Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi Zubin

It’s great you’ve made your way back to yoga and here for that matter! :cheese:

A couple of questions for you before I get into any techniques:

Can you describe what you are doing for Floor Bow please? Are you able to grab onto your feet? Are you using a prop such as a towel?

Can you tell me where on your foot you are managing to hold it when you are grabbing your leg from the outside? What is your arm doing? Is it straight or bent?

When you are trying to sit on your heels and there is a large gap, how are you able to stay there and go any further in the pose? What are you doing? Are your hands on the ground? Can you sit upright? Is it painful or uncomfortable? What is the position of your knees? Are your legs together or apart?

That’s it for starters.

See you soon!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Kathleen

It has certainly been said that there is a dose of narcissism with the mirror-work in Bikram and hot yoga. But you know what? Whatever way you can find to learn to love yourself more is a good way. It is said to love yourself is the first step to being more loving to others. You see, yoga CAN change the world!

It also seems that to develop at least a significant amount of self-acceptance really only takes a pretty short time! With people who link their body size to their self-acceptance, it is fantastic to observe that should that person’s aim be to change body shape, that more often the body takes longer to change than the time to start appreciating the person they see in their reflection.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Natasha

Yay! Yippee! You did it! Congratulations. :cheese:

It is quite common to feel some discomfort in parts of your body. It may be due to limited range of movement, it may or may not be something to do with old injuries. Your job over time will be to learn what is due to use/the way you do your poses, and what needs modification in your own technique. Technique can be a result of interpretation of instructions (wrong or right) and whether the examples around you that you could be watching and even copying are correct or not.

I know for sure that there is nobody who can learn the nuances of each pose by going once to class. There’s just too much to pay attention to. So what I am going to suggest is a number of things to look at as you continue your practice. Unless you want to I would probably not overwhelm yourself with too much right now. Look at things at your leisure. With that in mind here is a list of things to look at:

You’ll find helpful free technique videos here.

At various parts of the above page you’ll find videos that will help you with breathing, proper arm movement, posture, how the feet affect your poses from the ground up. There is also a video on a technique to use outside of class for core strengthening. You could probably keep that one for last.

If you are having lower back pain, then there is a very, very big chance there are particular poses where bending your legs will be better than doing what the script says to do (which is keep them straight no matter what). This is a particular technique you’ll find described in this hlog called Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga.

If you find that every class has the same words, almost identical, every single class then the above technique will be essential for you.

Of course, you have the free Hot Yoga Doctor Forum (yep, right here) if you have any questions!

Thanks so much for coming to tell us you made it to your first class. Wishing you many, many more and lots of fun and discovery on the way.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Barb

ARM: Pray tell, how did you tear your biceps? Are you allowed to and can you straighten your arm? Have you been told to bend it? Or exercise it? They must have said something more than ‘no heavy stuff’. 😉

When you say everything hurts with your arm, does that mean in and outside of yoga?
Presumably you are not to do heavy work because bending your arm is working your biceps which would exacerbate a tear. And again, straightening your arms is stretching it out. So whatever specific info you’ve been given beyond ‘don’t lift heavy stuff’ would be useful.

FOOT: Apparently trying toe separation devices works for some people because it gives more room to the nerve.

Yoga and foot: When you say floor exercises are you saying that you are unable to do ANY of the standing exercises from Pranayama through to Toe Stand?

Make no assumptions! Because I cannot see you and we cannot get immediate responses to each other’s questions I may need clarification on details. Just give me as much as you can.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Joe

That advice about Bridge pose is great stuff. It got me thinking that it may be worth trying an exercise that I have a video about, here.

I have never had occasion to recommend it for hernia sufferers before but I am confident that on the ‘dialled down’ settings with the ball lower down the spine, that you will not be risking a herniation. It would mean that as you move the ball up it would have to be in tiny increments. You would be a test case for me for hernias. It works brilliantly for people who want to build core strength (and flatten tummies).

The beauty of this exercise is that it is self-limiting. The instant the ball is too high you simply cannot lift your legs off the ground and so you have to move the ball back down. You’ll understand clearly when you see the video.

Please let me know if you think it might be of some help.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Joe

I read your account (lengthy and very detailed! thanks) and found myself going through a number of emotions as you went through so many twists and turns to your story. I hope too that you can manage it naturally. I am interested in the biomesh you are yet to find out about.

I too would want to avoid surgery for things that don’t need intervention. At what point will you decide (what has to happen to you, what are your factors) for you to just go and get the surgery done? I imagine having to be so conscious of how you sneeze and not let anything get the better of you by chance can be a bit risky (or put too much conscious thought into things that could be left unconscious)

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Helen

I don’t know if I have asked you this before, but what is your ‘day job’? Does your day involve a lot of movement? Are you sedentary for long periods?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi bunni

Great! Sounds as though you have a good variation on the classic supine twist that works exactly where you need it.

Do you take your rolling pin to class? 😛

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Natasha

OKI! Well done! So what you need to know is (and this is just for starters) :lol::

>> The heat will be a physiological and mental challenge. You will get [strong]physiological benefits in the heated room, even if you don’t do a scrap of yoga[/strong]. So please remember that. There are no prizes for doing everything. There are great rewards however for paying attention and ‘listening’ to your body (and by implication) responding to what it’s ‘telling’ you.

[strong]2 sets of poses: [/strong]Do what you can. Because the class is comprised of 2 sets of each pose, you will do one set and then another of the same pose. Amazingly, while it feels challenging during a pose or a set, because you get a small break between poses you WILL actually feel fine to do another set with similar energy that you did the first! Just pace yourself. You are coming back!

>> If you do feel a little off in any way and can’t do something or have run out of puff and really cannot go on, then just stop, stand, look at yourself in the mirror and breathe. Looking around to see what others are doing is fine in your first few classes. Otherwise focus is what you are cultivating.

If you still can’t handle standing there and breathing, waiting to rejoin class then the next stage is kneeling, chest up, eyes forward and yes, you guessed it, breathing!

If you still can’t handle that, then lie down. And this is what I honestly tell my students. Try, try just to stand or kneel because if you lie down it really is harder to get back up again! :cheese:

>> [strong]Your body will physiologically acclimatize to the heat over a period of 2 – 3 weeks.[/strong] Even on your first day your Cardiac Output (CO) will improve. You will grow your breath over days, months and years. So allow it to be a [strong]process over time[/strong].

Fascinatingly, your body actually [strong]LOSES more salt[/strong] (electrolytes) in this 2-3 week acclimatization period than once settled so this tip will help you enormously. Use sea salt on your food if you don’t already. During this acclimatization time I would actually suggest you put a pinch of sea salt in your water that you take to class. (Flavour it with lemon juice if you must.) If you don’t want to use sea salt then by all means use a commercial electrolyte tablet or sachet before and or after class.

>> I don’t know what kind of studio you’ll be going to. There are some that will say “don’t drink during class” or “don’t xxx or yyy” for things that you, as an adult should be able to make up your own mind about. So if you need to drink, just do so. Wait for a time between poses so you can keep your focus.

>> [strong]Don’t wipe your sweat[/strong] because it cools your body. It’s an important mechanism. [Otherwise your body will overheat.]

>> It’s OK when you start to wipe your hands on your towel/gear if your grip is too slippery. You won’t need to do so for a long time. It’s OK to wipe sweat from your eyes if they’re stinging.

>> If you have a friend or if you can ask the teacher, get a demo and quick 3 min coaching session of Pranayama (the first breathing exercise) before you start class. It’s a challenge to do just by listening to the words. You’ll thank me for this. I show ALL new beginners how to do this before their first class. You can’t look around during this exercise.

If I think of anything else, I will let you know.

Oh, the other thing I show folks is what it means to ‘lock the knee’ because you are asked to do that a lot.

Dems mostly what I talk about for a new student. 😉 The rest of the stuff you might read around the forum verges on “TMI” ‘too much information’ for me. I am the type of person who doesn’t want to know ALL about everyone else’s experiences because I want to have my own. Also for me, knowing too much about whether this person felt one way or another can sometimes negatively impact simply through the mere suggestion.

Hopefully that gives you some guidelines. These are things that all students should be told. It should be interesting to know what your ‘orientation’ is like.

Have fun!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi John

You’re right! The body will react to create some stability. Stability doesn’t care if the pose is right or wrong. It’s about self-preservation. 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi John

Nothing EVER should be dangerous in a yoga studio. So that in and of itself should answer your question. If it’s dangerous while ‘your legs get stronger by learning how not to slip’ then that is still absolutely no reason to FORCE people to stand on the dangerous substance. Mats are there for a purpose. To define the space. To provide safety. They are 2 big reasons. There are others.

I believe that nobody would lose affiliation status because they decided to turn on their mats. What I think is that it’s a sign of adults unable to make sound decisions for their own lives and businesses and making what I believe (and obviously you do too) to be bad decisions in terms of the safety of their students.

Such a decision smacks of fear not of good business.

To have sound footing is imperative. If you do not have this pose right you could slide a little on a mat too. Mats for hot yoga are designed to create traction. If a mat is slippery then a towel is placed over it. But the risk of ripping muscles or compromising one’s body and practice and literally overriding the protective mechanisms of the body is sheer madness.

If you are strong enough in the legs to prevent slipping then you can ‘settle in’ to the hips in a way that creates more strength and more flexibility. HOWEVER if your pose is weighted incorrectly through the hips, OR the feet, possibly favouring one side of the body more than the other (in a number of criteria and planes) OR if your arms are positioned wrongly against the legs OR even if, as many people do not fit the scripted instruction to have their fingers in a certain scripted relationship to the floor, then your body will not support a proper Triangle pose. By the way, the majority of students do have a weight distribution issue and or place the arms incorrectly. The best way to surrender, to be attuned to your body’s safety signs is to actually start on that mat.

That’s aside from the fact that the mat provides a defined space for practice that is uniquely YOURS and upon which nobody else impinges.

To have adults subjugating reasonableness to a dogmatic so-called mythical rule (or litigious leader) is craziness. The irrationality is resounding. One needs to ask “WHY?”. Why does one have to straddle the mat? It’s not to strengthen the muscles. It comes from having to [strong]face the mirror. If your studio has mirrors on 3 walls then there is no reason at all NOT to turn for those 3 poses.[/strong]

Phew. Off my soapbox now :cheese:

Hey, if you need another reason it’s this: SWEAT. When you turn on a mat there are less cleaning bills for a studio. The sweat – 95% of the time – lands on the mat and towel and the STUDENT takes it away with them and cleans it up.

A studio that insists on students sweating on their carpet will pay in cleaning bills. I know of countless folk who will not go to a Bikram studio because the place literally stinks. It is hard to keep a sweaty carpet clean. Maybe you can appeal to them that way! 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Devi

For starters please go and look at the blog post: Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga! It is sure to point you in the right direction. You might also like to ensure that you take electrolytes… Sometimes I put sea salt in my water with some lemon juice during class.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Tanna

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you why your Teres (notice spelling) Major muscle is in such pain. Can you tell me what activity is causing this problem?

It’s possible that it has something to do with your practice or your posture. It is best to know some details there.

As far as stretches go there are some simple ones to do. You may know about the one where you lift an arm over your head, bend that arm so that your hand is behind your neck. Take the other hand and pull on the first arm’s elbow. Pull the elbow inward to the midline of the body.

That’s an easy one.

I am sure that there must be something that you can do on a habitual level that could stop this happening to you.

Bunni’s idea of massage with a ball is a good one. I like to use size 3 basket or soccer balls for back muscle relief. The harder the ball, the smaller the ball the more intense the intervention. So if it’s very painful go for a larger of balls (size 3 is great). And make sure it is not too hard. Release a little air if you have to.

More ideas right here if you need ’em! :cheese: or if better directions for how to use a ball if that’s the way you want to go.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂