Robert Scanlon (Webmaster)

Hi Robert, Robert here (!) – a long time ago, I used to fast once per week, which was also the day I did yoga (not hot yoga).

Since Hot Yoga, I’ve not found the desire to fast – the yoga itself seems to have that cleansing effect anyway.

I’m also not sure that ups and downs are a great way to train the body – but with body-toning & shape change it really does come down to “whatever works for you that is safely sustainable” (or at least in the land of natural methods).

The design of Gabrielle’s program is very thorough and takes into account all sorts of contexts – and aims to work with “the low hanging fruit” – for each person the breakthrough is different – for some it will be “fat burning enzymes”, for others correct interval training and for others still it could be that a shift in eating patterns (and an intake of raw food & juice) will create almost instant gains.

What is key to any “program” is that it quickly stops being a “program” and becomes your lifestyle!

@donkeythomas – being “allowed” coffee with sugar in it misses the point. You may well be expending more calories than you take in if you practice hot yoga 5 times per week, but calories aren’t the measurement of success here, your shape and eating patterns are. Coffee with sugar is only going to help you sustain your current habits (and your body systems’ peaks & troughs).

🙂

Hi bafferine – I’ll ask Gabrielle to escalate her reply to this one – in the meantime please use the “search” function at the top right (for ‘hamstring’) and you’ll see a ton of helpful posts.

In short, if you have a hamstring injury and there is inflammation or scar tissue, then simply pursuing more Bikram, no matter how modified, may not help fix it.

Gabrielle had a similar issue (with a REALLY funny cause!) and she did some physio exercises OUTSIDE of her yoga that made a huge difference … I’ll ask her to post before you inadvertently worsen your issue!

Namaste,

Robert

Hi Jennifer

I am away and will get on to this next week!!!! Thanks for your patience!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

clicking on here’s another metallic taste subject link does not work; just brings up an empty reply email???

Sorry about that ooohlaa – and thanks for bringing it to our attention!

I fixed the link so it works correctly now … 😉

I know Gabrielle has to take hers off (and I don’t mind, but of course, this is a highly personal thing that deserves empathic communication!).

I actually can’t wear mine – not because of slipping – but because the sweat underneath it and the shower after leaves it damp and eventually the skin just won’t dry out (I sweat profusely too).

So I’d definitely discuss it – it makes sense to remove it for many reasons.

Re: Your grip – that would be worth investigating, as once your hand/fingers are strong, they should pretty much hang on with less perceived effort. For standing head to knee for example, trying to interlock the thumbs as well can result in problems all the way up to the shoulders and neck, even the back.

So if you can post back about your grip and how you are going about that, as well as in poses such as head to knee, what focus you have on relaxing the shoulders away from the neck (this can have a big effect on how you grip) then we can take the conversation further that way too 😉

Robert

“Swimming and winter are a big old yuck too.”

LOL! … agreed.

It’s great to be concentrating on engaging quads vs just “locking” (a bit like just leaning on a straight leg) – you could also request a decent physio check that this is happening correctly as there are some minor muscles that need to come into play to ensure correct location of the kneecap under full engagement

As I understand it, it is possible to pull the kneecap OUT of alignment if the surrounding muscles are incorrectly engaged and the quads fiercely contracted. I believe that applies to me due to the ankle pronation and hence my leg/knee alignment, and so I’m quite careful to not only give the quads a good ‘ole squeeze, but also take care I’m doing everything symmetrically.

I’m the same as you – if I run (actually even a few paces) my knees get sore. Any more than that and the ankles will too.

Ice-skating; roller-blading; yoga; swimming; long walks up & down hills – all no problem at all.

Keep us updated!

I have “sloppy ankles” according to my physio and therefore shouldn’t even do some things such as running. But all of the yoga poses I showed him, he was quite OK with as they strengthened the whole joint’s mechanism. He was certainly wary of stretching already “loose” ligaments, but as long as the poses are practised correctly, with a focus on alignment & strength, he was happy!

I have very pronated feet, so I really have to focus on Gabrielle’s “Great Posture From The Ground Up”, including how I treat my feet & ankles in class.

Not really an “answer” as such, but just to reiterate, I think building strength in the right places is a key to addressing your issue!

Good luck

Robert

Great discussion!

I’m also of the opinion that re-directing so-called “bad” thoughts (“bad” is an interpretation – they’re just thoughts) is better than trying to “stop/suppress/banish”.

There is a great NLP anchoring technique which is a one-step chained anchor (and it has a name but I can’t remember it haha!) where the trigger for the anchored “resourceful state” (in this case, “good thoughts”) IS the “bad thought”.

The reasoning being, that every time the “bad thought” presents, it is automatically connected to resourceful states (so no “thinking” is required to change “thinking” if you see what I mean).

I have personally found this to be extremely helpful (for more than yoga)

freiamaya: every time you write something I’m struck by your eloquence! Thanks for making such well-considered contributions.

Robert

PS. Just remembered the name of the technique (google it): NLP New Orleans Flexibility Drill

Bah Humbug! When are these teachers and studios going to cease such bizarre draconian behavior (that they seem to have picked up as a “good thing to do” somewhere in their training).

No-one has any right to tell you that you cannot leave to visit the bathroom. This is a part of the “dictatorial cult” that’s been around for donkey’s years and I refuse to put up with it or beat about the bush when it comes to discussing it.

There is simply no place for it. Victorian values and childish put-downs can easily be stamped out in today’s society by being assertive (and since Gabrielle has eloquently suggested how I’ll leave it at that).

Now please excuse me, I need to visit the boy’s room …

🙂

Hi Mel – if it’s any consolation, it took me ages to get my arms further in enough that my forearms were not constantly “bruised and sore” from my hips digging in!

I remember it well in the first few weeks of practice, and then suddenly everything came together … that was 10 years ago and despite some rather long absences, it has never happened again.

One thing that I am pretty sure helped me was putting a lot more thought into really pushing into the floor with my hands (even in the single leg lift) – I guess it also has a side effect of relieving a bit of the pressure of the forearm on the hip, even htough your aim is to have them touching.

Then before long, you’ll have the forearms inside the hip bones and nice strong arms & shoulders … and it will all be in the past!

Keep us posted …

Yes Amy is right – the heat gradient varies enormously so unless it’s a professional calibration, I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on the actual number – unless you believe it feels excessively high (which 116-116 certainly is IF the humidity is high).

The main thing to be tracking in a studio is “the heat index” which is essentially a combination of real temperature and humidity.

Check out Gabrielle’s long post and info about it here:

https://www.hotyogadoctor.com/index.php/site/forum/viewthread/37/

That should help!

Basically if you are in a well ventilated room and your humidity is under 30%, 115F can even feel cool!

By contrast, 98F when the humidity is over 85% will definitely feel hot.

So there are quite a few variables!

Hope that helps.

Of course if you feel the studio is over-heated – especially if you see a LOT of red faces during class; people taking a lot of breaks – I’d be raising that with the studio owner as it is simply unnecessary – and taken too far, can be dangerous.

Namaste

Robert

Hi msleen – we’ll in all likelihood be using a live-class as the sound bed for this upcoming release – from general feedback in the past, other students have enjoyed the sense of being present and working alongside others.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve practiced to Gabrielle’s recorded class and while you certainly can begin to predict what is coming next (which wouldn’t change with just instruction anyway), I personally like the sound of a live class over that of dry instruction.

Gabrielle is very positive and encouraging – there are some teachers I have experienced who I could not stand to repeat a recorded class to – too bossy/dominant and with too many negative commands (“Don’t do that, don’t do this”), so bear that in mind too!

I think the delight in any recorded class is challenging yourself to remain present – even if you know there is a “comment” about someone coming up etc.

Just thought you’d like my 2c worth!

I can tell you we ARE working on getting some varieties of recordings available so you can have different “versions” of Gabrielle’s 90-min classes to help with variation.

Also note that the new Home Practice Guide will contain several recommended sequences if you want a class other than a standard 90-min class, though at this stage there will be no audio versions of these (that’s available on DVDs Vol 1 & 2).

Robert