There has been a lot of press recently regarding YOGA for MS. Pilates and Tai Chi have also been presented as good for MS. If choosing ONE ONLY, which one?
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3/21/10 5:35am
Hi Katherine,
I will agree with tellnhelen in that it depends on you — your goals and your capacity. I know one MSer who thinks tai chi is the only way to go.
My preference is yoga for several reasons. It is easy, yet has good results. In addition, you can continue with yoga even when you lose some capabilities. There are teachers who have had a lot of training in yoga for MS. Maybe the same is true for tai chi and pilates as well. My experience is with MS and yoga.
3/18/10 10:59pm
This is a terrific question. I believe the answer depends upon your personal goals. For example my goals incude Walking, balance and strength. I started out with simple yoga...Peggy Cappy's "Yoga for the Rest of Us". I really liked it because I COULD DO IT. It continues to help me with my balance. BUT.... my PT has me on a Pilates program...for strength and stamina. Right now and for the next few months I going with the pilates program. It's working for me and I'm loosing weight too. Later this year during the warm months I intend to do water aerobocs (modified) and get back to the yoga tape. So I think there is no FIRM answer...it depends on what you are trying to accomplish
3/21/10 12:13pm
Hello Katherine, I agree with the other ladies, everyone will take different benefits from each one of these options. I think the key here is to try them and keep trying until you find something that helps you. I have tried both Yoga and Tai Chi so I can let you know what I liked about them. Yoga was great because of the stretching aspect and balance, however, I found that the best part I liked was at the end when we layed in silence, it felt so great after the workout. Tai Chi, for me, was better than Yoga. The reason I felt this way is because it kept my mind away from everything else. It was calming and it's repetitive. You are so busy learning and perfecting the moves that your mind cannot think about other things so it was a real relief in that sense for me. There were also a lot of participants in the class that had illnesses like fibromyalgia and arthritis that swear by Tai Chi. When I would do Yoga I found myself thinking about all the stuff I had to do after class for some reason but I felt it was a workout that was beneficial so physically very helpful but not so much mentally. Tai Chi not as physically helpful but great mentally! I have not tried pilates yet but may do that this summer. Good luck with your research, take care.
4/ 6/10 8:21pm
Actually, I disagree with the other comments. Enough formal research shows that all three (yoga, tai chi, pilates) programs show benefits for people with MS; plenty of anecdotal evidence supports the idea for these and other programs. The critical factor is how likely you are to stick with it for a little while at least: How comfortable are you at the class? How do you feel about the instructor's voice? How easy is it for you to get to class? How do you feel about the other students -- do they make you feel welcome or self-conscious? Do you feel like you could fit in? How does the physical environment (the level of light, the music they play, the flooring, etc.) make you feel? Are the instructor's expectations at a good level for you (not to demanding, not too loose)? What are your expectations of yourself?
Try something out, then if you feel you're looking for reasons not to go to the next class, it's probably not right for you. Maybe you're supposed to leave in ten minutes and you're thinking "But I haven't washed my hair today" or "My mother's/son's/friend's phone call put me in a bad mood this morning" -- listen to yourself! These classes can only help if they are a source of good stress (motivating you to strive and push yourself), not bad or excessive stress (makes you feel paralyzed and depressed).
Most important: listen to yourself! Between yoga, tai chi, pilates, of any other program/class, the best one is the one that works best for you!
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By Katherine— Last Modified: 12/26/10, First Published: 03/18/10
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