And we need whatever we can get in this world.
Yoga is aged, accessible, and therapeutic. I started yoga for the simple reason of wanting to touch my toes, since I had never been able to in the 20-something years it had been when I started. (Besides that, I was also physically miserable from doing little other than sitting down for all my hobbies and work.) After a couple years, as a side-effect, I could rise out of bed without aching, walk for more than a few minutes without my ankle hurting, breathe more deeply, and move in ways that seemed normal for most people for the first time in my life. Not only that, but it made me feel generally better in my body and prepared me to do exercise that may otherwise have been impossible or harmful for me.
People in my Iyengar-based class were also reversing scoliosis, spinal stenosis, dysbiosis, and other autoimmune diseases. Those that were irreversible were at least being managed, with the art preventing them from enduring more intense pain.
The next time someone casually suggests yoga to you in spite of your chronic problems, consider that they might not be malicious; they may, in fact, be recommending a baseline improvement to your general health.
– a person with chronic health issues.
