A Free E-Book Teaching Gentle Yoga for Pain Relief

Chronic pain is a daily challenge for those who must live with it.  Not only does pain make you uncomfortable, it can also affect your relationships, ability to work or go to school, and your ability to do daily activities.  Yoga is one way some individuals manage their pain.  The other day I ran across a book that contains a six-week yoga program to help you reduce chronic pain, and the best news is that the book is completely free!

How Yoga Helps

Yoga teaches us how to relax, breathe, and meditate.  These principles can help reduce chronic pain, according to the website Women Fitness.  Further, according to the website, yoga is believed to help us relieve chronic pain by aiding the brain to regulate the pain gate, which is located in the spinal cord.  Yoga is also believed to help one’s brain produce endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, which are also produced when you exercise. 

Additionally, when we feel pain, our body’s natural response is to keep tension in our muscles in order to push the pain away; however, tight muscles only make pain worse.  Thus, the relaxation techniques and principles taught in yoga serve those living with chronic pain well by reducing our muscle tension, and reducing the amount of pain we feel. 

Likewise, when you are stressed, your muscles tend to tense, which also causes increased pain levels.  Relaxation techniques can reduce your pain through reducing muscle tension when you are stressed as well.

Chair Yoga for Good Living

“Chair Yoga for Good Living,” was written by Sosha Suckey for the American Pain Foundation, and the project was supported by a grant from the Baltimore Community Foundation.  The book covers six weeks of chair yoga, which is aimed to help you reduce your pain and stress.  Each week has a different theme as follows:

· Week 1: Being Positive
· Week 2: Being Mindful
· Week 3: Being in Community
· Week 4: Being Love
· Week 5: Being Compassion
· Week 6: Just Plain Being

Each session lasts for one hour and is meant to produce feelings of relaxation and ease.  The book contains gentle yoga exercises almost anyone will be able to do. 

For Whom is This Book Appropriate?

According to the book’s introduction, “Chair Yoga for Good Living” is appropriate for “those who do or do not use wheelchairs, who live in long-term care facilities or live independently, and cope daily with chronic pain, stress, illness, and disability.” 

Using the Book

While the book instructs someone to facilitate a class with, “Chair Yoga for Good Living,” it would be easy for any individual to use the book oneself.  You could create a tape with each session on it, reading the italicized words as the book instructs the facilitator to do onto the tape.  Then, use the tapes over and over as you see fit.  Alternatively, you could have someone else make a tape for you. 

Yoga is one good way to reduce chronic pain.  Utilizing this book will help you learn relaxation techniques and gentle yoga exercises you can use to reduce your stress and pain levels. 

To get your free copy of the book, please visit, “Chair Yoga for Good Living.”  Please note this book is in a PDF format, and you will need a free copy of Adobe to download and save this book as a file on your computer.  
 

Sources:

Women Fitness: Yoga for Pain Management

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