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Day 3 Got brave enough to start exercising!

Diana-M

Diana-M

Beloved Grand Eagle
SEP Day 3, Journal prompt: When was the last time you exercised or did another physical activity? What was this activity? How did it make you feel physically and emotionally? If it has been a while since you last exercised, why?

Not sure which came first— TMS weakness or weakness from not exercising. But more than a year ago, after having COVID, I suddenly found I could barely stand for more than 5 min. My entire body was locked up like I was the tin man in the Wizard of Oz. It has been like that for the past year.

I have been terrified. Frozen. Panicked. Just can’t make myself do much for the past year. Hate hate hate how weak I feel. Rather than be reminded of how bad things are, I’d rather just be a couch potato and read or distract myself with games on my phone. Besides, if I move, I’ll be in pain and my symptoms will flare. I was totally owned by my TMS and felt hopeless physically.

This week, I changed all that. I started a bed yoga program designed for folks with limited mobility. I did it faithfully all week. It comes with an app. I’m loving it! And I’m finding I’m building muscles pretty rapidly. I also feel more flexible. And most of all: HOPEFUL!

I figure one way or another— if I just keep moving forward day by day following this program, I’ll go from bed yoga to chair yoga to standing to walking.

The “yoga” is more like a fitness program mixed with yoga. It was designed by a former professional wrestler named Diamond Dallas Page. You wear a heart monitor and do isometric movements that build muscle and raise your heart rate (total low impact), mixed with yoga moves for flexibility. (It’s not a meditative type yoga, which I have enjoyed in the past.) But it’s perfect for me right now. I’m very happy to be off the couch!

ONE DAY AT A TIME! All things are possible.

If you’re curious about this yoga, it’s called DDPY. It is a paid membership—but totally worth it in my opinion. The app is amazing.

Here's the video that persuaded me to try it. A really cool story about a disabled vet who was told by doctors he would never walk again. After doing this yoga program, he could run!

(Since the time he did this program years ago, it has been updated to accommodate people with mobility issues even more.) But, it’s got classes for any fitness level. Even advanced. People get totally ripped on this program.

This video is a tear jerker— in a good way!
 
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I am so proud of you!

I’m sure we share a fear of becoming totally dependent upon others should our bodies fail. My son, the fitness nut, has hounded me all my life to eat this, not that, do this movement, not that. But he was thankfully spared the burdens of psychological warfare. It always annoyed me as I was, in my youth, an outstanding athlete for the times. As the years rolled by and life threw me more curves, I resorted to walking in fits and starts. It’s just damned hard to lift even a pinkie when depressed or caring for another 24/7. But, I’m blessed to be able to get off my hopeful butt and am doing it again. This little story leads in to your post.

Wow, double Wow that YOU who are lying down most of the time, perhaps all of the time, has found the will to began this new yoga/fitness program for your body. I can see your body receiving the gift you have decided to give it! I can see it gratefully responding as though it has been waiting for you to come through! And what this will do for your psyche! I am in awe of you girl!
 
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Mtnjac said:
I can see [your body] gratefully responding as though it has been waiting for you to come through!
Click to expand...
@Mtnjac ,
Thank you so much! I’m glad you’re excited and you can see how important it is for me. Just like you I used to be athletic. I was on a swim team in high school, this was back in the 70s when girls were not athletic, lol My senior year, I lettered on the varsity girls swim team. it was the very first year they had a swim team just for girls under Title IX law. at any rate, I consider myself a jock. Over the years I always kept in shape and in the last five years —before I got TMS, I walked every single night at dusk. I enjoyed it so much. It was my heart and soul! so you can imagine, since I can’t walk now unassisted, I literally dream of walking in my dreams and I wake up and then I cry. It’s pretty sad. I have such a whole new appreciation of disabled people, what they live with and the sorrow they deal with. I don’t think any of us understands until something like this happens to us. so yes, yes yes my body is waiting! And more than anything it’s been waiting for me to believe. Belief is everything and hope is even more of everything! I needed belief that I could do this and that I deserve it. (TMS can really blind you with crazed fear and irrational loss of hope.) I also had to be willing to face the pain— Which surprisingly hasn’t been that bad!

❤️ I’m so glad you’re back to walking too! I like to think maybe we’ll be even stronger than we ever thought we would be in these, the most beautiful years of our lives.
 
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so great that you are doing so well with this program. it seems to be a win-win situation. you are having fun (which is good in itself but also for TMS) and you are doing something for your health. I am happy for you.
 
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