Let me tell you my story. It was late December, and like many people, thoughts of New Year’s resolutions were on my mind. I was tired, frazzled and was experiencing a particularly severe flare-up of a chronic respiratory illness. Earlier in the fall, Gayle and I had chatted about her Samata Yoga Therapy practice. So, at the end of the year, I decided that her eight-week program was a Christmas gift I could give to myself. I pictured heralding in the New Year with Zen-like calm, and felt good about keeping one of my resolutions – to return to a Yoga practice. She worked with me on some goals for the program, which included becoming better equipped to manage the typical daily stresses of life – the financial pressures of owning and running a business; putting former relationship woes to rest; and managing my health problems, which, up to that point in time, were mostly a nuisance in my life rather than debilitating. I was ready to start a whole new kind of year.
Well, as often happens, things don’t work out as planned. It was about to be a whole new kind of year, all right. About two weeks into the program with Gayle, I got the news – the deterioration in my lungs had become dangerously severe. The doctors were referring me to the transplant center for evaluation and bilateral lung transplantation. My life turned upside down. In addition to dealing with deteriorating health, the emotional and financial implications of such a surgery came home to roost. The road to transplantation is a long one, and fraught with twists and turns and potential derailment. Upon hearing the news, Gayle began reworking the plan for my program.
Together, we decided on new goals for my personalized Yoga therapy program – narrowing the scope of the program to focus specifically on breathing techniques and preparing myself to undergo surgery, as well as processing the new challenges that a lung transplant would bring. Gayle took the time to research and understand my underlying illness – Cystic Fibrosis, a complex disease that affects mainly the lungs, but also digestive abilities as well, another increasing area of concern for me as my weight had rapidly dropped to a low of 93 pounds. She developed a program that addressed the new issues in my life, and she gave me the tools and techniques to set up my home practice – a primary goal for Samata Yoga Therapy. During the eight-week time period of the program, I was put on portable oxygen and had intravenous antibiotics. Gayle adapted poses to accommodate these new limitations. She gave me weekly “prescriptions” – homework designed to reinforce what we’d worked on during that week’s session. Her approach to Yoga therapy is integrated and holistic, addressing each individual’s well being. So, my weekly assignments included not only the asanas we’d worked on, but also recipes for wholesome (and yummy!) meals, as well as a reminder to “escape” into a bubble bath at least once a week – a simple, restorative luxury I’d relinquished amidst the craziness in which I’d found myself. Her recommendations for reading material and books appealed to my intellectual curiosity, and her incorporation of the spiritual side of Yoga rounded out the program.
In addition to the practical application the program, Gayle’s genuine concern and willingness to truly understand the challenges her clients are facing is one of the hallmarks of her Samata Yoga Well-Being programs. During those initial weeks after learning the news about the condition of my lungs, her program got me through many dark moments. The weekly hour and a half sessions were an oasis of calm in the middle of constant turbulence and uncertainty. Even when I wasn’t able to spend as much time on my home practice as either Gayle or I would have liked, just knowing that I’d set aside those few moments each week kept me more balanced than I’d have been otherwise. Her approach of “coaching with caring” was a good one for me – gently stern when necessary, but always empathetic and compassionate regarding the circumstances of the day – and it felt like the circumstances changed daily. During each week’s session, she employed a method of returning to the familiar and then teaching me something new – a technique that kept me both comfortable and engaged. And, she checked in with me on a regular basis between sessions – a support I greatly appreciated.
The conclusion of the initial eight-week Yoga well-being program finds me still in the preparation and waiting stages of the transplantation process. However, because of what I learned during those eight weeks, I feel calmer, more grounded and better able to manage the many challenges that are ahead. Never one to be able to eat when especially stressed, this program has helped me regain my appetite by lowering my stress level, and I’m now gaining weight – a prerequisite for having this surgery. I found out recently that the breathing techniques we worked on during my program are the same as the diaphragmatic breathing exercises that I must practice for pulmonary rehabilitation classes – also a prerequisite to surgery – so I’ve had a head start in that area, as well. The integration of “body-mind-spirit” inherent in Gayle’s program has helped temper some of the harsher effects associated with Western medicine. Perhaps most importantly, Gayle’s Samata Yoga Therapy practice has helped me remember that I’m a person who looks forward to tomorrow, not someone who dwells on the past, and that it’s possible to find moments of peace in the present – something that I suspect will serve me well as I go down this new path of my journey.
Namaste –
Pam Miles