Bulging Discs

Hi poison4evr!

Just a quick note – Gabrielle is currently in the middle of running Teacher Training in Costa Rica and although she has seen this post, she might not get to it in time for your class.

Of course, make your situation known to your instructor and don’t do anything that feels wrong for your neck.

Be aware it’s not just the floor series that will work your neck – the very first breathing exercise, “Pranayama Breathing” requires your head to slowly drop backwards on an exhale. There are modifications for this, which hopefully your instructor will know. If not, stay tuned …

Take it easy, I’m sure you know your body [neck!] well enough not to push it – and you should be fine.

Rabbit is another “kettle of fish” – and even regulars can get this wrong (seriously, we’ve seen it for ourselves with students with more than a few years practice). If it were me I’d probably skip Rabbit, or at the very least, not bring my head to the floor.

Hopefully Gabrielle will be able to point you in the right direction shortly …

Hope that helps and enjoy your first class, even with these issues, it’s well worth it in our opinion!

Hi again – I’m sorry to hear that, that’s not a good outcome!

Unfortunately finding these modifications online isn’t possible in our experience (we’re about the only destination where you can find this sort of information – or at least ask questions specific to hot & Bikram yoga technical issues). In some studios (sadly) modifications are frowned upon …

It’s one reason why Gabrielle wrote & published the Hot Yoga MasterClass in the first place, in order to provide some more technical information about how to stay safe (including for those with different body shapes; restrictions; injuries etc).

I’ve already asked Gabrielle to take a look at this as soon as she is able … hopefully we can at least provide help for you here 😉

Namaste

Robert