For this year’s Bar-A-Thon I have decided to chronicle my ongoing battle with Thyroid and decided to call it ThyroScare. I guess you could call it a marathon of sorts to overcome this disease. Todays post features my foray to the world of Yoga and Meditation which requires a serious dedication and perseverance.
Read my previous post here
As March 2018 rolled in, I was acutely aware of turning a year “older” and like the previous birthday, wanted to make another healthy resolution. I had been reading/hearing about strength and core workouts for women which don’t build muscles. Rather they strengthen from within and ensure fitness of joints and bones, leading to lesser troubles as we age.
So I hopped onto the Gym bandwagon in a bid to have trainer infused workouts. I enrolled myself in the latest trend in town called CULT which was a gym with a difference. No machines; only floor workouts involving core strength, weights, etc.
I started with Strength & Conditioning class; 10 minutes down and I was convinced that the trainer was trying to kill me. I was tired within minutes (thanks to my thyroid) and was gasping for breath. All the while he kept pushing me and when he called time out; I actually believed in God and miracles 😉
Needless to say, I was sore and hurting for next one week. Positive part, I kept going for the classes. I tried out Zumba and Mixed Martial Arts next – same result! Last but not the least was the Yoga session.
Oh my – this was pure bliss after the previous 6 strength busting sessions. I was in a bit of pain but the class itself was amazing. Thats it – I decided the pace of yoga is it for me and became a regular.
Initial one month, I struggled with the poses as stretching was a pain. I couldnt bend, twist, fold as I could previously. I have been a yoga practitioner (on and off) for 10 years now. Never was I in such a bad shape to be moved to tears over it.
Its my blessed good luck to have a fabulous Yoga trainer like Yatindera who told me to go easy but be regular. He made me understand that the stiffness is because of thyroid and with regular practice, I will get better at it. He is inspiring for such is his dedication and mastery of the art of yoga, that he makes every contortion look so graceful and easy.
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He was right – its been three months of 3-4 Yoga sessions a week. I am able to bend, twist, fold further than before and can feel the difference in my overall stamina. Yoga has become an addiction of sorts for me now.
Happier to report a loss of 3 Kgs and no weight gain since beginning classes. In fact I took a break of 2 weeks and didn’t put on any weight while I was away.
I am convinced that coupled with Acupressure, Yoga has helped me keep my thyroid levels normal. More than that, the body is feeling lighter, sleep is much sounder and my appetite or rather digestion is working normal.
Earlier I was trying to devote an hour to a morning walk regime; but I would go 2 days in a row and then for the next few days I would be too tired to wake up. My joints would ache badly and carrying groceries / water bottle, etc had become a pain.
This is not there with Yoga and I can only thank the Acupressure to help out here; both have worked in tandem. Best part is that neither one of them is invasive to the body and only harness body’s own strengths to make it better.
I havent gone on any strict diets to lose weight; nor have I stopped eating out. I have just started focusing on my fitness levels more than weight loss and that has brought about an immense change.
Added a few minutes of meditation whenever I get some time in the day to my routine and I can say that it energizes me to the core. I am a great believer in this practice now and would recommend it to everyone.
My TSH levels are now between 2-3 and I am hoping it stays there. I so dearly want to reduce the dosage of Eltroxin now and fingers crossed that it’s the next milestone that I will soon achieve.
I would love to hear from you about your fitness regimes and how they work for you. Do drop a comment to share your thoughts folks.
I am so glad Yoga is working for you. Keep at it. I am sure you will be able to reduce your dosage in future. All the best
Thanks so much Meena – fingers crossed for that to happen 🙂
Yoga helps in thyroid too!! Wow! That’s awesome and I wasnt aware of that. So glad that these alternate therapies helped you to control your thyroid levels. Thanks for sharing, Shalini!
Even I was amazed by it Shilpa as this was too simple – right? But the improvements in flexibility and joints is proof that this works. I have more stamina and dont get tired easily. I have felt the changes in my body over time with Yoga and its been fantastic to say the least
So glad that acupressure and Yoga worked out for you You faced a huge challenge and handled it well. Kudos! I am sure it will help others who are suffering. The thing with alternative therapies is that they work in many cases and non intrusively but the challenge is in finding a good therapist. My knee healing is very slow and there is still pain on many days. Keeping funders crossed.
Thanks Rachna – yes its blessed be me that both these things worked out for me.
I am sorry to hear your knee is still bothering you – I will keep sending healing from today. I will message you.
Hey, I am so glad that I came across these posts. I got recently hit by this. A month ago to be precise. Fatigue and hair fall.. Tsh is 9. Hoping to get in in control. Really nice that you shared your experience and alternative therapies.It will show us the way..
Oh Meha so sorry to hear about you getting it too. Hope you have got all necessary tests done. Do give yoga a try as it takes care of the stiffness in joints. I wish I had started immediately. Glad to see that these posts of mine are helping out peeps. Thank you for sharing.