My First Experience With Yoga: Not All Poses Help

I have had psoriatic arthritis for 25 years, but was just diagnosed 10 years ago. Also, recently, I found out I have fibromyalgia. I was in so much pain every day that I just wanted to crawl back into bed. My doctor wanted to put me on more medication, but I am tired of taking medications. I asked what else I could do to ease the pain. She suggested yoga. Really!?!? The last thing on my mind was working out.

I should do yoga?! Is this a joke?!

My doctor explained to me that stretching and exercising are great ways to strengthen the muscles around your joints, get rid of some pain, help alleviate symptoms, and improve flexibility. So I reached out to someone and was told that once I start a regular exercise regimen, I needed to dedicate time to exercise each week. I ended up trying out my first yoga class. I did a lot of breathing to help me feel relax. I was laying on a mat and did different poses.

Attempting various yoga poses

Yoga has a variety of classes, styles, and poses that are good for people with psoriatic arthritis.

Below are some of the poses that I was asked to practice -

1. Hero Pose was askedis pose is also called as seated hero pose to help stretch the knees. I was ask to stay in this position for 30 seconds to one minute. To me, this was hard and uncomfortable. This hurt my knees a lot, but was told it would get better.
2. Warrior Pose - This pose helps the mobility in your knees and strengthens your thighs, hips, and shoulders. This wasn’t too bad, it was like stretching first thing in the morning. It actually felt good.
3. Tree Pose - This pose strengthens the back. I will never be able to do this. You stand on one foot, bend your knee and then grab your ankle. This put me in more pain than I started out with.
4. Legs Up Pose – This is to help back, neck, and shoulder pain because the pain can be unbearable at times. I am supposed to do this 10 times a day. This was my best one. You just rest your legs up against the wall. This is supposed to allow the mind and body to relax and it was. I could feel the stress and tension leaving my body. It felt amazing.

I'll keep on trying

Yoga is very confusing to me. I’m not sure how to find healing in this, but I do know that I will not give up. I will practice until I get it right. My goal is to not take more medications.

There are many more yoga poses out there that can help us with psoriatic arthritis. To get the best results you should discuss with your doctor and instructor to understand which particular poses are right for you. My instructor told me to start as slow as I like and build up from there.

This is a very different experience for me, and I will be going back soon. I’m sure at the end of the day that I will find my own style and practice healthy living.