Ashtanga on purpose
MS affects me in many different ways. Some are noticeable to others some are only noticeable to me. Some effects I’m not even sure are MS – could be something else. Who knows and that is another effect of MS not knowing if what is currently happening to me, is actually MS. Some are physical some are cognitive some are sense driven. All are at the very least uncomfortable.
In the MS community we are all impacted differently as I may not experience the same symptoms of another person with MS. Some experience pain some do not. Some experience life threatening symptoms some do not. Some live somewhat normal life spans some do not. We are all different and I may be guilty of comparing my own form of MS with someone else’s version of MS. I am guilty of pushing my opinion that Ashtanga Yoga is beneficial for people with MS. That view may be offensive to those MS’ers whom have a worse version of MS than I do. I am aware of how my success with yoga may be disheartening to those whom have difficulty with it. It can be frustrating at the very least. However this is my experience about how Ashtanga Yoga helped me. My physical, mental, and spiritual condition. My hope is that it helps you too.
Breathing correctly which is taught as part of the Ashtanga practice enables the nervous system to calm and I believe heal itself. This is what I’ve noticed but also others whom teach. One teacher I know teaches breathing in her beginning classes for people with MS. She has noticed within six to twelve months a noticeable reduction of MS symptoms occurs as noted by her MS students.
This is also my experience. I became physically stronger, more flexible, and gained a clearing of my head space. My memory got better and my thought processing became much clearer. I received benefits from being able to respect and notice how I was changing.
One of the most powerful benefits for me was purpose. That may be a benefit that is difficult to understand if you don’t have a debilitating disease. MS is continually taking stuff away from me. Ashtanga started putting stuff back.
While I slowly got worse it’s depressing if I can use that word. You start to believe that there’s no future. I’m just going to waste away. There’s nothing to look forward to. I want to have purpose, I think we all want that don’t we? I want to regard myself as something good that’s moving forward. Accomplishing something. I don’t know any other way.
Ashtanga was that way forward that progression the good that I needed. I now had a purpose, weird eh!
I started learning Ashtanga when I was past my prime. I was also physically at my worst; overweight, pre-diabetic, along with MS in residence. I was in a state of if-this-does-not-work I’m pretty much toast. I would have wasted away. Fortunately though I’ve always had this mind set that all is going to be fine. And it’s been pretty much that way my whole life. So Ashtanga showed up at the exact right time (to be honest coulda happened sooner). I liked it, I enjoyed it, I needed it. So I latched onto to it and gave it all I had.
It helped tremendously that those whom taught me were also positive influencers. They let me go, as they do for everyone, at my own pace. No special treatment other than an understanding of my condition as it would be for anyone with let’s say bad knees, a sore shoulder, or a bleak outlook. It’s a healing process for most everyone.
But it takes time. Time to understand that you’re not alone. Time to believe if you start you will improve. Time to postulate; a future might just exist. We are all built up in our heads and live a life that only each of us are aware of. Ashtanga changes that perspective, that built up persona. You can change your outlook by simply believing it.
I’m not putting anything in my body other than oxygen no meds needed for practice. My hope is you will discover what I did; benefits that go beyond the obvious.
Ahimsa
Thank you David.