10 Minute Yoga for Fibromyalgia – Gentle Stretches for Chronic Pain Relief

Transcript

hello and welcome to this gentle 10-minute yoga sequence for fibromyalgia pain and chronic pain relief my name is Joanne you may want to have a pillow handy for some of our stretches today we'll begin by coming into an extended Child's Pose so let's bring the knees apart as wide as you'd like big toes to touch and you might choose to rest your forehead on your pillow for a little extra support as the arms extend in front of you and the elbows come to the floor or you might instead choose to leave the pillow aside and simply bring the forehead to the floor and if you do suffer from fibromyalgia chronic fatigue syndrome or any related chronic disorder please know that you're not alone I was actually diagnosed with fibromyalgia myself when I was 13 and while I'm very fortunate that it hasn't bothered me as much in recent years I do know just how discouraging it can be so please listen to yourself listen to your body and if anything today doesn't feel good you're always welcome to come back to this child's pose or find a different position that feels right for you beautiful so let's slowly come up set that pillow aside if you were using one then we'll come to our hands and knees for just two rounds of cat-cow so inhale drop the belly as the tale hone reaches for the sky and then exhale press into the hands and knees to round the entire back inhale once more lift the tailbone and upper spine and squeeze the shoulder blades and exhale push the floor way too round very nice and now we're just going to lower ourselves slowly down onto our stomachs and keeping the elbows underneath the shoulders we're going to find our Sphinx pose so the forearms are pressing into the floor the chest is reaching forward and the shoulders are back and down I like to keep my feet a little bit apart here it's a little bit easier on the lower back and because fibromyalgia can affect each of us a little bit differently in terms of our Musco musculoskeletal pain or fatigue or mood issues it's important to note that exercise can help gentle yoga routines like this one or some of my other videos or swimming elliptical training any forms of lower impact cardio can really make a difference in our ability to relax so be proud of yourself for turning up today and now let's gently roll on to our right side rest the head with the on top of the right arm and we'll step the left foot in front of us with the knee pointing upwards and bring the left hand to the floor behind us the fingers in the direction of the head for many of us fibromyalgia can cause painful flare-ups and areas of the body where a lot of muscles come together like the hips or the shoulder and this position is a very gentle side body stretch where we're stretching both of those areas at once so you can close your eyes breathing in and out slowly through the nose and just relax wonderful and let's push ourselves back up and we'll just come straight to the other side so rolling onto our left side resting the head on the arm stepping the right foot in front of the other leg and placing the right palm flat on the floor pointing towards the head so supporting ourselves on both sides of the body as we gently stretch through both the right shoulder and right hip this video was actually requested and a comment on my other YouTube channel where I post the same videos in French and if you have a suggestion on something you'd like me to make please leave me a comment below and I'm happy to help I'm planning to continue putting out videos every Monday going forward so make sure to so you can be notified when the next one comes out as we move on you can gently roll your way back onto hands and knees find your way to a cross-legged position and we'll open the arms up like goalposts pulling the shoulder blades together and then curve the upper spine forward as you drop the head and again open up maybe look towards the sky and curve forward drop the chin towards the chest to Martha opening up as you inhale and forwards as you exhale and last one reach and open stretch and curling forwards let it out lovely and now let's bring the right foot over to the outside of the left knee and twist towards the right hugging that knee towards the chest you can also choose to take this a little further if you'd like by really cradling that knee and dropping forward so that the left elbow rests on the left knee just an option some of you might already know that this is one of my baby very favorite hip and glute stretches it was also part of my seated routine for bursitis and hip pain since these are areas that are also common tender points for fibromyalgia sufferers it's a great one for us today as well remember to breathe breathe excuse me easily freely and deeply in and out through the nose and also ensure that you're practicing in an atmosphere of gratitude towards yourself for doing something to help yourself feel better today so well done to you for that very good and we can release that knee come to a cross-legged seat to just give the legs a little shake and then we'll bring that left foot outside the right knee and find our twist towards the left either staying up tall or leaning into it a little bit further with the elbow on the knee your choice and I know that fibromyalgia can be a long journey and I truly hope that through gradual gentle exercise finding simple pleasures and understanding that it's okay to rest when you need it and push yourself when you can you can remind yourself that you and not fibromyalgia are really the one in charge of your life it can be so easy to get down on ourselves when we feel like we can't do something or when we're in pain but if we can replace those thoughts with encouraging thoughts about how far we've come or how hard we've tried you can really take ownership of who we are in our journey I really and truly believe that great job so we can release that knee and we'll come to slowly lie on our backs so just make you really there and once you've arrived you can bring your right knee towards the chest holding either behind the thigh or in front of the shin and you can close your eyes if you'd like and just breathe take the opportunity to notice where you might be feeling this stretch the most perhaps it's in your left hip flexor maybe it's in your right leg maybe somewhere in your back just take a quick scan and an opportunity to accept where you are right now beautiful so we can let go of that right knee and then the left knee comes in to replace it holding on where ever might feel appropriate for you today and again I invite you to take a little scan of the body notice again where you feel this stretch the most perhaps it's a little bit different from when we did it on the first side it's always interesting to notice how our body might react to certain postures particularly ones that we don't have the opportunity to try very often and it just helps us get to know our bodies a little bit better understanding what might feel good one moment what might help or what might also get a little bit easier over time perhaps and you might choose to keep the eyes closed here as we bring the right knee in as well next to the left hugging both knees in and rocking a little bit left and right to settle in and then keeping one hand on each knee just start to take some little circles towards the outside with those knees letting the feet flop around a little bit just a couple times go to your own pace and then we'll reverse bring the circles towards the inside few more times and then we'll release you can gently bring the soles of the feet back to the mat and take hold of that pillow if you had one nearby you can press into the feet to lift the hips up and Nestle the pillow underneath the lower back so that you can relax with the hips in a slightly elevated position then you could keep your feet on the floor perhaps bring them into the air keeping a soft bend in the knees this is called waterfall pose a great opportunity for the legs to be weightless for the circulation to flow in the opposite direction and for the lower back to relax you can keep the arms alongside the body or you might also like to lift them over the head and rest the back of the hands on the floor behind you for a little extra shoulder stretch if you enjoy this pose I also have an entire ten-minute video on Waterfall pose or legs up the wall pose with different variations so we'll link that in the description down below as a wonderful sequence for you to try as well and take this opportunity to come back to your breath to notice how the body is feeling 10 minutes a day even when sometimes that's all we've got really can make a difference in our bodies and minds so I hope that you'll consider hitting the like button when you finished and subscribing to join me for future sequences it really helps to support me too so thanks for that and if you're ready you can slowly bring the feet back down to the earth and you can pick up the hips again to release the pillow roll to one side and make your way to a comfortable seat perhaps even sitting on the pillow for extra comfort in the hips can close the eyes to take one final scan of how the body is feeling now at the end of practice and I thank you for all of your hard work and for joining me today and I hope to see you soon namaste [Music]