One of the hardest things I often encounter are clients battling invisible illnesses. In most cases, they suffer from constant or periodical pain, depression, and general fatigue. Worst, many of them spend years, in and out of doctors’ offices and hospitals, being prodded and poked with no real diagnosis in sight. While I’m no doctor, it’s a point of comfort that I can help them, as a coach and yoga teacher, to create a healthy and relaxing space. Yoga gives the gift of surrendering one’s mind and body. When every day seems like a constant battle against yourself, yoga offers respite and recovery for the wary.
What is an Invisible Illness?
Alrighty, first up, let’s breakdown what the term invisible illness means. Borrowing from VeryWellMind, while there is no one accepted medical definition, it generally refers to chronic health conditions. Most often, symptoms include debilitating pain and fatigue. Essentially, symptoms that can’t be easily recognized just by looking at someone.
Here are a few examples of invisible illnesses you may or may not be familiar with; fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease, lupus and chronic fatigue syndrome. You’ll notice many are autoimmune illnesses or diseases and because of this they’re often the hardest thing to diagnosis (I know as I have an autoimmune myself).
Talking to my clients, friends and colleagues who deal with these issues can often be heart breaking. I’ve even been told by a few that at some point, they’ve encounter doctors who tell them it’s all in their head.
Well babes, I can’t imagine so many people would throw so much money down the medical money pity for S%!T$ and giggles. I also don’t think so many people would voluntarily walk around faking the many painful symptoms that accompany invisible illnesses. Hell no, if so, the Oscars would need more acting categories (as a side bar…I DO believe that sometimes we get STUCK in our illness…but that is another post).
Yoga as Your Refuge
This is why yoga is a refuge for many people battling these daily challenges. By philosophy, our goal as a yogi is never to challenge if or why a new student wants to practice yoga. Nope, there is absolutely no gatekeeping over here.
To tell you the truth, I wasn’t always the semi-hippie, connected and thriving human you see before you today. I’ve dealt with my own challenges, anxiety- imposter syndrome and debilitating fear, as well as my own health issues. So, to some extent, I get it, just because you can’t see someone’s pain, doesn’t mean it ain’t there. Using my own experience as a guide, I assure you, yoga can help you overcome many of life’s challenges.
How Yoga Can Help You Battle Your Invisible Illness
When you pop over to our Mind and Body Complete 200 Yoga Teacher Training page, you’ll notice our syllabus includes a broad spectrum of topics. We cover, in-depth, the physical to the mental aspects of yoga. As yoga teachers we see beyond visible illnesses.
Our vast knowledge of the human body allows us to help you work with, not against, your body. There are no competitions here, whatever your illness or issues, yoga training allows you to grow at your own pace.
For the pain addled body and weary mind, the practice of pranayama (breath control) and samadhi (concentration through meditations), helps you to better process your mental and physical challenges. And, though we’re no doctors, yoga teachers are guided by our own version of a Hippocratic oath, the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali. This teaches us the value in helping others walk an enlightened path through control, purification, and transcendence of the mind.
Yoga as a Great Alternative Medicine for Invisible Illnesses
So, while there are no tablets or RX prescriptions on offer in your online or neighborhood yoga class, yoga prescribes something much better. That is the mental, physical, and emotional practices which can help you cope or recover from these invisible (and visible) illnesses.
You know what’s even more interesting? Science just so happens to back up the medical benefits of practicing yoga. In fact, in one study, yoga has been found to benefit its practitioners through the unification of mind, body, and spirit. For many, this can allow them to peruse peace, calmness, and greater wholeness and integration in their lives.
I want that for you, and I hope you do, too. Don’t be afraid, find a certified yoga teacher and space that fits your energy, then unfurl that yoga mat. Find respite and recovery for your wary body and soul.
PS- did you know that our yoga teacher training isn’t just for those that wish to become a teacher? As I mentioned in this post about all the amazing benefits of diving deep into the yoga philosophies and history- you gain such an internal shift that completely changes how you feel, see and behave.
