Using Yoga to Cope with Chronic Pain
Breathing my way to love and acceptance
I have been waging a war with my body and mind. It sounds dramatic, but over the last few years, I’ve felt like I’m fighting the pain and mood changes that come with my chronic illness.
In truth, I feel betrayed. I feel betrayed by a body that is healthy one moment and suffering the next. I feel betrayed by my mind that is fine until the darkness creeps in, draining out my hope. I am fighting to stay alive and get through the pain, but in the process, I’ve lost that powerful body-mind connection.
No one told me that developing a chronic illness would create this huge sense of betrayal and distrust of my own body and mind. I also feel a sense of powerlessness. Not only is my condition incurable, but it’s also not well-understood by the medical and scientific communities. They only understand aspects of it, and there are treatments for the symptoms but no fixes for the condition.
“Wait until menopause” isn’t exactly reassuring when I’m years away from it. It’s disempowering to realize that all I can do is cope and keep coping with something that brings me pain, exhaustion, anxiety, and depression on a monthly basis. I’ve had to grieve for the health that I had and the things I cannot do on days when I struggle with my disorder.
