I am super passionate about sharing the tools yoga offers with people with chronic pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia. The thing that often gets in the way is what people think it means to “do” yoga.
Today I am going to share with you all sorts of raw pictures of me “doing” yoga because I want you to start to get a sense of the fact that “yoga” has been usurped by the perfect poses on Instagram. If you have a teacher who gets your situation, then they can help you adapt yoga to your needs.
A visual representation of the below points:
Yoga can be adapted for almost anybody (if you have been cleared to move gently and the teacher “gets” your needs)
Breathing is a central part of yoga (and many of us don’t do it optimally)
Meditation is my favourite part of yoga (yoga Nidra guided meditation is my jam, I do it in bed with my heat pack)
You can do one pose
I have several poses I enacted whenever I need them during the day
Chair yoga is a great way to make yoga more accessible
You can do yoga in bed
Classes can be 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes or more
You don’t need to be super bendy, in fact, I am not
Me simply breathing, in hero pose (with a baby about to climb on my back, life). Breathing is one of the most accessible parts of yoga and really helps me to calm down when feeling overwhelmed.
A little more challenging
Me at the very beginning preparation phase of maybe one day doing crow pose (where you lift your feet off the ground)
Relaxation and meditation
This is the final relaxation of many classes, or an excellent standalone pose. This is complete rest. You can add all sorts of things to make it more comfortable, usually I have a blanket or cushion under my legs to help my low back.
If you are curious about restorative yoga (a passive, very gentle practice) then come and check out this free workshop Restorative Yoga for the Chronic Life.
One that can be done in bed
You can do this on your bed (I like to do it as part of my bedtime routine)
A multi use tool
I am known to do this pose all the time. It is child’s pose, it rests the lower back and calms the mind. You can do it facing up on your bed (hugging your knees), with a bolster between your legs under your chest/abdomen to make it restorative. When the kids are overwhelming me or I’m feeling really tired, then I’ll drop where I am and do it. Often the kids follow!
Adapting to my needs
Using a block to bring the ground closer to me. I am not super bendy!
#notabouttheperfectpose
This is my son doing this pose not at all correctly but he is enjoying it and not in danger of hurting himself so I encourage him to play with me when I do yoga.
Me doing a chair sequence. I love using a chair because it means I don’t have to get on the floor. It also means I can do some of the poses in the car when I am not feeling so nice and on the edge of my bed if I am awake in the night.
My all time favourite that can be done almost anywhere
Me doing seated cat and cow – I do cat and cow all the time, in my favourite chair, on the side of the bed, in the car, on the floor and in my classes
I hope this gave you a sense of how “yoga” can look and hopefully hope that, if you want to, you could try it in one way or another.
Show me how yours looks
In Foundations of Yoga for Chronic Pain and Fatigue, I have students who take one or two of the poses in the opening module and use those as a “class” to start. There are two full class options in module three, chair and a flow class. Many students choose only the chair class.
“For the first time I’m in a yoga class that I feel like I’m actually going to get it…I really can do this and I love how it feels.”
– Student of Foundations of Yoga for Chronic Pain and Fatigue
I’d love to see how your yoga looks. Comment below, tag me on Instagram @melissanreynolds
Join us for the FREE five minutes a day for five days yoga for chronic pain and fatigue challenge – it’s open now for you to see how you could “do” yoga.
I ask group members regularly what topics they would like me to share about, “how to save money on physical therapies” was the top request on the last post where I asked for suggestions. So here I share how you can spend less money on physical treatments for chronic pain and strategies for decreasing your pain at the same time.
What a whopper! As soon as I read the comment, I was formulating ideas. As a person who has tried physiotherapists (many different ones), Eastern practitioners, massage therapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, personal trainers (who did not get it) and more, I know the costs involved here. We run a public system here in New Zealand so none of these private physical treatments are funded at all.
When I was at my worst I was going weekly, paying $50 or $60 a session to very little benefit. As I have finally put these things into place I have reduced to three or four weekly – this is a saving of $150-200 per month! That adds up!
These are the things that you can do to reduce the amount of treatments you need from physical therapists (physiotherapists, massage therapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, etc.). If they are not necessarily easy, when are they ever?
The four ways of how to spend less on physical treatments for chronic pain
1. Remove or reduce the things that perpetuate the physical issue the physiotherapist/massage therapist/chiropractor etc. has to work on.
This might be a tough one as you may not be willing or able to do the things. For example, working full-time on a computer really exacerbates my neck and shoulders. I cannot, no matter the steps I take to mitigate it, experience less pain and keep doing it. Do you engage in something that aggravates your tricky spots? Is your bed and pillow correct for your needs? Check your breathing!
Let yourself brainstorm as there might be lots of things that come up.
2. Work on the whole of life things
So a lot of our physical issues are related to our overall health. When the fibromyalgia was worse, I needed to see the physical therapists for in search of relief (which never came).
When I changed my entire life – reducing work hours, cutting my commute, moving to a warmer climate, learning to rest (and later meditate), gentle exercise (which for me meant cutting back!) etc. – the amount I needed to see the physical reduced.
3. Finding the right treatment
This alone halved how often I
had to go. For severe, recurrent trigger points in my neck – for which I’ve spent at least $1500 per year for over
10 years trying to get some relief from – I have the right practitioner and
treatment at last. It’s a physiotherapist who places acupuncture needles into
the trigger point, leaves it to relax and then performs gentle traction and
stretches. The amount of time and money I spent on massage therapists,
physiotherapists, osteopathy and chiropractic is insane.
Ask yourself, does that
massage or chiropractic session actually help enough to justify the cost? Does
the benefit hold long enough to be justifiable?
4. Learn to do things yourself
This might be the most
important and the easiest!
For me, this is copious amounts of stretching/yoga.
Meditation is also helpful, especially guided meditations for pain relief and relaxation. You’ve heard me talk about this for years. Insight timer free app.
Always ask a practitioner you see to give you suggestions for things you can do at home and DO them.
So these are my top four ways to spend less on physical treatments (and reduce your pain at the same time). Are you working on any of these areas? What is your favourite way to cope with physical pain?
It is a wrap 2019! It is that time of year! Time to recap 2019 and look ahead for 2020. A new decade and a new year at the same time. It is full of promise.
Here I share the top posts of 2019 so that you can recap the key things we have been looking at in our journey fighting chronic pain and fatigue.
Ways to make money with fibromyalgia.
In this post I shared genuine, micro business ideas. Not get rich quick ideas. These are ways that you can look to make an income from home on your schedule.
This is a surprising one, this is a post from the very beginning when I was writing diary-like entries to share my journey while pregnant with no knowledge or resources available.
6 Practices for calming the central nervous system
In this post I share six very helpful ways to calm down after a stressful situation. I used these when a car drove into the back of us when me and my tiny baby were in the car!
In this post I updated the first post I wrote about what works for me – hint: it is mostly the same but I provide more detail. This is my protocol!
My low dose naltrexone one year experiment
My life has irrevocably changed thanks to this off-label, low-side effect medicine. I am so grateful for the past two years. This post shares the five ways it has helped me so much.
In this post I shared 9 inexpensive items I use to fight fibromyalgia. The first I use almost every day!
So there you have it, the key posts people were searching for this year. I hope they help you as you consider what you will tackle in 2020 for your journey toward thriving with chronic pain and fatigue.
Free live talks
In 2020 I have big plans to keep supporting you with this blog, the Facebook group, more live trainings and of course, adding to Yoga and Meditation for the Chronic Lifevirtual mindful movement studio.
Do join us for the free training on the Facebook page “My Top 5 Self-Care for 2020” on the 5th February.
For more information:
Hello friend, are you new here? I’m Melissa and I am on a mission to see that everyone receives resources and encouragement to thrive with fibromyalgia. Please come and join my free You vs Fibromyalgia micro course by signing up to my newsletter. You will receive access to a free resources page too! If you are curious about me and my journey you can have a search through the archives. Check out the What I Offer Page for all of the resources here.
I have been dabbling with yoga for chronic pain and fatigue for more than 10 years. For the past five I have progressively become more enamoured with it.
In this post I will share some research, the benefits (in brief), the thing I love most about yoga, it’s multiple uses for chronic pain and fatigue, specific ways I use it, and how you can learn more about incorporating it into your well being journey.
Let’s be clear right out of the gate. Yoga is not a panacea. It is not a cure all. It is one useful tool that can be a part of a holistic plan for wellness.
Type “yoga for fibromyalgia” or “yoga for myofascial pain syndrome” or “yoga for pain” etc. And you will find a wealth of search options to delve into.
There is research specifically for using poses for myofascial pain syndrome, fibromyalgia and more. Taking a more macroscopic view, mindfulness for chronic illness is just as much of a buzz topic at the moment.
Research around Yoga, Pain and Fatigue
Take this 2010 study that found, “pain was reduced in the yoga group by an average of 24 percent, fatigue by 30 percent and depression by 42 percent.” The yoga group participated in a holistic program for eight weeks – gentle yoga poses, meditation, breathing exercises, yoga-based coping instructions, group discussions and a daily diary assessing their progress. The control group received standard medication treatments.
This was followed up three months later: “Follow-up results showed that patients sustained most of their post treatment gains, with the FIQR (Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Revised) Total Score remaining 21.9% improved at 3 months. Yoga practice rates were good, and more practice was associated with more benefit for a variety of outcomes.”
This study was small, just eight participants completed the study on the effect of yoga on myofascial pain syndrome in the neck. It comprised two weeks of breathing and relaxation practices and two weeks of asanas (poses), breathing and relaxation. The poses were Trikonasan (triangle pose), Tadasan (mountain pose), Vakrasan (twisted pose), Balasan (child’s pose) and Vajrasan (thunderbolt pose).
However, let’s not lose sight here – Vajrasan is a more advanced pose, the ability to do this pose indicates a pretty high level of physical ability to me.
The results were that this program “led to significant improvement in the quality of health, physical capacity (strength), cervical range of motion, and pressure threshold of the trigger points, and decreased the disability and pain.”
Perspectives on Yoga Inputs in the Management of Chronic Pain describes the benefits: “This consists of decreased metabolism,[24] decreased rate of breathing, decreased blood pressure, decreased muscle tension, decreased heart rate and increased slow brain [alpha] waves.[25] As the neural discharge pattern gets corrected, the habitual deep muscle hyper tonicity and thus the static load on postural muscle also slowly come down. The function of viscera improves with the sense of relaxation and sleep gets deeper and sustained. The fatigue level comes down.”
Benefits of yoga for chronic pain and fatigue (or anyone)
• calms the autonomic nervous system • help with sleep • reduced fatigue • reduced pain • increased physical capacity • decreased myofascial pain • less anxiety • reduced depression • relaxation • mindfulness of movement • awareness of proper alignment
What I love the most about yoga for managing chronic pain and fatigue:
Ease of adapting to my current abilities -Whatever my symptom level on any given day there is an option for me to practice yoga.
Let’s talk a couple of key things here: Yoga is a tool, a multi use tool, but a tool nonetheless. I will use any tool at my disposal to help with the symptoms I live with. In much the same way I use low dose naltrexone- it was not designed for fibromyalgia or myofascial pain syndrome but it helps anyway.
If some parts of the spectrum of yoga practices don’t resonate with you, ignore them. If you want to look at it as a purely physical practice, then do so.
In terms of the spiritual side, I shy away from much if it. My belief practice is Christianity and I have never felt a conflict. In fact, there is a great Christian yoga channel on YouTube.
Some of the options in yoga
Asanas (poses): one or two gentle poses (like child’s pose and forward bend), a flowing sequence of 5, 10, 20 or more minutes, chair yoga, bed yoga or restorative yoga.
Pranayama (breathing): breathing is always useful when you are managing a chronic illness. Simply focusing on your breath and helping your exhale to be slightly longer than your inhale will cause a relaxation effect. Breathing through pain, fatigue, stress, anxiety and overwhelm can help centre your thoughts on something else, release tension and help to ease the symptoms. Synchronising movements with the breath makes you more likely to be mindful of your movement and less likely to overdo it or injure yourself.
Meditation: I began using meditation specifically to achieve rest where sleep provided little. It was a means to an immediate end. After a few years I realised it was helping me much more profoundly in the form of turning down my central nervous system overdrive. There is nothing better than the comfort I feel after a 20 or 30 minute yoga nidra meditation. I cannot achieve it another way.
Day to day my practice changes but I usually practice in one way or another.
Meditation is my top tool for managing fatigue and pain. I very rarely miss my daily meditation.
I have never completed a 60 or 90 minute class or resembled a pretzel in any way. Because that is not the point.
Strengthening, calming, being mindful and moving is.
When my first son was young I had a yoga instructor come to my house for a private session to ensure my posture was correct and craft a sun salutation sequence suitable for my physical abilities at the time.
Sometimes I do the sequence with several breaths for each pose, one breath for each pose or a mix. If I feel a particular benefit from one of the poses I will engage in that one longer. Forward bend is a particularly good one for letting the neck gently stretch.
Cat and cow pose is a great tiny sequence for the pelvis and back. I did this multiple times a day during my pregnancies. I teach cat and cow pose in my free challenge, Five Minutes a Day for Five Days Challenge, sign up here.
When my pelvis was unstable due to pregnancy and I could hardly walk, I could still do half sun salutations (standing) or chair salutations.
The key is to be mindful of your body on any given day. Pay attention to what you need and can reasonably do.
Learn the many options- these tools have a place in our natural pain relief toolkit.
The complexity in yoga for chronic pain and fatigue
When we have extra challenges to think through, we need to be extra mindful.
There is some complexity involved in practicing yoga when you have chronic issues. This is why it can be helpful to see a teacher privately – either for some initial guidance or ongoing personalised work.
There are several types of yoga, many asana (poses) to choose from and we need to choose sequences that make sense for our current context. The other bonus is that you can create a homework plan so that you can continue your work between sessions, equipping you further.
As an example of the complexity – I have severe, recurring trigger points in my neck and shoulders. Holding poses that activate these muscles for up to five minutes (yin yoga) is not a good idea for me. I have a heat intolerance so hot yoga isn’t for me. The fibromyalgia and poor tense fascia responds well when given a chance to gently release. So I gravitate toward slow flow and gentle yoga.
I trained to be a yoga teacher because I got so frustrated with doing “beginner” classes that we out of my reach physically and for the time frame. I also wanted to share these tools to show you that “yoga” doesn’t mean 90 minute classes getting into very bendy positions.
This is also why I created the below challenge!
Learn how we can use the tools of yoga in just five minutes a day?
Tackling fibromyalgia is a mammoth task. It is a complex illness requiring a holistic approach. Getting our mindset right is key for helping us to improve.
If we want to get better we must truly believe we can.
The tools for a cure do not exist yet. But I do believe we are close.
In the absence of a cure, we do need to ask ourselves two questions:
Do I believe I can improve?
Am I willing to do the (hard) work to achieve this?
You need to believe you can improve and you need to do the work. Or you’ve sabotaged yourself from the beginning.
Take some time and play with these questions. Write them in your journal, or a blank piece of paper and write through all the thoughts that come up with them. When you’ve worked through that, perhaps you could write yourself an affirmation like, “I will decrease this pain and fatigue.” Or if that seems too far for you right now, “I will take one small step each day to improve my life.”
There is no magic pill. Nothing a doctor can dispense will eradicate symptoms or stand alone.
It will more than likely be a multi pronged attack in the broad areas of:
Sleep
Pain management
Pacing and energy management
Perpetuating factors
Nutrition and food intolerances
Gentle exercise
Central nervous system/meditation
It is a big task that will take time.
You need someone on your team who:
Gets it
Listens
Helps you look at the big picture, holistic management
Enabling you to focus on small, sustainable changes
Can provide accountability and support
Whether that is yourself, a coach, a family member or another suitably experienced person – you need support. PS. I offer coaching, check that out here.
It sounds hard, right? Like perhaps you could never do all of this while in such pain and so exhausted?
Let me encourage you. Because I did it. Over several years I have halved my pain and fatigue levels and improved my quality of life – far exceeding my expectations.
How did I do it? One step at a time with the belief I could improve just a little more.
What are the mindset shifts for improving fibromyalgia?
Not I can’t…but how can I? From I’ll never be cured…to I will improve. Not this is so overwhelming…but what area can I tackle right now?
A positive mindset is not going to cure us but it sure as heck will keep our hope kindled and keep showing us the way forward. One step at a time.
What can help us cultivate a positive mindset?
Gratitude!
Each day try to find three things you are grateful for. Track your progress, however small and be thankful for it. Some days you might only find gratitude for the fact that you survived it. On others you might notice that you felt so nice for a few minutes in the hot shower. Or how sitting in the sun on your deck was so calming.
For some things that might make you feel nice see this post.
Let me know, do you have a gratitude practice? Do you believe you can improve?
When you are dealing with chronic pain and fatigue the last thing you want is to spend hours being jostled around in a busy mall trying to figure out what to get those on your list. This list that I have compiled gives you some ideas to add to your gift list and for others to give those of us with chronic illness.
I am sharing 16 gift ideas for you!
Affiliate notice: Please note that some of these links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
An Energy Friendly Creative Hobby – Paint by Numbers Canvas
Winnie’s Picks – Paint by Numbers canvas. These are very cool packs with everything the recipient needs to create their own canvas. It’s great as a meditative practice and just plain fun. This is really great for both a chronic illness fighter and a special gift for others. It’s creative without requiring bucket loads of creativity!
This is the kit that I received, it was so fun to unpack it!
Reading – without having to go to the library or store
I am a massive reader. Without a fantastic library system I wouldn’t be able to maintain this perfect hobby for the chronic illness fighter. Second to the library is Amazon Kindle Unlimited – reading and listening! They offer 6, 12 and 24 month membership options which gives unlimited reading of over a million ebooks. A book lovers dream!
Audio books – without going to the shop
If audio books are more you or your person’s speed then Audible gift membership will do the trick! You can choose 1, 3, 6 or 12 months and for each month they receive three titles from a vast number of options.
Adult colouring books
Coloring is a great hobby that we can pick up and put down as needed. I have a few coloring books and my Faber Castell coloring pencils. Coloring is a great gateway to meditative practices.
Essential oil diffuser
I have written about using essential oils a few times. I particularly love copaiaba essential oil. Lavender and peppermint are really great beginner oils. Lavender is good for creating a relaxing massage oil, dropping under your pillow for sleep and more. Peppermint is good for nausea.
Fruit infusion bottle
When I created the healthy habits challenge my first area to tackle was hydration, the second was nutrition. This is a nifty way to tackle both! Add some fruits and/or herbs to your water as you hydrate.
A simple cookbook with nourishing, easy prepare meals
Ways to get into utilising the slow cooker, pressure cooker or both are always useful for us. Quick and nutritious meals that you can easily double up are perfect.
A subscription box
Do you have a local subscription box that you could set up for three or six months? The gift that keeps on giving! This website has a whole heap of options that would suit any giftee.
A potted plant
Flowers are a beautiful treat, but a plant continues to give well beyond the bouquet. I have a beautiful pink and white cyclamen in my lounge – as featured in the below image.
A herb for their windowsill to use
You could choose parsley, chives, micro greens, coriander, rosemary, thyme etc.
Hot chocolate mix
Make your own and put it in a pretty glass jar or purchase one (make it decadent).
Your favourite book
Do you have a favourite book? Give that to a lucky person on your gift list! Here are a few of my favourites…
A milk frother for a decadent morning beverage
A way to make the morning (or afternoon) nice. Hot chocolate, coffee latte, tea latte, moringa latte. This will get a lot of use.
Nutribullet
For easy food prep try a Nutribullet– nut milks, smoothies, delicious cashew cheese sauce and more! I am obsessed with mine and it was a fun Friday when my husband bought this home for me. I would have preferred the 1200 watt, but the 800 works well too. A really good way to increase your vegetable, herb and fruit intake.
A decent heating pad
I had an old faithful microwavable heat pack and it served me well for years, but it wasn’t quite doing the job. I tried a clay one, as clay is meant to be better, but it somehow popped and then the clay was oozing out. It was bad! I finally got myself an electric heating pad and it’s been the best. Being able to wake up with a very sore neck in the night and just press a button? So good.
A beautiful journal and pen
There are a lot of options for journals, a beautiful blank one or a guided one for different purposes. I always have a journal on the go and really make an effort when I have a really nice one.
A Year of Mindful Movement
What about an entire year of taking mindful movement, meditation and breathing and turning them into practical tools to use daily for symptom management? A one year membership in the Yoga for the Chronic Life virtual membership studio costs less than the value of resources you immediately get access to and that doesn’t count the resources that will be added every month ongoing. Mindful movement, meditation, breathing, practical tools and support for your spoonie for an entire year! No brainer?
There we have it, 16 options you or your person might like this year.
Are there any on this list you are adding to yours? Do you have some other ideas?
What is the best way that exists to improve fibromyalgia? In this post, I share the best information that exists right now. I am keeping an eye on the research being done by Dr Jarred Younger and the Neuroinflammation, Pain and Fatigue Laboratory and I encourage you to as well. They are at the forefront of the research on fibromyalgia.
I believe that everybody can improve their quality of life. Whether you are suffering from chronic pain, chronic fatigue, insomnia, myofascial pain syndrome, fibromyalgia – I believe there are steps we can take to improve our symptoms. I am not sure about complete recovery, yet, but I have personally halved my pain and fatigue levels. I have also dramatically improved my sleep – I no longer spend hours trying to get to sleep, sleep in one hour blocks or spend hours awake in pain in the night. It is just far and away better than before.
How did I achieve this?
By following the advice of the authors in the following two books. And by working away at lots of little steps every single day.
I also believe if we gave these books to people as soon as they were diagnosed and their doctors were willing to work with them through them, then they would not decline as far and would begin to improve sooner.
Affiliate notice: Some of these links are affiliate links and I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
This book was written by a doctor who has fibromyalgia herself and has dedicated her career to treating it. In a recent interview I saw with her, she said she believes herself to be around 80% better to what she was (following her own advice) and even works full time as a practicing doctor in addition to a lot of advocacy work and blogging etc. She also believes we may have the tools for complete recovery available in the next ten years!
This book is also designed to take the back portion to see your doctor and help them treat you. Especially the sleep section.
Another doctor who has fibromyalgia and who has dedicated his career to helping patients with it. A holistic protocol that begins with sleep. If you Google his name, you will find a multitude of resources, including videos and interviews and an entire website.
Both of these books are multi-pronged attacks and deal with more than just band aids for pain and fatigue.
Even if you only found one nugget in these books, you would improve your quality of life. These books are packed full of useful things to enact.
If you are able to follow instructions and try things yourself – then you will surely see results.
Dr Liptan also gives further detail about nutritional changes in The Fibro Food Formula book – so check that out!
All of these areas take time and trial and error. If you want to DIY it, write out a big list of goals or things to try from these books and slowly working through it
If you want support, then you can get some coaching (with me or another health coach). They can help you break it down into manageable chunks.
My Hypothesis
I believe if I was handed one or both of these books at the beginning (and had a doctor who would help me with their parts) then I wouldn’t have gotten so sick and it wouldn’t have taken so long to get better. The cascade of physiological flow on effects wouldn’t have occurred.
To Do List
Read one or both of these books
Write out the main list of areas (sleep, pain, nutrition etc.)
Fill in ideas to try under each area, including what you need to ask your doctor for help with
Work on each part slowly
If you can, engage a coach to help you with this work – it’s complex and there’s a lot to it
If you want to start your own small, sustainable steps join us in Yoga and Meditation for the Chronic Life virtual mindful movement studio, here we take mindful movement, breathing, meditation and turn them into tools for daily symptom management.
Do you think you can improve your quality of life? Have you done it? Followed one of these books, or another protocol? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Do you agree with my hypothesis? That we can improve fibromyalgia now by following one or both of these two books?
Want to learn about a type of yoga that can help us to balance the central nervous system, help us to get some rest and sleep better? Join me for this special free workshop.
When you are fighting a chronic illness, especially one which limits your energy levels, it makes working in an office or physical job difficult. We still need ways to make money even with fibromyalgia. These are not “make a quick buck” ideas, these are “build a micro-business, it takes time and effort” ideas.
Affiliate notice: Some of these links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links, I will make a commission at no extra cost to you. It all helps me to keep making these resources. For more information see here.
Ways to Make Money with Fibromyalgia
Etsy Store
I created an Etsy store to share the templates I had created and used for myself in my own journey – things like My Wellness Planner Kit and My Sleep Workbook. I share a lot of detail about it in this post, My Etsy Diaries. It took a lot of time – I created and fine tuned the templates, created the copy for the listing, researched keywords, created the images and then had to promote them on social media. This has created a small but constant stream of income. If you were focusing solely on it, dedicated to researching best practices and good keywords etc. then you could likely make much more.
One thing I haven’t done but had in the back of my mind for a long time was to be an online virtual assistant. You can choose your hours, work in the comfort of your own home and take on the type of work that interests you. It is time consuming to actually find the work and then do the work and take care of the background administration for your own company. It is the easiest way to make a full income if you can work enough hours. Here is an introductory video about it:
You could specialise in:
Working with small business owners
Helping bloggers
Pinterest VA
Social media manager
Bookkeeping
Website support
Transcription services
Ghostwriting
and more!
Blogging
This blog has been around for several years now, when I started, I never imagined that I could make any income from it. As it has grown and people have told me how much they love it, I have had to look for ways to make some of my income from it to enable me to keep dedicating time to it. I did everything one thing at a time. Even creating blog posts is done step by step. So it is definitely a long-term plan.
I dabbled with a free site for a long time, but now I am finally settled with a host I like I am playing massive catch up. Starting with a host from the beginning and setting it up right is actually a time and energy saver. I recommend GreenGeeks– I chose a three year subscription and got a very good price. In this blog post I share how I create posts step by step and some resources for getting started blogging.
As part of the blog I have the opportunity to do affiliate marketing. This means I can promote products and services I like and receive a portion of the cost. Like when I told you about MSM supplement for pain in this post. If you decide to try it and use my link, I make a tiny commission. Eventually it all adds up. The important thing here is that I would have written the post anyway, the potential to make a little bit of income is secondary.
Some people have made very successful blogs and make a good living from them, but that takes investment and a lot of energy. It is also usually in other niches (subject areas) because nobody goes into the chronic illness niche to make lots of money.
Online courses
Do you have a good understanding of something? Perhaps your previous profession gave you some tools you can teach other people. I have lived, researched and actively worked to fight fibromyalgia – so I have created courses to help you do that too. My courses and books and coaching are shortcuts for you so it doesn’t take as long for you to figure it out. Do you have a subject like this?
I chose Teachable to host my courses. I did a lot of research around the key players in online course software and chose this one after careful deliberation and a play with a couple of the other options. It has been easy to set up and use.
Teaching /Live Services
Do you have something to teach or a service to perform in real life? Or live, virtually? I am doing this with yoga – if you are curious about yoga or coaching or a blend with me, click here. You could do it with:
English lessons (can be done virtually or in person)
Reiki
Massage therapy
Nail technician
Personal training (exercise)
the list is endless!
The idea is for using your skills (or honing new ones) in a way that provides flexibility around your needs. Do you need to work early in the day? Have long breaks between clients/sessions? Do you come alive later in the day? Can you do a few hours over six days, or a couple of fuller days?
Write Books
One or two books doesn’t make that much money, but I didn’t write my books for that. It was a life dream to write a book. I had no idea I could achieve it while living with fibromyalgia and with two small children. With the help of my brother, I did it. My Pregnancy and Fibromyalgia book is still one of the only books written on the subject so it was necessary. I wrote my books very slowly as at the time of writing them I couldn’t sit at the computer for very long at all. They do bring in a small amount of income every month (I don’t receive it every month, Amazon holds onto the money until it reaches $100 and then they deposit into my bank account and then my bank takes $15 processing fee).
If you were able to write multiple books and focus on really marketing them – telling people they exist, then you could make much more.
Coaching
Are you an expert in something? Or do you have a passion for helping others to achieve their goals? Life coaching training gave me the framework to take my expertise to my clients. It is a process to support clients to achieve their goals.
Research around coaching for fibromyalgia is in its infancy but the initial findings are that it is enormously beneficial. This article discusses the benefits on patients receiving coaching for fibromyalgia. At the conclusion of the study it refers to, 12 months results included that Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire scores improved by 35%. Illnesses interference in function was reduced by 44%.
I became a coach because it was a natural extension of the work I have been doing in my blog, books, courses and Facebook groups. I wish that there had been a coach capable of helping me back when I was beginning my journey fighting fibromyalgia. My purpose is to save people the time and energy I had to invest in order to learn what I needed to learn to start improving my quality of life.
Coaching is about more than the initial training, however you choose to train, it is ongoing professional development. I am constantly learning about treating fibromyalgia.
Writing articles
Freelance writer and teacher Elna Cain is a great resource for getting started in this field. She has a free introductory course. Writing articles for online businesses in a great way to make super flexible income. You do have to watch out for places that will pay appropriately for your content or you will end up writing yourself into the ground just to make a decent income. I have only written a few because I haven’t had the time to focus on finding the places to pitch to that pay well.
You Tube
I have been making videos for years, mostly as a way to add to the blog posts. In all this time I have not hit the metrics required to monetize the content, so I don’t personally make money this way. If you are prepared to focus and work at it, you can make some money this way. Gillian Perkins is a great resource for learning about using YouTube to generate income:
E commerce store
This is kind of like an Etsy store except that you host it on your own website and then drive all of your own traffic there. If you create your own products, this is a great way to do it. You can also host affiliate products in your store. It is just another way to present affiliate products to your audience. If you genuinely like the products you are recommending it is a great way to make income while serving your audience (reducing the time it takes to find a good product for a particular solution).
Membership site
Have you been providing something to people for free, like a blog, YouTube channel, supportive group etc? Perhaps people have been telling you they love your work, think it’s valuable and would like a way to support you?
Patreon is a really cool way to set up a pay what you can membership model. The Melissa vs Fibromyalgia Inner Circle Membership is the way that people who love my work can sign up to support me for as little as $5 a month. They are simultaneously supporting me to create this blog, the YouTube videos, live monthly talks and run the Facebook groups. They also get access to the exclusive library of content to help them in their journey. Toolkits, videos, audios, templates and more.
You can include bonus content in the form of videos, blog posts, downloads and more. You can simply provide more access to you. Or create a private group where you help people more in depth.
I hope that something here has peaked your interest if you were wanting to start making money in a more flexible way, despite fibromyalgia. Is there something you do that isn’t listed here?
There has been a lot of interest in adult coloring and meditation for the general population as well as for those of us with chronic illness. Coloring as meditation and for relaxation is a really accessible, practical way to incorporate mindfulness into your day.
What are some good reasons to use coloring as meditation?
It is a practical way to incorporate mindfulness into your day and mindfulness has many benefits. If you are curious about those benefits see my free mindfulness workshop.
You can use it to connect with your children – you can color side by side. Modelling mindfulness is the key way to help children reap the benefits of mindfulness. It is also a fantastic way to play with your children if you have limited energy.
As a low energy hobby – following on from the above point, whether you have children or not, it can be difficult to incorporate hobbies when you have chronic pain and fatigue. Coloring is a great way to be able to continue to have hobbies without costing all of your spoons.
Relaxation – when we are in higher levels of pain it can be difficult to relax, it is a gentle way to distract ourselves without resorting to “the box” (though TV has its place).
Ease anxiety – this article shares a piece of research from 2005 where coloring mandalas helped to ease anxiety
If you love the idea of adding mindfulness to your life, head on over to see my free Mindfulness for the Chronic Life workshop which takes you through the benefits and some of the ways to incorporate it into your life.
If you want to read more about managing chronic illness see:
What if you don’t feel creative? Paint by Numbers option
If you like the idea of simultaneously reaping the above benefits, taking an easier option and creating something you can display in your home – then Paint by Numbers might be for you. Affiliate notice: Some of these links are affiliate links, if you make a purchase using them, I will make a commission at no extra cost to you.
Winnie’s Picks is a premium paint by numbers for adults website that has a heap of different options to choose from. The kits include the linen canvas with the image you choose, the acrylic paint set with matching numbers for the image, a set of four brushes and the complete instructions. You can be a beginner and still get it right.
You can head on over to purchase your own Paint by Numbers kit. It would make a really cool gift. Below is my pack – it was so exciting to receive everything I needed to get started! This is going on my Christmas gift list.
Does it look a little scary to you? It isn’t! We are so used to one step at a time in our journey fighting fibromyalgia and this is what we do with our paint by numbers canvas – do a little at a time. It is a great idea to have a place you can leave it out so that it is easy for you to come back to.
It was so fun to receive my kit!If you would like to learn a mindful, relaxing and restful type of yoga then join this workshop to learn about it
Being a human being and simple healthy living is a prerequisite for helping to manage chronic pain and fatigue.
Simple healthy living tips are top of the to-do list. Because you cannot throw medicines or any other tools at chronic pain and fatigue if you are not addressing your “normal human needs”.
Affiliate notice: Please note that some of my links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
A lot of these 21 things lead to more information.
I can share these resources but it doesn’t work unless you do the work. Would you like to try meditation and/or yoga in five minutes a day?
Join us for the FREE five minutes a day for five days yoga for chronic pain and fatigue challengeWould you like to learn about a really restful, gentle type of yoga? Come learn with me in this free workshop.
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