Living with a chronic illness takes a toll on us physically, but also mentally and emotionally, affecting our ability to live life the way we want. Pain, poor sleep, inflammation, mental health challenges, loss of self and identity are some aspects to consider working with. Kundalini Yoga as a therapy offers tools and techniques to assist with the management of living with a chronic health condition.

Yogic tradition considers Prāṇa to be the energy that resides in the core of every atom and flows within the Universe to sustain life. Every living being is powered by this phenomenon, including of course ourselves. Breathing is a conduit of Prāṇa and breath can be medicine, a healing force; just as medicinal plants or movement (or other typical forms of pharmaceutical medicine) can be.

Synergy can be seen throughout the plant kingdom in both simple and profound ways. Synergy is the interaction of two (or more) agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects, i.e. when two herbs (or more) are combined together to provide a more broad-spectrum result. Synergism is a fundamental process in herbal medicine integrity.

The last thing anyone who doesn’t sleep well needs — especially if it feels like you’ve tried ‘everything’ — is a list of all the health risks a lack of sleep presents. About 60% of people report at least one sleep symptom occurring three or more times per week. So, what is one method that costs nothing and easily accessible to assist with sleep problems? Meditation.

I’ve put together a group of herbs that may assist with sleep, and described how they work, so that addressing the sleep issue becomes a much more specific yet also holistic approach. Herbs for sleep can be taken in a variety of ways, which includes as a tea (especially useful when winding down at night), as well as tablet, liquid extract or powder.

There are two main chemical mediators which play a major role in our circadian rhythm, our body’s 24-hour internal clock, which controls our sleep-wake cycle; these are cortisol and melatonin. Setting our internal clock and sleep-wake cycle requires daylight exposure (and recognition of night), this regulates melatonin release. Equally, stress and increased cortisol levels will also affect our circadian rhythm.

Adequate levels of the neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin are needed to modulate appropriate functioning of the body’s stress response system. When we find ourselves in a situation of constant stress and alarm, we are depleting our GABA levels creating an internal environment for further feelings of anxiety, stress, depression, difficulty concentrating, muscle pain and headaches, insomnia and other sleep problems… sound familiar?

Just as we may travel the same path or road many times day after day, consider that the body orchestrates the same journey for our hormones to travel along day after day. This internal information highway is known as the hypothalamus-pituitary axis. The hypothalamus is also looking to maintain consistent balance, or homeostasis, physiologically.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in Australia and significantly under-diagnosed. To assist Iron deficient anaemia, intake of iron needs to increase, but simply prescribing iron supplements or increasing dietary intake is only partially addressing the issue. The inability to absorb iron once ingested is part of the problem.