Jayson:

Welcome to this week's episode of The Ankylosing Spondylitis Podcast. Today I'm very excited because we're going to touch on a subject that I get a lot of requests and information about, and that is yoga, specifically yoga for people that have Ankylosing Spondylitis. And today I've got both Jamie Boder and Geoff Lindsay on. Jamie is an instructor and teaches people yoga right now virtually. And he's located in England. And Geoff is an instructor , and  has his classes that he shows and demonstrates different processes. So Gentlemen, welcome.

Jamie Boder:

Thanks for having me, Jayson.

Jayson:

It's great to have you guys. So, Jamie, tell me a little bit. You also have Ankylosing Spondylitis. Tell me a little bit about your diagnosis. And then were you into yoga prior to your diagnosis or was that something you came to afterwards?

Jamie Boder:

So I started experiencing some things when I was about 14 and was put to growing pains and then other different conditions, lots of different lists. And eventually, I asked my GP, I need to see a rheumatologist just how to interlink. And then the day I saw her, she said, Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this condition. And that was when I got to about the age of 18. That's when I got my diagnosis. And at first, it was a lot to take in. And I don't think the Internet can always be a very helpful place to learn about the condition if you're new to it, but that was my position. And the biggest thing that I was really thinking about was being a skateboarder half of my life, started skateboarding when I was like six years old, I was like, I can't stop. This isn't my big passion at the time. It was something that you know, competed and a very huge part of my life. So anyway, I went to a support group, and I wasn't very up for it, but I kind of forced myself to go, and that's where I met Geoff. And Geoff looked really in a good place, physically and just had something, you know, looks very healthy and I asked him, What were you doing, Geoff, you know, you must be doing something different from other people. And he told me about yoga. And it was that day, I went home and literally dedicated myself to practicing yoga for about, yeah, just pretty much every day for a year. I just didn't stop and yeah, transformative, to say the least. So that's a little bit about my journey with yoga and AS and have been practicing ever since and now teaching as well.

Jayson:

So how many years has that been now?

Jamie Boder:

So it's been about five years of being practicing yoga consistently, nearly every day.

Jayson:

So with that, have you noticed any worsening like in your x rays that your GP will do?

Jamie Boder:

So when I first started having symptoms I was in such a lot of considerable pain and struggled to. I had a bit of a limp and couldn't sweat definitely couldn't do any sort of sports, just essentially very desperate. And for the last two years, I've had stiffness but I haven't had any pain whatsoever. And that's was a bit you know, huge huge for me. So yeah, I'm in terms of x rays and things like that. I last had an xray about two years ago, and there's things are looking pretty good.

Jayson:

Now, are you on any medications or biologic anything to help with that?

Jamie Boder:

I haven't been for on biologics for a year. I stopped biologics about a year ago, because I'm not for or against medication. I know medication can work very well for some people. But for me, I was at the point where I didn't feel like I was in need of it. And therefore I stopped taking So not on at the moment, but something me and Geoff will always emphasizes, if you're on medication, yoga can help with that medication with it's all integrative. So we're not we're not against using medication when necessary.