Does Yoga work? How could Yoga help me deal with Stress? Does Yoga work in Pain Management?
In this post, I am motivated to write on Yoga because it helped me recover from severe pain and at a time when I needed it the most.
Before I dive into the post, let me clarify that I am sharing my personal experience and not some third party or fictional account. So you may agree with some of my views while disagreeing with some. I understand. I just hope to motivate and help somebody who might be having similar challenges.
Adopting Yoga
To be honest, I was no fan of Yoga, also before 2018 I did not look at it as an alternative to workout. I considered a good workout at a gym or running to be the best fitness regimen that one could follow.
However, my myth was broken when I found that simple breathing exercises (part of Yoga) can help me overcome stress.
Around 2018, my sugar levels went through the roof. With an HbA1C of 11, I was having a hard time dealing with this new found challenge. Causes were Part Lifestyle, Part Stress and some Genetics. Also during that time, I was dealing with back pain which I understood was again due to stress.
While studying for methods to control sugar, I got introduced to Yoga. Apprehensive about it earlier, I got interested when I learned how Yoga focuses on 3 aspects of life: body, mind and soul.
Apart from the many suggestions that I received, I got inspired by some individuals who claimed to have controlled sugar by practicing Yoga.
Managing Stress through Yoga
Stress creates a vicious cycle that slowly absorbs you. According to Harvard Medical School Report, Stress is one of the factors for the onset or exacerbation of diabetes.
Stress prevents the release of Insulin which results in increased sugar levels. Stress also pushes you to eat more sugary foods which your brain takes as an easy route to counter stress.
I started practicing a form of Yoga called Pranayam which essentially is a set of breathing exercises. I practiced Kapalabhati, Anulom Vilom & Bhastrika. You can see some examples in Hindi and English. I also did Surya Namaskara for overall Flexibility. You can see that in English and Hindi.
I do this Yoga everyday for 15 – 20 mins daily in the morning. I start my Yoga practice by Meditation and following it up with the above mentioned poses.
After practicing Yoga for couple of months, I found increased flexibility, better sugar control and lowering of stress levels. I also found that my back pain got alleviated to more manageable levels.
I also found that I was able to better manage my emotions and had an overall calming effect that lead to improved quality of life.
Managing Pain through Yoga
This is the most recent account of how I was able to reduce Pain because of Yoga. I must also mention here that I was motivated to write this post about Yoga because of this experience.
For the last 1 year, I have had severe pain arising from the shoulder that went down to the left arm. This pain would persist from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. The discomfort would be too much to ignore.
So this time when the pain appeared, I thought of doing a proper medication for it. It started a month ago and I know this was nothing that I had experienced before.
I was not able to move my hand, had difficulty driving. Could not focus on the work as I was constantly under pain. I also had to use ointment almost every hour to try to reduce as much pain as possible.
The medication went on for a couple of weeks but none was effective. Possible causes included Muscle cramps, Tennis Elbow, Cervical Spondylosis.
I knew if I had to depend on medication to alleviate my pain then that solution is not long term. At the time, my mother in law (Sarita Jain) suggested me to take up Yoga.
Having had positive experience with Yoga earlier, I immediately started practicing it twice a day. This specific youtube video which is in Hindi was used by me to practice Yoga for the Neck, Back and Shoulders. This Yoga is beneficial in Cervical Spondylosis, Neck Pain, Back Pain.
Started doing each Yoga with 5 repetitions which took me around 15-20 mins. This Yoga practice was done twice a day, which would take around 30 – 40 minutes.
I also do this exercise in between breaks during my office hours. The beauty of Yoga is that you do not need a gym or a special place to do it. You can practice it right sitting at your office desk.
I found its effect within 24 hours so much so that I stopped taking any medication after it. I was able to have better hand movement, could drive car without any discomfort and was able to focus on work.
Yoga for All
Having had first hand experience with Yoga, I can definitely recommend doing Yoga as against popping a pill. Pill might temporarily remove pain but wont help you in the long run.
There is a Yoga for all, whether it is adopted as a means to improve quality of life or directed as a medium to treat early stages of a disease.
I would like to remind you that I did not expected Yoga to give results overnight. I believed in the process and practiced it daily. Taking Yoga as a quick fix solution might not be such a good idea.
I do hope that you would have liked this post. If you are motivated enough to try out Yoga, please do send me your story. I would be happy to know more about you and what particular problem are you going to solve through it.
“Your Quality of Life is in Your Hands”
~RG~