The Overcoming MS Retreat - I'm Back

I'm back from my 5 day Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis retreat in the Yarra Valley and I feel like a whole new person.

I spent 5 very busy and emotional days with 34 other people learning all about MS, current medical information, and all the diet and lifestyle choices I can make to improve my quality of life.

Here's a quick summary of what I learnt.  I think most of these apply to all of us, not just the 1 in 1,000 with MS.

• Eat more fruit and vegetables.  I know, we all mean to, but they are so important to our nutrition.
• Get some vitamin D.  Get 10-15 minutes of all over sun or if it's cloudy take a vitamin D supplement.  You will start hearing a lot about how Australians have become vitamin D deficient over the next few years.
• Eat more omega 3 in place of saturated fat in your diet.  Choose fish over meat.
• Avoid highly refined vegetable oils, trans fats, and hydrogenated oils - they're not good, and they're in so many foods we buy.  Read the labels.
• Eat real food rather than processed food.  If the ingredient list has 20 items listed and many of them have numbers, give them a miss.
• Exercise.  Swim, ride a bike, do something a little more than just walking.  It's not for weight loss.  It's for your health. 
• Meditate or take some quiet 'me' time daily.  Slow your breathing down.
• Find ways to reduce or eliminate stress in your life.
• Look after your emotional, social and spiritual side - build a support network of friends & family.  Laugh often - it's good medicine!

The retreat was truly a life changing experience, and I highly recommend it to anybody with MS or there was one lady there with motor-neuron disease.  If you have MS or know somebody with MS, please email me and I'll happily tell you more about it.  You can get a free copy of the book Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis from The Gawler Foundation here.

Yesterday was day 1 of my recovery plan.  I swam 750 metres in the pool at my gym.  I made my first batch of bircher muesli.  I ate sardines on toast for lunch - not nearly as disgusting as it sounds.  My whole family had steamed snapper with Asian flavours and vegetables for dinner.  I bought a yoghurt making kit, so I can make my own soy yoghurt.  I used a meditation app to meditate for 15 minutes.  Not quite the one hour of daily meditation we did at the retreat, but it's a start.  Today is day 2.  More changes to make.

Thanks for all your lovely comments and support from my last post.  I appreciate it.

The MS Moonlight Walk & an MS Retreat

Tonight is the MS Moonlight Walk.  Thousands of people will be walking a 5 or 10 km route along Brisbane's Southbank in the hope of raising $300,000 to help the 23,000 people in Australia living with MS.  

I had planned on getting a team together and doing the walk myself, but my calendar quickly clashed, and family comes first.  My daughter has a big musical theatre concert on Sunday, and I won't be able to see it as I am attending an MS retreat for the week, flying out of Brisbane Sunday morning.  The only chance I will have to see her perform is during the dress rehearsal tonight which is at the same time as the walk.

MS Retreat

I will not be blogging or on instagram for the next week.  I am attending the Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis retreat at The Gawler Foundation in the Yarra Valley, just outside of my hometown Melbourne.  It's a small intimate retreat of 38 people with MS, or their carers.  It's run by Professor George Jellinek who wrote the book Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis.  I think it will be educational, emotional and a little confronting.

Why am I going to a retreat to learn self-help and self-healing techniques?  Because whilst I inject myself daily with medicine that costs over $1,000 per month*, I believe there is more to good health and living well than relying on medicine.  I believe the food we eat, and the way we choose to live our lives are just as important.

I tried so hard to think of a way to explain why I am so determined to look after myself and how it feels, but it's so hard ... it's so personal.  If you have 4 minutes to spare, please listen to Tricia's story as I think she explains how we all feel really well.

If you would like to know more about the MS Moonlight walk or would like to sponsor somebody who is walking, visit the web site here.

* I am grateful that I live in Australia, and that the huge cost of my medicine is largely covered under the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS).

Yoga

My Living Well program isn't all about food and diet.  I'm trying to completely overhaul my lifestyle so I lead a healthy, balanced life.  For the past few weeks I've been attending a yoga class at my local health club.

I've never really been a fan of yoga.  I once went to a yoga class in London.  The instructor had this really deep, slow voice.  She made us lie on our yoga mats and pretend we were a fish out of water, flapping around and gasping for air.  I seriously had to stop myself from laughing aloud during the class!  The yoga class I've been going to here in Brisbane is really good.  I really like the instructor's style - no dead fish!

I can't take photos of my class because the yoga room is dark and there's a privacy issue, but we do lots of downward dog, Plank pose - this one is really good for upper body strength, and child's pose

My instructor is really good.  I get such a good workout during the class which I never thought I'd get from yoga.  It's not all sitting cross-legged with your fingers on your knees. The poses improve strength and flexibility, and the meditation at the beginning and end of the class help to calm my mind and body.

You don't need any fancy equipment to do yoga, but I bought my own pink Gaiam mat with pretty white flowers on it, and some Lorna Jane yoga gear.  Well if you're going to do something, do it with style I say, and the mat's so much nicer than the smelly blue ones at the gym!

Have you tried yoga?  Do you have a favourite type or pose?