Yoga Anyone?
Settling into a routine my first month or so on SSB Unit 54 - my meals in my room being fed by mom or a nursing aide; having range of motion exercises twice a week; playing games with another patient in recreational therapy in the mornings Monday to Thursday; and meeting with my psychologist on Friday mornings. In the afternoons was visiting with my mom and friends popping in to say hello.
About this time, Kim my recreational therapist told me I will doing yoga on Mondays for an hour. I looked at her funny “You’re kidding me? How can I do yoga when I can’t move my limbs?” . Yoga to me was posing and stretching and it is usually for able-bodied people. That afternoon I go down to the recreational room and there were about 4 other patients there, also in wheelchairs. The type of yoga we were doing was Breathing Yoga. Basically, the therapist plays meditation music and we do breathing exercises to assist with controlling pain levels as well as decrease a person’s anxiety levels. Must have been doing the exercises correctly as I was so pain-free and relaxed that I fell asleep the first day! I went to about 7-8 classes in total and I fell asleep in over half of them. One time though, during the class my feet were aching and painful. But with my Mom doing an awesome job massaging my feet while doing the exercises - Yup I drifted for a snooze.
I was happy that I had the opportunity to learn about breathing yoga as it did help me in the future. I don’t know if you have had a Foley catheter changed - it is not fun. With music playing (usually Adele, Josh Groban or The Tenors), I closed my eyes and did my yoga breathing exercises to ease my pain. Found the yoga breathing beneficial when the neuropathy pain got tense or felt my anxiety level rise.
About this time, Kim my recreational therapist told me I will doing yoga on Mondays for an hour. I looked at her funny “You’re kidding me? How can I do yoga when I can’t move my limbs?” . Yoga to me was posing and stretching and it is usually for able-bodied people. That afternoon I go down to the recreational room and there were about 4 other patients there, also in wheelchairs. The type of yoga we were doing was Breathing Yoga. Basically, the therapist plays meditation music and we do breathing exercises to assist with controlling pain levels as well as decrease a person’s anxiety levels. Must have been doing the exercises correctly as I was so pain-free and relaxed that I fell asleep the first day! I went to about 7-8 classes in total and I fell asleep in over half of them. One time though, during the class my feet were aching and painful. But with my Mom doing an awesome job massaging my feet while doing the exercises - Yup I drifted for a snooze.
I was happy that I had the opportunity to learn about breathing yoga as it did help me in the future. I don’t know if you have had a Foley catheter changed - it is not fun. With music playing (usually Adele, Josh Groban or The Tenors), I closed my eyes and did my yoga breathing exercises to ease my pain. Found the yoga breathing beneficial when the neuropathy pain got tense or felt my anxiety level rise.
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