Note: An abbreviated version of this blog was published by Rachel Zinman on her excellent website Yoga for Diabetes.
I
started practicing yoga in 1994, six months before I noticed my first symptoms
of diabetes. When I was newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, at the age of 35,
I was in extreme despair—I thought my life was ruined. But yoga saved my life
then by allowing me some space and freedom from constant thoughts about my
disease, and yoga continues to save my life today by helping me stay calm and
focused despite the daily grind of self-care that those of us with Type 1
diabetes must do. I recommend yoga to anyone who has to live with the stress of
chronic illness.
Yoga
is a practice that uses poses, breathing techniques, relaxation, and meditation
to balance mind, body, and spirit. In the West, hatha yoga, which involves
stretching the body and forming different poses while keeping breathing slow
and controlled, is most commonly practiced.
Yoga has much to offer people with diabetes, and probably its greatest
benefit is stress reduction. Diabetes is
exacerbated by stress, and yoga is a useful tool to reduce stress. It can both set the stage for better overall
health and also reduce the stress associated with the myriad of details
necessary for our daily diabetes care.
High levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol raise blood
glucose levels, and thus reducing stress is integral to good blood glucose
control. Yoga cannot cure diabetes, but
the many benefits of yoga (stress reduction, increased sense of well-being,
discipline, and focus) can help make the disease more manageable and have
beneficial impacts on blood glucose control and on our lives.
For
me, exercise, yoga, and meditation are my “magic pills.” If only it were so easy as to pop a
pill! To give you an idea of my routine,
I attend a weekly class with a wonderful, experienced teacher. I also have a morning home yoga and
meditation practice. My simple back care
yoga routine plus meditation gets my day off to a good start. Yoga has an immediate physical and practical
impact on my health but it also affords me an emotional benefit over time. Below are some of my tips for practicing yoga
with diabetes:
Asanas: As with any physical activity, one must
listen to and respect what your body tells you in the moment. It can be risky to practice some poses, for
example crow pose (bakasana), when you have low blood sugar or even close to
low blood sugar. Also, if you have
diabetic complications such as retinopathy, many inverted poses are
contraindicated. This is where a good
yoga instructor (or doctor or your own research) is worth his/her weight in
gold. Come to class early and don’t be
afraid to talk with the teacher and ask questions.
Insulin pumps and continuous glucose
monitors (CGMs): I almost always turn
my insulin pump down for yoga class. I
am a “blood sugar burner,” meaning physical activity drops my blood sugar
significantly, and I need to be careful to avoid hypoglycemia. I always have rapid-acting glucose
handy. For a particularly vigorous yoga
class, I turn my pump down by 80% at least one hour prior to class and for the
duration. For my regular yoga class, I
turn my pump down by 50% one hour prior to class and for the duration. I place my CGM on a block or some other
raised space so that no one steps on it.
Meditation: Many people say that they can’t meditate
because they can’t keep their minds still.
Thoughts end up swinging through their mind like monkeys swinging from
branch to branch in the jungle. But
virtually everyone will have “monkey mind!” The point is to meditate, to be mindful, and
to be in the present moment. I practice
a very simple style of meditation, breath meditation or Insight Meditation;
meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg is my guide and resource. There are countless tools to help you with
your meditation practice. Just find a
quiet space, and give it a try. Even a
moment of quieting your mind can bring you a sense of peace.
Magic Pixie Dust: Sadly, within the yoga
and meditation communities there can exist “magical thinking” that is harmful
to those of us with Type 1 diabetes, or any other serious disease. Yoga cannot cure us; yoga cannot get us off
of exogenous insulin. A yoga teacher
once yelled at me in the middle of class and said “Why do you have to wear that
[my insulin pump], why can’t you take it off for class, how can you do inverted
poses with your insulin pump on?” This
kind of ignorance and lack of compassion can push people away from yoga when it
could be a beneficial part of their healthy lifestyle. Because of that incident, I now do more to
inform yoga teachers about my Type 1 diabetes and the medical devices I use to
manage it (insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor). Before a recent yoga and meditation retreat,
I let the teachers know I have Type 1 diabetes, and let them know that my
devices are on vibrate mode, but still make some noise. I received the most compassionate
response. Yoga should foster compassion
within us and for others; teachers who truly care for their students demonstrate
compassion and not judgment.
If
you are new to yoga, the best way to start a yoga practice is to find a
competent teacher with whom you feel comfortable, and whose style speaks to
you. Many yoga studios now offer Yoga
Basics classes or an introductory yoga series of classes. These “yoga training wheels” classes can be
especially beneficial for those who have no experience with yoga, because even
beginning classes can be too advanced for those just starting out.
About Type 1 diabetes: Type 1 diabetes
is an autoimmune disease in which an immune-mediated process destroys the beta
cells of the pancreas (the insulin-producing cells are destroyed). People with Type 1 diabetes depend on
exogenous insulin for survival, and there is no cure. Although Type 1 diabetes used to be called
“juvenile diabetes,” it is now recognized that people of all ages acquire Type
1 diabetes, including the elderly. More
than 85% of people with Type 1 diabetes are adults.
Yoga and Meditation Resources:
There are so many excellent resources, but here are a few of my
favorites:
- Yoga for Healthy Aging Blog (http://yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.com; by my forever friend and yoga buddy, Nina Zolotow).
- Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga. Rodney Yee and Nina Zolotow. Rodale, 2004.
- The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy, and Practice. Georg Feuerstein. Hohm Press, 2001. [This is a weighty book, if you want to delve deeper into the history and philosophy of yoga]
- Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation. Sharon Salzberg. Workman Publishing, New York, 2011.
- Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing. Timothy McCall MD. Bantam Dell, 2007.
- Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Jon Kabat-Zinn. Bantam, 2013.
- Excellent yoga classes, including classes taught by Tias Little, are available at YogaGlo (www.yogaglo.com).
No comments:
Post a Comment