Hi Alice. Thanks for your lovely message. Yeah I have trained in the Wim Hof method and was doing the cold plunges up until my stroke. I have been meditating for around 20 years. I have 1160 days on insight timer ATM.
If anyone is thinking of meditation I can highly recommend it. It’s a corner stone of my day. Insight timer app is great. Thanks again Alice and best wishes
That is so good to hear @Fatpants,
Meditation has been so important for me in my healing and recovery, I am lucky to live in a small town near the ocean so I try and do a sunrise meditation on the beach a few mornings. I am also learning reformer pilates twice a week.
I make sure to do some kind of exercise every day as I was paralysed on my left side and had the possibility of never walking again so I’m so very grateful to have re-learnt again. It’s very humbling looking back on your progress no matter how small it may seem.
All the best to you and take care
Alice 
That’s brill. Its so important to recognise the small victory’s.
I also do a Yoga / Pilates class on a Saturday morning. Its a very tough class.
My Yoga teacher also had a stroke earlier this year. She actually felt the bleed start and managed to get herself help before it really started to get bad. Fortunately she had an operation and she has returned to her teaching. She is an inspiration.
My other friend who is also a black belt in BJJ was telling me on the Friday before my stroke that he suffered a TIA a couple of weeks before. I couldn’t believe it when I had a stroke on the Monday !!
Pilates never sat well with me, even after doing dance for three years when younger, I find it rough as guts, almost a Jane Fonda workout. Thai Chi, however, hit the right notes for me, however, I seem to have traded that in for pottering around 
Never done yoga, I don’t know if I will, the cerebellar stroke I had was caused by trauma to the neck and I’m still a little nervous of challenging those muscles, although ironically I have read that yoga can be beneficial for cerebellar stroke recovery despite being something that in rare cases can cause it. Caveat: cerebellar stroke is rare so however it may occur it will always be in rare cases.
Yeah our Saturday class is pretty hardcore. I will just have to be careful when I eventually get back. I have done some QI gong which is similar to Tai chi. I love it so maybe I will get back to that.
I had my stroke at the end of a jiu jitsu class. My neck had been squeezed a few times just before but my thinking is if it’s going to happen it’s going to happen.. you can’t live under a rock. That said I walked 5k yesterday to test myself and today is basically a write off now 
Best of luck with your recovery. I am so much more appreciative of being able to do the basic things in life now.
Look into Yin yoga. I have a diploma in it. You hold each pose for 3 to 8 minutes. It’s known as yoga for the joints. Concentrate on finding your edge and breathing into it and being super mindful. It’s like a meditation. Highly recommend.
Hello Fat Pants - what an amazing way to join this forum!!
I can’t remember seeing another introductory post that has generated such a varied response. It gives me great joy to read and see all the very different things that the world of stroke survivors are exposed to, and in some ways I think to myself, actually you know what? They’re not that different to the non-stroke survivors.
I am fascinated by all the different responses from all the contributors covering so many different subjects and so I will not attempt to name check them all. This is effectively a name check to all the respondents and I am sure you will recognise yourselves as I now go on …
Let’s start with Fat Pants - this sounds like a Chinese name to me, but you say you are Brazilian?
OK, so you are a Brazilian who is into Jiu Jitsu - there are so many martial arts and this is yet another one I have never come across before. It’s nice to meet you
Various celebrities have been brought into this thread - Bruce Lee (“Be water my friend!”). I seem to remember he broke his back or something and recovered from a condition from which he was not expected to recover from? I found that quite inspirational and then what he went on to achieve was something else. I believe that Stroke Survivors can also do something similar, but only if they so wish i.e. others in Bruce Lee’s condition would not have made it or at least in the way he did
Peter Cook and Jane Fonda - I daresay I have missed someone as there have been quite a few.
I must give Wim Hof a mention as I am fascinated by his methods - cold therapy and breathing techniques.
Martial arts, yoga, pilates and other forms of activities and movements - wonderful. Let’s not forget Reiki.
All the comparisons of notes of personal stroke experiences and the dreaded fatigue that no one has found a way to beat yet (or maybe they have and we just don’t know about it yet)!
There is so much on this thread and I am just going to have to revisit it a few times to pick out all the gems.
I don’t even know why I am saying this, as we all know it already, but yet again, this post proves that stroke is a non-discriminatory evil that no one is safe from. People can think what they like, say what they like, but as far as I can see and all the evidence is there, anyone at any time can be targeted.
Anyone can have a stroke at any time:
No one is immune - the thing is you simply cannot do anything to prevent it from happening.
Yes, you can try to reduce the risk by living a healthy lifestyle, good diet, exercise, sensible drinking even taking preventative medications. But reducing the risk (btw the reductions might be relatively small e.g. 20%) is no guarantee that you will not have a stroke.
Speaking for myself, given all of the above, as Carer who has seen it from the outside, and knowing that I am at risk of having a stroke (as I said - we all are at risk and at all times i.e. just because you’ve had it once it does not mean you will not have it again - a stroke survivor goes back in the pool as everybody does and the odds may have changed, but they are not immune), I am going to live life as best as I can.
I will not worry about having a stroke because I know there is nothing I can do to stop it - this is a fact. Worrying about it will not make things better and likely they will make it worse, so no, the thought of having a stroke does not worry me.
In the event I do have a stroke, I hope that I will remember all the things I am saying here and then have the capacity to rise up from the fall I take. For me, this will be getting back to my previous self and better because I believe that is absolutely possible (but help might be required).
As this is a post like no other (thank you Fat Pants), I will close by saying that :
The above may sound live a bold statement (and it is - it has been highlighted as such ) but it is achievable. Just because it may not have been done before, does not mean it cannot be done.
There is someone on this forum who likes sharing “Firsts after a stroke” - Hi Michelle ) and this could be you doing a first.
Wishing everyone reading this all the very best.
Thank you FatPants for sharing your storey and allowing me to indulge.
Namaste|
I love that quote so it’s going to the start of my new Quotes collection. I managed to lose the last one…along with other stuff…when we transferred everything onto a new computer. All my files basically 
So thank you for getting me started 
Lorraine
@manib I agree with everything apart from returning to your former self. If someone does manage good on them. But I am long gone and like this one better anyway. Thank you for taking the time to write all of the above.
God bless you, Irene 
Unfortunately I have to agree with you on that. I know stroke survivors who are 30 odd years into their recovery, still not got use of their arm/hand. They can walk, albeit with a severe limp and their foot turned out etc., they are the more severe cases though. But you can get to a better place with it. You learn to adapt to your disabilities, you learn to accept this new version of you. And you learn to carve out a new way of life for yourself with friends and family who have taken this journey with you.
Lorraine
Agree but my thoughts are to go with it and adapt. Work at recovery yes - You may get back to before - even so enjoy yourself today. As well as your recovery . We cant control the future. Just a quote……
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself- i have lived through (this) I can take the next thing that comes along” (Elenor Roosevelt).
And we’ve all had to do that. Just a thought & I hope not offended & ok to say. I dont know if it’s relevant but it’s reminded me that every experience (bad as well as good) makes us who we are. And ive not seen anything on this group which is not from a truly remarkable person.
In that case Irene that is fine as you say you like your post-stroke self better.
You are fairy unique and perhaps I am wrong, but as far as I can tell, many on this forum miss their pre-stroke self and wish they could go back. I am pretty sure I have read quite a few posts saying this and some are actually quite distressed that they are unable to go back to their “old self”. They find it hard to accept that after 3 months, 6 months, 6 years or however long they have been a stroke survivor the progress seems slow or non-existent. And it is to these people, I would like to suggest that if you miss your old self and would like to be your old self then, perhaps you can be your old self.
I understand what you all say - Lorraine and Baldrick accept they are where they are at and choose to adapt and work with their current condition and in so doing, they are still remaining positive and getting on with life and living it as best as they can. You also, have decided that you are happier with your new self. So for me, my attempt to “life coach/influencer” or whatever they are called is to say to those who are struggling to accept, do something about it. It will not happen by you venting frustration or anger or self-pity or whatever emotions you are experiencing.
My examples about first time achievers are an attempt to say, just because no one has [allegedly] done it, does not mean it cannot be done. Not only that, I have to say and of course again I could be wrong or even deluded, but I see this “Can do” in my Mum. I have said many times, she is stronger by the day and I don’t see her accepting her condition and giving up. Each day, she is working to improve and she is making progress. Her progress is something no one had expected her achieve and it is because of this that, in my opinion, the healthcare professionals are unable to help her. Even when they try, they end up pushing her backwards instead of moving her forwards. Her most recent hospital stay is a classic example.
So, IreneFC, @EmeraldEyes and @Baldrick I totally respect your views and appreciate your feedback and contributions to our cause. Wishing you all the best as you strive towards your dreams and goals. Btw, do you know the difference between dreams and goals?
Thank you.
Namaste|
@manib Big hugs for you 
@ManjiB Goals are achievable, dreams are not achievable.
Irene