Somatic Yoga Flow: Around the Clock

During a recent workshop, a participant asked an excellent question and I felt inspired to share the answer with all of you!  She asked, “Can Gentle Somatic Yoga help with multiple sclerosis (MS)?” The quick answer is yes, to this and other autoimmune diseases. To fully understand its positive impact on MS,  let’s review.

What is an Autoimmune Disease?

Simply put, an autoimmune disease is a malfunction of the immune system in which the body mistakenly attacks its own tissues. Autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia, to name a few, can cause the body to recoil, out of fear, as a way to try to protect the body from experiencing more pain. This subconscious reflex takes a tremendous amount of the body’s resources (energy) to keep the muscles in a contracted state. It’s a vicious pain cycle, causing a “log jam” of energy.

Energy inside the body cannot move freely where there is pain and inflammation. Instead, it becomes congested. And when the body is in pain, we tend to stay in a sympathetic nervous system response such as fight, flight, or flee. In other words, when we don’t feel safe there is a natural instinct to protect ourselves. When experiencing ongoing chronic pain, this can also cause more symptoms of imbalance and undesirable conditions within the Soma.

Gentle Somatic Yoga, Prana, and Autoimmune Disease

In Gentle Somatic Yoga® we turn these conditions around by unwinding from muscular tension and pain. And when exploring the Somatic Movement Flows, muscles can return to their optimal length in a resting position. Therefore “log jams” of energy from contracted muscles are released. When the log jam is released, the body’s energy is freed and redirected to boost the immune system.

In Gentle Somatic Yoga, the “energy” we are referring to is also called prana. Prana enters our Soma at the moment of conception. It is literally life force energy that supports us to grow and keeps us vital and healthy. It is a mysterious force that is always functioning without us thinking about it.

When the body doesn’t feel threatened by pain, the body’s energy is freed up so that prana can do what it is designed to do, which is to heal the body’s imbalances and to keep it strong.

Wellbeing Through Gentle Somatic Yoga

Another great benefit of this turnaround is when we come out of the vicious cycle of pain, we start to feel more open and safe. We return to our natural state of peace and well-being from this undefended state. This invites optimism and joyful experiences to return.

Here’s a Somatic Movement Flow® called Around the Clock. This six-minute flow focuses on relieving chronic back pain and freeing up the pelvis. As you practice Gentle Somatic Yoga®, know that all Somatic Movement Flows® support fortifying your immune system and supporting those with autoimmune diseases.