How 5 Disabled People Use Mind-Body Practices to Support Wellness
Two people meditate on the beach facing the ocean.
By Arielle Dance
This piece was originally published by Saybrook UNBOUND Magazine, Mind-Body Medicine
Mind-body medicine is a complementary, integrative, and alternative medicine that “offers holistic evidence-based therapies to support physical, emotional, social, and mental health through stress management and thought regulation.” Mind-body medicine includes, but is not limited to, yoga, cognitive behavioral therapy, and relaxation techniques such as hypnosis and meditation. According to Saybrook University, mind-body medicine techniques such mindfulness, hypnosis, and stress reduction can offer relief from anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, and cancer symptoms.
When I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism for the second time, I was a graduate student at Saybrook. The difference between my first and second hospitalizations was that by the second episode, I had adopted mindfulness practices in my daily life. The medical team often found me meditating and utilizing deep breathing techniques, even while lying in the intensive care unit, connected to oxygen and intravenous drugs. My first pulmonary embolism kept me in the hospital for a week, but paired with the practice of mindful breathing, the second occurrence lasted only a few days.
Mind-body medicine practices can improve quality of life, support healing from a medical event, and help patients cope with traumatic events. With a pulmonary embolism, I experienced sharp pains when taking breaths, rapid heart rate, and shortness of breath. I used mindful breathing to train my body to breathe normally again and to center me during the traumatic event. My go-to breathing exercise was—and still is—to inhale and say “this,” exhale and say “moment,” inhale and say, “I am,” and exhale and say “grateful.” This mantra, accompanied by slow, deep breaths, helped steady my heart rate and increase the flow of oxygen.
Years later, I am still committed to meditative practice, mindful movement, and other modalities. These have helped me cope with chronic pain and breathing complications. Though I still live with disabilities, I am grateful to have mind-body medicine in my comfort toolkit. From what I’ve read, people turn to mind-body medicine to treat a variety of experiences—including lived trauma, birth, and injury—and mental health conditions. I wanted to learn from other disabled people about how mind-body medicine has improved the quality of their lives. Below, members of the Diversability Leadership Collective share the benefits of mind-body medicine.
Laura Andert (she/her)
Laura Andert has practiced meditation/mindfulness and acupuncture daily for two years. She has a form of cerebral palsy that causes lack of oxygen to her brain, weak motor skills, and involuntary shaking when she writes or lifts heavy objects. She started meditating upon the recommendation of a mentor and using acupuncture after her chiropractor suggested it. “When I turned 30 years old, I learned that [my condition was] maturing once again. … I had to let go of a lot of things that were no longer serving me, [and] I had to relearn how to put my self-care needs first.”
Andert has had incredible experiences using both mindful meditation and acupuncture. Acupuncture has worked to relieve muscle tension, while five-minute meditations before bed help to calm her mind so she can fall asleep easily. To those new to meditation, Andert says, “You just have to remember to breathe in and out. Focus on your breathing. When an unwelcome thought tries to steer your attention away, you have to let it go and re-center your breathing.”
Neil Hughes (they/them)
Neil Hughes has practiced photobiomodulation and biofeedback daily for more than 10 years. They have a functional neurological disorder and spinal cord injuries to the neck and lower back. These neurological disorders cause pain, neuropathy, spasms, rigidity, tremors, altered sensations, vasovagal syncope, and balance problems. As a professional athlete in the 1970s, Hughes turned to photobiomodulation and biofeedback initially for heart-rate training, but after a recommendation from a neurologist, they recognized that neurofeedback has helped improve areas of brain activity.
Hughes believes that these treatments have helped relieve their symptoms. “I can honestly say that the biofeedback treatments have created a night-to-day difference for my dysregulated nervous system,” they say. Historically, biofeedback and photobiomodulation were considered alternative therapies, but they are now embraced by more medical providers. Hughes recommends the following books that give insight into these modalities: “The Angel and the Assassin” by Donna Jackson Nakazawa and “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Katherine Lewis (she/her)
Katherine Lewis has practiced meditation, mindfulness, yoga, mindful movement, tai chi, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and massage therapy a few times a week for about 10 years.
Lewis lives with a variety of chronic illnesses and service injuries that cause chronic pain, nerve damage, cognitive issues, and a number of other symptoms. In conjunction with surgical approaches, infusion therapy, medication, and mobility aids, Lewis utilizes a menu of complementary practices. She says she integrates these practices because “the traditional medical system was often so rigid with treatments and failed to treat me as a whole human.” She believes that much of mainstream medical care is to the detriment of patients who have multiple conditions. After years of not receiving necessary medical care, Lewis chose to take ownership of her health.
Lewis has had mostly positive experiences using meditation, movement modalities, acupuncture, herbs, and massage therapy. The combination of treatments has improved her quality of life.
Puneet Singh Singhal (he/him)
Puneet Singh Singhal has practiced meditation, mindfulness, yoga, mindful movement, and tai chi a few times a week for about one year.
Puneet Singh Singhal has dyspraxia and stammering that cause issues with motor coordination and spatial awareness. He turned to meditation after listening to podcasts and interviews of people with similar dyspraxia experiences. He decided to experiment with mindfulness, knowing that it couldn’t hurt but could possibly help.
Using meditation helps to relax Singh Singhal even when he is not consistent with his practice. “I always cherish these practices whenever I do it without feeling the pressure of doing it regularly or the guilt of missing the sessions,” he says.