Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia And Fatigue: What Mr Iyengar, The Yoga Doctors And The Research Say

Always tired, and rest does not seem to help? Maybe you have been told it is chronic fatigue syndrome, or fibromyalgia, or nobody can tell you anything at all. Either way, pushing harder has not worked. The great yoga teachers and the medical doctors who worked with Mr BKS Iyengar point to a different road: rest that is active, practice that never ends in fatigue, and a calmer nervous system. This guide brings together what each of them says about chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and long-lasting fatigue, and what modern research has found. Last updated: 1 November 2026.

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Can yoga help chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia? The short answer

Yes. Gentle, supported yoga helps people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. In fibromyalgia, the trials of yoga found less pain, less tiredness, better sleep and better mood, and in one 2026 trial online yoga beat a walking and physiotherapy programme for fatigue. In chronic fatigue syndrome (also called ME/CFS, myalgic encephalomyelitis), still, mostly lying-down yoga lowered fatigue and lifted daily functioning, even in people who were mostly in bed. Mr Iyengar’s tradition calls this “active rest”: supported poses that rest the body while they restore it, so energy is rebuilt rather than spent.

One thing to keep in mind as you read: most of these trials tested “yoga” of many styles, taught by teachers with very different training. The trials that tested Iyengar yoga, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, found tired people had less fatigue and more energy, and in our view well-taught Iyengar yoga is likely to go further than the average. Why the kind of yoga matters.

The bottom line: five key moves for chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia

1. Go to a gentle, supported yoga class at your level, regularly. Once or twice a week is a good start. The trials that worked ran for 8 to 12 weeks, so give it time.
2. Choose active rest over lying around. Supported poses on bolsters, chairs and the wall rest the body while the nerves recover. Passive rest alone often does not bring the energy back.
3. Stop before you are spent. In Geeta Iyengar’s words, practice “should not end in fatigue”. Little and often beats a big effort followed by a crash.
4. Calm the nervous system. Quiet, supported poses and a slow, easy breath settle an over-alert system. Your teacher brings in breath work (pranayama) gently, when you are ready.
5. Start now. New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price, in Darwin or LIVE online.

Iyengar yoga is the style we teach at Flametree. During the 20th century, Mr BKS Iyengar was the major person who codified traditional Indian yoga, through his seminal books and widespread teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, so poses can be adapted to almost any body. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. This guide is part of our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions. Everyday tiredness and poor sleep have their own guide: yoga and sleep, insomnia and fatigue.

This guide in short

• Mr BKS Iyengar: two kinds of fatigue, physical and mental, and a teacher who sees the reason behind each.
• Geeta S Iyengar: chronic fatigue asks for mostly supported poses, and practice should never end in fatigue.
• The Iyengar institute: long-lasting fatigue needs “active rest”, not only passive rest.
• Dr Timothy McCall: many people with chronic fatigue do too much, and do not listen to the body.
• Dr Krishna Raman: passive, supported poses for chronic fatigue, and no formal breath practice when exhausted.
• The research: 25 studies listed below, from small Iyengar trials to reviews of more than a thousand people.
• Take it further: a free ebook, our 2027 sleep and energy masterclass, and classes in Darwin and online.

“Stimulating means energising or invigorating, but exercise can also be irritating or exhausting.”

What are chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia?

Everyone gets tired. These conditions are different: the tiredness lasts for months, it is out of all proportion to what you did, and a night’s sleep does not shift it.

• Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): long-lasting, disabling exhaustion. Writers in the Iyengar institute’s journal describe constant tiredness, low mood, sore throats, aching and stiffness that come and go, often for many months or years. Many people also find that effort is followed by a crash a day or two later, often called post-exertional malaise. Post viral fatigue, after glandular fever or another infection, can look much the same.
• Fibromyalgia: long-lasting pain and tenderness across the body, with fatigue, poor sleep, low mood and brain fog. It affects an estimated 2 to 8% of people worldwide, most of them women.
• Persistent fatigue after illness: tiredness that lingers after cancer care or comes with other long-term conditions, such as multiple sclerosis.

The two overlap. Many people with ME/CFS also have fibromyalgia, and in the trials below, gentle yoga helped both groups. Darwin adds its own load: heat and humidity in the Build-Up drain energy, and Mr Iyengar says practice on a hot day is not the same as practice in winter (Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, p. 181).

What did Mr BKS Iyengar teach about fatigue?

In short: there are two kinds of fatigue; the teacher finds the reason behind it, and the practice changes to match.

Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health has no separate entry for chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. Its closest entries are physical fatigue (p. 312) and mental fatigue (p. 360). He wrote more in the Iyengar institute’s journal, Yoga Rahasya, in 1997.

• Physical fatigue is felt in the structural body: limbs and nerves stop responding. He warns that if rest and removing the stress do not help, it can slide into chronic fatigue. His approach is mostly supported, reclining and restful poses, with a few gentle standing and inverted poses. Energy comes back through rest and support.
• Mental fatigue is felt at the back of the brain, he says, with dullness, oversleeping and low mood. It comes from overusing the brain, the nerves and the senses, or from shock and fear. He says its seriousness is often underestimated.
• Find the reason. His words: “Where the body awareness ends the mind awareness begins.” Body fatigue and mind fatigue shade into each other, so a teacher must see what is behind it before choosing the poses.
• Props when you are tired. When fatigued or under great stress, he says to practise with props (p. 181), so the body is held and the nerves can let go.
• A disease of our time. In his view, chronic fatigue syndrome is “a disease of our civilisation”, born of stress, speed and strain, with people living from one excitement to the next and never letting the mind settle. That is his philosophical view, not a medical claim.
• Exhausted after 15 minutes? In The Tree of Yoga he says that if an exercise leaves you exhausted after 10 or 15 minutes, it is irritating rather than invigorating, and should change.

In the appendix to Light on Yoga he lists fatigue (p. 422) with supported inversions, forward bends, twists and a backbend, breathing without holding the breath, and a long rest. Nearby entries for anaemia (p. 413) and nervous debility (p. 429, his term for worn-out nerves) take the same line, and for anaemia he leaves breath-holding out for the first two to three months. Rest and support come first; stronger breath work waits until there is energy for it.

We do not publish his sequences. A sequence needs a teacher who can see how tired you are on the day and adapt each pose, which is what a class is for.

“A teacher must therefore see the reason behind fatigue. The practice has to be changed accordingly.”

What Geeta S Iyengar taught about chronic fatigue

In short: mostly supported poses, livelier poses first if low mood comes too, and never practise to exhaustion.

Most people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are women, so Geeta Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter and author of Yoga: A Gem for Women, matters as much here as her father. In our words:

• Supported poses for chronic fatigue. At a 1996 teachers’ course she set out an approach for chronic fatigue that is almost entirely supported: bolsters, benches, chairs and the wall, each pose held quietly, ending in a long, deep rest.
• Low mood changes the start. Where there is depression as well, she begins with quick standing poses, then moves to restorative poses. A dull, heavy state needs lifting before it can rest well.
• Never end in fatigue. In Yoga: A Gem for Women (p. 92) she says the time spent in poses should grow gradually, judged by your own strength, and practice should not end in fatigue.
• Women carry many roles. She writes that tiredness and frustration follow from the many roles women carry (pp. 33 to 36), and that lying-down poses help one recover lost energy (her claim).
• A tired brain needs quiet. She describes brain fatigue and a resting practice with the hands covering the eyes and ears (pp. 288 to 289), to shut out the senses.

“Practice of Yoga should not end in fatigue.”

What Dr Timothy McCall says

In short: many people with chronic fatigue do too much; the yoga that helps is gentle, simple and never overdone.

Dr McCall is a US medical doctor and yoga therapist, author of Yoga as Medicine and former medical editor of Yoga Journal; his own teacher is the senior Iyengar teacher Patricia Walden. His June 2019 list of conditions helped by yoga includes chronic fatigue syndrome (no. 17), fatigue (no. 32) and fibromyalgia (no. 33). His book gives chronic fatigue syndrome (chapter 14) and fibromyalgia (chapter 17) a chapter each. His views, in our words:

• Doing too much. He observes that many people with chronic fatigue do too much, overriding the body’s protests at an unbalanced life. Yoga builds awareness of the body, the breath, daily choices and what brings joy.
• Cortisol can run low. He notes that many people with chronic fatigue have abnormally low levels of cortisol, the main stress hormone. So the stress system is out of balance, not simply over-revved, and yoga is about balance.
• Not overdoing it, in fibromyalgia. His fibromyalgia chapter features a yoga teacher who has fibromyalgia himself and gives a simple routine. One student had tried a fast, vigorous class and was in bed for two days afterwards. With the gentle approach she slowly improved, and later added more active poses.
• His chronic fatigue teacher. The chapter’s teacher is Gary Kraftsow, a Viniyoga teacher, who looks at the whole person in layers: body, energy, habits of mind, values and joy. For a student worn down by very long working hours, he gave a short morning practice to lift her and a short evening practice to settle her, built around gentle poses and a lengthened out-breath, adjusted so she never strained.
• The evidence he cites. He says there were no controlled trials of yoga for chronic fatigue when he wrote. The best he found was a two-year University of Iowa study of 155 people with unexplained chronic fatigue who tried many approaches: a quarter of those doing yoga reported a big improvement in fatigue, against about 8 percent for the other approaches, and yoga was the only one linked with lifting low mood. It was not a controlled trial. For fibromyalgia he also found no randomised trial, and reports two uncontrolled mindfulness programmes with gentle yoga where most people said their pain, mood and coping improved.
• His cautions, in our words. The biggest risk is enthusiasm: too much too soon can bring a flare-up a day or so later. Start small, build over weeks or months, and scale back on exhausted days. Light-headedness on standing up is common, so come up slowly, drink enough water, and choose supported versions of head-down poses rather than hanging the head for long. Strong breathing practices can be too much for someone very depleted.
• Practice chosen by state. From Patricia Walden, he describes tuning the practice up for a dull, heavy state and down for an agitated one, aiming for clarity and ease.

“One has to question oneself whether yoga is meant for rejuvenation or exhaustion.”

What Dr Krishna Raman says

In short: passive, supported poses for chronic fatigue, alignment for fibromyalgia, and no formal breath practice when you are spent.

Dr Raman is a Chennai physician who trained in yoga under Mr Iyengar. His question-and-answer book on yoga and medical science covers chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and exhaustion. His views, in our words:

• Chronic fatigue syndrome: passive, supported poses, with Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani) named.
• Exhausted? Rest in the poses. When worn out, he uses relaxation poses with support, such as reclining over a pillow and a supported Plough, to renew the body.
• Fibromyalgia: research supports exercise, he says, and yoga’s special gift is its “geometry”: careful alignment. In his view pain can ease even where the body’s shape cannot change.
• No pranayama when you are spent. He leaves formal breathing practice out with fever, fatigue, severe anaemia or after serious illness.
• Yoga recharges. In his view yoga recharges where other exercise drains, and if you do both, do yoga first.

“Relaxation is necessary, for relaxation is recuperation.”

Other yoga voices on fatigue and fibromyalgia

• Long-lasting fatigue needs “a conscious, recuperative method of active rest”. Ordinary tiredness passes with rest, they write, but fatigue that lasts for months needs active rest more than passive rest. Sam Motiwala and Rajvi Mehta, Yoga Rahasya, vol. B, p. 56, the Iyengar institute’s journal.
• Plan the day to save energy, and swap “bad days” for “slow days”. Avoiding movement sets off a spiral of tiredness and low mood. Her words: “Stop and rest before it becomes necessary.” Dr Mary Pullig Schatz, a medical doctor and Iyengar-trained teacher, writing in 1985. This is pacing, in a yoga voice.
• Long-lasting pain is the brain’s alarm turned up by fear, poor sleep, weakness, stiffness and anxiety, and safe movement and breath turn it down. The pain is real. Mary Flaherty, Does Yoga Work?, pp. 51 to 53, a careful review of the yoga research.
• Distressed women had less fatigue, headaches, back pain and poor sleep with yoga, and one class a week did as well as two. Harvard Medical School, An Introduction to Yoga, pp. 12 to 13.

What does the research show about yoga for chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia?

In short: fibromyalgia has the most trials, and yoga eased pain, fatigue, sleep and mood; chronic fatigue syndrome has fewer, but gentle, still yoga lowered fatigue again and again. Most of these studies tested yoga in general, of many styles. The Iyengar yoga trials are listed on their own below. Why the difference matters.

Yoga for fibromyalgia

Gentle yoga is one of the fibromyalgia exercises tested in trials, and it eased tiredness, sleep and mood as well as pain.

• In the yoga trials, pain, fatigue, depression and quality of life all improved, and sleep improved across all the slow mind-body practices. Langhorst 2013, a review of 7 trials and 362 people with fibromyalgia, a median of 12 sessions. No serious side effects. Read the study.
• Every trial found yoga improved daily life with fibromyalgia, and three found less pain. Fatigue, depression, anxiety, strength and coping improved too, and the gains mostly held. Durusoy 2025, a review of 3 trials and 116 women. Read the study.
• An 8-week gentle yoga programme eased pain, fatigue and mood, and helped people cope. Gentle poses, meditation, breathing and coping skills, compared with usual care. Carson 2010, a trial of 53 women with fibromyalgia. Read the study.
• The benefit was repeated in a second group, and was still there 3 months later. Overall fibromyalgia impact improved by about 32% and was still 22% better at 3 months; more practice went with more benefit. Carson 2012, a follow-up of the same programme. Read the study.
• Online yoga beat a walking and physiotherapy programme for fatigue, anxiety and worry about pain. Eight weeks of mindfulness-based yoga online. Durusoy 2026, a trial of 64 women with fibromyalgia. Read the study.
• One online class a week for 4 weeks eased pain and improved sleep, with no side effects. Compared with no classes. Sari 2025, a trial of 31 people with fibromyalgia. Read the study.
• Four weeks of supervised yoga therapy eased pain, cut the number of tender points and improved forward bending. Compared with a waiting list on standard care. Kumar 2025, a trial in fibromyalgia from India’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Read the study.
• Eight weeks of yoga eased pain and worry about pain, and raised mindfulness and acceptance. Cortisol, often low in fibromyalgia, rose. Curtis 2011, a study of 22 women, 75-minute classes twice a week. Read the study.
• Mind-body exercise, yoga included, improved fibromyalgia impact, pain, sleep and depression, and programmes of more than 40 hours did best. Zhang 2026, a review of 21 trials and 1,155 people. This review pooled several slow mind-body practices, so it shows the family of practices rather than yoga alone. Read the study.

Yoga for chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

• Lying-down yoga improved daily functioning and lowered fatigue, even in people mostly in bed and in those with fibromyalgia too. Twelve weeks of 25-minute sessions, added to usual care. People said they gained a better sense of the limits that bring on a crash. No serious side effects. Oka 2025, a trial of 48 people with ME/CFS that had not improved with usual care. Read the study.
• Gentle, still yoga lowered fatigue in people for whom usual care had not worked, and two with fibromyalgia also had less pain. Seated poses held still with light muscle work, 20 minutes with a teacher every two weeks plus daily practice at home, for about 2 months. Oka 2014, a trial of 30 people with chronic fatigue syndrome. Read the study.
• A single 20-minute session cut fatigue and lifted energy, calmed the heart and shifted stress and inflammation markers the right way. The vagus nerve became more active, and cortisol and TNF-alpha (an inflammation marker) fell. Oka 2018, a study of 15 people with chronic fatigue syndrome. Read the study.
• People with severe ME/CFS could do lying-down yoga, and their fatigue fell over 3 months. Everyone finished, with no serious side effects, and those who had tried seated yoga preferred lying down. Oka 2017, a pilot of 12 people. Read the study.
• Slow mind-body practices, yoga included, lowered fatigue and improved anxiety, depression and sleep. Fricke-Comellas 2024, a review of 13 trials and 661 people with chronic fatigue or long COVID. This review pooled several slow mind-body practices. More in our Long Covid guide. Read the study.
• Fatigue improved in 9 of 12 studies of mind-body programmes, including gentle yoga, and anxiety or depression in 8. Khanpour Ardestani 2021, a review of 12 studies in ME/CFS. Read the study.

Iyengar yoga studies

These trials tested Iyengar yoga specifically, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, with props and adapted poses. None has yet been done in chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia: the Iyengar trials of fatigue so far are in breast cancer survivors, multiple sclerosis and distressed women. Not yet studied is not the same as not working.

• Restorative Iyengar yoga lowered fatigue and raised energy in women still exhausted after breast cancer. Twelve weeks, compared with health education, and the gains held 3 months later. Bower 2012, a trial of 31 women. Read the study.
• The same restorative Iyengar yoga calmed inflammation-related gene activity in tired breast cancer survivors. An inflammation marker stayed steady with yoga and rose in the comparison group. Bower 2014, from the same trial. Read the study.
• Iyengar yoga lowered fatigue and improved emotional wellbeing, with healthier daily cortisol. Eight weeks. Banasik 2011, a small trial in breast cancer survivors. Read the study.
• A weekly Iyengar yoga class lowered fatigue in multiple sclerosis, as much as an exercise bike class did. Six months, compared with a waiting list. Oken 2004, a trial of 69 people with multiple sclerosis. Iyengar yoga matched exercise for fatigue, with calm and mindfulness on top. Read the study.
• Three months of Iyengar yoga lowered fatigue, stress and anxiety and lifted energy in women under mental strain. Twice-weekly 90-minute classes, compared with a waiting list; cortisol fell after a class. Michalsen 2005, a trial of 24 women. Read the study.

Fatigue after cancer

• Yoga had a large effect on fatigue once cancer care had finished, and supervised classes and 8-week programmes did best. Dong 2019, a review of 17 studies and 2,183 people with breast cancer. Cancer fatigue only; our sleep and energy guide has more. Read the study.

Meditation and mindfulness

These trials tested mindfulness programmes, not pranayama. The results are encouraging, and in our view asana and pranayama train the same steady, present attention through the body and the breath.

• Mindfulness meditation lowered the impact of fibromyalgia, eased stress, insomnia and depression, and improved quality of life. Meng 2024, a review of 10 trials and 818 people. Read the study.
• Mindfulness programmes lowered pain, depression and anxiety in fibromyalgia. Haugmark 2019, a review of 9 trials. Read the study.
• Mindfulness lowered fatigue in chronic fatigue syndrome that had not lifted with talking therapy, and the gains held for 6 months. Low mood and worst-case thinking also fell. Rimes 2013, a pilot trial of 35 people. Read the study.

Breathing practice (pranayama)

No trial has yet tested pranayama on its own for chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. In multiple sclerosis, where fatigue is one of the hardest symptoms, humming breath did remarkably well:

• Humming breath (Bhramari) lowered fatigue and depression sharply in multiple sclerosis. Twenty minutes twice a day for 4 weeks, compared with routine care. Sadr 2025, a trial of 78 people. Read the study.

In the Iyengar tradition, breath work for a tired person is quiet and restful: lying down, supported, the breath smooth and unforced. Mr Iyengar cautions against forcing breath practice when you are tired, and Dr Raman leaves formal pranayama out when someone is exhausted. The teacher brings it in when the student is ready. The pranayama we teach (staircase, ocean, alternate nostril, humming and a gentle shining skull breath) is slow, nasal and taught step by step. Why the kind of breathing matters.

Close cousins: tai chi and qigong

For context only: tai chi and qigong, slow mind-body practices from China, have also been tested in fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, and the largest single fibromyalgia trial was of tai chi (Wang 2018). They are not yoga, and we do not count them as yoga evidence. They show that slow, mindful movement with steady breathing is a good fit for these conditions, which is the ground Iyengar yoga has worked on for decades.

“this gives rest and helps one recover from fatigue.”

How this comes together in a Flametree class

Everything above points the same way, and it is how we teach.

• Props in every class: bolsters, chairs, blankets, belts and the wall, so you can rest in a pose instead of fighting it.
• Classes adapted to the people in them. No one-size-fits-all. Tell your teacher if you have chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia, or are just always tired, and the poses are changed for you on the day.
• Active rest: our restorative yoga and gentle yoga classes are built on supported poses that rest the body while they restore it.
• Pacing: you are never asked to push through exhaustion. Resting during class is part of the practice.
• Breath and calm: every class ends in rest, and our pranayama classes go further when you are ready.

Read more on tiredness, stress and rest

• Underactive thyroid and yoga: hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s disease and the tiredness that comes with them
• Yoga and sleep, insomnia and fatigue: everyday tiredness, the two kinds of tired, and sleep
• Yoga for stress and burnout: cortisol and the stress response
• Yoga when you are tired or travelling
• What is restorative yoga? The science behind lying still
• How to calm your nervous system
• Legs Up The Wall
• Yoga for inflammation and the immune system
• Yoga after breast cancer

“Rest but don’t rust!”

Take it further

This guide gives you the facts on what helps. Classes are how you put them into action.

• Classes, in Darwin or LIVE online: new, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. See every class time.
• Masterclass: Yoga for sleep and energy, Sunday 10 January 2027, one of our 2027 Sunday Arvo Masterclasses with Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist. You learn the restful poses, sequences and pranayama that put this guide into practice, in Darwin or online.
• Retreats: a week of daily yoga and rest in Bali. See the retreats.

Other conditions are in our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and yoga: questions people ask

What is the difference between chronic fatigue syndrome and just being always tired?

Ordinary tiredness passes with a good night’s sleep or a few quiet days. Chronic fatigue syndrome, also called ME/CFS, is disabling exhaustion that lasts for months, is out of proportion to what you did, and often brings sore throats, aching, poor sleep and a crash a day or two after effort. The Iyengar institute’s writers say ordinary tiredness passes with rest, but long-lasting fatigue needs active rest: supported poses that restore as well as rest.

What did Mr BKS Iyengar teach about chronic fatigue?

Mr Iyengar described two kinds of fatigue: physical fatigue, felt in the limbs and nerves, and mental fatigue, felt at the back of the brain. He said a teacher must see the reason behind the fatigue and change the practice to match, and that tired people should practise with props. He called chronic fatigue syndrome a disease of our civilisation, born of stress, speed and strain. Geeta Iyengar taught an approach for chronic fatigue built almost entirely on supported poses.

Can yoga help fibromyalgia?

Yes. Across the trials of yoga for fibromyalgia, people had less pain, less fatigue, better sleep and better mood. A 2013 review found yoga was the slow mind-body practice that helped pain, fatigue, depression and quality of life, and a 2026 trial found online yoga beat a walking and physiotherapy programme for fatigue and anxiety. The yoga that worked was gentle, regular and taught.

What is active rest in yoga?

Active rest means resting in supported yoga poses, on bolsters, chairs, blankets and the wall, rather than simply lying on the couch. The body is fully held, the chest is open and the breath slows, so the nerves can let go. Writers in the Iyengar institute’s journal say long-lasting fatigue needs a conscious, recuperative method of active rest more than passive rest.

Can yoga help if even a short walk wipes you out?

The trials suggest gentle yoga can start where you are. In a 2025 Japanese trial, 48 people with ME/CFS, many mostly in bed, did 25-minute lying-down yoga sessions for 12 weeks. Their daily functioning improved, their fatigue fell more than in the comparison group, and there were no serious side effects. In an Iyengar class the poses are adapted to how tired you are on the day.

What is pacing, and how does yoga fit with it?

Pacing means doing a steady amount every day instead of doing everything on a good day and crashing afterwards. Dr Mary Pullig Schatz, a medical doctor and Iyengar-trained teacher, wrote “Stop and rest before it becomes necessary.” Geeta Iyengar said practice should not end in fatigue. In the 2025 ME/CFS yoga trial, people said yoga gave them a better sense of the limits that bring on a crash.

Do breathing and meditation help chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia?

Yes. Reviews of mindfulness meditation in fibromyalgia found lower pain, depression and anxiety and less impact on daily life, and a mindfulness trial in chronic fatigue syndrome lowered fatigue for 6 months. In multiple sclerosis, humming breath (Bhramari) lowered fatigue sharply. In the Iyengar tradition, breath work for tired people is quiet, lying down and never forced, brought in by the teacher when the student is ready.

Where can I do gentle yoga for fatigue and fibromyalgia in Darwin or online?

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online across Australia, with gentle and restorative classes built on supported poses and props. Classes are adapted to how you are on the day. New, or away 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes, then 10 at half price.

Where this comes from: BKS Iyengar, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (Dorling Kindersley), physical fatigue (p. 312), mental fatigue (p. 360) and practice with props (p. 181); Light on Yoga, appendix (pp. 413, 422 and 429); The Tree of Yoga; and his answers to questions on stress and fatigue, Yoga Rahasya, vol. 4 no. 2, 1997. Sam Motiwala and Rajvi Mehta, “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”, Yoga Rahasya, vol. B. Geeta S Iyengar, Yoga: A Gem for Women, and her 1996 teachers’ course notes on chronic fatigue. Timothy McCall MD, Yoga as Medicine (Bantam), chapters on chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, his chapter notes, and his June 2019 list of health conditions helped by yoga. Krishna Raman MD and S. Suresh MD, Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ. Mary Pullig Schatz MD, Yoga Journal, 1985. Mary Flaherty, Does Yoga Work?. Harvard Medical School, An Introduction to Yoga. Studies as linked above, checked on PubMed. Everything is summarised in our own words.

This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online.