Yoga, when practiced routinely, has many benefits. It can increase your energy, strength, balance, flexibility, as well as reduce stress & anxiety, decrease joint pain, muscle aches, and overall pain in the body. Making it an ideal healing platform! Specific postures, classes, and recommendations can be put together by our team of Yoga Ambassadors to help you on your journey.
Benefits of Yoga:
Increased Energy
Increased Strength
Increased Balance & Flexibility
Decrease Stress & Anxiety
Decrease in Joint Pain & Muscle Aches
Helps Relax the Body, Ease Pain
All of these benefits directly impact patients in the medical field; especially those with autoimmune diseases. What does it mean to have an autoimmune disease and why is it so important to practice something like Yoga for it’s benefits?
What is an Auto-Immune Disease?
Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which the bodies immune system attacks its own cells, versus the virus. Making the individuals who have autoimmune diseases more susceptible to getting illnesses and often leads to chronic pain as your body attacks itself.
What are the Most Common Auto-Immune Diseases?
According to the Cleveland Clinic’s studies, the top 4 Autoimmune Diseases in America right now are Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, and Celiac’s Disease. Although all of these effect the immune system in the body they also have severe effects on the joints, causing pain, and the digestive system, causing more pain and discomfort in the body. They also have life long side effects such as fatigue that can impact a person’s daily routines.
I am with you! As a Yoga Ambassador for Radect Health and 500hr - Certified Yoga Instructor I am an advocate for Yoga and all it’s benefits, but I am first and foremost a patient living with Crohn’s Disease. I was diagnosed over 20 years ago and have used Yoga to help manage my symptoms for the past decade. So I can personally attest to all of the following wonderful benefits that Yoga has brought me, and can do for you!
Yoga is Here is Help!
With benefits like decreased joint paint, muscles aches, increased energy, and relaxing the body to ease pain - Yoga can help patients manage their symptoms at home without medications!
With a routine practice yoga can help patients move better in their major joints such as: feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, and neck. I’ve personally had a client who practiced Yoga once and said he noticed his neck feeling better! I have also used Yoga postures to massage the wrists, hands and ankles as recovery poses because they feel so good!
Yoga postures help strengthen and stretch your muscles which can be good for patients who may be bed-ridden for days at a time, or long bouts of time on and off. Having a low impact option to keep moving is great and helps release aches and pains that can be felt in major muscle groups such as: calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, abdomen, biceps, triceps, back muscles, shoulders, and neck.
After practicing Yoga, even just once, you may get a feeling of euphoria, a feeling that you just accomplished something good for yourself. This feeling can give you the energy you need to get you through your day, better than a cup of coffee! 😊
The largest benefit that I have experienced with Yoga so far, as well as clients that I’ve worked with is how it helps to relieve the overall body pain and relaxes the mind. If you don’t control your mind, your mind can take control of your body!
By holding each Yoga pose you learn to focus your mind, focus your body in stillness, and calm down the breath.
The breath alone is what has helped me and so many others control our pain, and help release it without the use of pain medication.
Now that you know a little more about autoimmune diseases and how Yoga can help manage them at home, reach out to any one of the Yoga Ambassadors to help you put together a plan that helps you begin your healing journey!
Written by: Desiree Schmidt
Cited Material: https://my.clevelandclinic.org