Seeing life from the positive rather than the negative is not an easy perspective to discover. Rachael Voss is someone who has managed to do this and although diagnosed with MS, would prefer to celebrate the things she can do, rather than focusing on what she can’t.

We are really excited and proud to be welcoming Rachael to our Azulfit retreat this week, where she will be aiming to complete her incredible mission of physical / adventure challenges, raising awareness and money for MS.
One of those challenges will be the completion of 108 Sun Salutations on Thursday. Rachael writes about her journey below, but for those wishing to join us for our live event, our yoga teacher, Valentina has filmed an easy to follow clip to help us all join the challenge and to support Rachael and celebrate her amazing and inspirational journey.

Join us Thursday where we will Facebook livestream the event starting at 7:30am GMT. 

“Having been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis just over a year ago I decided that I needed to celebrate being in such good health, both physically and mentally. Whilst diagnosis took a while to take on board, I have put a lot of effort into managing my diet and trying to keep active. So far with my medication, supplements, regular exercise and meditation, I feel I have my condition under control. Yoga has been a very important part of this and I wanted to include this in the challenges I signed up for in aid of MS Society. My first challenge was an Open Water night swim of 1.5 km in a reservoir.

The following week I jumped from a plane at 13,500 feet. A tandem skydive was something I had never really thought about before I was diagnosed if I am honest. The idea that as my disease progresses, I may not be able to do activities that have physical limitations, has just given me the urge to do anything that makes me feel alive – because I can!

My final challenge (although I fully plan to continue in this manner and seek out experiences to push me further) was to do 108 continuous Sun Salutations.

A massive task for me. Whilst I am used to regular yoga and fairly strong, MS often stops me in my tracks. Fatigue will be a factor obviously, as will nerve spasms in my legs and some numbness in my hands. After vigorous cardio I sometimes have some vision problems, but pacing myself should hopefully keep all this at bay.

I am so grateful to Azulfit for giving me this opportunity. I have always loved my stays on retreats in Fuerteventura and the classes, meditation and general down-time work perfectly towards managing my condition. Last year the chefs catered for my diet needs amazingly. It was such a treat to have all kinds of meals prepared that I could actually eat, without having to avoid hardly anything set down before us each mealtime.

The week on retreat is going to be an absolutely perfect end to my fundraising month for MS Society and a brilliant opportunity to raise awareness of Multiple Sclerosis.

• Rachael Voss

Join us as we live stream our 108 Sun Salutations challenge fundraiser from Fuerteventura on Thursday morning in support of MS.