Could hot yoga aggravate neck injury?

i think back bends (along with any yoga pose) needs to be done in accoradance to your body and how it makes you feel. yoga is about internal connection so allowing yourself to feel a certain degree of pain as you go into a posture may ok, but when you start to feel a painful discomfort knowing when to stop is important. so indeed back bends with provide youth to your spine and keep it supple and energized, but going to deep into a backbend that provides pain and discomfort is certainly not providing the benefits yoga is meant to provide. so approach yoga practice and personalize it, you do not have to do exactly what the instructor tells you to do. yoga is about finding your inner confidence and doing postures that make u feel good and energized, so that when you leave class you feel healthy and strong/energized ….. not pain ridden and full of discomfort afterwards. so approach each posture with moderation and take care of your spine.

namaste.
blue

Thank you for your thoughts. So the saying: ‘backbends are the healer of the spine’ is not applicable here? I always thought this was a Truth…

Hi Gijsbert

I was going to get to your questions tomorrow or the next day! I will go through all the details I promise. You’re first on my list.

I am extremely pleased that you have realised something crucial to your practice about the involvement of neck and shoulders.

Thanks so much for posting. I am very happy my manual has helped you! Until soon 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Gijsbert

So now it’s time for me to chime in! I was pleased to see the evolution of understanding. You had the right inkling right from the beginning. Thanks to Blue and Lisa for leaving their thoughts.

Gijsbert, you said

I feel that with the straight arms against my ears, I am locking up and restraining my neck. Anyone recognizes this? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

You said straight away that you recognised that straight arms against your ears was a culprit. This is a MAJOR source of discussion all over this forum. Let me know if you would like to be directed to some posts about that (in case you cannot find them yourself).

In my experience this is one of THE major places where one’s practice can cause the MOST problems – especially if one follows scripted dialog. Telling everyone indiscriminately to straighten arms, squeeze arms to the head and other one-size-fits-all instructions can actually create pain and suffering.

But that pain is masked by the fact that soon after being in the pose that causes it, you get to rest … and boy, that feels good. So you just think it’s YOU and few people realise it has anything to do with the poor wording of the instruction.

Thankfully the fix is easier than one imagines! 😉

Blue mentioned:

The breathing exercise in the beginning of class could very well be the initial culprit.

Blue has the right idea about being vigilant to your issues. I am not sure however if Pranayama would be the culprit. I believe Pranayama can fix your neck IF you know how to use it as therapy. Most instruction (or rather the ability to understand the true mechanism, plus the ability to see where technique may need tweaking on the finer levels) does not allow that to happen. Again it’s a one-size-fits-all thing. Modifications are possible where the neck can be used and supported and with minimal movement.

I think movement is essential to free up and resolve whatever problem exists. When it comes to Pranayama, naturally if you have tightness then you won’t have the full range of motion. Some conditions preclude ever getting that full motion too. So more has to be known about your issue if Pranayama is involved in what you need to fix.

It does seem that your issue is much more about head, neck, shoulders and the arms over the head position. As Blue suggests, shoulders down in Pranayama is always essential. But mostly, diligent exploitation of the mechanisms of this pose will sort your neck out, contrary to popular opinion where avoidance is often the answer.

Blue you expressed yourself beautifully about working with the body! Thanks. Add to that, that one has to marry that diligence with good technique: Lifting up and back rather than just back from the lower spine; release of shoulders.

Gijsbert you said:

‘backbends are the healer of the spine’ is not applicable here? I always thought this was a Truth…

To a great extent I agree with that particularly because it counteracts the forward bending focus of our movements. It has to be accompanied by courage and intuition. Again, using Blue’s advice to work with the body is essential. You are clearly doing that now.

Thanks Lisa for recommending my video. It is essential viewing (so others tell me :coolsmile:) and is useful for understanding how the shoulders work in any yoga practice. Lisa is correct: Resolving shoulder tension is usually the answer. If you haven’t seen the video about putting your “elbows in the back pocket” then please do. It’s called A Transformational Technique For Your Practice, For Your Life. Scroll to the bottom of the page!

Thanks for sharing your body wisdom with me and the rest of the world :cheese:. Let me know if there are any other questions or developments!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Well, you can’t literally put your elbows in your back pocket in half moon pose. But you can still bring your shoulders back and down, while holding your hands and arms up. What I do is: bring my arms up next to, and now even a bit behind my ears while holding my hands together (pushing my shoulders a bit back), paying more attention to bringing the shoulders back than touching my ears with my arms. Then, before doing any movement to the side, I push my shoulder blades down as much as possible. If I don’t do this, my shoulders almost stick to my ears. When I bring my shoulder blades down, also my shoulders come down a little bit and I can see space between my ears and my shoulders. Initially this space was very small, but now it is much bigger than before. I hope I described it in a clear enough way. In case you own Gabrielle’s book, the master class, take a look at page 74 and you will see what I mean. The most important benefit from this technique to me was the relaxation of my neck muscles!