The Mind, Body, Spirit Connection: A Celiac Journey

The day after I was diagnosed with celiac disease I woke up and made a commitment to take the step to do what it takes to make my body well again.

This was a commitment that totally changed my life.

Six years later my body has healed. I’ve done this by keeping gluten out of my diet, while learning as much as possible about celiac disease, gluten-free diets, other autoimmune diseases and how lactose can affect those with celiac disease, while staying abreast on new research and more.

And although I feel the healthiest that I have in years, this past week a friend challenged me with this question: How do you keep your soul & spirit healthy?

And I realized that although I take almost daily walks and try to take a bit of time for myself each day, even just to read a book or a new magazine, take a bath or catch up with friends, I recognized that I am not scheduling in and spending the amount of time I really need for myself. For my soul. For my spirit.

So, I decided to commitment the amount of effort, energy and enthusiasm I undertook when embarking on the gluten-free diet on a new journey – a journey to make my complete self healthy. And with my friend that challenged me with the question earlier in the week, I signed up for 60-days of yoga at a local yoga studio, bCalm Power Yoga. By doing this I hope to make the commitment to have a scheduled time that I can carve out for me, myself and just I.

And as when I started my gluten-free lifestyle, I am approaching this journey of complete health with open arms. But this time I realize that in order to be truly healthy, my body, spirit and mind must all be involved, as one, in taking that next step to better & complete wellness.

Note: Have any of you taken up yoga and have any words of encouragement & wisdom to share?  How do you think it has helped with dealing with the daily stresses of life? I would love to hear what others think… so please share!

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4 Responses to “The Mind, Body, Spirit Connection: A Celiac Journey”

  1. Ciara Says:

    I am so excited to read about your journey through your yoga experience!! Keep us posted!!

  2. Shirley @ gfe Says:

    I do yoga at home and find it makes me more peaceful and confident, more flexible, and much more. My local class options are very limited and more advanced so I have found following along with a video to be more effective and comfortable for me so far. I encourage others to try that if just starting out and a little unsure about yoga. The Rodny Yee AM yoga DVD is great for beginners and folks who have been doing yoga for a while, but are not into intense yoga. It’s very gentle. Yoga is great for detoxifying the body, too. Like aerobics, it gets those toxins out by all the different movements. I highly recommend yoga. I have been surprised at what a difference it has made to my well being.

    Shirley

  3. Jennifer Says:

    I took up yoga just over a year ago. I had tried it a couple times before, but I was more of a running, hiking, cycling, kickboxing, weight lifting kind of gal. Then I started P90X. Tony Horton said that he could do what he could do at his age not because of all the pull-ups he could do, but because of yoga. Well, he is in phenomenal shape, and I know whole lot of people that don’t look like him at his age, so I decided to really stick with it this time. For awhile, I still didn’t like it. My mind wandered. It was too slow for me. But over time, I grew to where I didn’t mind it. Then I started liking it. Now I love it. I do it at least once a week, usually on Sunday. My body craves it by Sunday. Like Shirley, I practice at home. I live in a rural area so I have to make do. Plus I think some yoga poses are just too darned embarrassing to take out of the house anyway, LOL. Besides the P90X yoga, I do DVDs from Rodney Yee (love him!) and Kristen McGee.

    I follow the P90X system of going hard for 3 weeks and then doing 1 week of recovery. I do a bunch of Pilates and yoga during that recovery week. Thank goodness last week was a recovery week for me. I am going back to school and I found out that the start date was moved up to May from September, which gives me only 2 months to finish selling my house, find a place to move, move and get settled, and find a new job. If it weren’t for all that yoga last week, I probably would have lost my mind. It was my lifeline to sanity. As soon as my feet touch that yoga mat, my mind goes calm. It’s the most amazing thing for someone who suffers from a Type A personality!

    So just remember, even if you don’t like it at first, stick with it for a bit to really give it a chance. You won’t be disappointed! Learing to connect with your breath and your center can really help you through some stressful times.

  4. Catherine Says:

    My need for gluten-free diet was established in May 1980, and I adjusted a vegetarian “health-food” diet to eliminate anything containing gluten, and also started physician-recommended vitamin and mineral supplements (which were also gluten-free). My physical health (digestive, metabolic, etc.) improved markedly over the next eighteen months or so, but over time I was injured in automobile accidents and also on the job, where relentless overload at the computer led to RSI (repetitive strain injury)…and ultimately chronic pain syndrome. Chiropractic and physical therapy have helped, and so has yoga! For several years I have been attending “Ageless Yoga” classes taught by John Schlorholtz in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He concentrates on gentle stretches and breathing. Mobility is improved and stress and pain become less. A gluten-free life can be socially isolating, and there is a pleasant non-threatening social aspect to the yoga class, as well.

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