Yoga

[sledgehammer]

Hi,

I have been to see a Yoga teacher, for a 1 to 1 consultation. It is Iyengar Yoga to be precise. I must say after one hour long session last Friday and then subsequently practicing on my own, I feel almost completely different. I have had really bad health anxiety over the past few months, and had lots of common anxiety symptoms, racing heart, pain in chest, stomach cramps, fuzzy head/headaches, IBS and twitches, as well as the actual panic/anxiety attacks. I haven't had a panic/anxiety attack since starting the yoga, it's a bloody revelation for me personally, and for me makes so much sense, as the anxiety was mostly manifesting in bodily sensations as well as the mind.

I booked the appointment, and we had a good chat about what was going on with me, and instead of looking at me quizzically when I said I felt stuff was blocked in my body and couldn't go anywhere, so I was holding it all in, she said she knew exactly what I was talking about!!! We worked on a series of poses, and I took to it like a duck to water, I have a martial arts background so have maintained a degree of flexibility, although it wouldn't have mattered if I wasn't as flexible, as you can use props for supporting the poses if required. Went home, felt rather sick, then started to gradually feel better, to the point where 90% of the negative bodily sensations had dissipated, I slept that night the best I have in months, and each following day doing the poses has helped maintain it. I am not 100% without anxiety, or back to what I would call normal everyday anxiety, but honestly and accurately 90% better than the last couple of months. I have another 1 to 1 class next Friday again to work on what I'm doing already and iron out any creases, then I'm going to go to the normal beginners classes. Good also that I'll be getting out and about doing something I enjoy in a social setting as this had suffered over the last months.

I had done 1 yoga class years ago, and hated it, it was more recreational, but this was tuned into my problems, it really was far better than I expected, and I'm so glad I went, I can't wait to get my teeth into it, I'd tried to get some exercise recently, but I was too fatigued before and definitely after, this re energized me, instead of knackering me for 3 days.

Maybe if someone has tried a lot of things without much success they could give it a go, it won't be for everyone I'm sure, but I had to keep trying things to get over this crap, I think everyone has that thing that will help them out of this, and this might fit someone like it did me. I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

[Sunflower2]

That's funny because after my first yoga class I had the worst flu that night in ages! But I agree, yoga helps me so much. I've been doing it regularly for 10 months now and afterwards it's such an amazing sense of calm you have. I could do almost anything that scares me after an hour of yoga! Now that you've found this I definitely recommend keeping it up. There's been a lot of times when I've been in relapses and I can't see the point of going to my class, but that's when you need it most!

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think you've got the right attitude sledgehammer, keep trying new things and don't give up until you've tried everything that can help you. I think this is very important as we are all different.

Exercise such as yoga is known to have a detoxifying effect so it makes sense that you may feel a bit 'off' in the first few sessions until your body adjusts to this. As Kimberley said, she felt the symptoms of flu, which makes sense since in flushing toxins out of your body it has to involve the liver and if the liver is unable to process it all in its normal fashion, you get things like this. Its well known that if you treat Candida overgrowth, this same effect occurs due to the good bacteria flushing the bad out to the liver which becomes overwhelmed. Its all temporary though.

I like the attitude of your yoga teacher too. If you said that to a medical professional they would not agree. However, these older arts work on the principle of energy and flow. I really like the look of QiGong which I am reading about at the moment. I like the fact it clearly includes Mindfulness from what I have read by the author, a master, and I allso find how it interesting that they believe in energy blockage and using their form to relieve this and allow energy to continue to flow.

I really think there is something in this. Dealing with thoughts is all part of it but I know I often feel dog rough and I'm not anxious. So, maybe I need to do something like this to improve that area of my health?

[Jenwales]

Yoga helps me at one time I felt so chilled doing yoga for a while but I can't get that feeling back now :( Maybe I did more yoga then I had more time

[Mindknot]

Sounds amazing, I was doing yoga right up until I got really bad with anxiety actually, somehow it just made me more aware that something seemed 'wrong' in my body at that time, but now I'm coming out the other side a bit, it might be worth giving it a go again, like the idea of a few one-to-one sessions but i'm already spending so much money trying to improve my situation (massages and such) that I'm not sure I can afford it at the moment... perhaps will try and practise at home more.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Sounds amazing, I was doing yoga right up until I got really bad with anxiety actually, somehow it just made me more aware that something seemed 'wrong' in my body at that time, but now I'm coming out the other side a bit, it might be worth giving it a go again, like the idea of a few one-to-one sessions but i'm already spending so much money trying to improve my situation (massages and such) that I'm not sure I can afford it at the moment... perhaps will try and practise at home more.

I think you are right. I have the issue with too much focus on bodily sensations and part of the recover is through exposure to change how you feel about exercise.

[Mindknot]

I think you are right. I have the issue with too much focus on bodily sensations and part of the recover is through exposure to change how you feel about exercise.

Definitely. Although the chosen approach probably depends which bodily sensations bother you most - I found it easier to start hitting the gym than to go back to yoga first, because at least I could say to myself "fast heartrate+aching muscles = you went to the gym silly!"... with yoga I found it a bit more difficult to uh, be in tune with myself, because my head started noticing all those silly minute things like breathing, intestinal movements, weird little muscles that I didn't know I had, all sorts. It's a totally personal thing, I guess you just have to try out different stuff. Hiking's good

[MyNameIsTerry]

Just to add to this thread, I was reading a yoga mag the other day in a shop and saw an article about Mindfulness so thought I would see how it compares. It mentioned that all forms of hatha yoga incude it and from reading the description it matched really well. The article also concluded that yoga is limited in terms of using it because it concentrates on using it within the session as opposed to Mindfulness as learnt the tradition way on its own which seeks to implement it everywhere.

Its still proof though that yoga incorporates a mental exercise that is gaining great ground in treatment of mental health issues...so why not do it? I've noticed that even the sportsmags are picking it up and telling people to not only think/feel about the muscle contraction & breathing but also about the environment which takes it closer to Mindfulness.

[sledgehammer]

Hi,
Just an update on my progress. I've continued the yoga, and currently do about 10-20 mins a day, working on the poses to unblock/release anxiety exclusively. I had tried with the help from the instructor to incorporate a relaxation set of poses, but found that I got a relaxation induced anxiety from it, feeling spacey and panicky, so i simply stopped this, I can get this feeling from certain meds., and just kept up with the original poses. I have not had a full blown panic attack since I've started this, yes I have at times felt very anxious, but greatly reduced from where I was before, and to be honest I have had quite a bit of upheaval and physical symptoms from my IBS, that beforehand would have led to a full blown attack. I have had feelings of approaching panic, and I have simply excused myself and ran quickly through some poses for ten minutes, and gotten myself back on track, it has worked so far. I believe I am managing my anxiety rather than getting rid of it, but I am in a place at least where I can work from, and address and work on the other stuff, rather than being knocked for six and going backwards.

Hope you all have a great Christmas, I am snowed under with work/life atm, so just incase I don't get back before the new year, have a great one.

[Yogi]

I taught yoga for over 10 years and have seen how much it benefits all sorts of people with all sorts of problems. I'm just starting again with my personal practice after nearly 2 years off from pelvic injury due to traumatic birth. I am relieved to be able to start the physical practice again as it unblock and clears energy for sure!
Keep it up, it definitely helps lots of us