The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › Injuries, Restrictions, Ailments, Pose Modifications › Neck, Shoulders, Arms, Upper Back › Thoracic Scoliosis!
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Hi! I’m a 16 year old girl and and around a year and a half ago I got diagnosed with Scoliosis on my right side with around a 25-28 degree curve.
I was very upset about it and it caused me so much pain, there were days were it hurt for me to sit normally at school.
My friend recommended Hot Yoga to me and ever since I’ve been practicing for 4 months now, my scoliosis used to be up at my shoulder, it has moved into the middle of my spine.What I’ve noticed is that when I am in Savasana, my back isn’t completely straight on the floor, is there anything I can do to change that?
Also, I have a couple of questions concerning certain moves and whether I should do them or not.
For Arda Chandrasana, would it be okay for me to stretch both my left and right sides of my spine? Usually I stretch out my right side more because that is the side my scoliosis is located at and I’m scared that if I stretch out the other side it will make it worse.
Also when I do the Rabbit Pose, I’m not sure whether I am doing it right because when I’m in the pose, I feel a lot of pain on my upper back and shoulders and the pose really exaggerates the hump on the right side of my shoulder because of my scoliosis. When I come out of the posture I have to come out of it really slowly because my back is in so much pain that I can’t even lie down in Savasana properly. =/
I’m sorry that I have so many questions, but I just have one more concerning Spine Twisting Pose,
should I twist both sides because my scoliosis causes my upper body already to twist to the left, so usually I only do the spine twisting pose to the right side.I would love it if anybody could shared tips on which postures they thought help a lot with scolisis and if there is anything more I can do to improve it.
I really believe that Bikram Yoga can help with Scoliosis and it is a dream of mine to wake up with a much straighter healthier spine!
🙂
Hello DaisyDream
You have come to the right place!!! I can tell you from personal experience that this yoga can transform your body. Depending on the frequency of practice you could largely reverse or fix your problem.
I am very excited for you that you have noticed such wonderful improvement in such a short time.
May I suggest you pop the term ‘scoliosis’ in the search box up the top because there is quite of lot of discussion elsewhere in the forum. Here is one discussion worth looking at: Scoliosis – difference between right and left increasing and this one: Scoliosis in neck and upper back.
In short I really recommend that in half moon you simply work on your best ever alignment every single time. Carry that through the entire class because depth is not as important as your form is especially when it comes to trying to even out your spinal curves! You will definitely find that one side is FAR easier than the other. I still find that my bend to the left side is more difficult. It does get easier if I get to practice many classes over a short time.
I am concerned about what you say about your Rabbit pose. It sounds as though you have a technique problem that needs to be dealt with. Would you please mind taking a look at the information for Rabbit? I guess we really need to assess what your neck/chin is doing, maybe your arms, or your legs or your feet. Any of these could be culprits (or more). Let me know if you hear any bells that ring when you read those posts. Rabbit should be a release for you. You may feel the ‘lump’ or twist in your back but you should feel those spasming muscles actually want to release and open up for you in this pose (and it feels wonderful). Your pain is indicative of the need for attention here. Let me know what you come up with.
I would actually do both sides of spinal twist. You do want to create movement in your vertebrae so that they more willingly shift when your body is ready!
Make an effort to lie on the floor in alignment. I know that it helped me to lift my head (from time to time and NOT all the time but enough to get my body and mind to ‘get’ what straight means) and see that where my heels touched together was at my midline. When you are on your stomach you can bend your legs and check your alignment (once again every once in a while). This will go part way to assisting your body to realign itself in the process.
I am sure you are on the way to realizing your dream of a straighter spine. Looking forward to hearing from you soon
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I too suffer from a mild case of scoliosis and have dealt with some noticeable body asymmetries as well in my yoga practice. This is why I find Gabrielle’s advice so enlightening as it often speaks to the issue of proper alignment.
And reading this post kind of sparked a light bulb in my head regarding one of the biggest “imbalances” in my own personal hot yoga practice. Gabrielle, when you advise to “Make an effort to lie on the floor in alignment” in Savasana in order to help the body to realign itself, this sort of goes against one of the main points of Savasana which is to completely let go, relax, and release all tension from the body right?
In my personal practice, I have to balance these two opposing approaches. The first approach is to really focus on letting go and concentrating on my breathing, and these are usually the sessions that result in the greatest quieting of my “mind’s chatter” – a true moving meditation. The second approach deals with making a conscious effort to get my body into its “proper” alignment, often to the detriment of a true mental release and meditation.
Having an underlying condition like scoliosis that results in an incorrectly aligned body means (for me, at least) that what feels natural and relaxed is often a state of poor alignment and/or posture. Having to consciously correct this imbalance takes away from the meditative benefits I have come to know and love.
Gabrielle, I would love to hear your thoughts/advice on this, as I often vacillate from session to session between these two approaches.
Thanks.
Hi Andrew
You make some valid points. How do you put your mind on alignment at the same time as letting go?
With a mild scoliosis condition I do believe you can pay a moment’s attention to your alignment and then surrender to the floor. What you can be doing is following your breath and noticing what you notice in your body in regard to your alignment.
Maybe I can tell you what I do:
>> I fix my alignment by momentarily checking my legs AS I LIE DOWN and this is usually all it takes.
>> As I sit here answering your question, I realize I rarely have to second guess the position (check it) because I place my feet in position, my bottom slides back to the right spot. As I maneuver myself I automatically make any necessary adjustments and then I roll my torso down to the floor.
>> As I am now attuned as to how correct position feels, I can test it every once in a while (maybe once every … maybe, 30 – 50 Savasanas) by lifting my head up for an instant (or more correctly I check it before I put my head down).
>> Once I am in alignment I surrender to my Savasana. My job is then to breathe and take inventory.For me, when I surrender to the habitual pattern in my body which can be comfortable (of course) then I am more likely to notice that I am not in alignment. The mindfulness starts as you moving into your position. Your Savasana is not lie back and ignore your body! 😉
Actually I just recently wrote about this here: Feet Together for Savasana?. Please take a look at the post I made in particular the longer of the 2 of my posts which is in response to a yogi who says he is not even aware what his feet are doing!
You want to teach your body how it should feel to be in alignment. Over time it feels normal (especially with a mild condition) and your body starts to use your muscles in balance.
Your meditation is actually enhanced if you can focus on your breath, and all the while scan your body and be totally dispassionate (not react) to what you feel. This will have far reaching benefits. Notice the tensions, notice the softness, notice how your heels touch the floor, notice how one hip is higher than the other, notice how certain parts of your spine contact preferentially on the floor and notice your breath. Don’t try to correct yourself any further, trust your alignment is fine, don’t judge anything, just notice.
On a different note, if you have just done some lovely work in your poses which are helping you realign your body, then perhaps lying in Savasana in poor alignment could be partially undoing your work. Would love to know what you think!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I am in tune with all that you are saying here. I think I tend to encounter some problems when I begin to approach the yoga as “black or white” – aka focusing on either letting go completely or focusing most of my energies on maintaining correct alignment – without acknowledging the middle ground that can combine the two approaches as you have articulated…
That’s going to be a major psychological goal for me going forward. The thing is, I rarely attend studio classes anymore because I have found that most of the teachers I get do not understand the nature of my underlying condition (b/c they haven’t had to deal with it themselves) and hence have difficulty appreciating that I am not comfortable completely surrendering to their instructions in all of the poses. But it’s starting to get colder up here where I live and maintaining proper temperature/humidity in my makeshift home studio is starting to get more and more difficult…
I am actually thinking about planning a trip down to Australia for a while and would love to get some face-to-face instruction that I can actually trust. Are you currently teaching at your studio? If so, please let me know b/c I’d love to stop by your area for a while.
Thanks,
AndrewHi Andrew
Thank you for your vote of confidence. I remember having a difference of opinion from time to time about how to deal with certain aspects of my ‘condition’ and having to be a little invisible when I made my modifications. I look forward to delving deeper to see what you need! We’ll talk soon.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hello, I was just diagnosed with scoliosis today 🙁
Thanks everyone here and in the other threads for helpful advice re: practicing yoga with scoliosis.
I have been practicing hot yoga 4-7 days per week for the past 3 years- is it possible that hot yoga has caused or encouraged my scoliosis? I have great teachers who focus on alignment and recently completed teacher training so I understand the principles, is it possible?
Hi Alyssa
Your condition could be encouraged if your body follows the path of least resistance with respect to your thoracic spine.
So now that you are aware that you have this ‘condition’, your next step is to go to class and see how your body feels, notice if you feel the same between sides of poses, whether you notice one side is easier than the other, which poses that might be affecting and then of course come back and tell us! Just notice.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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