S2, Ep 10- Gracefully Treading Water: Finding Healing with Aqua Yoga

In this episode, aqua yoga coach Christa Fairbrother talks about her experience with chronic illness and stresses the importance of self-care and balancing personal and professional life. She also shares how yoga has helped her and how others can benefit from it too.

Among the highlights in this episode:

0:46: Quote by Carolyn White: "I am not everything that has ever happened to me. I am everything I became while I healed, stronger but softer, focused, but not obsessed. A teacher but still a student. I am not broken. I am beautiful. I am a survivor."

1:43: Christa shares her journey with chronic illness, starting with symptoms as a child, leading to a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus, and later a diagnosis of mixed connective tissue disease, which includes lupus and rheumatoid arthritis

5:51: “It's very hard to educate myself as a patient, and then being able to go to appointments and get good information from providers, because they're basically in the same situation as me. … So I feel like a guinea pig a lot of the time, because there's just not the research on those rare diseases,” says Christa

7:18: Christa discusses the challenges of advocating for herself while managing her personal and professional life; maintaining a balance between being a patient, a partner, a parent, and a self-employed professional

8:18: Christa shares about the importance of being open about her chronic illness to build connection, authenticity, and show others with similar conditions that they can also benefit from practices like yoga and aqua therapy

10:42: A discussion about the history of pool discrimination including the resulting disparities in drowning rates for kids from BIPOC communities due to historical discrimination and lack of access to swimming pools

14:35: Christa discusses the connection between mental and physical wellness, highlighting the feedback loop between them

15:49: How aquatic therapy is related to self-efficacy because it is enjoyable, accessible, and helps people meet their goals, which in turn encourages them to achieve more goals

19:18: Christa shares the importance of doing at least one thing each day. This mindset helps people with chronic illness to keep moving forward and prevent their condition from taking over their lives

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