Well-Being through the Art of Yoga and Meditation

I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.

I used to be terribly depressed because I was in constant chronic pain due to acid reflex, IBS, migraine and arthritis.  The problems with my stomach controlled what clothes I could wear as during the day, as I ate each meal, my tummy would balloon up more and more so that by the end of the day if not before, I would appear pregnant.

This also controlled where and when I went out, I lived in fear of embarrassing myself and in fear of not being near any bathroom facilities.  I looked fat, I could not wear nice clothes and I worried about losing the affections of my husband.

Also, because of the arthritis, I couldn’t walk, dance or do anything active with my family.  I started to become phobic about leaving the house and would draw the curtains and hide away all day long, day after day.

I was in so much pain and there was no hope of ever getting better, or so I thought.

When the doctor first told me I had arthritis and that due to my other health issues could not take any drugs to relieve the pain, I felt very angry and that it was so unfair.  I started to feel more and more like giving up all together.

However, my doctor sent me to attend the pain management clinic at the local hospital, there they showed me yoga exercises and mind control techniques though meditation.  If I’m honest, I have to say my attitude was, this will not work.  I was in too much pain to do the exercises and the meditation stuff I thought was rubbish.  I was angry that the doctors could not relieve my pain with drugs.

To make these changes to my life instead of simply taking drugs was not easy.  However, I came to realise that it was up to me, not anyone else.

I finally understood that the responsibility for my well-being was mine alone and I had a choice to do something about it or continue to live with the terrible consequences of not doing so.

At first I thought meditation was just a religious or spiritual activity, however, I soon learnt it could also be used for better health and so started to practice it to change my negative attitudes into more positive ones, which gradually helped me to cope better with the pain.  I then learned how to use it to reduce pain also through breathing meditations.

I learned how to really relax and cope better with the stresses in my life.  I found by gradually increasing my activities with yoga the pain reduced and my flexibility improved.

I do not have the flexibility of a young fit woman, but I am not young, however, I can now walk, dance and practice yoga to a high level.

I was very close to being in a wheel chair permanently and ruining the rest of my life just because I didn’t know how to change the way I was.  I am so happy I did not give up, because, that was the start of an ongoing journey to better health, quality of life and happiness.

As my health improved, I gained in momentum and began studying meditation and yoga.

If you have similar health problems or if you want to stay healthy and the doctor can’t do any more with drugs and pain killers, try alternatives like yoga and meditation, like my doctor advised me to do.  Even better try the alternatives so that you don’t get to that point in the first place – as the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure and meditation and yoga are so much fun too!!

I tried the alternatives and I am so glad I did.  I now live and work in Spain, I have a great relationship with my husband, I am out going, active and happy and it’s all thanks to yoga and meditation!

Linda