Do you allow yourself to ask for support? What does support look like to you? Let's face it, there are moments, days, weeks even when we are in need of support and simply don't ask. Something gets in our way - pride, fear, avoidance - so we suffer and struggle through on our own, likely prolonging our misery. And then to complicate our misery even more we grumble to ourselves and complain that no one understands, no one cares. Sound familiar? I know for myself, one of the hardest things in this world for me to do is to ask for help. And yet I still wonder and get frustrated when I feel I … [Read more...]
Relaxation Technique for Pain Control
Week two of the Pain Coping Skills research study. Following up on the Progressive Relaxation guided technique of week one, in week two we learned a simple and useful technique called Mini-Practices. Mini-Practices For relaxation to benefit you the most, you need to learn how to relax and calm yourself upon your command. This skill can be very helpful when you are feeling increased tension or pain, but are unable to go to a secluded area to do progressive relaxation. To Do a Mini-Practice: Stop yourself in whatever you are doing Take a deep breath Say the word "relax" to … [Read more...]
Let’s Not Call it Exercise, Let’s Call it Mindful Movement
Say the word "exercise" to a person with Fibromyalgia, and you will most likely get a negative response. Exercise is a harsh and ugly word. It has become synonymous with pain to most of us. Rare is the Fibromyalgia patient who embraces exercise. Not only does it elicit a pain response in most of us, but it also sends our defenses up. Too, too many times we have heard the unsolicited advice, "If you would only exercise you would feel much better." We could all give examples of some of the insensitive and inaccurate things we have heard, that is not at question here, but what is under … [Read more...]
Why I Love Yoga, and Why You Will Too
It has been just over two months since I took my first yoga class and discovered how healing and compatible with Fibromyalgia the practice is. I know I have mentioned my new passion for yoga on several posts since, but I have not gotten in to the "Why?" and "How?" of it. Each time I leave a class I have a huge desire to reach out to everyone I know suffering from Fibromyalgia and chronic pain and share with them how light, refreshed and rejuvenated I am feeling - a feeling I have never experienced, even before I was diagnosed with FM and was active and fit. The gentle and controlled movements … [Read more...]
Improve Your Fibromyalgia With Laughter Yoga
There are approximately 6000 clubs around the world that practice laughter yoga as a way to improve mood, health and overall wellbeing. Here is a description of laughter yoga from the official Laughter Yoga International website: Laughter Yoga is a revolutionary idea – simple and profound. An exercise routine, it is fast sweeping the world and is a complete wellbeing workout. It is the brainchild of Dr. Madan Kataria, an Indian physician from Mumbai who started the first laughter club in a park on 13th March 1995, with just 5 people. Today, it has become a worldwide phenomenon with more … [Read more...]