Downward Dog Without Symptoms

Hey everyone, some background: I’m in my late 30s and I’ve been struggling with digestive issues ever since my little brother died in 2020. Around 2022 I had an endoscopy that revealed gastritis and h pylori which I successfully eradicated with antibiotics. But I now have had LPR symptoms since over a year now and I never dealt with heartburn my whole life. In March this year, I had an endoscopy and there was less intense gastritis and a small red patch right at the junction of my esophagus and stomach which ended up being barretts.

I know that chronic stress is not a great thing to have with LPR symptoms but I wanted to share that I’ve been attending local yoga classes and I was shocked that I can do the downward dog pose without any stomach contents going up my esophagus after eating. Another thing I learned since March is that I have no LPR occurrences at all when I eat with a friend (however this has gotten less effective in recent days).

I get exhausted sometimes having LPR and barretts hovering over the back of my mind, but it’s clear that stress and anxiety has a lot to do with my issues. What I’m wondering though is, if my LES is able to prevent food from coming up my esophagus while in downward dog, then is it really a hardware issue with the muscle or a nerve issue? I’m often afraid to have meals and I use alginates extensively. But sometimes LPR gets through the raft which is frustrating. Have any of you noticed a difference with LPR when stress is in check or when you are in various odd bodily positions? Also how the frick do you guys live with this? Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome.