The pain of arthritis is nothing to laugh about, but if you live with arthritis you may find yourself laughing more if you choose to include yoga and meditation in your life. While yoga may not entirely cure the condition, it has been shown to improve the participant’s experience of living with the condition, and contributes to making life much more enjoyable overall.

At this point in time there is no known cure for arthritis, and even the best medications and medical care are limited in their capacity to help improve the condition. Anyone living with arthritis knows that there is a great need to seek out additional, supportive practices and lifestyle choices that help alleviate symptoms. Researcher, Susan J Bartlett PhD says, ‘Yoga may be especially well suited to people with arthritis because it combines physical activity with potent stress management and relaxation techniques, and focuses on respecting limitations that can change from day to day’.

Here are a few ways that yoga can support you in your experience of arthritis:

1. Promoting Flexibility and Strength

When practiced in a way that is appropriate for your individual needs, yoga has been found to support greater mobility in the joints, increase flexibility and gently build strength.

2. Pain Management

Yoga practice has a calming effect on the nervous System, and has been shown to help improve pain management. Extensive research has been done into the beneficial effects of meditation for pain relief, and since yoga is a form of meditation in motion you can experience the benefit of the meditative pain reduction, along with other healthy effects of taking up a yoga practice such as those mentioned above.

3. Reducing Frustration

Finding the right teacher for you can help you not to feel alone in dealing with the arthritis, and can also reduce the sense of frustration when it seems that there is nothing that can be done. Having someone who is educated about your condition and is genuinely invested in supporting you to feel better can be an essential step in improving your experience of arthritis in your life.

4. Meeting Your Individual Needs

To find a qualified teacher in your area, have a chat with your doctor, and search our directory to find a yoga teacher who works with small group classes who can give you individual attention, and guide you to start with gentle yoga poses. Be sure to tell the teacher about your arthritis prior to the class so they can adapt the postures to your needs.

Further reading:

http://www.arthritisvic.org.au/News/Yoga-Arthritis

http://www.healthdirect.gov.au/yoga-guide

http://www.bemindful.org/kabatzinnart.htm(link is external)