9 Comments
Feb 6Liked by Mardi Crane-Godreau, PhD

Thanks for this. Looking forward to reading it as my recovery has stalled ... again.

Expand full comment
author

How are you doing now? Any thoughts on what makes a difference between being stuck and making progress toward recovery?

Expand full comment
author

Hi David,

When you have the energy, I would also recommend reading TLC for Mitochondria, https://longcovidjourney2wellness.substack.com/p/long-covid-tlc-for-mitochondria

and Learning to feel safe https://longcovidjourney2wellness.substack.com/p/long-covid-learning-to-feel-safe

It's taken me two years of TLC for myself (diet, rest, supplements and retraining) to get back to pre-COVID cognitive and physical endurance levels. I hope that my insights might be useful for you. Stay in touch!

Expand full comment
Feb 6Liked by Mardi Crane-Godreau, PhD

Can you say more about what you mean by “retraining”? Are you referring to brain retraining? If so, is there a particular approach or program you’d recommend?

Expand full comment
author

Hi Rebecca,

There, I was referring to physical training due to being badly deconditioned after months of inactivity. Once I had gotten the healing started with my mitochondria, gradually increasing exercise worked well.

However, I also had the benefits of brain (whole nervous system) retraining by way of being a qigong practitioner and teacher in training. At times during LC I had to limit the amount of qigong or even do it seated or lying down. I have no question in my mind that without it, my recovery would have been more difficult.

If you go to the post on Stress, focus on two opportunities for brain retraining. One is to cultivate a mindset of safety. At the bottom of the page there are several links that relate to retraining the nervous system. The other is to engage in meditative movement (qigong). Most of the links that I've provided are free.

Here's a point that I made: Combining meditation with movement, [I did] The 8 Brocades Qigong Practice with Mimi Kuo-Deemer. ... Healthful and builds vitality and endurance.

If it would be useful, I would be happy to do a post of the neuro-immune benefits of qigong/meditative movement practice. Just let me know.

Expand full comment
Feb 12Liked by Mardi Crane-Godreau, PhD

Thanks so much for that extensive explanation, and resources. I would love to know more about the neuroimmune benefits of that type of activity.

Expand full comment
author

There are specific outcomes shown in the article that I mentioned. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00067/full

Expand full comment
author

Here's a link to an open access peer reviewed article that describes the use of meditative movement (qigong) in a clinical trial that we ran out of Dartmouth. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00067/full

(free download) If you begin here, you will gain a good deal of insight. Keep in mind that the subjects in this study had assigned qigong practices each week. Active participation was a requirement of inclusion... ie, one can't just be aware that these exercises exists. Doing the practices is what improves health, including especially the health of the entire nervous system (in my opinion).

After reading them, get back in touch. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Mardi. Much appreciated.

Expand full comment