Does Yoga help Fibromyalgia?

In short, yes. It has worked for me and countless others.

After being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2003, at the age of 32, a friend sent me a yoga video along with a yoga strap. I was initially very depressed and not open to positive suggestions. I watched the video once, tried to keep up, and later gave up. Thinking to myself something along the lines of: "there I tried and it didn't work for me." I pushed myself really hard and felt so out of shape that I became discouraged.

I flared up really bad the following day and gave up on yoga. I resigned myself to living my life filled with pain. I just accepted it. I had lost my job, my ability to mother my children, and most of all hope. If not for my loving husband I may have not made it through the next two years.

I continued (over the next 2 years) like this: suffering with all over body pain and felt there was no hope for easing my condition. I was fully medicated, totally disabled, and struggled with even the smallest task (yes... even personal care). I was certain I would never work again and would be disabled for the rest of my life. I tried physical therapy and followed doctors orders fully.

In 2005 there was a shift in my life. The shift began with a 5 month long battle with a staph infection that nearly ended my life. I was underweight, malnourished, taking 13 medications per day, and I was certain this was a toxic combination for my body that lead to the staph in the first place.

With Doctors care (and some strong determination) I began to wean myself from all medications, sought alternative medicines (acupuncture, reiki, chiropractics), changed my diet and thought I would try yoga again.

I decided I wasn’t going to just whither away and die; I was going to live. I began a regimen of diet, reiki, acupuncture and chiropractics in place of medicines. In time I was free of all medicines I had been prescribed.

I began practicing at home with little to no guidance doing sun salutations at my own pace – just to stretch each day. To learn sun salutations I found a website with a printable illustration of the series of poses.

Within two years I was working again part time and eventually returning to college seeking a degree in special education. I realized that retuning to my high stress corporate job was not in line with my healing process.

Initially I did not understand using my breath with yoga. I did this for a year without knowing how to breath properly. That is when a friend (diagnosed with lupus) who practiced yoga really inspired me to extend the amount of energy I was giving yoga. She encouraged me to join a yoga forum to speak with others regarding yoga. At that point I began to practice daily using pranayama with my poses.

At that time there were no fitness centers or facilities offering yoga in my area on a daily basis. I knew that once a week would never be enough yoga for me and that I would need to practice at home daily. Soon I was searching for yoga DVDs, props and mats. I soon found a full “OM in a Box” kit for $3 at a yard sale: as blessing for me on many levels. This changed everything I thought I knew about yoga.

For those unfamiliar, this is a yoga kit that comes with instructional CD, yoga strap, pose cards, and incense. I found that listening to the CD as if I were in a yoga class with Cyndi Lee was more effective for me than any instructional DVD I had purchased. What I really liked what that I could move at my own pace. I could stop the CD and view the pose cards as a reminder of how to do a pose. I really liked that I was incouraged to not push myself but to instead be gentle.

Since I had never been to a class no one before Cyndi Lee had instructed me to “make sure your hands are in line with your shoulders” at certain points during a pose. This reminded me to realign myself: not to mention hinted that others needed these reminders too. She would give these types of gentle reminders on the CD and it was as if she read my mind while listening and was right in the room with me. I love my Om in a box!

Upon learning about breathing and how to properly align myself I began to see actual results. I later found that when doing a minimum of 1 hour of yoga per day I had no fibromyalgia symptoms. During the times my practice was less my symptoms would return. This alone was enough for me to see how beneficial yoga was for me.

If you are thinking about starting yoga practice of your own here are somethings you might think about first:

• Self motivation is key. You have to be self determinded to do yoga; that is the beauty of it.




• Yoga is a martial art but this isn't meant to be a battle. You are your own opponant. Remember not to fight yourself so strongly that you give up. Treat yourself with the same respect you would give to a good friend.



• Learn pranayama breathing techniques. Google search yoga and do some research before you begin. Youtube has a variety of videos you can watch.



• Try to be in the now with your yoga. I am doing yoga now, I can think about everything else when that moment is here. Right now I am doing yoga.



• Be gentle with yourself it’s ok if you start off slow and work to longer practice. Make "childs pose" your good friend ;)



• Yoga isn’t meant to be practiced in a sudden burst of hard core poses… it is gently guiding the body to where you want it to be.



• Never feel guilt if you miss a day, just go right back to it.



• Try to do yoga every single day, even if it is only 5 minutes it’s beneficial. Don’t compare yourself to others, your poses are already perfect.



• If you don’t get a pose today, say to yourself I will get it one day, maybe it will be tomorrow… Right now I almost have it ;)

"If you always do what you always done you always get what you always got." Old Adage

Some people wonder if it is really possible to be “stress free.” I’ve had several people tell me they cannot meditate because they simply have too much stress. They’ve “tried and just can’t” do it.

To be completely honest… I can totally relate.

I think for those who have known me only in recent years this comes as a surprise. Truth is years ago I was extremely “stressed out” and very high strung. As a child growing up in poverty I never knew life with out stress. Honestly, I didn’t know any better. Nor did I realize we were “poor.” Stress is just as much a social experience for the poor as it is a personal one. It's sometimes difficult to realize there is a change to make when everyone is sharing an experience.

Where I come from it was “normal” for everyone around me to have stress. Everyone just showed this differently. To me stress was a normal way of life and seemingly very much out of my control. "You just learn to deal" was a common phrase.

From very early in my life racing thoughts kept me from being able to focus for very long. Not realizing the effects of stress I thought this was simply something I would have to "learn to deal" with. It wasn't until I was into my late 20's that I decided I would do something different. I had heard of people learning to have relief from stress through meditation. I decided to meditate to find relief from stress.

With practice and determination I did just that. Eventually I feel I found peace and inner happiness. Many people ask me: How did you do it? Well, I decided to make a change. I decided I didn't have to be hard on myself if I missed a day. I decided to let all of the weighted thoughts I was holding onto go. I decided I would change my life. I decided that I was important and deserved to have happiness. I decided to love myself enough to let the past go.

There was no magic pill, no high paid doctor, and no big secret. Very simply I put my energy into making a different choice.

Is it really that simple? The short answer is: Yes.

I spent years holding on to thoughts that things were out of my control. I felt sorry for myself and was “depressed” almost continually. One day I decided to simply… not do that anymore. It is amazing what we can accomplish just by first making a choice to do something differently. You are in control of changes in your life. No one else can make them for you.

Now some might think that a person (er, um… me) claiming to have relief from stress is probably a person who has their head in the clouds. I’ll be the first to admit this might be true ;)Some might think this is too simple, that I don't understand what others are going through. Some might also think this so called “stress free person” could only be someone who doesn’t live in the real world. I remember having the very same thoughts myself.

To be stress free must mean no money concerns, worries, or relationship difficulties.

Yet, this is not true. I am no different than you. The difference is how we choose to react to seemingly stressful events and experiences. I choose to have a peaceful experience. You can choose to have a peaceful experience too. It didn't happen overnight but it did happen. I chose to stick with peaceful thoughts. By making this choice a peaceful experience was not far to follow. I now work hard to teach peace to those near me through my peaceful actions. Setting an example of peace is the best way to learn peace.

So the question I’m posing today is: When we live in stressful situations how can we stop the stressors in our lives?

Some questions you might ask yourself are:

Whose stress is it? If it isn’t yours don’t own it.

Are there things I can do to change what I am experiencing?

What are my stress triggers?

How do I react to stressors?

What role am I playing in this stress?

Is there anything different I can do?


Stress can be a convenient diversion to keep from looking within ourselves. We have to ask ourselves what motivation we have to keep stress in our lives. What excuses do we make for our stress? What excuses do we make to keep us from making change? What excuses keep us from inner peace? If the answer to any of the above quesitons involve blame or guilt of any form (yourself or the "other") I encourage you to treat yourself and all others with unconditional Love. Remembering that we can forgive both ourself and the other can bring amazing results in spiritual growth.

Stress can also be a diversion from other things going on in our life as well. What if we decided to work through those things? What then? (Counseling can be a great source for doing this and I must note I am not a counselor) What would happen if we chose to do something different?

The key is Do something and "do something different" might be even better.

“If you always do what you always done you always get what you always got.”

Body Talk

Yesterday I was feeling very sentimental about my body. I was thinking about our long “life” together. I had just finished swimming and was kickin’ back with water bottle in hand (PBA free of course). While quietly sipping my water I was wondering what kind of salad I might eat. I almost chuckled at the irony of drinking water after being in so much water. But drink water I did.

I realized I felt really good in my body. I wanted to hug myself and savor this feeling for a minute. Just then a thought came to mind and I asked my body: “What could I have ever done to have caused you to give out on me?” (For those not in my head during this seemingly insane conversation this was in reference to the 2 year period of time we were fully disabled with Fibromyalgia.) The body responded with some very interesting points.

The body said: “What! You’ve got to be kidding me right? Remember all those years you abused me? Remember the times when I was thirsty and you answered with Dr. Pepper, alcohol, or sugary drinks? Oh! And remember when I ached for rest and you responded with stress? Yeah, that was nice.

I started to interrupt with some form of defense when the body spoke again.

“Oh, no, don’t interrupt because I haven’t even gotten going yet. It’s about time I tell you some hard truths. You ask ME why I gave out on you? If I were a friend and you had treated them this badly they would have left years ago. I mean think about it. You have treated other bodies better than me, envied other bodies more, and wished continually that you could have another bodies traits. When I’m a perfectly good body you know? Perfectly good! I should have left when I had the chance.”

The body began to cry. I guess I didn’t realize the body cared so much. So I decided to listen for awhile.

“What about only having others tell me I look nice, you never said that to me! EVER! You would ask others but never listen to little ole me sitting here glowing my Love for you. You just ignored me.

Or what about all those times I needed fresh air and to stretch and you responded with having me endure hours of smoking cigarettes on the couch flipping channels or better yet… remember the time I ached for affection and you responded with a myriad of partners who didn’t even really care about me at all!

Or how about the times when you couldn’t stand me and decided not to fuel me…at all … for DAYS. Finally you would feed me and you’d force all of it out. You expect me to not hurt over that? It might be a faded memory for you but I remember!

Or what about the thousands of times you’ve said “I’m fat.” Being the good body that I am I try to give you what you want and you would get furious with me and say terrible things to me. And lets not forget those times you put drugs in me… repeatedly. Yeah, that was…uh, neat.”

While the body was talking I realized I had neglected our relationship for years. It wasn’t until the body took on an illness that I began to change. In many ways this was the only way the body could get my attention. I never appreciated my body and I took much for granted. I decided the next obvious step in my healing process was to apologize.

I realized I never told the body I was sorry for treating it so badly, for always expecting it to be there, for assuming it wouldn’t listen to the shadow self (ego) eventually to gang up on me.
I took all of this for granted. It was at that point I interrupted the body’s tirade and said quietly:
“Hey….I Love you”

The body was so stunned by this that it said: “Www…what?

“I Love you”

We both began to cry. It was a good cry. Tears of joy welled in my eyes and I was filled with gratitude. I felt a connection that I had never felt before. I was grateful for the body hanging in there with me until I finally got around to finding myself.

The body was so thankful that I had changed. Together we agreed to work together and stop listening to ego. We formed a better partnership to work together as a team. The body understood that this is only a temporary assignment but I promised to continue to work on making healthy choices. The body agreed it would work as well, as hard, and as long as I needed it.

Together I think we will make a wonderful team.