I found the below gentle yoga for the morning. It’s also good for those of us with seriously challenged nervous systems at any time of the day. Those of us with protracted withdrawal syndrome need to be gentle and learn to listen to our bodies very carefully as we heal. Even yoga can trigger us or put us over the edge if we’re not careful. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Because of global and broad hypersensitivity (caused by the psych drug injury) sometimes two minutes of yoga is exactly the right amount. Sometimes two minutes of yoga right now, five minutes a hour from now and ten minutes before bed is just right.
I got up this morning wanting to go to a yoga class which I’ve recently been able to do on occasion. Still, the condition of my autonomic nervous system has different ideas sometimes. Even yoga can be too much and a full yoga class in the community quite often is.
I decided to find something appropriate on youtube instead. I often do my own routines and don’t absolutely need a class or a youtube video either, but I like finding new routines and new teachers. It really helps me stretch and grow. It also often helps to slow me down when I might otherwise rush through postures on my own. … [click on title to read the rest]
A friend of mine who is a highly ethical and unusually tuned in yoga teacher is offering some courses. Kristine Kaoverii Weber gave me the basic foundations of yoga that got me out of bed when I was bedridden. Really it felt like a transmission because with her early coaching/teaching I literally rose up out… Continue Reading →
I was happy to see this article I’m sharing below. Yoga is for everyone and all body types. Granted not all yoga studios understand this reality and some are not very comfortable for people who don’t feel they fit into the scene. I recommend finding somewhere you feel safe to practice. If you can’t find a class YouTube is a great teacher. I learned yoga at home by necessity because I couldn’t leave the house. Just listen to your body and never do anything that doesn’t feel comfortable. It’s really not that complicated. … [click on title to read and view more]
My husband, Paul Woodward, who has published quite a few essays on this blog, sometimes sends emails to me about his thoughts on my (and therefore, often, our) circumstance. Sometimes he’s incredibly helpful and insightful both. I’m sharing what he wrote to me yesterday. The below is most of the body of an email. I’ve edited out a couple of sentences that were directed to me more personally at the beginning and the end. Most of it is just as it was written. As way of introduction to those who perhaps are not familiar with this blog, the autonomic nervous system injury that Paul is referring to in myself is the one incurred by psychiatric drugs and their withdrawal. It is essentially a sort of chemical and pharmaceutical and, therefore, iatrogenic brain injury. It’s often referred to as psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome and in some people can be a severe and debilitating condition. … [click on title to read and view more]
I like to help people see how easy yoga can be. You can start with something as simple as this and see where it takes you. Being a yogi is about listening to your body and learning from it and it really doesn’t matter if you can do really complicated poses or not. Start simple and see what happens. Back bends continue to be very helpful to me …
I’m sharing info about this yoga studio for multiple reasons really. I’m happy and honored to raise their profile on the internet so as to help support them. They are truly in service to the community and so I too want to give back. Also, it would be lovely to see such studios opening up all over the country and the world. I hope that this post might plant seeds so that this sort of vision can be replicated elsewhere. So many yoga studios don’t seem to have the true spirit of yoga. Yoga has become a part of popular and hip culture, so that in some circles the yoga as lifestyle and philosophy gets lost. We need more yoga studios that are, as this one is, deeply in service to the community.
Number two is that the folks in the video talking about how yoga and the community there at Asheville Community Yoga are real people talking about their real experiences. I, too, have found that being part of that particular community and practicing yoga regularly, both, has radically helped support my healing process.
Three, I want to again, talk about how yoga has helped me in my life, in general. It literally raised me from my bed, where I had been bedridden for 2 years. My muscles were completely atrophied. I started with leg and arm lifts and turning my feet and hands in circles. Serious baby steps. And now I can do all sorts of stuff. … [click on title to read and view more]
Lately I’ve not been able to go to my yoga classes. I was going to 2 to 4 classes a week in the spring. Summer brought lower energy last year too. I’m needing to be slow and careful with my body again this summer too. But the change in energy, while reminiscent of last year, is far less impactful this year. Last year I was having far more trouble with this shift and was much more exhausted and just felt really sick again. This year, it’s far easier to see it as a natural rhythm my body goes through with the seasons. I do miss my classes but I seem to be able to go to about 1 a week. Maybe a little less, but it’s clear to me this year that this is not a setback…this is a natural rhythm for me and I need to respect my body’s needs. In that alone there is great healing. I continue to listen to the wisdom of my body. (includes video) … [click on title for the rest of the post]
This is the most vigorous video I’ve posted. As I get better I’m able to do more and more. On good days some of the yoga classes I go to in the community are really quite advanced. Still I always need to listen to my body/mind/spirit and I often leave classes early. My nervous system (and a lot of my readers who also have protracted withdrawal issues) is very delicate and so it’s not so much about strength of my muscles…it’s about some sort of threshold that is reached in my nervous system. When I get to that point I need to stop doing yoga. Period. And it’s often when I’m doing seemingly gentle stuff too. In fact sometimes I find that the most vigorous yoga triggers me less. It’s always a mystery…the moment. What will my body/mind/spirit be up to today? … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Everything matters 