The Return To Innocence

I did not realize how weirdly difficult it can be to answer the question, "So, what triggered this C-PTSD episode and panic attack?"

I mean, how DO you explain all the fucked up, freaked out, screaming neuronal mess that can cause brief blackouts, episodes of time agnosia, obsessiveness bordering on mania, hyperventilation, emotional outbursts, etc etc etc.

And there is no one thing, two things, any things. That's why it's Complex PTSD. It can be anything and everything. Maybe it's because I read some news articles about police violence against disabled people with no legal consequence for the police. Maybe it's because a friend got triggered by their own things and during our conversation something triggered me completely innocently. Maybe it's because I had a nightmare about that time years ago when a skeevy dude tried to hurt and assault me near a shopping center and was beat up by another guy who just looked at me and said, "Run!" and I fled up the stairs until I couldn't breathe and never looked back. I don't know. I don't KNOW, guys.

You know? You know.

I have reasons for not talking about this stuff outside my psychologists and certain friends. Support is better than silence, though, and I have so much support and empathy to give, so when I need it I reach out to the friends who know.

Anyway. Yes, I took my meds. Yes, I did my exercises. Yes, I ate well enough.

And my cats have not let me out of their sight. (KITTIES)

This is the greatest.
http://yoganonymous.com/watch-ultra-spiritual/

Good news: Apparently, most of this small weight gain is actual muscle. Who knew.
Annoying news: Everything hurts in such a very specific way everywhere that most forms of exercise make it all worse. The only things that seem to make it better are isometrics and mild qi gong and a few basic Pilates-style moves... sooo, physical therapy with a spiritual bent?

Also, I still have a stress reaction to even the idea of "doing yoga for pain". None of my doctors are surprised. Plus, the physical therapist suggested some lovely snarky replies to "Have you tried yoga for your pain?" - my favorite is still "Well, yoga tastes like artificial banana, and I hate artificial banana flavor, so I don't want any yoga, thanks." Second favorite is "Nah, I'm still trying that floating Jedi thing in the swamps. I'd rather take the Dark Side with the cookies."
Seriously. Don't yoga push me. I did try it, it was painful, I found other things.

Now I feel like mimicking that scene where Bart draws a picture of Flanders and chases Homer around with it yelling "Howdily doodily! Howdily doodily? HOWDILY DOODILY?" Luckily, I haven't been pushed in a while, and the last few times, I remained calm and cool, because I am still fucking awesome.

Addendum:
Also, it's really interesting: I am totally fine with basic yoga, with flow yoga, with restorative yoga. But it is the way people talk about it as though it helps everyone heal everything? That is what I gripe so much about. Maybe some poses will help ease cerebral palsy issues, fibromyalgia issues, joint issues. Maybe. For some disabled folks. But if I say something like "No, thank you, I've tried that, it was too painful, it made things worse, and I have found other exercises that help me," I expect people to, if not back off, then at least acknowledge my reasons. The actual fact that many pushers have brushed off my reasons and kept pushing is what makes me want to slap them with their yoga mats. So when I talk about an exercise by calling it a name that is also the name of a yoga pose, please please do not assume I have taken up yoga. It's just that "Warrior Pose" is far simpler than having to describe the whole thing.
Comments:
Anna Sirén: Yoga? Us? Really? ...?
Joanna Capello Paul: LOL, it is to laugh. But by gods, people love to try.
Anna Sirén: Jesus, I can't imagine you with your ankles behind your ears, and that's not an insult.
Joanna Capello Paul: OMG ow. Ow ow ow OW.
Joanna Capello Paul: I'm just glad other CP folks get it. I don't know what's so particularly special about yoga, but it's become so elitist in many ways. And if I say I'm "doing Child's Pose" or something, I feel like I need to add "not actual yoga because that is painful" because just because it's a stretching exercise doesn't mean it's a yoga pose.
Cara Liebowitz: When a teacher who knows how to handle Ceeps is doing it, yoga can be nice. *coughcough* Kara T. Billingham. Yoga at crip camp was great fun, if painful.
Joanna Capello Paul: My mom teaches a certain type of yoga to seniors in Southampton sometimes, and the moves are so simple they're barely even yoga. What bothers me really is this culture of yoga-ier than thou elitism, and gods forbid I perform a "yoga style type pose" that is not yoga.
Cara Liebowitz: I wonder if Kara and your mom know each other. Next time you're in the Hamptons, stop by The Yoga House, LLC and ask for Kara, tell her you know me. One of my favorite things about Kara's yoga was that she encouraged us to laugh if we wanted to.
Joanna Capello Paul: Hmm. I'll ask my mom! Have you spoken with Kara lately?
Joanna Capello Paul: *looking at website* Well, it's good that she teaches Kripalu. My parents' basement tenant, who is a massage therapist, is a certified Kripalu teacher.
Cara Liebowitz: We speak every so often here on Facebook, last I saw her was over the summer. She is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful and so is her husband. Two very influential people in my life.
Joanna Capello Paul: I haven't been through Hampton Bays in a long time, but I do recognize that sign and building. I have a feeling that Kara and my mom have run in similar circles.
Melissa Boyer O'Doyle: I'd rather take the Dark Side with the cookies.
Heather Stover: I do vinyasa flow yoga and restorative yoga. It helps. With some things. It is not some magic cure for everything. If you're not into it people should leave you alone, your yogi wouldn't want you there with any less then a willing mind and heart.
Heather Stover: Gentle yoga classes are the bomb. I hate elitist yoga snobs.
Mad Miriam: You know you might just get people to back down more quickly by simply sating that you have a very satisfying home practice, thank you very much.
Joanna Capello Paul: ...except that when they keep nudging and insisting, I tend to feel backed into a corner, and I start snarling. I'm a very peaceful person. But I am also shy and isolated. I really don't like being pushed.
Mad Miriam: If your agreeing why are they still nudging and insisting?
Joanna Capello Paul: I really wish I knew. People are very odd.
Mad Miriam: I'll say. I'm sorry, I for one do not push cause well I know you have met the practice where you are at and since yoga means union isn't that the fucking point anyhow?
Joanna Capello Paul: Agreed. That's why I am so upset and pissed off when people don't seem to understand the whole damn point. Union is about, y'know, respecting people's choices. The fact that there ARE yoga practitioners who almost bully others into doing their kind of yoga - particularly disabled people - hurts me.
Joanna Capello Paul: For example, in the cerebral palsy support group I am in, there have been stories of non-disabled people pushing CP folks too hard, leading to injuries that were not fully recovered - physical and emotional. And that is just not right at all. And I feel like that is part of the weird elitist attitude that shouldn't even exist with yoga practice.
Mad Miriam: OMG Joanna Capello Paul I could not agree more, as a fairly mild arthritic I get the same shit and I don't get why its so hard for some teachers to understand that just cause I got into a really low lunge last week this week my knees and hips might just be too stiff to go there and that it does not mean I am not dedicated to the practice, it means I am listening to my body, something we should all aspire to do more often.
Joanna Capello Paul: Listening to our bodies! Exactly! I don't think people like that care about listening to the body anymore. You do what YOU must do for YOUR body. And I am so burnt out on teachers who don't listen. It's why I do restorative, flow moves with my mother over the phone.
I mean, I literally cannot be straight. When I try a lunge, or a pose that requires balance, I have to ask someone, usually Adam, if my body lines up. And when he helps get me into a straight aligned line, I start wobbling. It hurts. I am in serious pain. My body, my very bones, were never going to align like that. And so I need modification, compensation, compromise. And the fact that a lot of yoga practitioners have insulted me just for that literally created a stress reaction in my brain. So when I talk about yoga poses, I have to say "modified basic yoga" otherwise I start hyperventilating just from memories.
Mad Miriam: It is a myth that our bodies and bones can align to some artificial standard, we all all have such diffent experiences and phsyologies that make up who we are and it my mind if you are making room for the breath and creating sensation, but not pain you are doing it right. I totally agree through and think it is part of the problem with the comodifying of yoga, I think once upon a time, maybe there was the root of the notion that yogis practiced to access a place beyond pain and body and to reach a space where they could meditate and focus on breath and vein, but with institutions like lululemon and power yoga people see their yoga as about perfecting the body and not reaching past the veneer that is the body. Its fascinating and sick really.
Joanna Capello Paul: I appreciate you saying that, Mad Miriam. It makes me feel better, knowing that there can't be such "perffect alignment". I was always, always told that I'd never reach any ideal pose with cerebral palsy. So I stopped. And I found isometrics and just started doing meditative stretching, which was my version of yoga anyway.
Mad Miriam: Next time someone starts to push hard ask them if they practice Ahimsa, it is the first basic principal of yoga and translates into compassion for all living things, if they say "Of course." then tell them you do as well and intimately understand what is most compassionate for your body. Namaste.
Mad Miriam: I think all the wrong people have been foisting their opinions on you. I took up Kundalini yoga last year and the whole idea of it is that through the practice you are opening up channels on your spine for the kundalini energy to come spouting out of the top of your head, I expressed concern that I had a slight scoliosis in my spine and that according to this notion I was ineligible for kudalini enlightenment, my instructor said "No worries, the energy meanders its way around these things, it's like a stream." Thus I go with that notion.
Joanna Capello Paul: Ahimsa, eh? I shall look into it!
I have fallen in love with kundalini energy. I do what your instructor says, instinctively. I don't necessarily do all the poses and moves but I reach for that energy in my own way. Maybe one day you and I could get together and practice in our own imperfect methods?

*****
Copying stuff from other social media sites can be interesting...

http://www.autistichoya.com/p/ableist-words-and-terms-to-avoid.html

Okay, so naturally I disagree with several of these. I use Idiot, Moron, Crazy, Stupid, Lame, Gimpy, Cripple. In fact!...
Via Facebook:
BTW, FYI: When I am stressed, worried, afraid, or panicked, I turn to satire, wryness, flippant humor, self-deprecation, and dark humor to soothe myself. It's not that bad right now, but if I discuss any health issues with blatant dark flippancy toward myself, it's just a way of being okay with stuff.
I'm sure plenty of folks do this. Sometimes it's all about sanity and security! I am such a lame cripple right now. Hah.
BUT: I won't use ableist words without a warning note that I personally am not offended by a few (specifically idiot, crazy, moron, lame, gimpy, cripple - I apply them only to myself). Since they are known offensive terms, and I know this, I'll make a point to not use them outside of me, myself. However, if anyone has issues with my potential use of those listed words specifically, please let me know.

See, I think lists of ableist words tend to go too far. But everyone has their own hairline triggers and I ain't stepping on those wires. But I won't step on eggshells. I will apply trigger warnings and disclaimers because I know very well. One of my favorite insults comes from Futurama: "Asinine Morons." It feels so good on the tongue. I just like the word Asinine. Maybe Moron could be replaced with Coward, Jerk, Pissant. I don't know. I really love finding words and terms that I could use instead of words that obviously refer to disabled people in an unflattering way. The thing is, with disabled people being among the most marginalized of the marginalized groups, it will take a long time to alter the vocabulary or lessen the ugliness of the words.
I still refuse to use "retard" because it reduces a person to slowed developmental growth above all else. And really, the only time I've heard "retarded/retardation" was with plants. And there should be other words.

On to other things: My migraine, which has been slowly creeping since last night, is being gently soothed by caffeine, B-Complex, Boswellia, Magnesium, Aspirin. The Ayurvedic pills - Bacopa, Ashwagandha, Shilait, Turmeric, Boswellia, Fenugreek - have been helping slowly but surely. And the stuff I picked up while grocery shopping are helping beautifully too. Yay symptom soothing!

Stuff to remember!

Quote on guarana:
""Guarana is one of those herbs that most people do not know much about, but should, because it is superior to plain old caffeine. The reason Guarana is superior to caffeine is for two reasons in my opinion. The first being that Guarana has more than just caffeine; it also contains two other stimulants in Theobromine and Theophylline. The second reason why Guarana is more effective is because it has different natural stimulants that seem to be released more slowly than regular caffeine so your energy levels seem not to spike and lull as much as regular caffeine. To add on to that, I will say that Guarana also contains Choline which is a powerful nootropic, as it increases mental function because it is a precursor to the vitally important brain chemical Acetylcholine. I enjoy Guarana because it really is an effective herbal Adderall replacement supplement.""

Stuff from Facebook:

I am starting to forget what it's like to have physical energy, like basic adrenaline and muscle strength. It comes and goes. I miss dancing and laughing. Maybe I can do it soon.

Okay. Okay.
It's fine; it's just a lost plushie owl. I'll find it eventually
For now, I can not focus on the bigger owl. I have a tiny owl, and I have that gigantic carnival owl. I also have the snow leopard, the massive carnival husky bigger than my cats, the Ponies, and the awesome Spherical Plushie Bunny. But I am still going to find that white and gray owl. It is so fluffy. You guys. It is so fluffy.

How funny. I looked in my bathroom mirror and wondered which foundation makeup I had applied. I realized I hadn't applied any makeup at all. It was a slightly alien feeling...
Those memes going around explaining "Why I Wear Makeup" and "Why I Don't Wear Makeup" are absolutely beautiful just to me. You know. Do not tell me I don't need makeup all the time. You are not me. I am not you. We can't obviously instruct each other's cosmetic preferences without consequence regardless. I personally need base concealer. Maybe you don't. We are both pretty.
It began with a severe anxiety-driven fear that my skin was covered in destructive blemished. It isn't ending. But it has traveled along a road that has begun healing.
Good enough, for now.

Still full of muscle exhaustion beyond muscle exhaustion. Still in muscle pain beyond muscle pain. However, the rest of the vitamin boosted coffee has kicked it, the moisturizers made my skin feel much more awesome, and the plain cake doughnut I just ate was delicious.
Besides, I have several couches and a bed to collapse on.

Really, that's all I wanted to say. The physiatrist prescribed twice a week sessions for an hour and a half. My therapist, Michael, looks like a cousin of actor Jensen Ackles. We are doung slow gentle sets that engage all the muscles in my lower back, pelvis, and thighs.

Also, the Zanaflex has been fantastic.

Dear Cerebral Palsy: You are making me angry. I don't like me when we're angry. Please to stop being so spastic and ataxic and hemiplegic and such. I will throw baclofen at you and also codeine because you are misbehaving. Stoppit.

Seriously, though, I feel gross. The fibromyalgia and the allergies are hitting me from all sides. My joints feel sad. Everything feels sad. I mean, in my body. My brain feels okay, although heavily fogged and stripped of some memory. Like, I actually can't remember stuff from yesterday. I remember Adam and myself running errands at a dollar/more store and at H-Mart, but I forget what we got. I don't think I had seizures. Just myalgia fog and memory loss. I had run out of some medicines, got more of them, but can't remember much else regarding that. It's similar to autistic inertia, but with fibromyalgia and disruptive cognitive tempo (ADHD) tossed in. The weather is dragging and heavy and I feel so, so heavy.
Sigh. Shrug. Meh.

Okay, so. This new show on ABC, "Black Box", which has really polarized critics. Some people hate it even though it's only had one episode. The creators insist that it may change how we see mental illness and neurology.
The main character, Dr Catherine Black, is a brilliant, innovative neuroscientist who tries to hide her severe manic bipolar disorder. Except she loves the way she feels during manic episodes, so she often discards her medication, runs out and becomes hypersexual, has hallucinations, becomes a different person. She realizes this and understands the extreme consequences, but finds it hard to stop. Her psychologist, who is wonderful, is worried. Her fiance, who she kept in the dark for a year, winds up liking her hypersexualized, aggressive manic self. Her brother and his wife are raising her daughter, born when Cate was a teenager, who doesn't know that Aunt Cate is actually Mom and who is displaying symptoms of bipolar.
There will be melodrama. There will be intensity. There will be exaggerations. Patients who suffer from all sorts of conditions that Cate will be able to work with thanks to her personal holistic insight into the complex brain. Cate will be shown as an exaggeration of a bipolar patient, and it may lead to audiences arguing over the benefits and dangers of drugs, treatments, holistic treatment, psychotherapy. We shall see. So far, I liked the pilot episode. But it might turn into a "Grey's Anatomy" or even "House" style show, with drama on top of drama, further polarizing audiences. We shall see.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/black-box-abc-kelly-reilly-reviews
http://www.avclub.com/review/black-box-its-protagonist-flawed-endearing-203589
But so far, Catherine Black may as well be me in a separate reality, if I had gone for neuroscience in college.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/television/2014/04/23/abc-black-box-bipolar-doc-with-cure-for-what-ails-everyone-else/edYtT036PpTSUZ8ZOrokKM/story.html


Okay, so, there's me. I've been having horrible headaches, neck pain, jaw pain. Probably highly interconnected. I blame the weather for the most part. Every morning finds me ninety years old, performing bed yoga in kundalini form for cripples. Thankfully, the combination of my pharmaceutical and supplemental drugs work really well. I have taken advice and started ignoring naysayers who insist I do This or That and stop doing That or This - my health is my own. To quote The Prisoner: My life is my own. I will not be pushed. Yes, yes, I appreciate all the suggestions for this medicine, that yoga practice, this therapy, that device. I am deciding how to proceed with my doctors.
All the pain and stiffness and aching and stabbing fade into the background when I work, ie writing, which is the best thing. The supplements for ADHD work well enough so I can concentrate, but I need to eat more often, because I take after my father, like when he's outside carving stone forgetting to eat for hours. Small meals several times a day works best. Nut butter-fruit preserves sandwiches on whole grain bread do wonderful things. Grilled cheese sandwiches, with avocado if I have it. Yes. Oh! I have a slice of cheesecake with which to treat myself!
A walk around the neighborhood, quad cane in hand, was helpful enough, after push-ups, weight-lifting, leg stretching. I do what I can.

Also, on an LJ community for disabled people, I was asked to find links for cerebral palsy and comorbid conditions, and I want to remember them, so this:

"Well, I started out Googling cerebral palsy + comorbidity. I joined a private CP group on Facebook and discovered some extraordinary - and disturbing - facts about aging with CP. I'd be happy to try and answer any questions. Many people have no idea. I am spastic-ataxic hemiplegic, left side, born 12 weeks premature, developed periventricular leukomalacia aka white matter death, and at age 35 have actively gotten worse. CP itself is a static condition that never changes, but the syndromes associated with it do progress. In fact, many people with CP don't believe that it gets worse.

http://cerebralpalsy.org/about-cerebral-palsy/conditions/
https://www.clinicalkey.com/topics/pediatrics/cerebral-palsy.html
http://questioning-answers.blogspot.com/2012/10/cerebral-palsy-and-autism.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20654035

These are just some of the articles. I can give personal insight as well. It's very fascinating. "

So, I had what I considered a palsy victory and agony simultaneously.

Depressive episode gripping me hard enough to draw blood, I walked out - no cane, because medicine and meditative stretchy exercise like whoa - and took the Metro to Twinbrook, walked the ten minutes to Congressional Plaza, shopped, stopped to eat sushi, and carried two bags back to the Metro, right side burning and feeling ripped open while palsy left side felt ghost-like and nearly numb. Got to Shady Grove again, took the bus and stopped at the Redmill Center right near my house community, went to the CVS and bought drug refills, limped and shook and spasmed and gasped as the bus dropped me off across from my townhouse community, walked with three bags that felt like dead weights, stopped to get the mail, went home, went upstairs, collapsed, and very weakly, feebly flailed and flapped and cried out "Yay, I did it, go me!"

I got myself belated birthday gifts, especially because the Rockville Ulta now carries
It Cosmetics, which is my top favorite makeup brand in the world, which I just learned today so it was like a cliche of angels singing. I'd been waiting for my Ulta to acquire It Cosmetics since last year, when the Silver Spring Ulta announced they had the brand and that Rockville would get it this spring. YES. I was also flush with coupons and points so I splurged: I got the new liquid peptide foundation and the new thin-brush peptide mascara; and also Ecotools brand konjac facial cleansing sponge made of konjac fibers, because konjac is one of the most awesome internal and external cleansing fibers in the world.

I was in horrid pain, honestly awful bad bad pain, pain that was like trauma pain... and I was happy. Because PAIN pushed me on. And VICTORY. It was nearly joy. And joy is something above emotion, after all.

I knew that my cane might have made my hands more full. But the fact that I was capable of doing all this without a cane... it was just... well, you know. Hemiplegic spastic ataxic cerebral palsy, spastic hypertonia, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, sciatica, lordosis, migraine pain, major depressive episode, autistic symptoms making everything loud and bright and I could barely look in people's eyes despite cheerful conversations. I did STUFF. I did stuff that made me feel good. I will be in pain for days. But I did it! I think the agony will be worth it, the codeine and the tramadol and the baclofen and the clonazepam and the capsule supplemets of devil's claw and MSM and cayenne and mangosteen and noni vinpocetine and oh my gods I can hardly walk and I am shaking all over and my muscles feel torn up and I want to break down in tears.
But I am proud of myself?
*wipes away tears*

Damn, I really hurt...

...and I forgot to buy milk.
It's okay. I have enough coconut cream, coconut milk, and sweetened condensed milk to work with my coffee until I can get to Giant. Plus a hand mixer blender device to whip it good. At Giant I can grab a lightweight jug of kitty litter and a half-gallon of whole milk, and canned cat food. I can bring a backpack plus a tote to see what will fit how, so I can take the cane.
I'm twitching so much. I wonder if this entire day was one big seizure trigger. Fuck.

Now, today, the day after, I am slowly preparing for my first meet and greet appointment with the new psychologist. My last one got too expensive after I switched to Medicare, and this new woman will work on a sliding scale, with my mother willing to help.

Quoting an article about cerebral palsy and sex, particularly kinky sex:

"Old Pain I’m used to: the tightness in my hips when I don’t stretch in the morning, the pressure where my legs meet my back when I walk too far. It’s not that I don’t feel it; it’s just been there for so long that I know not to get nervous about it anymore. New Pain is where it gets scary because it stops having a name. I can’t immediately catalog it or diagnose it as benign. At best, disability allows you to create a tenuous peace with your body, and anytime it decides to violate that mutual agreement can be terrifying. You take the time to figure it out — what it likes and dislikes, where it functions best — and stick to that routine, until New Pain reminds you that you’re never quite going to have this figured out."

I'm a wimp with any kind of pain. But yes, Old Pain, I'm very used to Old Pain. I'm not good with pain. But, well, Old Pain is a whiny annoying thing that you deal with every day because you have to.

My favorite way to engage in personal physical stuff - not just sex - while having cerebral palsy: Communicating. A lot. Trusting. Being aware. Sharing the understanding that I can do this but can't do that, I can do this but it would be cumbersome and difficult, that I can do that but it would require compensation, modification, and help.
That's just life, though, really. But with disabilities, it becomes conscious and essential every single time.

My modified Disablility Compensated Qi Gong exercises always help, mentally and spiritually and psychologically and physiologically. Like yoga, except Fake Yoga Cripple Style that is not actually yoga. (FYCS. FIX. Ha ha ha...) (Or hey, Fake Yoga Cripple Style Modified Exercise. FYCSME = FIX ME. Ha ha. Wow. Dude.)

But it isn't helping today. I'm too Hollow, which is my term for deep major depression. I'm too Postictal, after that unexpectedly awful seizure yesterday and its aftershock which were tiny seizures for hours. Emotional responses are foreign and results of emotion are mere symptoms, like crying and laughing. I will meditate again, do more qigong work, and breathe and much as possible.
FYI. I am having an episode of pure major Depression plus major Anxiety. This is accompanied by mild memory loss of the past two days. Everything is foggy. I know I should be upset about something, but I cannot feel upset. What is upset, anyway? I think I hurt myself emotionally yesterday. I wish I remembered what it was. I believe it started out with false happiness. Remember that weird assumption of some sort of hypomania? I think I was outside of my rational mind.

Back to special exercises.
People keep suggesting and recommending breathing exercises. I know all of that. I know people just want to share their personal remedies. I love it. Please don't think I am rejecting you. I love hearing your stories. Even the stories about yoga. I wish I could explain why just seeing or hearing the word yoga evokes a sad, upset reaction. It isn't that I am unable to do yoga. It is just that yoga extremists do not listen nor care about my need for compensation. My body was born crooked. I cannot form a proper straight line even if I held on to something. No amount of cajoling, insisting, or pushing different forms will change that. Please don't do that. Please just accept that I have to perform qi gong differently, and that qi gong included poses that are similar to yoga, and that yoga is not the greatest panacea of healing holistic practices. This is part of why I don't want to visit California, which makes absolutely no sense and makes me look prejudiced.

So. Please, please do talk about how much yoga is healing you, because that is beautiful and I am genuinely, honestly joyfully happy. But if you wish to suggest a yoga pose that can be modified for someone with a shaky, spastic, crippled body, please suggest an alternate form. That is all I ask. There is no such thing as a real panacea, even in the botanical world, even in the plant and herb world, and certainly not in the exercise world. It is entirely possible that I will find a set of yoga exercises that will really, truly help me, and I will join the ranks of yoga enthusiasts. Anything is possible. Nothing is off limits. Except evangelism. If I wanted something pushed down my throat, I will drink water mixed with special fruit and plant powders, like sea buckthorn and moringa.
This is coming from my years as a holistic enthusiast and pusher. I was bad. I was essentially an asshole. And then I learned that it was just wrong. I never want to do that again. Just because something works perfectly for me does not mean it will work at all for someone else.

Any form of good physical-spiritual combination exercise, be it yoga, qigong, taichi, strength training, cardio, dead lift weight, isometrics, plyometrics, dance, hardcore dance, etc, is wonderful and beautiful and strengthening, and will help everyone in some personal powerful way. That is the point of exercise.
I love you all. If you really want to help me, don't push me. Just guide me.