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When Nancy Clark was diagnosed with fibromyalgia more than 15 years ago, she at last had a name for the pain radiating all over her body—and some relief in the drug doxepin. Finally able to move again, she took a friend’s advice and tried yoga for the first time. Now, eight years later, her weekly classes and home practice have become an indispensable part of her life and how she takes care of herself. “The stretching is wonderful; it really feels good,” says Clark, who lives in Bermuda Dunes, California. “After yoga I just feel so relaxed.”

While Clark can’t say for certain whether yoga has helped alleviate her pain, she has noticed that typical pain triggers, such as sitting in a car for hours or working on the computer for too long, are no longer as bothersome. “Even sitting in a bad chair doesn’t seem to have any lasting effect on me,” says the 71-year-old. “I just feel more normal now.” That’s not unusual, says Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., author of the book Yoga for Pain Relief (New Harbinger, December 2009). She believes that yoga can “create real and lasting change” in pain sufferers. “Sometimes that means the pain goes away. Sometimes it means you still have the sensation of pain, but it does not get in your way or affect your mood or enthusiasm for life in the same way.”

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