Yoga for people with multiple sclerosis? Absolutely! Today, people with a wide range of medical problems use yoga successfully. Because of its emphasis on relaxation, breathing, and deliberate movement, it can be especially beneficial for individuals dealing with a neurologic disease like multiple sclerosis. Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis, coauthored by Dr. Loren Martin Fishman and Eric Small, a yoga teacher who first embraced these techniques as a way to manage his own symptoms of multiple sclerosis, is a comprehensive guide to applying the principles of yoga to the management of MS. The first section is a straightforward but gentle introduction to yoga - a therapeutic approach to the practice itself. The second part is functionally oriented. Different yoga poses that work toward a common goal, such as combating fatigue, reducing spasticity, and increasing range of motion, are included and illustrated. This user-friendly guide Describes how yoga works Includes photographs and descriptions of each pose Explains effects, advantages, and contraindications Contains starter poses that will help the uninitiated or physically challenged to gently achieve a posture Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing is an excellent guidebook and tool for people with MS, people who undertake yoga on their own, and for all members of the medical and yoga communities.

By providing an overview of key yoga postures and basic breathing techniques, this book demonstrates how people with Multiple Sclerosis can manage symptoms, and create a regular yoga practice in order to enhance physical and mental wellbeing. The book includes photos to demonstrate the yoga poses, as well as case studies and testimonials that depict the benefits and impact of a regular practice that can be carried out at home with minimal equipment or household objects. There is also advice on safety, diet and nutrition, and meditation practices. Suitable for beginner and continuing level yoga students, Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis is the perfect guide for those wishing to harness the therapeutic power of yoga, as well as for yoga teachers looking for ways to support their students.

The massive growth in the popularity of yoga as a form of exercise and as a method of maintaining whole-body wellness has led to thousands of published research studies confirming what yoga practitioners already know: Yoga relieves stress, improves mental and emotional health, enhances sleep, relieves low back pain and neck pain, promotes weight loss, and even enables smoking cessation. Further study has proven that yoga helps individuals with disabilities improve their functional activities of daily living, recover from injuries, gain mobility, experience less pain, and manage anxiety and depressive symptoms. Adaptive Yoga takes these studies out of the research labs and onto the yoga mat to empower individuals with disabilities or chronic health conditions to create an effective and safe yoga practice. If you work with these special populations as a yoga teacher or rehabilitative therapist, you will find guidance and recommended poses for some of the most common conditions and disabilities, including these: Low back pain Hip, knee, and rheumatoid arthritis Spinal cord injury Stroke Cerebral palsy Lower limb amputation Parkinson’s disease Multiple sclerosis Each pose is presented in detail so you fully understand how it helps the student improve functionality. The text instructs the reader on how to enter, hold, and exit the pose safely, as well as why the pose is beneficial for that condition. When appropriate, contraindications are presented so the yoga practice can be tailored to address any additional conditions or limitations. Challenge variations and restorative modifications for many poses make further individualization possible. In Adaptive Yoga, authors Ingrid Yang, MD, and Kyle Fahey, DPT, have combined their extensive backgrounds in yoga, medicine, and physical therapy with their unique insights and passion for movement and rehabilitation to present an essential guide for helping those with chronic conditions experience the countless physical and mental benefits of yoga practice.

A totally revised and updated edition of the first book to offer a holistic approach to slowing the progression of MS • Provides guidance on special diets and nutritional supplements, exercise, alternative therapies, and the effects of negative and positive thoughts on MS • Explains how to reduce toxic overload from mercury and chemicals • Includes life wisdom and coping strategies from others who suffer with MS Judy Graham is an inspiration. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was just 26 years old, 35 years later Judy Graham is still walking, working, and has successfully birthed and raised a son who is now an adult. In this totally revised and updated edition of her groundbreaking Multiple Sclerosis, first published in 1984, she shares the natural treatments that have helped her and many others with MS stabilize or even reverse the condition. Beginning with the effects of diet, she explains that many people with MS have been eating the wrong foods and shows which foods are “good” and “bad,” how to recognize food sensitivities, and how to correct nutritional deficiencies using dietary supplements. She also looks at reducing the body’s toxic overload, whether from mercury amalgam fillings, chemicals, or medications. She presents the exercises with proven benefits for MS she has found most reliable and appropriate, such as yoga, pilates, and t’ai chi, and explores alternative therapies that provide relief and support to the body’s efforts to control MS, including acupuncture, reflexology, shiatsu, reiki, and ayurveda. Most important are the insights she provides on the effects of negative thoughts on MS. She demonstrates how a positive mental attitude can actually slow down or even reverse the progression of this disease. Judy Graham is living proof that, as devastating as a diagnosis of MS is, life can still be lived to its fullest.

Eight simple and relaxing yoga sequences for fibromyalgia patients looking to manage their pain, alleviate their fatigue, and improve their overall well-being Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain in muscles, ligaments, and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points (places on the body where slight pressure causes pain). Although mainstream medicine has yet to devise a successful plan for treating fibromyalgia, yoga offers sensible strategies for managing—and sometimes overcoming—the pain. Written by a yoga teacher and suitable for both yoga novices and veterans, this book is grounded in simple movements, breathing techniques, and guided visualization and relaxation sessions. Readers learn to reduce stress and manage fibromyalgia through eight sequences: four for pain relief, one to diminish fatigue and improve sleep, and three for maintaining body awareness and general flexibility. The author’s simple, supportive language and mixture of theory, practice, and the latest scientific data offer hope for one of today's most challenging health conditions.

Citing how a fitness regime can help the symptoms of fatigue and decreased mobility, a detailed exercise plan for patients with MS outlines sequences in an easy-to-follow, clearly photographed format that is complemented by simple descriptions. Original.