Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi Nick

That is such a tricky situation. One that I too had to broach in my own practice.

I will get to this response in a day or 3 because I am very jetlagged at the moment. I just want to do this properly and feel I am not up to it just at the mo

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Betty

I am so sorry that you are not feeling as satisfied as you should feel with your yoga practice. Betty, reading between the lines (aka, making assumptions about the way you do your practice because of the types of pain you seem to be experiencing), I can just about bet that these pains are due to classic bikram yoga problems to do with the classic bikram yoga script that you are most likely being taught.

I am thoroughly jetlagged at the moment and so, rather than go into a lot of questions (which I can do later), I suggest you go and look at several of my free videos that will outline some very important generalised practice principles, which, if followed WILL improve your practice and reduce and eliminate pain.

The other thing I implore you to do is to read this blog post.

All 4 of the videos are going to give you some excellent tips. The second one (with the size 3 ball) will also help improve your core strength which will in turn help reduce the pain in your lower back.

Please let me know how you go. I can delve more deeply into technique in a future post.

PS the videos are pretty lengthy so don’t feel compelled to watch them all in one sitting. Just take your time to digest them and follow their directions so that you can get the most out of them.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Guillermo

Would you be willing to try these instructions for Eagle pose? You’ll find my step-by-step instructions are near the top of the page with bold headings to assist you.

Please do your best to follow these instructions over the space of a number of classes (so you can observe and refine your technique with the instituted changes) and then come back to tell me what difference, if any, occurs.

I am curious to know if the dizziness abates.

I am very doubtful that your circulation gets 100% blocked. I am positive your body is as sophisticated a ‘machine’ as they come! Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. If nothing changes, after a few classes of doing the pose with these tweaks to get what I believe is a better pose outcome, then we can pursue another path.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi bunni

The short answer is: Savasana during class is a contained revisited position that is a formal pose. Final savasana you are given choice to do what you want because the position is less important than your needs or desires to be in any other relaxing position.

The question why it’s necessary to have the arms and legs close is a good one.

The answers you were given are rather amusing! They appear to be quite common if not misguided responses.

Re the energy to pump closer to the body: Honestly, that one is funny. Your body is amazing. You have that wonderful circulatory system that takes care of providing every part of it with nourishment in just about any position. If the position of your body REALLY made a difference to your circulation then we’d all have blood pooling in our feet because they are the furthest things from your heart! With that logic you can see that many of these circulation stories are simply myths. You may heard, as I have, some teachers say that getting your head lower than your heart improves circulation to your head. Science will prove that that is not the case. Generally speaking, there will be a difference to your circulation if there are tourniquets involved. That tourniquet can be a partial block from anything: Bending limbs can cause a flow change just as suspending a plastic bag from your fingers or arm.

Here in Savasana you lie with arms outstretched, no bends, completely relaxed. That will mean less impedance to circulation. Less work to do. Easy to relax.

But why closer in?

I believe and teach thusly, 😉 that you are trying, each time you get into Savasana (any of them whether standing or lying) to recreate the same position. This has a calming effect on both the body and the mind.

The position becomes what we technically call a neurological ‘anchor’. You learn to get into and out of that anchor position as quickly, efficiently, and yet as calmly as possible. Your body AND mind learn that stillness, calm, deep breathing, relaxation and hopefully mindful awareness are actually TRIGGERED each and every time you go into Savasana.

Then because of that strong neurological anchor, you find those states more quickly and more deeply just by getting into that physiological position. Savasana just as with any other pose, takes practise. Practise makes you better at it.

So, honestly, if you were to lie there with legs akimbo and arms out in a T and that was what you did close enough to precisely every single time then you may find the same benefit. The more natural position of arms in close is better. It’s certainly more reproducible.

Heels touching is not essential. So don’t force it. I have heard that ‘rule’ enforced in classes. Just get those legs relaxed and feet closish to midline. Eg, a large shaped person with large legs may not be able to get feet together. Do they force it? Some would say yes. It is better that they find relaxation and stillness.

Savasana is Corpse pose and that’s reflected in the position of the body (with limbs close) too.

As for shoulders under:

There is a great physiological reason for that. I always teach that shoulders should be shimmied underneath you.

1> Shoulders underneath, and as I have always said: “shoulders in your back pockets” is essential for EVERY pose that you do. It’s a functional position that minimises risk of damage. But it does so much more.
2> Shoulders under externally rotates the upper arms. and creates good posture that one imitates in standing positions too. When you externally rotate the upper arms and you’re on the floor, the forearms externally rotate too (and lands your palms upwards). This creates that lovely open position on the floor, with feet flopping out to the sides – your corpse pose.
3> When you lie with shoulders under, the ribcage expands and it takes far LESS effort than it takes to breathe with shoulders in internal or forward position (which happens for most people when they simply lie down with no conscious awareness). The diaphragm has more space and the belly is more relaxed. The lungs have more space into which they can expand. This position makes it easier to breathe more deeply. The elevation of the heart is another misguided belief (see above).

So as you can see, you can facilitate better breathing and better body movement, but elevating the heart in and of itself is not going to do anything for you. What you have to do is lie in (or stand in, or move in, or do yoga in) the best position in order to breathe better, to expand the lungs better (which by default creates space for the heart) which facilitates better circulation! But you always need better breathing. Boo-boom!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Guillermo

My! That’s curious! So, I gather this dizziness never happened before. Congratulations for getting ‘the wrap’.

There could be quite a number of little things that are happening. I would have to ask some questions to work it out.

>> Is your class a recital scripted class? In other words, are you being told to sit down as low as possible, and lift the leg as high as possible?

The answer to this will help guide me to the next step.

See you back here soon

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Tricia

Welcome to the forum. Triggers for migraines are numerous. What is or are your trigger/s? Migraines can be so debilitating: Nausea, sensitivity to light, dizziness, vomiting and so many manifestations. What happens for you? Do you hole yourself up in a room? Are you able to continue operating as you normally do, and just in pain (and less productive)?

As a sufferer of migraines, you would be aware of those people who say “I’ve got a migraine” when what they really mean is “I have a headache”. Those people might find that their headaches benefit from the class during their headache.

In my experience, most people with a migraine would avoid the room during a migraine because they simply cannot function. However, it is also my experience, that migraines occur less frequently once you develop a sufficiently frequent and regular practice.

How long have you had this particular migraine?

I hope you feel better soon. Do let me know how you go. Anyway I hope to see you back here with some responses to the above.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Max

Please give me a couple of days. There is a lot of stuff I need to type to get you moving in the right direction. You have given me many clues! 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Max

It’s a classic problem really! Any pose is a balance of muscles that need to be active and others that need to be released. Sounds obvious. But what I think is happening is in these 2 particular poses you’re using muscles that are not supposed to be used. There’s likely an element of that overuse of muscles in other poses too. But of course let’s start at those 2.

So, please let me ask you a question or 3. 😉

1> In what particular sense do you think your arms aren’t “as long as everyone else’s”? At what part of the poses is this evident and why? Get specific as you can for me please.
2> In Standing Head to Knee, are “all 10 fingers interlocked including the thumbs”?
3> In Standing Bow are you “charging your body forward toward the mirror, bringing your body down parallel to the floor”?

They are 3 good questions to answer first. I have many more but they’ll do for starters.

Good news about your breathing! Yay (Did you actually mean that breathing through your nose is difficult after Standing Bow?)

I suspect that will improve after we work out what you’re doing in the aforementioned poses. Believe it or not, there are a couple of things you’re doing or could be made aware of that will make your breathing easy, and make the poses challenging and satisfying without the struggle! Bet you can’t wait.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Max

Slowing down the breath is really such a benefit for you. The more you can generalise it out to your whole practice the better. Mind you, that’s a lofty task so don’t be concerned that it will take time to a) use it for all of pranayama and b) use it for even part of the rest of your class.

Ideally one should aim for conscious breathing (like this) for the whole class. That’s nigh impossible because of our flighty natures and what we have space for to stay mindful of!

One step at a time. Being present to breathe, to notice the breathing and being present with everything you’re doing is something you’ll work on every single class from now on. Some days you’ll just suck at that. Other days it will be easier.

Can you tell me what you’re being told to do in regards to everything being tense? I know for sure that at the moment in the public classes I am attending (that are recital led) that there is often instruction that is misleading. “Contract every muscle” for poses where that’s not possible to orchestrate. Sometimes those instructions are just figurative and not literal. Use your awareness to pick and choose what will work!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Sarah

A couple of experiments for you …

What happens if you just twist your body to the side one leg on top of the other without entwining the legs?

Have you also experimented with the angle with which your leg makes in relation to your body when you do entwine your legs? You said the leg is at right angles so perhaps there is a comfortable angle.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Max and bunni

At the risk of being contentious (as per Bikram lore) there is no such thing as 80/20 breathing. There is no numerical quantification that one should give to one’s breathing. There is only breathing. There is only the awareness of breath as per the quality and the depth of the breath, the ability to breathe related to the position of the body. So, for example, one might find it easier to have a deeper fall body breath in Standing Bow (which is a back bend). But with the Backbend (in Half Moon) one might find it very hard to breathe deeply. In Standing Bow one is more likely to find that the diaphragm can extend into the abdominal space and the belly feels free to move outward. In contrast to that, in a Half Moon Backbend, one finds that the elongation and extension of the spine stretches the abdomen in such a way that there is a real physical limitation to distension. In that way one feels that they cannot have a full body breath and naturally the breath is shallower. I invite comments.

Max, if the sound is coming from your nose, I believe that the focus may need to shift from there. What I have understood from your descriptions is that the effort of breathing through your nose (and audibly so) has exhausted you somewhat.

The focus and attention needs to be to feel and hear the sound from the throat. Don’t use your vocal chords. There is never a singing sound or a note. Just a rushing sound. It should sound like a nice white sound, like wind or the sea.

If I can try to give you an idea of how to make that sound and create that deeper, more easy breath (that is really rather fulfilling and satisfying) it would be to try to make a ‘ha’ sound like a hairdryer but with the mouth closed. Some like to say it’s a ‘Darth Vader’ sound. If that doesn’t make sense to you, I will try to put other words to it!

Have fun experimenting. If you have had a habit of breathing in a certain way, it may take a few classes to create your new habit. Or, it could happen straight away in an ‘aha’ kind of moment. Let me know 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Daniel

Try this: Sit with your knees further apart. Push them as far apart as you can or feel physically comfortable doing. I stretch on your inner thigh is fine and possibly worth it for that! If you can still feel you inner right knee, then the answer – a temporary one – is to sit with your knees, feet, hips and heels together in a regular kneel (without rotating the lower legs).

This is a very restorative pose. It seems as though you could attempt that for at least a few classes.

The next thing to do is to try something at home. Get a cushion and sit ready for the first part of the pose, but what I want you to try is to put a nice big cushion or layers of soft towels under your bottom and allow yourself to sit comfortably on top of (and sink into) that layer. Make sure your knee does not hurt and make sure you sit up absolutely straight so that you can ease into the joints.

Little by little over time you can make the layer less thick. Your barometer is the pain in your knee. Avoid that pain.

If you do this in class, you can take a rolled mat (which may not be thick enough for you) or some cushions (maybe with something that will absorb the sweat so you can use them as often as you need them without going foul), or some extra towels.

Keep your knees as far apart as you need to.

The issue is that you may at the moment have undue stresses on your medial ligaments. You want to minimise the stresses on knee ligaments. So try these ideas. If you need further descriptions or need us to change tack then of course let me know.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂