connie36

I’m interested to hear what Gabrielle has to say on this.

Personally, I’d see what you can do to put your focus on building that core strength in class as well as trying some Pilates or other exercises as well. Like you, I find Bikram classes to be very good for my mental state, not just good for my physical body. So even if it meant modifying things a lot or sitting out a number of poses, I would see if I could come up with a way to do that and keep going. The key however is deciding that you are happy to work on those other things and let the exercises that bother your hamstrings go. If you can’t, and are just making yourself miserable wishing to do things you can’t, then don’t torture yourself.

That said, I’ve heard some warnings on the dangers of “too much flexibility” as well. With my last knee surgery, they were modifying the physical therapy protocols to basically leave some stiffness in your knees permanently, in an effort to protect the joint. Meaning, whereas previously we worked to get my ~5 degrees of hyperextension back in my post-op knee to match the other one, there was someone saying well, maybe it’s better if you just get to 0 degrees, they don’t match and it’s not your natural range of motion but you might be safer with less flexibility. Same with regaining full flexion in my knees or doing full squats – the attitude became, well, what do you really need that for anyway? You don’t really NEED to squat down past 90 degrees. Just leave it stiff – your joints won’t be as loose.

But in the years following that, I seemed to develop more and more stiffness and pain, and it was moving from my knees to hips to back. My personal theory was that these things are all interconnected. When my knees are stiff, I compensate by tightening up my hips and back – almost like I’m flinching and it travels through my body. Once they get used to doing that – everything starts feeling locked up and stiff. Ugh. That can’t be the answer.

I DO understand that you must have strength with flexibility, not just flexibility. I think we need to develop/maintain flexibility while developing and maintaining strength to keep our bodies working properly.

And, often, people are really either not working or aren’t prepared to suffer any discomfort whatsoever. My SIL is like that LOL. I’ve seen her yell at physiotherapists, doctors, nurses, fitness instructors, you name it. She can’t bear to be out of her comfort zone for even a second and is quite “forward” in demanding that things cater to her. LOL!

Haha – I can totally relate to this. My mother had to go to some physical therapy for her shoulder. Now, I’ve been to PLENTY of physical therapy and been brought to tears on numerous occasions from it, so I know it’s not easy. But she insisted that she not only couldn’t do physical therapy, but she thinks she has some genetic oddity that prevents her from being able to lift weights or do any serious exercise at all. “You don’t understand, when I lift weights, my muscles get sore the next day!” [em]No, really? [/em] My sister also follows along with this, insisting that she has asthma. “Since when? Have you seen a doctor?”, I asked? “Well no, (after years of no physical activity) I tried to go for a run. And my lungs BURNED. Obviously I have asthma and should not ever run again.” Sigh. No amount of discussion (or tales of friends of mine who have asthma but manage to run marathons) will convince them that this discomfort they are describing is something that everyone goes through, especially if they are starting a new workout program when they are out of shape.

I can only imagine the two of them in hot yoga. The teacher would be the one complaining of being yelled at.

When you see your ortho, I’d ask about it, but I’d also ask for a referral for physical therapy. Even if you only go once, it’s an opportunity to talk to a specialist who could help you figure out what yoga poses are safe to keep doing and which to avoid. Your ortho, on the other hand is only going to have a few minutes to discuss it with you and is more likely to give you a quick yes or no, or “stop if it hurts at all” type of thing, which isn’t nearly as helpful. With a PT appointment, you’d have an hour or so to really discuss details, demonstrate poses/modifications, etc.

I would love it if I could actually take classes from you or one of your trained instructors because all the extra training sounds wonderfu, but that’s not an option where I live. Luckily, I’ve been quite happy with my studio!

I will say that I’m lucky to have some really good instructors who DO give personalized assistance in class on a regular basis, help before and afterwards with questions, etc. And it’s a rare class that doesn’t include laughter. So please don’t misunderstand when I say it’s sort of drill-sergeant-ish. Because some of the things that make it feel that way to me (as someone who spent years in the military) are just that we are following a precise routine every day (it’s not open to discussion or creative license to try new poses or new sequences – though my instructors don’t seem to have an issue with minor modifications), the dialogue is (necessarily) fast paced to fit it all in, and you are likely going to hear about it if you violate the etiquette of class (talking, disrupting class, showing up late, etc.) Some other types of yoga classes are practically a social event or a day at the spa by comparison. Even the bright lighting vs. a dimly lit room with spa music playing is different. But this is generally (IMHO) a good thing. It’s a moving meditation and while I would certainly like to be at the point where I can focus completely with people next to me chit chatting, the reality is that I can’t (yet). And most people probably can’t.

I will say, in my first few classes where I heard sharp comments (No Talking!), it sounded shocking. My understanding of yoga was all rainbows and teddy bears, you know? Shouldn’t she be saying “okay class, lets try to keep the talking down and chat after class, please??” (And then repeating ad nauseum because no one takes her seriously?) But now it’s actually a comforting thing to me – it makes me feel like my instructor is there to protect the environment from unnecessary distractions and takes that responsibility seriously. I appreciate it.

With regards to “shouting” – I do have some instructors who get loud now and then. This morning my instructor was loudly telling us to push harder, deeper, etc. (and getting louder and louder) – but the tone of her voice was pure joy and totally made me smile. That IS a warm and fuzzy to me.

I can certainly see how it would trigger that sort of response, because one of the things I like about this type of yoga is that to me, it feels like excellent practice at dealing with the urge to panic, give up and run out of the heat, chug water through class, wipe away sweat, move into a position where I can breathe fully, etc. You are putting yourself in a situation where you are having to fight your instincts to continue your practice, and for me, that’s one of the things I want to keep improving on – my mental discipline. I know that in class, the more I relax, the more I focus on my breath and counter those urges to do everything else I shouldn’t be doing, the more it will become my habit to face stressors with calm instead of panic.

But I’m not suffering from your condition, and I don’t really know what you’re going through personally so this is a very tough thing to offer advice on. And I’m not a doctor and don’t know if perhaps your medication is affected by your practice. I’m only hoping that perhaps in knowing that it’s not unusual to feel anxious, maybe that will help a bit.

Best wishes!

I’m sure there are exceptions, but most anorexics that I’ve read about are not only severely restricting calories but are doing it in combination with obsessive amounts of cardiovascular exercise. Though quite obviously, people can starve to death – but our bodies are pretty good at adapting to avoid doing so. But the point is that without exercise, just restricting calories is making it extremely difficult to lose weight.

But I agree that the metabolism shouldn’t be permanently damaged from VLCD – it just takes a careful process to bring it back to life.

One of my co-workers and her husband tried that – it didn’t exactly work very well. Not many people have the self discipline to stay on a 500 calorie diet. Heh, and if they did, they probably wouldn’t need such drastic measures for weight loss anyway, right?

And I can’t even fathom the idea of having the energy for hot yoga (or any other exercise) on such a crazy restricted calorie diet. Ugh. Not for me, thanks.

So can you get your legs totally straight when sitting? Or is it just when standing?

Have you had any knee problems? I’ve been through a number of knee surgeries and getting your range of motion back with leg extension is a major component of rehab. But I wasn’t sure if this was a problem in general or only in standing poses.

Our students take 4 Hot and 2 Yin and 3-4 flow.. a kind of percription for heathy hips and joints, and have grown by leaps and bounds as yoga practitioners. They are encouraged to take a month of Bikram for the foundation and then continue as they introduce other yoga forms.

I had to look up Yin yoga, but it sounded interesting. I found another studio that offers it and gave it a shot last night, and then back to Bikram this morning – I definitely have to agree that those two disciplines work together very nicely. The crazy long pigeon pose and childs pose we did were, well, a challenge to say the least, and took all of my willpower to just keep breathing and relaxing into it when my brain wanted to quit. But this morning back at Bikram yoga, I was finally able to get my butt down to touch the ground in fixed firm pose and got my toes actually wrapped behind my calves on both sides of eagle pose – both of which were firsts for me. (I’ve been doing Bikram yoga for several months but have knee issues and tight hips).

Anyway – thank you for mentioning that. I have a feeling I will mostly do the Yin yoga poses at home on my own since I have props and don’t need a hot room, and mainly because I can’t afford memberships to multiple studios. But it would be wonderful for more studios to offer both types of classes as yours does. It’s unfortunate the Bikram rules are so rigid about such things.

Hmmm… not really, but you’re making me think I should really work on contracting my thigh muscles more, because I would love for that to happen!

I just had to share my positive experiences with skin improvement.

One of my co-workers has commented several times now on how great my skin has been looking lately (I’ve been doing Bikram yoga for about 3 months now) and today said that combined with the fact that I’ve just seemed happier since I started as well, she wants to give it a try herself. 🙂

And the other day my husband asked what I’ve been doing that made my skin so soft lately. (Usually he’s the typical obvlivious guy to such things…) The answer – I quit using any type of moisturizer because of hot yoga. I used to put lotion on the moment I got out of the shower, but after realizing that lotion only made my feet and hands slip more in yoga, I figured I’d just quit using it and see what happens. And my skin is turning out to feel softer than ever before without using any products at all.

It’s not a miracle or anything – I still have wrinkles and scars, but I definitely am not used to getting compliments on my skin! Not sure if it’s just sweating out gunk that had built up in my pores or forcing myself to stay more hydrated or what, but it’s doing something good for me beyond flexibility, focus, and the things I expected from this practice.