Before Chronic Fatigue I was a fit and healthy 23 year old. I had just completed a season of professional rugby in the UK and was looking to sign a contract in Australia. I loved training, being outdoors, having fun and socialising with mates. But that all changed when I got CFS.
Similarly to many other CFS sufferers I initially didn’t know what was going on with my health and the doctors I saw didn’t offer many solutions either. After 2-3 weeks back in Australia, struggling with training, I crashed after a game and could hardly get out of bed for the next week. That’s when I knew that I had more than just a flu and needed to sort out my health. I stopped everything in my life, rugby, work, social life etc and moved back into my family home.
Over the next couple of months I tried a number of different doctors and health practioners with varying success but nothing was fixing the underlying problems. I had been over prescribed with anti-biotics throughout my life and particularly during my time playing in the UK. I had also had glandular fever when I was 18 and picked up a parasite from food poisoning whilst travelling through Europe so physically my gut health and immune system were not in a good way. On top of this I had run my adrenal system into the ground by playing rugby nonstop for nearly 18months without an off season.
My own research together with a book called the Body Ecology Diet helped me realise that I needed to fix my gut health as this was the catalyst of my problems. So I cut sugar, gluten and dairy and continued to stay away from coffee and alcohol which I hadn’t had since I got back a couple of months earlier. I noticed improvements in my health straight away, I managed to get rid of the flu symptoms after a couple of weeks, no longer suffered brain fog and boosted my energy levels.
The diet helped me fix the physical problems that had caused CFS however I was still a long way of full recovery after about a year suffering from it. My mum was recommended the Lightning Process by a friend and bought me a copy of the book to read. Straight away the concepts made a lot of sense to me and really helped me understand what was holding me back from a full recovery. I finished the book and contacted Ian, keen to do the lightning process to help me get back to living the life I love again and out of the pattern of being tired and sick all the time.
The course was great, I learned so much and immediately set about making the changes I needed to get me back to full health. Ian is a great mentor and was amazing throughout the whole process. I started to notice improvements straight away and got very good at being resilient and being calm however a follow up phone call with Ian a couple of months later made me realise I was still holding back and scared of exerting myself and using too much energy. As soon as I made this switch in mindset I started to gain more and more energy each week.
Throughout the whole period my main motivation to get healthy again was so I could play rugby again at a high level with my younger brother. I knew if I could get back to playing rugby I would be fully recovered and could do anything! I started training with my club in November 2015, 18months after first suffering from CFS. I started with 15mins and built up by 5-10minutes each week whilst slowly upping the intensity. This period was not without setbacks however application of the lightning process and mindfulness training kept me on track and reset me every time I went off course.
By the end of February it was our first trial game and I was doing most of the training during the week. I played 20minutes in the first game. The next week I played 40minutes then 60minutes and by my 5th game back I was back to 80minutes of 1st grade rugby. It was really amazing how quickly my body adapted again when my beliefs and mindset were in the right place through the lightning process training.
By the end of the season I played 31 out of a possible 32 games. My club Norths won the comp for the first time in 41years including winning our last 13 games straight and I got selected for the Sydney Rays in the National Rugby Competition. It was by far the most successful and most enjoyable season I’ve ever played and by the end I was the fittest I’ve ever been. I am now studying a Masters, working full time, socialising all the time with mates and training again for the upcoming season and am healthier than I have ever been!
I have ticked off so many of the awesome goals I set myself when I was sick and nothing is holding me back from ticking off the whole list! I recently just drove from Darwin to Sydney with my brother in 4 days. 10+ hours drive per day with not a huge amount of sleep, an amazing experience. It’s things like this that you don’t know will be possible ever again when you have CFS but The Lightning Process Training has helped me be able to experience all the amazing aspects of life once again. The experience has made me a happier, healthier more positive person and taught me to appreciate all the little things in life that are so awesome.
I am so grateful to have met Ian and for his assistance getting me back to living an amazing life. He is a wonderful mentor and great person and I would recommend anyone suffering from CFS to do the course with him.
Angus Sinclair
