red throat and chest

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

Author

Posts
RobAlting
Participant

January 16, 2015 at 9:43 pm

Post count: 2

#2678

Hello Hot Yoga Doctor,

I’m pretty new to Bikram Yoga (50ish classes since June ’14). Every time in the Standing Deep Breathing and Half Moon my throat and chest become bright red. No discomfort at all though. I’ve gone into the room early to do deeper breathing prior to class but that doesn’t seem to make a difference. What do you think this is?

Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)
Forum Owner

January 17, 2015 at 12:10 am

Post count: 3048

#11189

Hi Rob

Can you please tell me if the redness continues anywhere else in the class or occurs in any other time in your life?

How long does the redness take to die down?

What sort of noise are you making when you breathe in Pranayama?

Where are your knuckles/hands in relation to your jaw/throat?

Any neck or shoulder pain in class?

What’s your breathing like? I know I can’t get a sense of your technique yet, but when you breathe in deeply do you get a sense of where your breath is able to reach? Sometimes we get the feeling that breath is mostly moving into and out of the upper chest and the lungs don’t expand much. Other times you can feel the chest expand. Sometimes the chest expands to a point but the bottom of the ribs where the diaphragm is you can feel some resistance. The stomach may distend or not. The breath may feel it doesn’t go past a certain point in your body. I am just giving you some words to perhaps prompt some written descriptions that could help me move in the right direction.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

RobAlting
Participant

January 17, 2015 at 1:20 am

Post count: 2

#11190

Redness never occurs anywhere else in class or in my life. It does however happen every BY class during those two poses. It usually takes 20-30 seconds (after half moon) to die down. The noise I’m making seems similar to the noise others make, I think..

With deep breathing, both ways (in & out) I normally only make it to 4 or 5 seconds. And it’s very difficult to ‘hold’ my breath during while stretching in half moon. No neck or shoulder pain. In deep breathing, my hands are close to my jaw, with probably my pinkies ‘out’ as in, past my chin. I’m having diffulties relaxing my shoulder during this posture.

I’d say my breath reaches to a little (2-3 inches?) under my ribcage. It does feel that it cant past a certain (low) part of my body.

Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)
Forum Owner

February 10, 2015 at 12:55 am

Post count: 3048

#11204

Hi Rob

Thanks for being patient! 😉 So, there is a point in that dialog where they tell you to inhale and then “hold it” while you are there with arms over your head. The best thing you can do is to not hold your breath in this circumstance. Inhale (and perhaps in this case) you need to take a slower inhale breath so that by the time you’re hearing the words “hold it” you are finishing your inhale and ready to commence your exhale, just as you start to stretch your body over to the side. Please let me know the results of that.

The thing I have to ask you is this: When you are breathing in Pranayama, are you making that singing noise in your throat, or some kind of vocal sound? Is it just the sound of rushing air or has it got a note?

Finally, (for today anyhoo!) would you also try this for me? When you are breathing in Pranayama, and particularly for the inhales, keep those shoulders down and back in a relaxed position. Only bring those arms up as far as you can with those shoulders down. The temptation is to get the arms as close to the head as possible. If the shoulders raise up one little bit you are actually causing real physical AND physiological impediments to breathing. You simply will NOT be able to breathe as deeply. The why and how takes some explanation but for best ease i believe just knowing what to look for, the practical approach with a physical thing to look for is a better approach. Feel for tension, avoid it if it happens. Your arms may very well be at a V instead of in an H, (hope that was a reasonable visualisation) but more importantly, your neck will feel long. Your breath will feel more free.

If you own my book, or for anyone reading here does, then just this specific issue for these poses is dealt with on pages 43, 64 (Pranayama) and 74 (Half Moon). All this pages have comparative photos of poor and corrected technique. This is a common recurrent problem with many poses so it’s a translatable skill that will yield great results elsewhere.

Dial into your sensations in your neck and shoulders. If your shoulders rise that’s not good. If your chin drops that is equally just as bad.

Looking forward to hearing of your progress. Please get back to me with the sound you’re making in Pranayama.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂
Author

Posts