I know what it’s like to need a nap after a shower or cancel plans with friends for the tenth time. I also know that good doctors and medications are great for managing symptoms but not so great in helping us deal with the hidden, intangible, and emotional struggles of disease.

That’s why I wrote The Yoga Prescription: A Chronic Illness Survival Guide to provide a new perspective.

I put together my experiences as a patient and yoga teacher to show how I use a different approach to adjust, adapt, and thrive through chronic illness using the philosophies of yoga.

There are no fancy poses here, in fact you can put into practice every bit of this yoga book while in bed, and I don’t shy away from being honest and upfront about my experiences. I never used the word “sucks” while teaching yoga across Los Angeles, but it seems fitting these days and I don’t believe in playing to social norms.

So, here we are navigating our new normal. Is it easy? Heck no. But together I believe we can get through it.

Cory Martin is the author of a variety of books including the bestselling Yoga for Beginners and the award-winning Love Sick, which chronicles her life with multiple sclerosis. She is a chronic illness expert for Verywell Health and her writing has been featured on CNN, HuffPost, Everyday Health, Psychology Today, and more.

As a 500-hour certified yoga instructor she’s taught at studios across Los Angeles and at the famed Santa Monica pier to classes of hundreds. She has been featured on Yahoo Life and is the writer behind the documentary Titans of Yoga.