The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › Busting Some Big-A$$ Hot Yoga Myths
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in reply to: My back doesn't like twists… #9488
Hi David! I have only done floor bow a few times. Very carefully. And I don’t kick my legs. I more like push up really gently. The kicking motion in the poses that call for a kick out or up I modify to more of a push – or slow motion kick. In floor bow I don’t go very deep into the bend and I stop as soon as I feel pressure in the low back. Any kind of twisting is dicey. The seated twist where you cross one leg over the other and look to the back (near the end of the Bikram series) is also one I am careful with. For me, reaching one arm into the back seat of the car to get something has rendered me sore for a day. Crazy but true.
in reply to: Head to Knee #9450Hey all!
I did it! Ok, well, my forehead still wasn’t on my knee, but I got to the right general area with a rounded back and my legs the proper distance and weight balanced! I was able to get my fingertips to the floor and pushed up from there. It looked like my knee was maybe between my forehead and nose, so much closer than before…
I also will be scheduling time with my Yoga teacher-friend to go over my form in the poses and get some in-person feedback.
THANKS AGAIN!
Helen
in reply to: Head to Knee #9439Thank you, Andrea! That is exactly what I am experiencing. In keeping with the proper form (shorter stance, rounded back, weight distributed evenly, I am not sure I can even get my fingertips to the floor. I will keep at it. They’ll get there eventually! Thank you for taking the time to help me figure this out. I have not had a chance to get with my teacher friend but will soon.
Blessings and Namaste!
H.
in reply to: YogaBody supplement really works #9411Yes, good marketing for sure…I might have believed him if I didn’t know any better! Haha!
I am definitely going to have to look into this Yin style Yoga. You mentioned it in another thread as well. Sounds like it might be enjoyable! So much to learn! I recently obtained a book called ‘Yoga Anatomy’ to study more deeply about the postures and what they do.
Blessings!
Helen
in reply to: Head to Knee #9409I am still having a hard time in this pose. I have not had a chance to get with a teacher who can look at what I am doing so I get tempted to skip this one. But I keep trying. Hard part is getting my hands flat to the ground in order to push up. My knee is in the way of my chest! LOL! If I cheat over to one side I can get them there but of course, that defeats the form of the pose, I think…I try to stretch my back leg further to help get lower and then I topple over sideways. The most satisfying thing that I think I can do with this one is bang my nose on my knee in aggravation. 🙂
in reply to: YogaBody supplement really works #9408Intriguing stuff. What are folks’ thoughts about his assertion that Yoga doesn’t create flexibility it only demonstrates it? While I understand his point that your flexibility will increase the most when you can stay in a pose longer than you usually can in a class setting, I have to credit Yoga for an increase in my own flexibility even with the ‘average holding time’. Aren’t there plenty of Yogis out there who have become super-flexible due in largest part to their Yoga practice? What did people do to gain flexibility before his miracle stretches? 🙂 🙂 Ok, now I’m being cheeky. He seems like a nice dude. I will give the MSM/Vitamin C combo a try and definitely keep Stretching…I love to stretch!
H.
in reply to: Hot Yoga during menstruation #9407I will try the 60 minute class this month and see how it goes.
Your thoughts about the upper body holding my body away from the abdomen makes sense. I have very poor posture/slumpy shoulders that I have to constantly remind myself to correct. I am in the market for a large therapy ball to use for core strengthening. I also wonder, what are the very first muscle engagements that I can practice carefully on the sit up? I obviously am currently unable to come even close, but I wonder if it would help my core at all to try engaging those muscles a bit and beging building up to it? Even if I am still pretty well flat on my back while engaging them…Does that make sense at all? 🙂 🙂
in reply to: Danger from this pose #9384I like to combine pranayama with a couple of other breathing exercises as my warm up to go easier on my neck. So I do a set of five pranayamas and then do a few sets of two Qi Gong Silken Movements – one called ‘upholding heaven’ and one called ‘looking backward’ which has you turning your head first to the left then to the right as you inhale your arms out to the sides. Here’s a link with some photos:
http://balanceflow.com/QigongP1ex1to2.htm…
As corny as it sounds, I actually learned them from Dixie Carter’s ‘Unworkout II’ video. LOL! She does a lot of Hot Yoga Postures or variants thereof in that one.
in reply to: Head to Knee #9381Thank you again…I will try that. I am pretty aware of hip alignment, I think…I can tell when they aren’t square – I spend a lot of time adjusting that in the posture. Of course, I’m upside down so It’s hard to tell for sure. 🙂 Last time when I tried rounding into the pose it felt really awkward and I couldn’t get as far down as usual so I still ended up stretching forward a bit at the hips once I was in so that I could at least get to the point I usually can. Am I a mess or what? 🙂 This is one of those poses that I need to ask one of my Yoga teaching friends to look at with me in detail.
I’ll keep you posted!
Helen
in reply to: Balance and Thinking working against each other #9359Ohhhh OK! Got it! THANKS!!
Helen
in reply to: Head to Knee #9350Oh, wow…That is definitely something I am doing wrong. I will tuck my chin and round the back into the pose next time! I haven’t gone to very many classes – but have mostly used Bikram’s CD and your CDs/videos so far. And as you know, Bikram says the forehead HAS to be on the knee. The ‘Hot Yoga’ that I have attended is Moksha, not Bikram. I’m hesitant to attend a ‘true’ Bikram class because of the scripted format of official Bikram schools (with all due respect, of course). I’m OK to listen to Bikram on CD because I can modify without risking a stern correction…Haha!
Hand placement: I try to keep my hands in the steeple position in front of my front foot, like in the picture, when adjusting by pushing up from the floor, I try to place my palms flat to either side of my front foot – usually can’t get them flat, though.
You’re the bomb-diggity, Gabrielle! 🙂
Helen
in reply to: Balance and Thinking working against each other #9349I will make sure to keep my chest up in this pose in my next practice…I’m a little confused on sitting low and THEN sliding down. If I am already sitting as low as I can where am I sliding to? 🙂 🙂 Squashing the top leg onto the bottom one is different than I have been doing. Funny how such seemingly little adjustments/changes in the approach to a pose can make such a big difference!
H.
in reply to: Trouble engaging my biceps #9348Actually, Gabrielle, your reply to Michelle above:
“Instead try to just get the face parallel to the floor (stop when there is shoulder involvement) and don’t worry if a space seems to open up between the head and floor (instead of closing it up). It’s the geometry of back and head that’s more important than the proximity of the forehead to the floor.”
Is very helpful to me so I will just re-post the Forehead to knee question in the proper forum.
Thanks!
H.
in reply to: Trouble engaging my biceps #9347Sure! someone else (one of your graduates!) also moved this thread to another place and asked me to clarify a couple of things. It’s getting around…lol!
in reply to: Head to Knee #9311Ooops! My reply to Andrea posted twice…Wasn’t sure how to delete the extra…
in reply to: Head to Knee #9310Hi Andrea –
Thank you for responding…This forum has been so helpful…I just hope folks don’t get tired of all my inquiries. 🙂
My outcome when I currently do this pose = frustration. I think I know how good it will feel once I get it but right now I spend most of it adjusting and wondering what else I can do to get the form correct.
How I go into it: I place my feet, then inhale, arms up, make my ‘steeple’ exhale and bend forward at the hips, going as far down as I can. Then I adjust my back leg further back if needed and bend the front knee until I am not pulling the muscles in the back of that leg uncomfortably. Then I try to relax and breathe to see if I can get any further in straightening the front knee.
I suppose I am trying to achieve, if not my exactly forehead to my exactly knee, then at least straight knees and squared hips.
Does that all make sense? So hard to describe everything in words when I am not actually doing the pose…
Thanks!
Helen
Hello Helen,
I am one the graduates form Gabrielle’s teacher training, I hope you don’t mind if I reply to your post 🙂
Can I just ask you what your outcome is in this pose? How do you go into it and then what are you trying to achieve once you are in it? You are absolutely right when you say that squaring the hips has a higher priority then straightening the legs.
Please answer the questions above and I will do my best to come up with something that helps you 🙂
Namaste,
Andrea
in reply to: Hot Yoga during menstruation #9306Hi Gabrielle!
Thanks for responding. My guess would be that the problem is most prominent withing the first couple of days of the flow. I don’t get a chance to test that theory because once the flare up happens, it’s a good couple of days anyway before I can work out again. If it’s the lower back then I can barely walk without pain. If it’s the upper back, good luck to me in getting my arms moving without making it worse or without alot of pain. I have tried working out the opposite area (IE – if the upper back is the problem, I would ride the stationary bike) then I would end up with pain in that area as well. I can use ibuprofen but I don’t like to do that unless I just can’t take it anymore. I have learned to just lay off for a few days and save myself the struggle and pain. It’s frustratiung because I enjoy working out and I feel like I lose momentum. The pain can get so bad, though – especially when it’s the upper back – that simply engaging the muscles is painful. Floor poses are hard for me in general because of that and tends to get aggravated easily during my cycle. I will say that I successfully completed the ‘pick me up’ routine the other day during day 1 of my period and things seemed to go well. But I was very ginger.
Ideas?
in reply to: Balance and Thinking working against each other #9283Hi Gabrielle!
I do try to sit as low as I can – which isn’t very far before my knee starts to protest. Still getting stronger in that area. Putting weight into my heels helps. I can usually stay in the pose if I swing my leg over and rest my foot beside my shin. In order to get my toes behind I usually have to kind of ‘wiggle’ them over and try to hook my pinky toe around for some leverage. Or I have to turn my hip to get my foot around. In order to keep it there, though, I have to stay with my hip turned. If I try to then square my body then it’s over. 🙂 Even with the foot next to my shin, though, my body is still kind of off center, one shoulder is lower than the other and usually pulled a bit to one side. I try to fix my shoulders so they are even…The cue to pull my arms downward is helpful in general and has sometimes rescued me from loss of balance. I try to be the shortest person in the room, but going further down on the standing leg usually topples me.
THANKS!
H.
in reply to: Hot Yoga during menstruation #9278I generally have a hard time with exercise during my period. I find that this is when my aches and pains seem to flare up a lot…Poses and activities that normally do not trigger something like my sacrum being out of whack will leave me in pain once I start my cycle. I have begun to just not do my workouts during that week, which I don’t like, but is better than dealing with the pain. My doctor said that hormones released during menstruation cause joints to move around more easily and may be why I get these flair ups at this time. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be glad to try them…I will definitely try the magnesium and electrolytes. Any particular drink to get with electrolytes?
THANKS as always!
in reply to: Head to Knee #9277I looked at one of the discussions in the topic reserved for the Forehead to Knee pose. I think I am in the ‘focused on getting my exactly forehead to my exactly knee’ group. I can get my nose to my knee if I bend my front leg, but that’s all so far. Pushing up from floor helps a little, but I am not yet flexible enough to comfortably get my palms all the way to the floor without bending my knee further. And then at that point, I feel like my hips are not centered anymore – or are not square if that makes more sense. Should I keep working where I am and maybe I’ll get there one day? I have long legs, is this a factor?
in reply to: Trouble engaging my biceps #9268Thanks! No hurry…I’ll just keep working on them. 🙂
in reply to: Trouble engaging my biceps #9265I have a lot of problems with both Seperate Leg Intense Stretch and Forehead to knee. I don’t even know where to start. Just that neither one of them do anything for me except frustrate me. The pull in the back of my legs is very uncomfortable, even when I back off. I am unable to get my forehead to my knee and I know that we’re supposed to get it there even if we’re just starting (or are we?)…SLIS, well, it’s OK if I stretch my arms out forward (which I believe was a modification I learned on Bikram’s CD), but if I wrap my arms around my legs it’s not comfortable at all. It could be, like it is for wombatgirl (cute name, btw!), that I carry lots of tension in my shoulders and underneath my shoulder blades (in fact that’s another question I have for another post)…
Thoughts anyone?
in reply to: Balance and Thinking working against each other #9256Yay!! Glad to hear it!!
H.
in reply to: Trouble engaging my biceps #9243Thanks, Christina! I will try to get as much of my hand as possible under my heels next time and see if that helps…
H.
in reply to: Trouble engaging my biceps #9239This forum is great, so far things that I have on my list to ask about here are addressed in other posts…Good to know that I am not alone in my progress!
I also felt like I wasn’t engaging my biceps in this pose even though I tried. Now I won’t worry so much about that and just work on relaxing my shoulders. I tend to have hunchy shoulders. Many times during the day I have to check in and pull my shoulders away from my ears. ‘Elbows in back pockets’ helps.
Another problem I have in this pose is getting my fingers under my heels. The intensity of that on my thighs is very uncomfortable. It’s a burn, but it’s not that ‘good’ burn. Should I just stay with my fingers straight against the back of my heels and try to sneak them under as it feels ok to do?
Thanks!
H.
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