!

Sadly, I had to give it up. It involves too much arm raising. I only have a limited amount of arm-raising capability and it is needed for laundry and dishes.

 

[Gamboa]

I joined a yoga studio for a year and went regularly but won't I would get home and have to go to bed. I now know it was due to too much getting up and down and it was too aerobic for me. I know people don't think of yoga as aerobic exercise but some of the new types offered now such as power yoga are very strenuous. I was doing the standard Hatha yoga but doing things such as the Sun Salutation involves a lot of standing up, then getting down on the floor, followed by a quick standing up again. This is really bad if you have POTS, OI or anything like it, often seen in people with ME/CFS.

If done improperly you can really hurt some joints and tendons so be careful.

Good luck. I hope you find a class that is suitable for you. I am going to try again but find one that is very gentle (perhaps for old people, even though I'm not that old).

Gamboa

 

[peggy-sue]

I would love to be able to do yoga again - it got me so fit and healthy - so when I heard about a yoga book that had been written specifically FOR folk with "fatigue" conditions, ("Beat fatigue with yoga" by Fiona Agombar) I bought it.

Useless! All arm-raising stuff and all sorts of other things PWME cannot cope with.

 

[Sushi]

Sometimes classes called "restorative" yoga can be suitable. Done mostly lying down.

Sushi

 

[svetoslav80]

Yoga is the right choice! After years, I'm now returning to my yoga practice. I have been doing the exercises the wrong way for years. It's much more of a pleasure now, when I'm doing them right. I don't like classes though. I like practicing alone.

 

[Esther12]

Largely, I think that people are just best doing what they fancy with these sorts of activities.

Because of it's benefits for core muscle strength, I think that pilates might be the best of things like that... but there's probably so little in it that personal preference trumps all us. Best of luck with it.

 

[ukxmrv]

Tried Yoga a few times over the decades. I've found that Yoga classes with mixed poses (standing etc) caused bad PEM for me. Classes for disabled people can be just as bad in that way.

One of my local ME / CFS groups does yoga but people from that group have said that they find it grueling and get PEM so it seems to be targetted to people who don't.

Yoga done lying down for another disabled group was a little better but still not doable for me.Something I found was that because I have hypermobile joints I could get into the poses easily but the pain after was terrible and I was prone to strains/pulls etc. Even getting one to one instruction in how to put togther a personal program with an instructor didn't work. I've given up now.

 

[taniaaust1]

One time, our teacher said; "Now, just imagine you have a fluffy little chick in each palm of your hand.."
I'm afraid I collapsed and snorted loudly. If you have a fluffy little chick in each palm of your hand... you have two handsfull of chicken poo. Been there, done it, had the handsfull of (very runny) poo!

LOL

 

[ibenagnes]

I used to do a lot of yoga, classical yoga, before I got too sick. Now I can only do very simple yoga, but it increases my wellness. A relaxed body deals better with pain.

 

[peggy-sue]

Yoga is NOT good for folk with hypermobility - it can cause a lot of harm.
Your teacher should have known that.

 

[BFG]

I have also been trying to get into a yoga and have been searching for that perfect style of yoga for me. I have some back disk problems and mild OI issues so most styles are problematic. The best one for me is KRIPALU YOGA with avoidance of problematic poses/postures.

There is a kripalu yoga website with home yoga classes which is very helpful when starting out and you can download them. They have videos for beginners to advanced. Take it as slow as you need.
http://kripalu.org/article/1205?utm_source=website&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=yogaathome

I am laying off the yoga for now as my symptoms are getting worse. Sometimes finding a stick that i can maneuver around my body is good enough for me. But I find the best thing you can do for your body is listen to it and never try and follow what anyone else says.

 

[Sushi]

To second and third what others have said, hypermobility (EDs III or anything related) is a big caution for our patient group. Overstretching can cause more problems to problematic collagen and you may not know it at the time. I learned the hard way!

Sushi