CatLady’s Yoga Thread

About 2 years ago, my husband and I started taking yoga lessons and going to beginner yoga classes. The lead teacher, from whom we took our lessons, is affiliated with the Bihar School of Yoga in India and incorporates elements of traditional yoga in her lessons. My curiosity was piqued and I started in on a course of self-study on yoga history and philosophy. So when an opportunity to enroll in the teacher training course arose, I dithered and mulled and obsessed about it in my mind. I was not yet in Unlimited mode, you see, and worried about my age, fitness level, and D management (especially since I had experienced many exercise lows). Also, I was more interested in taking the training for personal reasons (engaging in in-depth study and improving my own yoga practice) than teaching (which I wasn’t really considering at the time). Ultimately, I finally did enroll and thus undertook an extremely challenging, frustrating, exhilarating, exhausting, and awesome challenge!!

BTW, three factors really helped in my decision: my husband’s support, switching to the OmniPod from MDIs last year, and learning so much about exercise and insulin adjustments on FUD. :smiley_cat:

The course started in late March with 8 students and met almost every other weekend through June, both Saturday and Sunday all day both days. Other requirements included attending 60 additional yoga classes and critiquing 30 of those from a teaching perspective, completing homework assignments and 30 self-study hours, attending an out-of-town yoga festival (what a blast!), and participating in a group service project. (We have an extended period afterward to finish up all this stuff.) We also practice teach under the teacher’s watchful eye and when she gives each of us a “go”, we can start subbing in for teachers in the center’s regular schedule. We are also encouraged to practice teach in informal settings to gain more experience and increase our comfort level in this new role. Two of my friends graciously let me lead them in yoga practices and gave me very helpful feedback and lots of encouragement.

The weekend sessions were full of pitfalls for me: unpredictable activity timing, frequency, and duration; unpredictable mealtimes; unfamiliar foods (vegan pot-lucks with an emphasis on gluten-free dishes for students with gluten issues); and mental and physical fatigue. Early on I figured out a morning routine: bolus and eat breakfast early so there was little or no mealtime insulin still circulating by 10:30 or so and setting my basal down usually about 10 or 10:30 (for an hour or more) since there usually was active practice in late morning. Sometimes this worked out pretty well, sometimes not, and then I’d have to sit out for a while and drink juice.

Interestingly, one of the other participants deals regularly with reactive hypoglycemia and also needed to sit out for a while on occasion. In her case, recovery meant protein with a small amount of carbs. We had some very informative talks about our BG management needs!

As the course progressed and the activity level ramped up, especially after lunch, I found myself very gratefully relying on my Afrezza stash for boluses. I supplemented my meals with non-starchy veg, cheese sticks, and nuts, and made lower-carb vegan dishes so I’d have something to eat with a known carb load. A couple of times I really underestimated my appetite and the carb load of lunch…and had to correct bad spikes. For our final class, the teacher brought in a custom-baked vegan and gluten-free cake…and I enjoyed a full portion! Yay, Afrezza!!

Not until mid-way through the course did I think to start making notes on BGs, carb needs, and basal adjustments. Doing this has been particularly useful for the 60 required classes, since I am going to a wide variety of class styles in order to be familiar with what our center offers, meet the different teachers (who then are more likely to call on me for subbing), and assess my own capacity to lead a specific type of class. My “research” is helping me to understand the many ways yoga practice can affect my blood sugar and thus prepare me (hopefully!) to lead classes more safely and effectively.

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Good for you to go through this training… that takes guts!

I found myself inspired the other day and did a short, gentle, very simple online practice, and woke up with a sore muscle in my rib cage the next day. Good grief.

I don’t usually prefer the more challenging flows and stuff… I bet I haven’t done a single real challenging yoga video since diabetes came along. The more calming, stretching stuff doesn’t have much BG impact for me, but I’ll have to try a faster paced, more difficult video one of these days and see what happens (hopefully not another pulled muscle :grinning:)

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Have you ever tried that yoga thing with the baby goats? That just looks so bizarre!

I totally want to try that!! :goat:

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Your notes are fascinating to me.

How do you prep for a class that you will teach, BG-wise?

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I don’t get the appeal of goat yoga but…sometimes I do cat yoga at home. Zane Grey insists on ear rubs whenever I do legs-up-the-wall pose! :smiley_cat:

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I did yoga a long time ago and loved it. I did it for a couple of years. I am very interested in starting it up again but am very concerned with injury. I don’t think managing my blood sugar would be an issue in the beginning as I would be doing the minimum, but do you have any recommendations for a very gentle introduction routine?

I think what you’re pursuing is awesome. :cherry_blossom:

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@kpanda01 and @Nickyghaleb, I recommend finding a well-qualified teacher with whom to take a couple of private lessons on yoga foundations (alignment, protecting the low back, balance) in order to avoid injury in a home practice. :woman_cartwheeling:

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Figuring out how to prep for classes is the next challenge I face. So far, I have only subbed in twice (for a class I take regularly) and thus had a good sense of the BG implications when planning. Whew! But I also turned down one sub request, for a flow-type class (more aerobic), ‘cos I had had a weird low that morning and finally evened out and just didn’t feel ready to take it on. :confused:

So…I need to look over my BG notes from classes I’ve taken and do a bit of analysis on how I’ve fared by type of class. (There are many styles of yoga, including vinyasa/flow, hatha/slower flow with longer pose holds, breath-centered/traditional, “power”, and core-focused.) I am hoping this will help me figure out some parameters for starting BG level, basal adjustments, and carbs. Also, I need to plan some different sequences and test them out at home, both to see how long each sequence takes (aiming for one hour total) and how my BG changes while moving through it. More notes…and stuff to write about on this thread! :smiley_cat:

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A logical place to start indeed. Thank you. :slightly_smiling_face:

I also like a blog called http://yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.com/ and the companion book.

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I worked on this last night and realized that I needed to create and start using a template for consistent note-taking! :pencil2:

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It may be sacrilege to mention it in this thread, but if you are worried about yoga being too much, you can always do Tai Chi and get many of the same benefits as yoga within a less intense workout structure.

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LOL, my Tai Chi used to make a lot of yoga jokes but now realizes how much these two practices overlap!. :smiley_cat:

My main concern is learning to minimize highs and lows in my own practice and even moreso as a teacher. :woman_cartwheeling:

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Did you just tell people to do Tai Chi in the middle of a yoga thread?

:woman_facepalming: …Men.

Just kidding. :grin: I have never tried it. Yoga I know and love. Tai Chi sounds like slow Capoeira. I’ll take a look today after I check out that blog. Thank you @CatLady!

Quick aside… I have a kink in my neck. Would this be a bad day to start a little yoga, or do you think it could help??

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Good suggestion, @CatLady regarding classes from a yoga instructor. I’ve never done a yoga class, although I know I should, to make sure I have the foundational stuff down.

I love Yoga with Adriene on you tube, and mostly stick to her videos. She has videos at a variety of skill levels and intensities, and I find she’s great about pointing out that you don’t have to be able to do the full extent of the pose to benefit from it - she provides alternatives and doesn’t make me feel like a failure if I dont look like she does!

Anyway, @Nickyghaleb, I can’t think which of her videos are the best for starting out off the top of my head, but regardless, if you’re still dealing with your hip pain and such, I’d wait until your doc or PT or whoever clears you for it. However, I find that certain yoga poses make great stretches for keeping loose after a run, so it might be helpful once you are at the right place in your getting-better-process. But I’d check with the doc first for sure, and even then, start small!!

I do feel like it’s good for a stiff neck if I take it easy… but only if I know it’s a “I slept on it funny” type thing and not some sort of injury.

Of course, I’m no expert so take all this with a grain of salt. :grinning:

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@CatLady, where are your preferred pod locations when considering yoga?

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Usually alternate between my thighs and abdomen. I do bow pose on my side to avoid straining an already tender knee and don’t do prone boat (sometimes also called locust). Other prone poses like cobra, sphinx, or up-dog aren’t problematic.

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When I read Chris’ post, my brain said, Tae Bo… Remember that?

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