Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi Deb

A quick question: when you say

but if I get down low enough to get my hands under my heals, that’s where I’m Staying!

do you mean that once your hands are under your heels…
a) you can only get your hands there, can’t do the pose, your legs stay bent, your body crouched and you can’t lift your hips up and then the only way to get out of the pose is to help yourself up off the floor

OR
b) you get your hands there, and can lift your hips up and feel some kind of stretch and THEN can only get out of the pose by helping yourself up off the floor!

So far from what I have learned from your post, I think you are doing the right thing. Let’s just see what results you are getting. So please answer the questions above.

I would much rather see you grab the back of your ankles as you have been doing than holding from the sides of your feet under your arches.

The other thing to do (Lee you may like to try this as well!) is make the distance between your feet wider. Yes, the teachers may tell you to keep your feet together but try it with your feet hip width apart (at least once 😉 ).

You say you are not aware of much progress. Don’t be so concerned about THIS pose, but moreover how you can get similar mechanisms working in the rest of the class: in Standing Sep Leg Intense Stretch, see the blog posting Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga, and in Floor head to knee and Intense Stretch poses.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi everyone!

This thread was originally posted under Pranayama! So that should explain the confusion I had! Woopsie.

Now it is in the right place. 😆

@looking for balance
I don’t think you were vague as much as I was thrown off by the posting under Pranayama.

I think I would much rather you have your elbows a little bent so that you can drop the shoulders down and back as well as get your arms back. This is far more advantageous than bringing your arms forward. I also think that your chest will be more open in this position rather than a slight collapse. I would love to know if your breathing eases up a bit when you do so.

I will get to your feet tomorrow. :cheese:

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi LFB 😉

I hope you don’t mind me asking for some clarification but I really am not sure what exact movements you are making here. Are you saying that you don’t feel the pain when your elbows aren’t lifted as high? I don’t want to guess because I could throw you and others off track. Things to think about telling me about are what you are doing on the inhale or the exhale, is it elbows or shoulders, is it position of your fingers at the neck, stuff like that. :cheese:

I would love to be of more help, so over to you my yogini friend!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Martina

Your neck and shoulders:
Is it at all possible that you are pushing the ball of your foot into your hands? Or do you have your thumbs interlocked as well? Often students will be actively holding their foot up instead of simply providing that tiny bit of support. Write back and tell me your response to that before I go on!!!

Your heel of the bent leg:
For best and most efficient alignment I would always recommend keeping your leg and hip aligned. If you are bringing your heel to the center of the body then you are most likely allowing your hip to drop to do that.

The questions were very clear thank you! And once again you are very welcome!!!
Get back to me on the first thing so we can drill down further. :cheese:

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Tracey

I imagine you must be feeling so content to have unlocked a major key to your evolution!!! Go girl!!! And that YOU for posting.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello looking for balance

What a lovely photo of you!!! Nice to put a face to a ‘name’.

Do you mean that one arm was straight up and the other hand grabbed the wrist? That is what I assumed and I would love to know if this is the case. What that does is help relieve the tension that you had in your shoulders and neck. It works, so do it if you have to. If you are in a Bikram class I would still suggest the mods recommended above. Both techniques work well but I think the one above has an advantage: the arm position is symmetrical at all times. In other words both arms have the same action simultaneously. If you are to do the position that you were shown in your hot yoga class then remember to swap hands between sets to give the chance of symmetrical use!

In fact there have been times where I have suggested (and indeed have done it myself when I had a particularly bad shoulder problem) that one arm was above the head (vertically) and the other hand grabbed the elbow (with a right angle in the arm, palm facing forward in the grip). This position is great because it really does allow you to keep both shoulders in their optimal position while using and opening them symmetrically. Keep one arm straight up for one set, swap arms for second set. Even though the arms are in different positions, both upper arms are symmetrical and you can direct the force symmetrically. You may even practice out of class with this one.

Would love to know what works best for you.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Lannette

The general convention for your Savasana position on the floor is head toward the front of the room (or near the mirror) and feet away from the mirror. The main thing is that you try to reproduce the position, so it matters less which way you lie but more in the consistency of the method and orientation. The consistency helps you trigger deeper states of relaxation each and every time you hit the floor! Does that make sense? I stick with tradition.

Your asanas are generally performed facing the mirror.

The Camel question is a good one because it can sometimes be a great challenge to look into your own eyes, when you are upside down and feeling physiologically vulnerable. You are in a pose that can be quite emotionally challenging, bringing up all sorts of ‘stuff’. Looking into your eyes can provide a way to stay in for some. However it can also limit you. Students can get fixated (flexible ones that is) on the eye contact when what they should be doing, where possible, is looking for the floor or their toes behind them. If you are not flexible enough to see your own eyes it is a great target to work towards. It can also provide you with the opportunity to see your alignment.

Even though you can face the ‘back’ wall in Camel, most people tend to face the front wall to start. Every so often mix it up a bit. It can bring a new dimension to your practice. Nothing wrong with that.

Does that answer your questions? You ask about “how to turn over” so if I have to break that down please let me know.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

What can I say, Amy? But that seems absolutely ludicrous!

There are benefits to practicing with others (there can be a group dynamic that can make it feel fantastic) but is he trying to tell you that a solo disciplined practice is useless? Hmmm sounds a little strange if you ask me! One of the reasons a public studio practice is great is that you commit to a certain time and once you are in, there is very little chance you will back out. I believe you need much more discipline to do your own practice at home (generally speaking). This is largely because you can more easily allow your life to take charge of your time (allowing other things to take priority). I assume that his opinion is summed up in those words and I am only taking it on face value: but what about those millions of yogis who have had a solo home practice over the centuries? Did nobody have any benefits until Bikram yoga came along? Once you extrapolate that comment out into a wider context you can see it doesn’t hold much water.

You love practicing at home and also at the studio. Would you forego your home practice? Nah, judging by your posts, I don’t think so.

Scaling back:
That is certainly a personal issue. But it is VERY worthwhile to make sure that you have sufficient recovery time for your body and mind.

I want to pop in a recent quote from Robert about this very subject. Natasha (aka saucyskirt) was commenting that she felt stronger after her 60 day challenge after she had taken a day off:

I love the work of a guy called Tony Schwartz (he wrote a book called The Power of Full Engagement) who has done an amazing study of peak performance and productivity as well as studying elite athletes. He is fanatical about training for recovery – in fact he recommends we literally make daily rituals for recovery (for elite athletes and the rest of us mere mortals).

Here are a couple of the MANY approaches that you can take:

You may want to consider making a flexible commitment. For example, you may feel that you would love to practice a minimum of 4 per week. On other days you play it by ear. With a little one at home as you have, commitments can change at a moment’s notice. Either practice 4 in a row with 3 days off or distribute them through the week.

Have an experience of what it is like to take 2 days off in a row. Or my personal favorite; practice one morning, then the following evening which ends up feeling like 2 days off but isn’t!!! It is a great way of fitting 2 classes on the weekend if you haven’t managed to do your ‘quota’ for the week.

I will be interested to hear how you go. It will be interesting to read about your thoughts and feelings if you scale back to almost half your regular classes.

Keep us posted.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello bikraminseoul

I agree with you! Get rid of the flip flops. Some clarification for me please: Do you think that your footwear could have anything to do with your painful arches? Get some footwear that helps you learn how to work using your muscles correctly. Did you happen to check out my video on feet: Great Posture from the Ground Up? That has some hints about walking which will help. I certainly have seen too many screwed up feet to condone wearing flip flops.**

No affiliation here but you may want to check out MBTs (Masai Barefoot Technology sandals). I wore mine into the ground over 2 years and they were great for using leg muscles (and balancing them). Worth a look although they are not pretty, but if you are walking 2 miles to and from work everyday the investment is worth it.

The IT band problem can be associated with tightness. It seems to me that you could benefit from some well structured stretching in that area. Have you downloaded Lucas’ At Home Stretching Guide. This could be a good start for you. Go to this page where you can find many of our free downloads. You could also learn some yin yoga stretches (google it) and maybe buy the little book. A great time to stretch is also after you hot yoga session when your muscles are very warm already. Your tight piriformis and hips, your ITB condition and your sciatica will all appreciate some more stretching. And especially long duration stretches.

Hot yoga is generally going to be really great for you so long as you have great alignment.

One thing that jumped out at me was the possibility that you could be ‘weight shifting’. Often students shift their weight (lean into their standing leg or hip) before they pick up the other leg in poses like Standing Head to Knee, Balancing Stick, Eagle, Tree etc. This will definitely have you moving your weight to the outside of your leg which is worsening your condition.

Find stability then pick up the leg, don’t shift the weight. And remember the message from the foot video (mentioned above) about lifting up through the ankles to distribute your weight more correctly.

Here are some tips for you that may help you.

Make sure you properly lock your knee by using your quadriceps muscles. For this to be optimal check your alignment from the ground up. Start with feet aligned (not necessarily toes and heels together but knees squarely facing forward, so adjust feet apart if necessary).

For Standing Head to Knee: for the next while don’t round over to pick up the other foot. Work on locking the standing leg. Stand up straight. Interlock your fingers just below your knee, and with straight arms, allow the full weight of your leg to pull against your arms as you stand up nice and straight with your shoulders down and back and chest lifted. This will help you focus on strengthening the standing leg and finding balance (something you have said you have had trouble with recently) and also get you some stretch in your leg and hips. Another thing it will do is allow you to more easily keep the hips square. Balance is really quite easy in this pose so you should really enjoy this rehabilitative position.

Please clarify for me: You talk about dropping lower into triangle and I am not sure what that means. Do you get pain when your thigh is parallel to the ground, but not if it is higher? Also what is the angle that your lower leg makes with your thigh?

And for Standing Sep Leg Stretching: do you point your toes in or keep them parallel? To keep your situation neutral (and not exacerbate either your sciatica or your ITB problem) I recommend keep your feet parallel. Can you tell me whether your legs are straight or bent in this pose and how far apart your feet are?

You may need a short term alternative for Tadasana because of the pain. However I guess I need to make sure that it is the bikram style tree that you are doing with the ankle up near the hip. Would it help you at all to keep one hand around the ankle and the other at the foot, without letting go of either hand. If supporting your ankle doesn’t help you then the other alternative is to bring the sole of the foot to the inner thigh (or below the knee). Remember to hold your body squarely in alignment when lifting the leg off the floor.

Over to you now; a few tips and a few (more) questions interspersed.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

**If you are an avid wearer of flip flops then please don’t get all defensive 😉 Just be mindful if you have any structural issues or even simply PAIN or discomfort in the legs, hips or spine or your feet are deformed or deforming over time then consider wearing shoes that are better for you.

Hi Kelly

Although you have to keep your arms by your head (artwednesday is correct), and that is difficult, I would describe the movement of coming up off the floor as one with both a rounded and straight spine. Just as you bring the upper body up off the floor there is an ever so slight rounding there. You cannot (safely) bring your whole upper body and arms up off the floor in one plane. And since you are waiting for the Hot Yoga MasterClass Manual, take a look at page 200 for the photographs that will clear this up for you. The associated text of technique and mistakes is from page 198 to 203.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Babz

Holding one’s breath in yoga is not generally the done thing! The only exception in the Bikram series is if you run out of inhale capability for your count of 6 in your Pranayama exercise before exhaling, or if you can’t exhale any more on your count of 6 before inhaling again.

What you are looking for is smooth continuous breathing. The breath depth will change from pose to pose.

So as you will read in my responses above you exhale AS you move to L-sit and then exhale again as you move through to your paschimottanasana style end to this non-yoga yoga pose! This is a safe way to guarantee (if you are fit for sit-ups in the first place) that you are creating the right conditions to protect your lower back. This is why you are usually asked to exhale twice.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello looking for balance

Don’t do it!!!! Just loosen up your shoulders, drop them down and back. Your neck will release and be much more comfortable. You will develop the opening in your shoulders which in time will allow you to straighten your arms and also bring your palms together. Remember that you are on your own ‘agenda’ to open your body and to create more strength, LENGTH and peace. You can’t do that with a stresses and a painful neck. I am not surprised you feel you can’t breathe. With the pain your sympathetic response is setting in and you are probably panting with a shallow breath (maybe even panicking). If I were to say you were doing something ‘wrong’ it would be that you are ignoring what your body is saying. This is what it is saying to you: “back off!” :cheese:

Make the “back off!” sound louder than the “press your arms to your ears”. 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂