Guest guest Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 Yoga Relieves Fatigue in MS Patients Studies found that taking yoga classes and practicing poses for a six-month period could greatly improve fatigue symptoms in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study also revealed that yoga was just as effective as aerobic exercises in relieving fatigue-related symptoms. Although there didn't appear to be an improvement in cognitive functioning in the MS studies, there was a definite increase in the quality of physical health. In one study it was found that 57 percent of the 2,000 participants with multiple sclerosis who tried yoga reported that it produced some positive effects on their health. Study on MS and the Effects of Yoga a.. 69 patients with MS were divided into three groups: one group attended a weekly lyengar yoga class, a type of yoga that involves stationary positions that work by relaxing various muscle groups, the second group participated in a weekly class that involved riding a stationary bicycle and the third group served as the control group. b.. Both the yoga and bike riding groups exercised at home. c.. Researchers evaluated the groups for attention, alert levels, mood, anxiety, fatigue and overall quality of life. d.. The yoga classes were weekly and lasted 90 minutes. e.. Participants of the study learned approximately 19 poses and did breathing exercises to help them with relaxation and concentration. f.. The aerobic group rode recumbent bicycles or stationary bicycles and completed their exercise routine with some light stretching moves. Findings From The Study a.. No apparent changes in cognitive abilities. b.. Signs of improvement in fatigue symptoms. c.. Yoga and aerobics were shown to produce equally positive effects on fatigue symptoms. Neurology June 8, 2004;62(11):2058-64 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Mercola's Comment: Interestingly, yoga is also widely used as a natural form of pain relief because it is thought to help regulate the brain's pain center and its attention to breathing is calming and reduces tension, which can help with pain management. The bottom line is that any form of exercise whether it is swimming, riding a stationary bike or getting involved in some type of physical activity will help improve fatigue symptoms commonly linked to MS. The other critical areas that need to be addressed with MS include metabolic typing and emotional balancing. I have found in my practice that our success rates for MS have been dramatically improved after patients applied these adjustments to their lifestyle. The vast majority of the patients who come to our clinic with early MS seem to do quite well. It is absolutely amazing--it is uncommon for a week to go by without seeing someone in the practice who has resolved his or her MS challenge with the program. I am convinced that resolving the stress is a major part of improving the MS equation. Eating a healthy diet that is right for your metabolic type is also an important part of controlling this disease. Finally, I recommend avoiding nearly all drugs for MS since they are only Band-Aids (and for most are quite expensive). Vitamin D is also an essential part of the treatment. In my book I explain that it is medical malpractice not to normalize vitamin D levels with testing to values in the high 40s or low 50s. Related Articles: Amazing Recovery From Multiple Sclerosis Sunlight Exposure Beneficial In Multiple Sclerosis Multiple Sclerosis: A Chronic Mycotoxicosis? Multiple Sclerosis and Epstein-Barr Virus Multiple Sclerosis May be Linked to Infection Multiple Sclerosis Drug Linked to Heart Problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Simone, You will move past believing in your feelings of guilt when you decide to stop believing in the illusion of fear and guilt. Fear and Guilt don't mean anything unless you say so, you know? The part that changed me (for good) was the portion of the workbook dedicated to Willingness, Chapter 10. It asked for your limitations to be only time and situation. So I was willing to be driven in a car on a highway for 10 minutes. Only 10! Then if I wanted to stop, walk around, walk home, breath or whatever, then onto the 10-minutes again of willingness. That was my plan, to take it 10 minutes at a time. The funny thing was that 10 minutes turned into 4.5 hours, LOL! It does get easier with intentional practice. It's a lot like trying a new food, you just give it a little taste at first, and if you must eat the whole elephant, you do it one bite at a time. :-) You will make it! Laita > > > Someone posted that they wondered if Yoga and ACT go together, Rob?. > Well, for me Yoga and ACT are almost one and the same. I teach yoga > despite having a long standing anxiety problem - I bring ACT concepts > into my yoga class (especially the mindfulness) and I find that they > work great together. I think you have to find the right teacher - one > that is not just focused on a beautiful body! > My sticking point at the moment is 'walking the talk'. I know the > concepts, love the work, but feel that I fall short and don't push > myself hard enough. How do you deal with guilt triggered by knowing > what you need to do but not doing it and thus dragging yourself down? > It's great of hear of peoples success's (Laitawoman and the beach) I > have not reached my beach yet but I have dipped my toe in the sea! > > Love Simone > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Hi Randy, Good to hear from you -I hope all goes well with you. Umm, guilt. I don't know. But you are right, guilt keeps me from the present, and the present is actually quite good at the moment. I am working doing my yoga classes, dealing with the kids, the house, started doing some reflexology -life is pretty good. BUT I'm not ( at least not much) going out of my comfort zone much - although I have achieved a couple of small things. I will do as you suggest and look closley at these guilt feelings and see as I suspect, that they are a cover for not wanting to face the pain of living fully. I think what I will do is just observe the guilty thoughts as just that, thoughts, another trick of the mind to take over the driving wheel. I wonder what purpose the guilt serves for me? Does it keep me in avoidance? I think maybe so - but it seems so rational for me. I tell myself I don't have time to drive here and there to see if I panic or not -when I am busy and happy doing what I am doing right here, right now. If it ain't broke why fix it? Or maybe I am just hiding from the horrible truth that I KNOW that I need to practice feeling anxiety in order to learn to live with it. Am I choosing the comfortable pain of guilt? Maybe so. Am I just too happy in my cage? I'll work with this one. Thanks for your help. I think your idea of values and goals happening here and now is good - it will keep you present and connected - not in some imaginary future. Take Care Simone Re: Yoga -- "adrianandboo" wrote:> My sticking point at the moment is 'walking the talk'. > I know the concepts, love the work, but feel that I> fall short and don't push myself hard enough. How do> you deal with guilt triggered by knowing what you need > to do but not doing it and thus dragging yourself down?Hi Simone--it's good to see your name again here! I have similar concerns about progress in some areas, lack of progress in others. However guilt is less of an issue for me these days than it used to be, so I wanted to talk about how that has come about. I'd be interested in what you think. I'm going to be a little long-winded, but as you know that's nothing new. A good example of something I have guilty thoughts about would be my not getting enough exercise - I often use excuses about my poor health and lack of energy to avoid committing to goals in other domains, but haven't yet set up a schedule and stuck to it. Instead I exercise ad hoc, when "I feel like it" or remember to do so. So let's say I'm feeling guilty about not exercising. These days, when I'm struggling or resisting guilty or self-hating thoughts and feelings about something, I do a modified "tin can monster" exercise to get back in a welcoming rather than avoiding mode. First I do a body scan to get present, then I start letting myself focus on my unhappy thoughts and related body sensations. Often it feels like resistance at first, with tension in the shoulders, etc., but shifts to an ache in the throat, a heavy heart, etc. So this is a way of letting go of struggle. As for the guilt I started with before I sat down and got present - my theory is that guilt isn't "truth," but a behavior, done for specific reasons. The giveaway is the language guilt uses, which is all about impossibility. It talks about what I "should have done" but no longer can; it talks about what I "should do" in the future while predicting I won't do it. In each case I'm to blame.What do I get out of this? Guilt allows me to play the role of victim, someone who is seemingly not able to choose, not able to be responsible. It keeps me focused on the past and the future, while letting me ignore the present, which is the only real thing I will ever know. And it keeps the really deep pain away by substituting a more comfortable sort of pain. The best part of the trick is, when it works, I'm not even aware of what I'm doing. But if I remember to ask who is to "blame" here, all the answers my mind can come up with are circular, leading back to the same stale conclusions about being "bad." If I use the defusing technique of asking "Why?" repeatedly, I soon see that there is no one judging me but me. There is no one standing behind me shaking their finger at me; I am alone with my power to choose. I see that the guilt that once seemed so "true" is really just a learned behavior, one I internalized as a child. Given that "now" is where I live, not the future, I've started thinking of values and goals as happening now, with each choice I make, rather than existing in some imaginary "later." It's not magic, but I'm doing more than if I insisted on "being guilty" – including more exercise.But these are just words and look pretty lifeless on the screen to me. Our own experience is always more powerful, so I would only suggest that if guilt seems like a sticking point, you could check out the guilt itself to see if it's the honest observer it claims to be. Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, sign up for your free account today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 16, 2007 Report Share Posted June 16, 2007 Hi all, This is a response to an earlier post. I'm a student of Steve and I rarely post, so I thought I'd re-introduce myself. I've been involved in a couple of studies that combined ACT with Yoga. It was a really neat experience, and easy to do because they are very similar from a philosophical standpoint, as other have pointed out. For anyone who does practice yoga, here's some ideas on how we integrated the two. In general, yoga is best done with present moment awareness of the body and breath. You can practice mindfulness skills while breathing and moving your body into different postures. Specifically, we did things like combine inverted postures with self-as-context work to have people experience themselves (and the world) from literally a different perspective. We used hard postures to supplement acceptance work. Yin yoga postures, which required " surrendering " into each posture (literally trying harder made it more difficult) to help illustrate the 'control trap' (or " Control is the Problem " , depending on what book you've read). Postures that require a strong base or foundation were done with values work. Starting to make sense? Hopefully you get an idea, and maybe some new ways of engaging yoga for those of you who practice. Peace, > > > Someone posted that they wondered if Yoga and ACT go together, Rob?. > Well, for me Yoga and ACT are almost one and the same. I teach yoga > despite having a long standing anxiety problem - I bring ACT concepts > into my yoga class (especially the mindfulness) and I find that they > work great together. I think you have to find the right teacher -one > that is not just focused on a beautiful body! > My sticking point at the moment is 'walking the talk'. I know the > concepts, love the work, but feel that I fall short and don't push > myself hard enough. How do you deal with guilt triggered by knowing > what you need to do but not doing it and thus dragging yourself down? > It's great of hear of peoples success's (Laitawoman and the beach) I > have not reached my beach yet but I have dipped my toe in the sea! > > Love Simone > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 18, 2007 Report Share Posted June 18, 2007 Hi, Thats really interesting - is there any way I could read about the studies between ACT and Yoga anywhere. I think theres a book in there somewhere! Regards Simone. Re: Yoga Hi all,This is a response to an earlier post. I'm a student of Steve and I rarely post, so I thought I'd re-introduce myself. I've been involved in a couple of studies that combined ACT with Yoga.It was a really neat experience, and easy to do because they are verysimilar from a philosophical standpoint, as other have pointed out.For anyone who does practice yoga, here's some ideas on how weintegrated the two.In general, yoga is best done with present moment awareness of thebody and breath. You can practice mindfulness skills while breathingand moving your body into different postures. Specifically, we didthings like combine inverted postures with self-as-context work tohave people experience themselves (and the world) from literally adifferent perspective. We used hard postures to supplement acceptancework. Yin yoga postures, which required "surrendering" into eachposture (literally trying harder made it more difficult) to helpillustrate the 'control trap' (or "Control is the Problem", dependingon what book you've read). Postures that require a strong base orfoundation were done with values work. Starting to make sense?Hopefully you get an idea, and maybe some new ways of engaging yogafor those of you who practice. Peace,>> > Someone posted that they wondered if Yoga and ACT go together, Rob?. > Well, for me Yoga and ACT are almost one and the same. I teach yoga > despite having a long standing anxiety problem - I bring ACT concepts > into my yoga class (especially the mindfulness) and I find that they > work great together. I think you have to find the right teacher -one > that is not just focused on a beautiful body!> My sticking point at the moment is 'walking the talk'. I know the > concepts, love the work, but feel that I fall short and don't push > myself hard enough. How do you deal with guilt triggered by knowing > what you need to do but not doing it and thus dragging yourself down?> It's great of hear of peoples success's (Laitawoman and the beach) I > have not reached my beach yet but I have dipped my toe in the sea!> > Love Simone> The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Unfortunately, I don't have anything written up on the ACT/Yoga stuff yet, certainly not in any digestable format. Others are working on this too. As soon as anything readable shows up I will post it to the list. Peace, > > > > > > Someone posted that they wondered if Yoga and ACT go together, Rob?. > > Well, for me Yoga and ACT are almost one and the same. I teach yoga > > despite having a long standing anxiety problem - I bring ACT concepts > > into my yoga class (especially the mindfulness) and I find that they > > work great together. I think you have to find the right teacher - one > > that is not just focused on a beautiful body! > > My sticking point at the moment is 'walking the talk'. I know the > > concepts, love the work, but feel that I fall short and don't push > > myself hard enough. How do you deal with guilt triggered by knowing > > what you need to do but not doing it and thus dragging yourself down? > > It's great of hear of peoples success's (Laitawoman and the beach) I > > have not reached my beach yet but I have dipped my toe in the sea! > > > > Love Simone > > > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out more at the Yahoo! Mail Championships. Plus: play games and win prizes. > http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://mail.yahoo.net/uk > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.