Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hello Rebecca

The first question for you is about arm placement. Are you bringing your arms in as per the dialog, as far under the body as you can, and also so that baby fingers are touching?

Over to you?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello!

I can see why it would be lovely to receive a surprise in the mail every month. What kind of products would you personally see the value in? Wondering whether it would be just as nice to set yourself a monthly budget to ‘spoil’ yourself or to devote to buying products of your choice.

I took a look (when you first posted a month ago) but I guess that even though I am in their target demographic it wouldn’t be something I would do. I think a lot of ‘things’ would just accumulate.

Would love to know if anyone else has subscribed and what they love about it. Anyone can be convinced with a great WIIFM factor. 😆

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Thank you David

Are you able to tell if the yoga is helping reduce (rather than eliminate) the pain because you are more agile? As an aside, I was just thinking that doing yoga eliminates pain for people who don’t have A.S. because of the utilisation of the body. I thought maybe that the yoga must be able to lessen the symptoms simply by stopping the seizing up of the spine. Does that make sense?

It does seem to be a real shame and possibly a lost opportunity for medical professionals who do not understand that a focus on functional movement and the meditative and calming effects on the body and mind – all possible with yoga – as well as good diet have such a huge holistic effect that can create positive change in so many conditions.

Keep on doing what you’re doing :cheese:

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Allison

I look forward to your review after you’ve had a chance to become acquainted with your new towel!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Allison

I am asking myself what type of towel you might be considering. Is it one with the rubber nubs on it? One without? (I have one of each – both given to me.) One with grip on one side and smooth on the other with an intervening layer of rubber mat, designed to replace mat and towel? I guess you’re just using a regular towel at the mo. 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Ellen

Thank you very much for your question. This is very much a case where practicality has to win out in the end. Thankfully, for you there are most likely some significant technique fixes which I will introduce to you here!

You cannot continue damaging yourself and causing yourself more than an acceptable discomfort. Bruising and constant aching is not creating growth or opening in your body!

First I would like to request you tell me if, when you place your arms under your body, if your shoulders are rolling in towards each other. This is a common error that people make in order to follow the scripted instructions in order to get the arms underneath the body (“with baby fingers touching” and as close together as they can).

If you read around this forum and my other resources, you will see that the most effective way to position the arms in this pose is to externally rotate the shoulders so that the chest is open and an effective ‘platform’ is formed… What that means is that there is a flat area against the floor from shoulder to shoulder through the top part of your chest.

If you have access to my book (Hot Yoga MasterClass), then take a look at page 217. You will see a photo of the difference that external (correct) and internal (incorrect) rotation of the shoulders has on this pose.

If you have very large breasts this pose is always more of a challenge. But with a “large-ish chest” you probably will manage! :cheese:

With shoulders rolling inward you will find that basically the shoulders and arms are the points making floor contact. See if this is relevant to you and make that change.

If changes are made there, then you will find that the arms will find a different position which COULD naturally make it easier for effective forearm placement that is more comfortable AND effective.

Adjust the forearms (which also respond very well to the external rotation instruction) to slot them where they need to go. There is absolutely NO NEED to have the artificial goal of getting those fingers to touch.

What you want is nice flat hands on the floor, shoulders and upper chest on the floor and then, when you lift PRESS your hands and arms into the floor.

So I would like you to experiment with placing your arms comfortably. Try to create the platform by using your shoulders correctly. Bring the arms in as much under the body as you need. Remember to use the arms in the lift.

Oh, I just realised there is one more thing I can suggest. Completely IGNORE the instruction to get your hands as close to your knees as possible. This works against the shoulders and actually brings them inward. It could also be why you have so much pressure on the forearms. It actually shifts the weight backward too and makes the lift more difficult. Ha!!

With the instruction to rotate the shoulders outward, you will find that your arms find a place on the floor. You won’t have to have any attention on where the hands go with respect to your knees. Rather think “shoulders flat and spread outward”. The arms will naturally land closer together! Yep, closer and from there you can assess how they interact with the hips.

That ought to do it. Of course, if you have any more questions or I am not on the right track, please let me know.

I would love to know how you go! Please report back when you can

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Sue

It would be remiss of me not to ask whether there is anything else that you’ve noticed about your experience, and if you are absolutely certain that it is since you’ve started Bikram yoga. What other exercise classes are you going to by the way?

It should settle in to a better situation for you. If this is your first foray into exercising in a heated environment, where the heat is consistently high over the whole session, then your body has been physiologically acclimatizing to the heat.

While many people experience a change in their sweat, often they find that they increase their sweat output (actually this happens for most people during the first month or so) and the smell worsens, but then it usually settles down and the sweat rarely if ever smells (in class anyway).

Let me know if there’s anything else we need to consider

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Sarah

When your question came through I was away. I’m back now and so first I need to check where you are with your practice. Are you still going to yoga?

There is a lot of information to ‘unpack’ from your plea for help. I have much to ask you regarding what you’re doing, when and so on.

There are many paths that are possible so rather than doing a lot of guessing and throwing out myriad suggestions, please confirm where you’re at and then we can proceed.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Betty

How’s your balance going now? Well done for moving away from the wall.

Have you happened to take a look at my free video, Great Posture From The Ground Up? It has some hints about how to approach balance and posture that I think will help you.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Betty

Here is where the answer to your problem lies:

There is no way to tell how hot it actually is or how high the humidity really is.

Please go and research heat exhaustion. You will find that hot flashes are a major indicator. You don’t need to feel hot during the course of your activity. You are most likely experiencing effects of prolonged exposure to heat conditions that are too high for too long. Please look up those references to heat index too for a better understanding of the combined effects of heat and humidity.

I don’t believe your hormones have reset due to hot yoga.

Please read around this forum for the dozens and dozens of similar stories. I invite you to explore the possibilities and then decide on a course of action. It doesn’t mean you have to give up your yoga. But perhaps together we can find a way to manage what is clearly a problem.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello again Nick

When I started yoga I had a pronounced scoliosis … not severe but very obvious and one that manifested quite a difference in hip and shoulder heights.

I had reason to go to osteopaths and chiropractors too. Their advice: That I had a leg length difference. I was given an appliance to give my right heel some lift. When I went to yoga my teachers told me I was told not to do anything different and I was to do my yoga without any lift. Their reasons were based on not corrupting the series, it was not through logic or body mechanics.

I was not comfortable with their mandate at that time. So I used a small face washer and folded it and placed it between my towel and my mat and placed my heel on that part. That way I could discreetly stand with hips more even and I thought it could possibly make a difference. Those actions were based on the professional opinion that I had a leg length difference. I felt more comfortable doing it with the towel.

Still, at that time I had a suspicion that my legs may not actually be of different length but more that the way I held them facilitated different lengths. Either way, whatever was going on made a difference to my posture.

Years later, with more and more knowledge of body mechanics, the yoga poses, posture in general, the body in function and dysfunction, I have come to understand that for most people with supposed leg length differences, it is more due to functional habit than anything else.

The way you stand and weight yourself has most likely made a difference to your entire posture. There are some incredibly important things going on here. Much of this we explore in a physical sense in my workshops and trainings. I won’t go into the technical details here… but I do want to leave you with something useful to do.

I do have a video called Great Posture From The Ground Up and it explores some elements of posture that will help you.

What I would also ask you to do is to tell me if you are aware of any preference or propensity to lean more on one leg than the other when you stand still. Women are particularly prone to do this. Really stand still and notice what you do. You may not be taking most of your weight down through one leg and heel. You could actually be subtly pressing a tiny bit more weight through say, the front of your right foot.

These things can subtly shift your balance which can have a profound and drastic effect on your hips and spine as the effects radiate up the body.

So Nick, do take a little time to examine your habits and let me know… Try not to effect what you’re habitually doing (just yet). You’re trying to catch it!

Would you mind getting back to me before I launch into the possibilities for you (all good methinks)

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

PS Jet lag over but I underestimated how much time the school play would take from me. I meant to get this response to you much earlier. My humble apologies.

Hello Betty

Thank you for posting your very important question.

It’s highly likely that you are suffering from a case of heat exhaustion, albeit mild (mild enough for you to keep going to yoga). But before we jump to that conclusion definitively, I think it’s best to ask you about the studio in which you are practising.

Can you tell me about the heat and humidity in your particular studio? Are you aware of the conditions in a real way via some kind of visible means, or is it just hearsay? When you’re in class, or perhaps talk about it with others after class, that others have a certain ease or difficulty in handling the conditions while practising. Maybe there’s a clue there.

Have you ever had difficulty coping with heat before? Do you live in a hot state or one of those cooler to freezing ones? 😉

Tell me what you can and we can drill down until we get an answer.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Abby

I remember that there are several threads that already mention similar conditions such as yours. There is a search window above in which I suggest popping in the partial word “spond” or “spondy” or “ankyl” or similar. Medical terminology is often mis-spelled so to get the most likely response just use a part of the word that you are sure you’ll get a good array of responses for.

Having said that, there are definitely parts of the recital-led class that would exacerbate any lower back pain or buttock pain due to a neglect of certain body reflexes and body function during class. You’ll find technical tips and advice all over this forum and of course in my other resources.

In conjunction with your forum travels I strongly suggest you take a look at the crucially important blog post called “Opening up your hamstrings with hot yoga”.

I will be here to answer any further questions after your little bit of assigned ‘homework’ 😆

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂