💡 Unlock true balance: Ask an expert anything

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Whether you are a seasoned athlete looking to improve mobility or someone simply seeking practical ways to de-stress, this is your chance to talk to an expert. Nadya Booyse, a highly experienced movement and meditation facilitator with over two decades of deep training in functional anatomy, yoga, breathwork, and trauma-based movement, is on DMC to guide you.

@nadya is here to help you move better, breathe easier, and live more mindfully. Drop your questions in the comments below.

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Hi Nadya, I’m a 72 year lady with a pacemaker since Covid. I live in a Retirement village…..at the top of the Hill (for me, its a mountain). I don’t take the golf cart available, I walk and carry the groceries uo as well. I’m exhausted at 3 in the afternoon when I’ve closed “the rings. ” Is it normal to be so tired? With gratitude. Ingrid

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Hi Ingrid, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to normal; there is only what is normal for you and your given situation. If YOU feel it is abnormal and would like to try things to help improve matters, I have some advice. As a disclaimer, I am not a doctor, and given that you have a pacemaker, I would suggest that you run everything past your doctor before you start anything. Having said that, I would say that given that you had COVID as well, your experience is very likely a result of the long-term effects of COVID.

Firstly, we need a variety of exercise to stay truly fit. Walking as an exercise is absolutely great, but at your age you should also be adding strength and mobility exercises. If your body is only ever worked in one particular way, you either need to increase that exercise after a while, OR you need to vary the exercise you do. If your body is weak in any way, it means it will pull from other resources in order to continue doing what’s necessary. While I don’t think a marathon is in your near future, I think that if you add breathing and strength exercises to your days (please clear this with your doctor beforehand) you could be feeling a bit more energised in as little as a few weeks.

My first recommendation is to find a yoga or movement teacher that can give you personal chair exercises to help with balance, breath, mobility, and strength. Pilates is also an option, but yoga is what I know.

If you can’t find a yoga teacher let me know, and I can make a recommendation on a youtube channel that provides easy exercises which will only take up 10 minutes a day.

In addition to that, I would recommend that you start adding basic breath exercises to your day. Here are three basic ones to start with:

  1. Basic - take a breath in, counting how long it is; exhale and try to double the count (most people start with 4 and 8). It is not important that double the count yet, just that you try to add at least 1 count to every exhalation and try to improve on a weekly basis. 5 to 10 rounds daily to start, working up to 5 to 10 minutes daily.
  2. Square breath - this is an amazing breath to do before you go to bed, but it is also the one that might be the hardest. You simply breathe in for a count, hold the breath for the same count, exhale for the same count, and hold again for the same count. If any of the holds give you a problem, simply hold for a moment before going on.
  3. Yogic breath - great for energising the body, but in the beginning, only do 2 or 3 rounds when you are feeling low on energy. It works best if you are either lying down (no pillow), or sitting in a straight back chair with good posture. Inhale by expanding your belly, continue to inhale expanding the chest, and take in even more breath until the collar bones lift slightly. Then slowly exhale from the top - collar bones, chest, belly - pulling the naval in towards the spine at the last effort.

These breath exercises will help build your lung capacity and help you feel more energised, and as soon as you do, you should be able to add other fitness movements without feeling so very tired all the time.

As a final note, take a good multi-vitamin and or B12, and ask your doctor to check your blood-work because sometimes it can be down to something as basic as low iron that makes us feel tired too soon.

I hope this helps. Let me know if anything is unclear, or if you have further questions.