Status
Not open for further replies.

jcairns82

Active member
Joined
Oct 9, 2013
Messages
82
Diagnosis
02/1993
Country
CA
State
Canada
I'm curious how many of you have participated in a yoga class. Have you found it helpful?

As a yoga instructor and someone who's been diagnosed with fibro for 20 years, I first started doing yoga about 15 years ago. At first, it hurt a lot. I was stretching a lot of different muscles that hadn't been used. Plus, I was pushing myself too hard and had to find my personal limits. A good instructor should be able to work with all of your health concerns to create a personal class.

About 3 years ago, I discovered restorative yoga. Here, you hold deep and relaxing postures for 4-7 minutes and mostly on your back and stomach with supportive props. It was mind blowing for me! The class was offered on Friday evenings at 5pm, so it was a perfect way to end a tiresome work/school week. It was 90 minutes and you'd do maybe 6-7 postures. Restorative just means to restore the body to its natural place.

If you have a studio in your area, you may want to see if they offer or look up online and see if any postures may be helpful.
 
Hi JCAIRNS82,

Prior to my fibro diagnosis last month, I had been doing yoga on a regular basis for over a year. I started off with a beginning Hatha yoga class and then eventually joined a yoga studio so I would have access to more classes. One of the new classes I tried was restorative yoga and began doing that on a regular basis as well. During this time, I had not been diagnosed with fibro yet but noticed that my pain levels increased after doing Hatha yoga but decreased after restorative yoga. Knowing something abnormal was going on and with my pain levels and fatigue significantly affecting my daily functioning, I finally made an appointment with a rheumatologist who diagnosed me with fibro this November. So I guess in a way, it makes sense that the slower, restorative yoga with a focus on stretching the muscle fascia helped. I have since stopped doing Hatha yoga, even with modifications because the pace is just too fast and there are too many poses that hurt.

I continue to do restorative yoga and also am doing Yin yoga, sometimes with modifications. It is also a slower paced class with a focus on holding the pose, versus flowing from pose to pose as in Hatha. If I cannot attend a class, I try to do some gentle yoga at home. I have found a few good dvds that keep me on track. (I would not be comfortable using the dvds though, without having attended a significant number of yoga classes previously with a trained instructor.)

It is good to hear from someone who has been practicing yoga for many years and finds the restorative yoga helpful too. Thank you for sharing as it gives me some hope :)
 
I have a series of restorative yoga poses that I try to do every day at home. My energy level and sense of well being benefits.
 
Wow, I had never heard about this kind of yoga, it sounds quite interesting! Apart from being super relaxing and helping with pain (hopely), do you think this kind of yoga is also good to keep yourself fit? I heard the average yoga did, but I'm not that sure about that one... since it's sooo slow!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top