Restorative Yoga for Chronic Pain and Anxiety

Have you, like me, given up on yoga because you are not able to handle the pain that comes with the asanas? Or the palpitations that come with yoga flows? Read on to know about a special type of yoga, called restorative yoga, that will not only help regain your muscle strength but also do that while making you feel calm and restored. Keep reading to find the best restorative yoga class ever (by Melissa, from Melissa versus Fibromyalgia)– plenty of free classes to show you what you’ll get from Melissa’s Yoga Studio.

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Yoga vs. Restorative Yoga

As a young girl in India, I had regular after school lessons in yoga. Somewhere along the line, I lost the habit of doing yoga regularly. I dabbled with it on and off, especially after I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia but was never really consistent. This was perhaps due to the fact that most of the yoga classes are designed for “normal” people. By normal people I mean those who may feel some pain during some of the crazy asanas (poses) but will be okay with practice. These classes are not designed for people like me with chronic pain. First of all, we cannot stretch as well as normal people and second, it takes us a week to recover from the level of pain that takes normal people a few hours. So I sort of gave up on it.

Until last year, after my near-death experience, when I discovered restorative yoga. This truly changed my life.

Restorative Yoga is a modified version of the Iyengar Yoga. Unlike regular yoga, it does not require your body to support itself during the asanas. Instead, you use various props (like pillows, blankets, blocks, straps, etc.) to support your body. This way, you make sure that your muscles are relaxed, do not overwork. Each pose is held for longer than in regular yoga (sometimes even 20 minutes), so a class could just have two or three asanas.

What it does is sends signals to your brain to slow down and allows your body to follow and relax. A restorative yoga session does just that – it restores your body and mind. It is different from Yin Yoga, which is meant mainly for healthy practitioners. Restorative yoga, on the other hand, is for those like us, suffering from injuries, illness and anxiety.

The benefits of Restorative Yoga

Finding the right type of exercise is one of the key elements in treating and handling fibromyalgia. Restorative Yoga has the same benefits of Yoga to those with chronic illness or anxiety, as regular yoga is for normal people. It improves your breathing, posture, addresses specific pain points and truly relaxes your body as well as mind. All this together restores and rejuvenates you in a way that regular yoga just cannot.

Restorative Yoga is also very helpful to improve your digestion and address any neck-shoulder issues you may have. It helps with reducing depression and anxiety, which is an added bonus of course.

Doing this regularly (sometimes I do it even 3 times a day will make you very mindful and calm. Making it a way of life will exponentially improve the quality of your life, especially if you also suffer from anxiety like me.

The Best Restorative Yoga Class Ever

Yes, I know that sounds like hyperbole but it is really not. On a really bad day of flare up, when I need help to even get to the toilet, I can still do this class from my bed and feel like life is worth living. Now tell me, should I call it the best Restorative Yoga Class Ever or not?

Last year, I started with Sarah Beth Yoga’s restorative yoga or yin yoga sessions. I felt like something was missing still (although I immensely enjoyed the sessions) – that I may have felt energetic but not really restored.

Then I discovered Melissa Reynolds from Melissa vs. Fibromyalgia. Boy, she is the queen of all things fibromyagia (having lived with this for over a decade and produced a wealth of research far beyond any doctor or medical professional ever has), but the best part is her expertise in Restorative Yoga.

Restorative Yoga for Fibromyalgia

Since Melissa lives with fibromyalgia and chronic pain, she has learned to adapt yoga to the pain and fatigue that comes with her life. This is why when I do yoga from her vidoes I know that I will be safe when I follow her instructions correctly. She knows which asana could hurt where, uses props and breathing to prevent that. The classes are kept to a limited time – time that bodies like mine cannot exceed. Melissa knows, from experience, which asanas need to be adapted and how. There is even a wonderful little quiz that I like to do to see which type of yoga I want to do on a given day – based on my symptoms. She has something for everything – relaxation and restoration, neck and shoulder pain, headaches and migraines, breathing, pelvic pain, anxiety, every thing. She even has a desk yoga that you can do at work or in your home office.

Above all, she has the best Yoga Nidra video ever (and it is for free on YouTube). Melissa’s was the first and only Yoga Nidra video I have done that makes me feel completely relaxed after just 10 minutes (Richard Miller comes a close second).

Melissa has a LOT of articles (over 250 articles, really) about Fibromyalgia and a good part of them are dedicated to Yoga. She explains how yoga, restorative yoga in particular relaxes our muscles, improves our breathing and makes us mindful – all things we need in our arsenal to battle fibromyalgia. I invite you to take a look at her articles, try out her videos and join her Yoga Studio – it will truly be life-changing.

You can join Melissa’s studio at a reduced price until October 31. I hope you do and benefit from it, like I have for the past few months.