Lemuria Wellness Studio

Honored to be leading these five women tonight. 🤍🤍🤍

Room for one more person for Gentle yoga on Monday night 6:30 pm.
Affirmation cards, aromatherapy eye masks and all the props are waiting for you!!
Message me to RSVP!

✨ It’s been a journey… but tonight? Tonight felt REAL good. 🙌

Teaching again tonight lit something back up in me, and honestly, the affirmation card I pulled said it all. 💫

(Yep — we now draw an affirmation card at the start of every class! Little moments of magic before we even hit the mat 🧘‍♀️🔮)

Grateful. Full. Back where I belong.

Flashback to 2019 🫖✨ — the year the yoga gang traded downward dogs for SCOBYs. Kombucha brewing, bad puns, and probably way too much giggling over a jar of “mother.” Fun times. 💫🧘‍♀️

Something new is waiting on the mat Monday. 💜

Sometimes the most healing thing we can do is simply become still.

I have four beautiful new aromatherapy eye pillows ready for four beautiful women joining me for private class Monday at Lemuria Wellness.

Soft movement.
Deep breathing.
A little lavender.
A little quiet.
And space to simply come home to yourself. 🌿

There is something so special about creating a small, intimate class where every detail can feel intentional—from the movement to the music to the final moments of rest.

This is what I want Lemuria to feel like:
less about doing more… and more about feeling more like yourself again.

See you on the mat. ✨

This has been the season of joy with my flower gardens! 💞

Little moments.
Big medicine. ☀️🌿🍋

An afternoon spent with my sister circle—
laughing, listening, and filling each other’s cups. 💛

Autoimmune diseases suck! But today's interactions with multiple doctors have empowered me to recognize that by merging their recommendations with my own self-awareness, I can create profoundly impactful solutions that authentically align me with my optimal well-being. I hope this resonates. ♥️

LEMURIA YOGA✨
When My Body Said Enough:

My PMR Diagnosis, the Inflammation Nobody Talks About, and What It's Teaching Me About Healing at Midlife
I am a yoga teacher who can barely teach right now.😐

I want to sit with that sentence for a moment — because writing it required me to stop pretending everything is fine. The truth is, movement has been my medicine, my ministry, and my identity for years. And right now, my body is asking me to lay it down.🫨
In January 2025, I was officially diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica — PMR. But looking back, I believe my body was whispering this truth as early as 2022. I just didn't speak the language yet.

I'm sharing this story because I believe with everything in me that it is part of my service — to you, to this community, and to every woman in midlife (or after) whose body is trying to tell her something she hasn't heard yet.
What Is PMR — and Why Midlife Women need to know.
Polymyalgia Rheumatica is a systemic inflammatory condition that primarily affects women over 50. ( typically older) The name sounds complex, but the experience is simple and devastating: deep, aching pain and stiffness in the shoulders, neck, hips, and pelvic girdle. The kind that makes getting out of bed in the morning feel like climbing a mountain. The kind that makes you wonder if this is just what aging feels like.
It's not.
PMR is driven by inflammatory cytokines — specifically a molecule called Interleukin-6 (IL-6). When IL-6 is chronically elevated, it creates a systemic inflammatory fire that burns through your joints, muscles, and connective tissue. Your body is not failing you — it is fighting. 💪But it's fighting the wrong enemy, and it has been for a long time.

The COVID Vaccine Connection.
This is the part of my story I was hesitant to share — because it's nuanced, and nuance is hard in a world that wants simple answers. The research is showing that in rare cases, COVID-19 mRNA vaccines may trigger PMR in susceptible individuals. The mechanism is this: the vaccine activates immune receptors (TLR-7 and TLR-9) that, in some people, trigger an overproduction of IL-6 and other inflammatory cytokines.
I am not anti-vaccine. I want to be absolutely clear about that. But I am pro-truth, pro-nuance, and pro-asking questions, especially when those questions are about your own body!!👤
My symptoms began appearing in 2022. My diagnosis came in January 2025. Three years of wondering, dismissing, and pushing through. Three years of my body trying to tell me something I wasn't ready to hear.
🙉
The Triangle Nobody Told Me About. 🔺
Here is what conventional medicine gave me: a PMR diagnosis, a celiac diagnosis (18 years ago), and an adrenal insufficiency diagnosis.
Three separate folders. Three separate specialists. Three separate treatment plans. 3️⃣

Here is what no one connected for me: these are not three separate problems. They are one story.
The Gut Inflammation connection.
Celiac disease, even when managed with a gluten-free diet, can cause lasting intestinal permeability — what many call 'leaky gut.' 🌱When the gut lining is compromised, inflammatory particles cross into the bloodstream and continuously trigger the immune system. They elevate cytokines. They elevate IL-6. They feed the very fire that PMR is burning with.
My gut has been the source of my inflammation for 18 years.
PMR is, in part, the accumulated result. 🙁
The Adrenal Layer
Cortisol — your body's naturally occurring anti-inflammatory hormone — is produced by your adrenals. When you take prednisone long-term (which is standard PMR treatment), your adrenals essentially go offline. They stop producing their own cortisol because the prescription is doing the job for them.
I've been on steroids since January 2025. 💊
Every time my doctor tries to taper me below 2mg, I flare. My body isn't just fighting PMR inflammation — my adrenals can't yet pick up the cortisol slack. The conventional answer is medication. 🩺
The Menopause Factor
Here is something that changed everything for me when I learned it: estrogen is anti-inflammatory. As we move into menopause, we lose that protective buffer.
The immune system becomes more reactive. Inflammation becomes harder to regulate. PMR peaks in women over 50 — and that is not a coincidence.
Our midlife transition is not just hormonal. It is immunological. And the conventional medical system has not caught up to that truth yet.
What Conventional Medicine Offers — and What It Misses. 🤔
I want to be fair here. Prednisone works. Within days of starting it in January of 2025 the pain that had been ruling my life became manageable. For that, I am genuinely grateful. Sometimes the body needs a fire extinguisher 🧯not a conversation about the fire's root causes.
But steroids are not a healing strategy. They are a management strategy. And the longer I stay on them, the more my adrenals suffer, my gut lining deteriorates, and my bones 🩻lose density. The medicine has its own costs.

My rheumatologist had offered hydroxychloroquine (which did nothing) and now methotrexate — a chemotherapy-adjacent immunosuppressant. I understand why he's offering it. I am also choosing to explore other avenues first. That is my right, and it is yours too.😉

Being your own advocate does not mean being anti-medicine. It means asking: what is causing this, and can we address that directly?
The Holistic Path I'm Walking 🚶‍♀️
I share this not as a prescription, but as an invitation — into my kitchen, my medicine cabinet, my yoga mat, and my journal. I am not healed. I am healing. And I believe there is power in witnessing someone in the middle of the process, not just at the triumphant end.

Healing the Gut First.

The gut is ground zero. Everything I do nutritionally 🌱is oriented around sealing inflammation at its source:

• Bone broth
• L-glutamine — the primary fuel for intestinal cell repair
•High-quality rotating probiotics — Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains
• Digestive enzymes with every meal — celiac damage depletes our enzyme production
• High-dose Omega-3s — a powerful, researched suppressor of IL-6
• Curcumin with black pepper — interrupts the inflammatory pathways.
•AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) eating — removing nightshades, grains, dairy temporarily to reduce the inflammatory load

Rebuilding the Adrenals🙏
My adrenals have been on leave for over a year. Coaxing them back online requires patience, support, and a very slow taper:

• Vitamin C 1000mg 2-3x daily — adrenals are the highest concentration of Vitamin C in the body and deplete rapidly under stress.
•B5 — essential for cortisol synthesis.
•Magnesium glycinate — before bed calms the nervous system and supports adrenals.
•Ashwagandha — adaptogenic support for cortisol regulation.
• In bed by 10pm — adrenal repair happens between 10pm and 2am.
•Eating within 30-60 minutes of waking — stabilizes blood sugar and protects adrenal output.

Moving Differently
This is the grief 😭of my healing. I am a yoga teacher teaching twice a week — and even that triggers flares. My body's message is clear: you cannot pour from an empty vessel. Not even into something sacred.
My personal practice has shifted entirely to Restorative Yoga/ Gentle Yoga 🧘 and Reiki— and it has been revolutionary. Thirty minutes of Restorative Yoga is equivalent to two to three hours of sleep for adrenal restoration. It is the most anti-inflammatory thing I can do with my body right now.
Legs up the wall. 🦵Supported restorative shapes. Long, slow restorative holds on good days. EFT tapping daily — not occasionally. This is my practice now, and I am learning to call it enough.

The Sacred Layer: What this is really about. ❤️
I need to tell you something that the rheumatologist cannot.
Chronic illness does not happen in a vacuum. It happens in a life — a life that has been pushing, giving, serving, carrying, and perhaps not resting.
A life that has said 'I'm fine' when it wasn't. A life that has moved through grief, change, and transition without enough space to process any of it.

I have had to grieve😢 my capacity. I have had to grieve the version of myself who could flow through a vinyasa, hold a room, and pour energy into everyone around her. That version of me is resting right now. And in her rest, something wiser is emerging.
Resolving past trauma and past life trauma has been revolutionary. 🫶🏻
As a Manifesting Generator in Human Design, I know that my energy is designed to be responsive — not relentless. My Emotional Solar Plexus authority asks me to wait for clarity, to feel my way through, not to push through emotional or physical lows. PMR has been, in the most sacred and painful way, the enforcer of that design.

My body said enough so that I could finally learn the lesson: rest is not the enemy of service. Rest is the source of it.

An Invitation to You: 🙏
Is your body speaking to you right now? Is there a symptom, a fatigue, a pain that you have been explaining away? I want to hear your story. Share it in the comments below. You do not have to navigate this alone.💜

If you are experiencing symptoms that resonate with what I've shared, I invite you to book a holistic health coaching conversation with me. Not because I have all the answers — but because you deserve to be truly seen and heard.

✦ https://lemuria-wellness.com/ ✦

With love,
Dawn

When My Body Said Enough:
It’s been a hard post for me to share, but it’s time. Time to heal & time to share. 🥰
This is my own personal journey and by no means intended to be medical advice.

My PMR Diagnosis, the Inflammation Nobody Talks About, and What It’s Teaching Me About Healing at Midlife
I am a yoga teacher who, who has taught for over 20 years. I can barely teach, right now.😐

I want to sit with that sentence for a moment — because writing it required me to stop pretending everything is fine. The truth is, movement has been my medicine, my ministry, and my identity for years. And right now, my body is asking me to lay it down.🫨
In January 2025, I was officially diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica — PMR. But looking back, I believe my body was whispering this truth as early as 2022. I just didn’t speak the language yet.

I’m sharing this story because I believe with everything in me that it is part of my service — to you, to this community, and to every woman in midlife (or after) whose body is trying to tell her something she hasn’t heard yet.
What Is PMR — and Why Midlife Women Need to Know
Polymyalgia Rheumatica is a systemic inflammatory condition that primarily affects women over 50. ( typically older) The name sounds complex, but the experience is simple and devastating: deep, aching pain and stiffness in the shoulders, neck, hips, and pelvic girdle. The kind that makes getting out of bed in the morning feel like climbing a mountain. The kind that makes you wonder if this is just what aging feels like.
It’s not.
If your still following along the rest of my story is on threads.
://www.threads.com/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==