for more detail on my journey with Inflammatory Bowel Disease
My Belly Story…
I first fell ill in early 2002 in a Spa in Ecuador after having travelled through South-America for 3 months. I had been in a Jacuzzi and the next morning I woke up vomiting with terrible stomach cramps. This bug/virus/illness stayed with me for the remaining weeks of my trip before it slowly started to subside. However, six months after returning home, during which time the mystery illness frequently returned, I was very ill and had lost so much weight that I finally had to see a doctor. I was immediately admitted to hospital and was diagnosed with pan-ulcerative colitis (UC), an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) of the colon (large intestine/bowel). The medical world still doesn’t fully understand the exact cause and nature of IBD; they know it can be genetic, triggered by stress and external factors and that it is a chronic auto-immune illness for which there currently is no medical cure. Recently I learned that my grandmother passed away aged 39, with an IBD related illness, so it might have been hereditary, which would mean I carry a gene which predisposes me for IBD, which was triggered by the infection I picked up in Ecuador.
Some years of flare-ups (periods where the disease was active) and large amounts of medication followed, and the illness progressively worsened; the periods of recovery became shorter and the flare-ups returned stronger. It had a dramatic impact on my life and after seven years I made the (desperate) decision of opting for colectomy surgery, during which my entire colon was removed. It was a very dark period and it took well over a year to start to recover. During this time I had my first real experience of yoga and had private lessons from Marie-Laure. She is the co-owner at my local studio (the Power Yoga Company) and those sessions helped my recovery where specialists and medicine had failed. I regret not taking ‘before and after’ pictures, as the result of Marie-Laure’s guidance were amazing.
Unfortunately the illness returned and in 2012, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (IBD in the small intestine). For more on my IBD journey click here.
My Yoga Story…
Early 2015, I took up yoga again and started practicing more frequently at the studio (3+ times a week). The yoga breathing made me feel strong and I physically felt more flexible, muscular and balanced. More importantly it started to have a calming effect on my mind. It was such a contrast from having felt so weak and vulnerable and desperate before.
Unfortunately in September 2015, I needed further surgeries and was in and out of hospital for three months. Mid-January 2016, exactly six weeks after my last surgery, I was allowed to try yoga again. I remember the class clearly, it was a flow and restore class lead by Vicky Fox and I was careful, tuned into what my body needed and to what it wasn't ready for. It felt wonderful as my body could finally stretch and relax and breathe again; it was also quite emotional. I realised that my recovery from these surgeries was dramatically quicker and I attributed it to the power of yoga.
I knew then that I wanted to understand and learn more and if I could, share this with others, so I signed up for the 200 hours Power Yoga teacher training at the PYC Fulham, which I completed at the end of May 2016. Thanks to the encouragement of my wonderful teacher Mona Godfrey, some two months later I found the confidence to start teaching yoga at the office where I worked. I was incredibly rewarding teaching people, especially those new to yoga.
I furthered my training by completing a 50 hour Yin course in February 2017. While on this course I noticed one of the students applying loving-kindness in action by giving another student some yoga massage stretches and this peaked my interest. After trying out a day taster course, I enrolled into the Thai Yoga Massage (TYM) practitioner course where I qualified in April 2018. I have since completed the advanced course - both courses have given me great insight into different bodies and differences in range of motion. In November 2017, in a beautiful moment of serendipity, I started teaching the Wednesday Flow & Restore class at the Power Yoga Company (yes that exact one) which fills me with much gratitude. In February 2019, I completed my 300 hour advanced teacher of integrated yoga therapy at the magical Kripalu in Massachusetts, USA . Having been introduced to Somatic Movement during my training, it spurred me on to deepen my knowledge and I have completed all 3 levels at the Somatic Movement Center to become a Clinical Somatic Exercises Instructor. During my Thai Yoga Massage advanced course I was introduced to Myofascial Release. As I had quite a lot of postural pain and abdominal scar tissue, it resonated deeply. I completed my training with Amanda Oswald at the PainCareClinic in 2020 and am now a Myofascial Release practitioner. I was very keen to get more in touch with the energetic side of things and in 2021 I became an associate instructor in Qigong flow (with the wonderful Marisa at YOQI). I’m currently continuing my training to become a Certified YOQI qigong instructor. Qigong literally means “energy work” and you could view it as a form of yoga originating in China thousands of years ago.
I cherish the beautiful synchronicity of it all and I am extremely grateful to have the privilege and opportunity to continue to learn and practice these teachings.
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
Belly Full of Yoga
With these pages I would like to make movement and mindfulness more accessible; for people with IBD, but also for all those people with postural problems, especially office workers with hunched shoulders and sore backs and hips. Having worked in a stressful office environment for over 20 years I can relate!
The beauty of our bodies is that they can change; they are amazing in recovering from the most intense surgical experiences and they can realign. I can vouch for that; feeling stronger and more flexible is a wonderful sensation.
The mind is equally mouldable; we can learn and create new habits which will positively impact the mind and therefor our thoughts and emotions. Using mindfulness and meditation can help us deal with the difficulty in life.
Over the past few years, through my yoga therapy teacher and qigong trainings and practicing massage, I have gained valuable insights in body, mind and breath practices, learning about tools we can all use to deal with the physical and mental issues of modern life.
Yoga & Qigong have helped me enormously, and I am positive I am not the only one. Why not find out for yourself through the series or blog posts, or contact me for more personal guidance. I invite you to fill your Belly Full of Yoga!
Namasté
“All life is yoga. Every moment is an opportunity for training the mind.”