Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Welcome back Stefan

I would like to ask a question as I have a need for some clarity. You mention that you have a stiff back after sleeping then later on you mention that it happens after class. If you have more specific detail that could be helpful as I am not sure when the pain is firstly appearing.

As far as sleeping occurs, I find that the best recommended sleep position is to learn to sleep on your back (if you are not already doing that). It can be very comforting to curl up on your side but it can be quite imbalancing for your spine. It certainly has worked for me and for countless others that I have recommended it to. If you are not sleeping on your back (especially in times of back ache) then it can take a number of nights to get used to. Mattresses have varying quality so it may be your mattress doesn’t suit your body, I can’t tell.

There is nothing to stop you practicing any helpful yoga pose at all even if it is not strictly in the Bikram series. I remember from your previous postings that you have a varied practice anyway. A beautifully relieving pose for your lower back is a modified child’s pose. Bring your toes together, knees widely apart and bring your body to the floor. Your arms can stay out in front with head centered face down if you are not flexible. Or you can trail your arms out and back around your legs and bring an ear to the ground. This is a much loved relaxation pose. Try it!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello looseygoosey

I can give it my best shot :cheese:

In yoga we are likely to experience all manner of emotions which can surface in many places on the body; perhaps related to your chakras. Along with the expression of these emotions may come all sorts of assumptions and stories. Emotional release can stimulate all sorts of reactions (chemical and otherwise) in the body.

Chakras, which are energy centers, provide a framework on which to base our emotional insights or perception of our environment. And although they are not found in the physical body they are related to areas in the physical body. In yoga we get in touch with the physical body as a way to explore the energy blocks and flows around the chakras.

The practice of yoga is to release energy and to allow the free flow of energy through all the chakras and bring balance to the system. Bikram yoga works the physical and emotional body deeply through the combination of the heat plus the poses. As the body is a blueprint for its experiences, release of this energy can happen through moving the body. The expression of these crystallized emotions through deep body work is a way to liberate the energy in the chakral system.

As yoga is about the union of mind body and spirit I consider that there is no particular best style of yoga to practice to best get your chakras into balance.

I welcome some more perspective on this!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Thank you again Emily

Have fun in discovery

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Shannon

It would be most helpful if you told me what poses you are personally finding difficulty with.

Thankfully there are some things that you can do to modify your poses sufficiently to be able to still enjoy yoga in the hot room.

* In standing forward bends and even when on the floor in Rabbit and Tortoise poses you can walk our hands down your thighs to add extra support to simply engaging your core. Do this rather than coming down with a straight back so you have good support without strain or pain. Your maneuverability will return and in time you will be able to enter and exit poses in the ‘regular’ way.

* Focus on backbends and twists to create mobility in all directions. This will bring improved nutrition through making the joints juicier! You mentioned on one hand you have been told to avoid twists, and on the other hand how you are getting some benefit from the yoga. So use your body intuition on how far to go into the twists, but try not to avoid them.

* Focus on breath, alignment and then depth and NEVER go to a point of excruciating pain.

* Please go to Opening up your hamstrings with hot yoga for some fine detail and technique photos on how to open up the whole back side of the body. This explains a technique which is useful to apply for Hands to Feet pose as well. Plus make sure you keep your feet parallel Separate Leg Intense Stretch pose so that you pose no risk in inflaming your sciatica condition.

* In backbends rise up out of the spine in an attempt to extend well before you go back.

That’s a good start. You may have some pose specific questions. Post them and let’s see where we go from there. You may simply need more detail on answers above.

Think creation of movement and space.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Marietta

Just FYI: For the most part, Bikram studios are carpeted. It is part of the affiliation requirements: Bikram insists on carpet in the studios. The choice of carpet can make a huge difference (see above) coupled with studio ventilation. We used an indoor outdoor product (see above re towel placement as well).

Thanks!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello encaramada

Good news! You are not doing it wrongly. You are just in need of a good stretch (and maybe some hydration and electrolyte supplementation). :cheese:

Creating movement and space in these areas is most likely going to fix the problem. The hot room is going to make it so much easier for you too.

Your problem is that you want to lock the leg because you want to participate in the class! I would suggest the following:

@ make sure you are well hydrated
@ make sure you take electrolytes. It is crucial for proper muscle function that you have healthy levels of potassium, calcium and magnesium
@ ease into your positions. Use the heat to full advantage to stretch those muscles.
@ test your locking leg and if you are getting pain and cramping, then simply stop. Don’t stretch vigorously against the cramp. Sometimes you need to let the cramp ride out and ‘resolve’ before stretching against it. Feel comfortable that your work on the floor in Head to Knee and Paschimottanasana for example is going to help you gain the stretch and strength to be able to lock your leg.

The other poses that will help you greatly to stretch are Standing Sep Leg Intense Stretch and Hands to Feet pose. Check out the technique for the intense stretch pose at:

Open up your hamstrings with hot yoga. It opens up the WHOLE backside of the body not just the hamstrings. Keep this as your intention in both of these poses.

Please keep us posted as to your progress or any other questions or concerns

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Cati

Thanks for your post. Your hyper-mobile arms seem to be a worry for you. I think that there is nothing you need to be concerned about in the 2 particular instances that you mention. You seem to be quite aware of what your body is doing in Locust. And this particular effect of the body on the arms is quite normal especially as the body (upper body including arms and shoulders as well as your core, coupled with the ability to truly and tightly lock out the legs no matter what) builds more and more strength. Over time you are likely to notice your body can lift up more.

What you are doing in between Cobra and Locust is only helping your dissolve tension so again, that is good.

What I would recommend is building your muscle strength to help you stabilize the joints in question. Poses that you can pay particular attention to are: Half Moon and Awkward
and any other pose where your arms can be activated strong and straight (eg Standing Separate Leg Stretching, Triangle etc).

In Awkward pose you have a good 5 or so minutes of activating muscles through your upper and lower arms to lock them out fully. You will feel your biceps and triceps engage and cause that firmness right through your elbows and then feel that energy extend right through to beyond your fingertips! Be mindful, because you can straighten your arms without engaging them fully.

In Half Moon or other poses with arms over the head, please make sure that you place a priority in preventing shoulder shrugging so you do not create any tension in the shoulders and neck. This probably won’t be your problem since you have hyper-mobility. But do let me know, can you get your arms ‘straight’ locked out with your palms together?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Mammaren

thank YOU for sharing! Doesn’t it feel empowering to get rid of the props and habits that distract you? The strength you build, builds so much more quickly too.

You are so right! What you pump in does affect what gets sweated out. If you don’t believe me/us, then try practicing next to someone who has eaten say, garlic salami/sausage and compare it to the experience of practicing next to someone who eats a vegetarian diet with no garlic or onion. Two very different experiences I assure you! :cheese:

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hey K

Great to hear of your progress. While the poses are incidental in your yoga journey they are still a great way of gauging movement along the path; we get to observe the manner in which we break through all kinds of limitations.

Celebrating with you

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Emily

Thank you for your wonderfully inspiring comments! :cheese: Say thank you to your teacher on my behalf!

I have never had any experience with your condition. But I do have some ideas for you to try.

Have you had any experience with the Bates Natural Eye Healing Method (also known as Vision Improvement or Vision Therapy)? I have known people (including a personal friend) who have had marked improvement in their eyes recovering from all sorts of conditions. It may be worth talking directly with a couple of experts in this area to see if applying their techniques are worth a try.

What I would definitely do regardless would be to find a Hypnotherapist trained in Ericksonian techniques. This is most important, make sure they understand intimately the use of Ericksonian speech in their therapy.

On a final point I was wondering if you had done any other styles of meditation. There are many styles that use different ways to focus the mind. Some of them use internal and others uses external visualizations. I wonder whether the latter of these may be useful for you. You may have heard of the use of mandalas. Achieving mind stillness and calm and focus is a primary goal of any meditation. Most importantly you develop the ability to be unattached to stimuli that present to you. You mention that your eyes react when you have stress, so for me it follows that learning other meditation techniques to still the mind and manage stress will be really useful.

From a global perspective I am thinking about your ability to detach yourself from the possibility of a pre-conditioned response: when x, y or z happens then your eyes react by twitching. Your mind associates certain activities with responses that may have become automatic. This is why I am recommending Ericksonian hypnotherapy (which I have practiced) and meditation, both wonderful ways to direct the mind’s focus.

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you have dabbled in other styles of meditation (because HY is its own style of meditation too!).

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Cory

Hmmm… lots of issues here that may or not be related.

I know for myself that I get headaches when I have physical cleansing to do (typically if I haven’t done the yoga for a while after non-yoga holidays for eg). You are at the beginning of your yoga practice so you may simply have lots of *stuff* that needs to come out. The heat facilitates a deeper practice with enhanced benefits that happen more quickly. This could be the reason you didn’t have the headache after the low-temp class.

You know if you are drinking enough water if your urine is a straw to clear color. You seem to be drinking enough but I would definitely invest in some Emergen-C or some other electrolyte supplement.

The other thing you may want to consider is trying to get to classes in the first part of the day. You will probably find an improvement in your sleep patterns. And I suspect, if the puffiness is only about your yoga (and I cannot be sure) then it should be lessen through the day. As you may be intimating, the puffiness could be about lying down to sleep soon(ish) after finishing class.

Try the electrolytes, and try a different class time and please come back and tell us all what works for you…

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello cory

This is a problem I have not encountered before.

What is your electrolyte consumption like? How much water are you drinking? Are there any other areas of the body that are *retaining* fluid? Questions and more questions…

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Chris

I am wondering if you have a mild sciatic condition. However, in order to go any further, I certainly would appreciate more detail on the location of the pain down in your thigh. I can’t tell if you mean it is on the side of the thigh or if it is on the outer half of the back of the thigh.

Is there any chance you can give me and other readers some more information?

Another thing that comes to mind is some kind of physical imbalance (or maybe a healing of an old injury). Again, a little more info could help with the answer.

BTW: congratulations on doing the 30 day challenge. What a great way to start. Perhaps your body does need a little recovery time too. In order to keep your commitment to your challenge, is there a chance you could go early one morning and then the next day take your class as late as you can in the evening. You will feel as if you have had 2 days of rest. Really! :cheese: This may allow your body some rest and recovery time. See if you can relax during those 2 days.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂