I first began to practice yoga in 2011. I was a medical student and during my summer break I went to stay with my aunt and uncle who live in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. My aunt persuaded me to go with her to her local studio and I couldn’t believe how fit and healthy the students were! I have been to various gyms over the years and I often feel as though people are ‘fighting’ the machines (and themselves) to keep fit, whereas this group of yogis looked naturally healthy. We went to a vinyasa flow class each morning and in the heat I seemed to improve my practice fairly quickly. By the end of the 3 weeks I was in the best shape of my life and had an incredible sense of wellbeing. I carried on practicing at home in Nottingham when I could, but I was also going into my final year at medical school and planning my wedding, so home practice wasn’t always easy. I didn’t really find a class I liked, particularly as I saw yoga primarily as a fitness activity and I didn’t connect with some of the spirituality taught, although I liked the meditative aspect.

I moved to Leeds in 2012. My job as a junior doctor fitted with all of the stereotypes-long hours, little time to relax and/or eat well and no energy for exercise! In my second year I had a quieter job and decided I wanted to incorporate yoga back into my life. My lovely husband found the Yoga Kula stand at the Chapel Allerton festival and brought me a timetable. I decided to try the vinyasa flow class with Angela, which I thought was great and just what I had been looking for. Going to class also encouraged me to practice at home and try to build yoga back into my life. Last autumn, work again began to slowly take over again and I developed a cold in early November 2013, which I just couldn’t seem to shake off. This went on for nearly a month, then one day, I woke up and the room was spinning around me! I quickly realised that I had labyrinthitis, an inner ear viral infection which often starts from a cold.

The illness went on over Christmas and my GP and I expected things to settle fairly quickly (most people have the infection for a couple of weeks) but my symptoms just carried on. By February I knew something ‘wasn’t right’ and I was referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon. He explained that in my case the virus had damaged the delicate structures in my inner ear. Along with our eyes and muscle receptors, these tiny structures in our inner ears help our brain to orientate us in space and controls functions we take for granted, like balance, co- ordination and detecting how far objects are away from us. Like many things in our amazing bodies, it often isn’t until something isn’t working that we realise how vital it is! The best comparison is being seasick on a rocky boat, when you don’t quite know where your foot is going to meet the floor and the room spins! The surgeon explained that my brain would need to ‘relearn’ balance and co ordination. Around the same time, I emailed my yoga teacher in Mexico for advice and she sent me an excellent article by a yoga teacher who had a similar experience to me (link below). I knew I needed to improve my balance and started a very simple practice, by which I mean I mainly stood in tadasana and learnt to focus on my breathing and the ground underneath my feet. Sometimes I did this for 20 minutes and focused on my breath. I gradually built up to a simple practice using postures such as a low tree and often needed to practice against a wall. I also learnt that I was relying much more on vision to keep me balanced and orientated, which led to deep fatigue. I downloaded some yoga nidra tracks and these really helped me to relax deeply.

Eventually I was able to travel on the bus, and wanted to come to a class. I knew being in a different environment would be more challenging, so I decided to try restorative yoga. I needed to start with a class that did not rely on balance and I explained this to the teacher, Lara who has been brilliant. She always makes sure I am comfortable with a posture and gives me alternative options. It is such a gentle, relaxing and meditative practice and even though I am now much better, going to the restorative class feels like much needed ‘me time’ and I never thought I would say this, but I see it as essential to my yoga practise!

In some ways, having the illness has been positive in that it has opened my eyes to types of yoga I would not have tried before. Like the restorative class, yin yoga is not something I would have thought about before, but I started going to this class as my health and balance improved, and even though it relies less on standing postures, it is a strong but very grounding practice. I now try to go to a variety of classes, and in the last few weeks even managed some hatha classes and a vinyasa flow class! I have tried to use yoga alongside exercises my surgeon gave me and I feel yoga has helped in so many ways. It has strengthened the muscles I need to balance, my co ordination has improved, and I now have a better understanding of what it means to be mindful! Most of all, I have learnt that yoga is not just practiced on the mat, but can benefit many aspects of our everyday lives.

My blog:

www.themedicalnaturalist.wordpress.com