Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hello Angela

What I would do, if I were getting sticky eyes like this would be to get a swab kit from a chemist/pharmacy or the doctor or pathology clinic so that I could collect it straight after class. If you could do that collection when you have the issue then the answers may be easier to arrive at. 😉

Pus is infected and so it can be cultured. The swab would go straight into a medium in a tube, until it is spread onto a plate of agar or other such substrate.

This way you can find out what the organism is, if indeed there is one. If there isn’t one then that’s good news and we can explore more options.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Mavunwe

Before I can answer what happened I would really like to know more about a particular detail. Would you please tell me what you mean by:

In addition to going to far back I was concenctrating on locking out and stretching my arms forward.

I am not clear with where your arms are. When you say ‘forward’, could you tell me what that means in relation to your body, your head or …? How could you describe your backbend and while you’re in it at what angle are your arms to your torso? I need some help please to work it out with minimal assumption!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Jon

It’s delightfully surprising how you don’t even have to consciously make those decisions; how your own body sends you a message that talks to you about its needs and wants! You are getting such lovely tangible proof that yoga is holistic and not just exercise!

Keep on enjoying being ‘the observer’

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Ccollier

I am unable to use the PM system at the moment because of a glitch discovered in our system that should be fixed soon. Why don’t you send me an email and tell me your plans?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Guy

Robert has checked on the tracking of your book and the CDs and DVD (as a point of comparison). The book will come separately and as it seems to have left the US at a similar time to the CDs and DVD it would be reasonable to suggest that they should turn up in a similar time! Your discs arrived by USPS but the book is coming with a different carrier. Please keep an eye out and let us know when it arrives. It should be within days. Having said that I know that deliveries traditionally take a little longer at this time of the year. We WILL make sure you get your book, so don’t worry! If you could wait just a little longer please that would be great. [Oh, with international shipping we only get to know when things leave the US and only sometimes do we know when it gets to Australia, and never to the final destination. But you WILL get it! I promise!]
[strong]
As for the aches… [/strong]without knowing the heat and moisture levels it’s really only going to be a guess as to whether you have had some [strong]mild heat exhaustion[/strong]. If you want to find out then that will mean [strong]a little detective work[/strong]!

You may have had some [strong]mild hyponatremia[/strong]. Medical science is reversing their thinking on low dietary salt. What’s important is to have your body working optimally fuelled by the right ions to keep your electrical system firing! Hyponatremia is potentially fatal whereas hypernatremia is incredibly rare and fixed by a day of no salt! In other words, to the best of my knowledge and with research, it appears that for most people hypernatremia is not fatal. I have mentioned elsewhere in this forum that the likelihood of overdoing salt is almost impossible unless you have a couple of specific chronic conditions.

I would like to suggest that you try a couple of classes where you take water that has had added a pinch of sea salt plus a few drops of lemon juice. Drink that during class and see what effects that has. It can be the difference that makes the difference for many yogis (or anyone doing anything strenuous). No reason to withhold from the body what it needs when it needs it.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Sofia

I believe we can focus on a couple of your pose techniques that you report in a couple of poses. These techniques will inform a lot of other poses and make your practice much more satisfying.

Here’s what you said:

when I do the Standing Separate Leg Stretching, I have difficulties pulling the sides of my feet … the bottom of my feet hurt when I pull … it still aches whenever I walk or stand. I might have pulled too much. But the question is, how hard are you supposed to pull, seeing as you’re supposed to pull down to touch your head to the floor?

I have a similar problem with the Head to Knee with Stretching pose, I know I can straighten my left leg and lock my knee, but I can’t do that AND pull my left foot at the same time, because a dull aching shoots up underneath my knee on the front part of my leg.

[strong]
Standing Sep Leg Stretching[/strong]
>> Is your back rounded or straight or even with a slight (backward) arch?
>> Are your legs straight or bent?

While you ponder those and get back to me I want you to think of lifting your hips rather than pulling your head to the floor. While you do that I want you to think ‘relax the hips’ and ‘push the heels into the floor’ rather than pulling your body down. See if that frees you up a big. Imagine lifting your elbows up to the sky while seating your shoulders away from the ears too. Remember to come and answer the questions though 😉

[strong]Head to Knee Stretching[/strong]
Just to confirm, you are talking of the Floor Head to Knee pose. The stretching part referred to is the one with both legs out in front.

It appears that you really need to bend up your leg to get fingers interlocked (with thumbs underneath but NOT interlocked, just fingers because otherwise you’ll involve the shoulders) and PULL back on the BALL of the foot while you push the heel away. There are absolutely NO PRIZES for having the leg straight if a) your leg is aching b) your forehead is not on your knee c) your elbows are not bending down and in towards the floor and towards the calf muscles. There is more but first please confirm if when you straighten your leg you cannot (comfortably) get your forehead to your knee AND pull with bent arms and feel a satisfying stretch!

See you back here soon!

PS I highly recommend you read the chapters in my hot yoga manual that pertain specifically to Standing Sep Leg Stretching AND Floor Janushirasana. There are photos of how to do the pose, step by step. Then in the following section (after the correct technique sections) there are photos and written descriptions of the mistakes most people make and how to fix those mistakes. I am sure it will get you on the right track

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Sean

There are so many reasons why someone’s face or body might break out with acne. Whether something is yoga related directly or related to the yoga or non-yoga environment or food or stress or ??? would require some investigation.

Have you had a look at other posts about acne? I did a search on the word ‘acne’ and found dozens of references to it in previous posts.

I hope that is a good starting point for you to determine if there is a link (for what I am presuming might be a yogi you may know)

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Steph

It’s annoying when things don’t turn out as expected. May I ask for you to really rest well for a couple of days? It’s very possible you just need more yoga-free rest. It’s a possibility that you are coming down with something. In both instances time is the answer. So, would you mind coming back here after your next class and let me know of your experience then?

Often we want to ascribe meaning to the experience, to rationalise it. Sometimes the yoga just teaches us that ‘it is what it is’ and that we should observe that it was a difficult class for no particular reason, and then come back and observe the differences. We should have more ‘data’ next time and see if there is a pattern. Just don’t stress about it. If you go back now and expect that it may be difficult again, you could be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, just respond to your body for now, give it a rest, go back and we’ll see if there is something to address!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Mary Beth

As in many instructions (and not just recited ones) there is usually a hefty amount of interpretation.

In this particular case the instruction creates an outcome that does the job even though it is not a literal command. This is largely because it is more simple, and more evocative to say “squeeze the knees together” than it is to say just about anything else. You’re right, it’s not exact because the knees are generally not as wide as the thighs! 😉

One doesn’t need to say “press the inside edges of the legs together wherever they come together between the knees and hips”. It may be clearer to say “press the legs together”. But this would have to be after a clear set up of the legs.

So the point is this: While the instruction on its own means to squeeze knees together the meaning of the action, the outcome depends on how and what you have been instructed to do beforehand. The Set-Up is Crucial.

There also has to be an amount of individualised input: What works within the framework for your body.

Thanks for posting your question. It’s important for you to note that what you’re being asked to do may or may not work for you. It does help you to be present by filtering what’s being said to create a good yoga practice rather than just following along blindly or automatically.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Yana

Thanks for all the details. Can you confirm that it is only one arm with which you are having the problem?

Well done for working on the right things.

It did occur to me it could be a particular problem to do with a nerve that travels through the elbow that gets displaced, but before we go there I want to ask you to try a technique or 2.

It’s very common for yogis to follow the recital instructions word for word and bring the arms underneath the body to get those ‘pinkie fingers touching’. That works for a large number of folk, but not for all. Now, with a sizeable bust, and or when elbows are hurting excessively, and or when one or both arms/wrists or elbows are injured and healing, or when you can feel your hips slamming against your arms causing pain, it is worth placing those arms apart rather than touching the little fingers.

The lift will happen as long as those arms are symmetrically placed. I have had students who have had to temporarily place their arms beside the body with or without the little fingers under the body.

Over time you move the arms inward.

The great thing about having the freedom with arm position is that you will be able to experiment with and find the optimum position for your shoulders. In other words, you will find the place where your shoulders are most spread laterally (external rotation) and the upper chest and the arms giving the most leverage against the floor in order to get the best lift.

That freedom is going to be very useful for you or anyone else with a large bust. You see, if you are negotiating your arms under the body to use that supposed landmark of touching the fingers, you may be going PAST your ideal position (where your shoulders are helping creating that flat platform). Having awareness in the right area means you won’t go for any pose goal by going beyond optimum placement.

So give it a go and tell me if we’re ‘barking up the right tree’.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Paul

There is no problem. You will have a gap there as your body changes, and possibly for ever. That gap may change. But by the sounds of it, it will not close. The principles that underpin the pose must be in operation otherwise you’re not doing the pose.

Some people have that gap and have an absolute impossibility to get their head to their knees even if their life depended on it. They still can have a brilliant pose. Not textbook but definitely ticking all the right boxes.

The problem is when people have that gap and can close it by bending the arms or by shifting or overriding the pose priorities! They end up unintentionally placing weight in the head, or feeling compelled to unhook the chin to stop them rolling dangerously forward, or their feet come up off the ground, or their body tenses up… and other related problems.

You mention power in the arms and hands on the heels. Just making sure your words are reflecting what is happening: Your arms are in traction from shoulders (which are positioned away from the ears) to hands from where the pull emanates. There is no pull in the arm muscles per se, it feels like traction. I believe that’s what you’re saying is happening. If it’s not just let me know 😉

Paul, your priority is always the pose outcome and I believe you may actually be getting that. I am positive we could find small tweaks within the framework for you to get even more out of it. So please don’t consider your practice somehow deficient because your body position doesn’t reflect what the script is telling you because in this case, (and indeed quite a few other poses) and I can guarantee this to you, that those words about having the forehead touch the knees are wrong, at least for you and the majority of students.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Cynthia

How is your heating now? Have you made some changes? To heating, to insulation or maybe both? I think you’ll find, even with standing infra red heaters in the corners that you’ll experience less heat loss because of what and how that type of heater does. Panels are great because they don’t emit light as well as heat. They need to be installed with care (professionally) because they can be heavy.

Thank you for posting (and for your kind words) and I do look forward to hearing how you go.

If anybody else has updated information about their favourite heaters then chime in. It’s always welcomed! See you soon

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Jeff

So, you want to know if you can keep practising. Well, even though you say that nothing else is bothering you in class, can you please confirm for me if there is any little tiny issue at all with the following?

When you
>> lock the knee in a standing balancing pose
>> are in Fixed Firm (Supta Vajrasana). Actually this one really should NOT bother you if your problem is the medial meniscus, but I am checking anyway
>> bend your leg up to your hip in Tree pose

If there is any pain, niggle, issue or anything that comes to mind, then please let me know what the nature of the pain is, and what pose it occurs in etc.

The other thing I would like to know is, if and when you are feeling pain in your leg with the torn meniscus, what exactly do you do to relieve it? Here are ideas that are possibilities. Feel free to tell me exactly what you do with as much detail as you can. [Ideas: Do you extend your leg straight and massage it? Do you just straighten the leg? Do you keep it bent? Or keep it bent and massage it?]

Over to you! I will flesh out the response when you ‘get back’.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂