I’ve been dealing with M.E (or chronic fatigue syndrome) for the past six months (I got it after I had a virus of some sort - possibly COVID-19 - and my body just hasn’t been the same since). It’s a bloody nightmare. I have very little energy and even minor tasks make me crash right after and any physical activity at all gives me muscle aches. So exercise has been totally off the cards for the last six months.
So in an attempt to do something I thought I’d try yoga for the first time, in the hope that it’s gentle enough to play nicely with my M.E. I got up this video and gave it a go.
And well, it was far less gentle than I was expecting. God it’s hard. The lady in the video looked graceful and calm in all her poses as she talked about focusing on ’tucking the navel into the spine’ and deep breathing. Whereas I was fighting for my life to just hold the pose at all.
And talking of my dodgy body. I have an anterior pelvic tilt. This tightens my hamstrings and makes any stretch which involves them difficult and a tad painful. And when I do stretch my hamstrings in any way my sciatic nerve plays up and for the next few days sitting down becomes uncomfortable. And by the looks of it in yoga you do quite a few poses which engage the hamstrings. So that’s a bummer.
All in all, by minute fifteen of the thirty minute video my…
- Glasses had fallen off.
- Foot had a carpet burn (I can see now why yoga-folk have those mats).
- Neck was hurting, as it was difficult to both do a pose and watch the video.
- Hamstrings were as tight as a banjo string.
- Arse was hurting thanks to sciatica.
- Hands and wrists were hurting (delicate wrists/hands are yet another affliction I have).
- M.E. was flaring up as it turns out yoga is actually quite physically demanding.
I had to throw in the towel in the end. What a failure.
Yoga is brand new to me, so I’ll give it time and a few more goes (perhaps skipping or limiting the poses which really engage the hamstrings though). And who knows, if done with good form and more gently to accommodate my M.E., some of my body imbalances might actually improve.
