Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi Diana

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum. The first thing I need to know is what type of yoga are you practising? Get as specific as you can with the poses that are causing you grief and we can take it from there.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Maria

What can I say? I hate bullies. OK, so hate is a strong word. And I hate the behavior of bullies! 😉 But I bet you felt really peed off to say the least.

I guess one gets left wondering in times like this: Is that yoga? Is that the kind of person I want to facilitate my yoga class?

BTW Was that the owner?

Here’s the thing: You go to class and you have an implied contract of sorts. They contract to start a class and finish a class at certain times. You make a decision to attend based on that offering because it fits into YOUR life.

Simple really. How arrogant to assume that you are there to have whatever crap she has to dish out, despite the fact that SHE was wrong.

There, I have said it. I have had it ‘up to here’ with this kind of abusive nonsense. You are the customer not a punching bag.

So, are you going to approach the owner?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Amelia and bunni

When we say keep the eyes open it is generally understood it means when you’re lying on the floor in your savasanas. Most people will keep their eyes open in the standing poses. Bunni, I have seen many people close their eyes in a few standing poses: Backbend (of the half moon pose but never half moon), and sometimes and less often Hands to Feet and sometimes Standing Sep Leg Head to Knee.

Backbend they may close their eyes as a natural bodily response to avoiding the fear and vulnerability. The other 2 it’s just a rest. The backbend with eyes closed WILL cause that dizziness and disorientation but the other 2 you could pretty much stay OK.

It’s usually when people get to the floor where they have, up until that moment, tons and tons of visual stimulation. All of a sudden they have very little and even less when they close their eyes. So unless you’re very adept at your meditation and focusing skills it can be (but is not always) easier to keep the eyes open. Because if you close them and you’re tired or unfocused you will drift off.

Meditation is a practice and it takes practising to get better at it. So just know that when the visual stimuli is reduced and the body is still you have to work harder at mind stillness because there is no movement to distract the conscious mind.

From time to time drifting off is fine. Sometimes you’re just tired. Somehow you’ll magically ‘wake up’ for the next pose and you’ll be on task again. It’s just one of those things. Just notice the difference between the states and aspire to stay present. It’s the best you can do. So what if you drift off every now and then! 😉 We all do!

So yes, Amelia, it can be a challenge to keep the eyes open and stay focused. You’ll find it a bit easier if you don’t look directly up towards the ceiling directly above you. Lengthen the back of the neck towards the floor, and the chin will drop a little. Then allow the eyes to look towards the back wall. Depending on you and your position you’ll be looking where the wall and ceiling meet or somewhere towards half way down the wall.

Let me know how it goes

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Ted

May I ask if you are pain-free yet? If you feel pain what causes it and what relieves it? Are you flat-footed, normally pronated?

What were told to do by your physical therapist? Are you wearing orthotics all the time? I need a little more to add colour to the picture!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Paul

Nice to have you at the forum! (I just found this post finished and not submitted from 10 days ago. Sorry bout that!) I hate to say it, but it really IS just one of those annoying phrases that mean nothing or add nothing to the practice. It was definitely NOT designed to do anything other than describe what Bikram thought was getting your body flat on your thighs. It makes no sense. Yet for some reason teachers continue to say it simply because he does.

An instruction that works is one that needs no explanation, ie it’s unambiguous, precise and meaningful. An instruction that works doesn’t require anyone to look around to check if they are doing it right by constantly comparing themselves to others (a small amount of checking is natural).

The dialog is not a sacred text. There are people who dissect the phrases to make meaning and even act disparagingly toward those who don’t feel the need to follow it a ‘t’ (even when following it causes problems). The problems caused are the very ones that this forum is here to fix. People come here to read about these issues on a daily basis.

I have found that when I am stuck in a dialog driven class that 2 things happen. One is that I listen to the words and use that to ascertain the things that actually don’t go with the movements that the teacher is attempting to teach. It helps me be present with my practice. OR the other way is to use the cues of entry and exit into the poses to guide me through. In all instances I just try to be present as much as possible. I TRY my best to follow the instructions but if they are lacking I do what I can to maintain the outcome of every pose. I hope that helps you. You can use whatever you’re being taught, dialog or no dialog to help you be more present in your practice.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Chihiro

That’s terrible news. I would like to ask you what the people who are looking after you say you can do. Did they say “no yoga”? Or did they say, “go back when you are pain free”? Or did they say “keep moving to try and encourage a return to your natural range of motion”?

Generally speaking, the one thing you don’t want to do is aggravate the injury. This is usually done with direct pressure on the coccyx – ie when sitting. So unless you have a way to sit that doesn’t put pressure on your behind then don’t do that (sit).

I do believe you can, if necessary get the tailbone manipulated into position if it has moved. First up however, is to let the acute pain abate. For the moment engage in gentle movements that tease your body into moving so that your fascia doesn’t seize and bind up the area (cos that’s what healing does if there is no movement).

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Fatma

You seem to equate feeling tired with getting more benefit. I wonder why. The opposite could be true. There are a number of reasons for the difference. It is hard to say exactly because as I understand it you have only practiced once at home so it’s not a reliable sample size. It is possible that you are getting more out of your practice at home because you are not tiring yourself out. It is also possible that the studio you attend could be heating the room much higher than is necessary and over time could be causing some heat exhaustion. I can’t know at this stage! 😉

Perhaps you can practise a 3-4 times over a week at home. Use the same sequence that they use at the public studio and then after that week see how you feel overall! Come back and let us know.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Cindy

That’s good news about the itching. You are probably right about the technique of certain asanas being related to certain the pain issue. ‘Meet me’ over in the appropriate sections (either body part related or pose related) and we can discuss it there. You will probably find your answers already there because this is a common problem with dialog led classes that try to follow set words (which thousands of us have found are ambiguous and misleading). There are simple answers (mostly 😉 ) and they work WITH the body rather than against it.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Beth

Crunchy knees! It’s very disconcerting. I used to hear it going up the stairs too. Is it happening more often or less often now. You seem to indicate it didn’t happen before yoga. It’s hard to say if you are ‘doing something wrong’ without knowing more about your practice and your body. Maybe you pronate or have flat feet. Do you try to lock your knees and if you do, how do you do that? MANY many times when I have described that locking the knees requires using one’s muscles to create space in the knee joints, people realize that they have been doing it wrong for years (by just locking the joint closed without muscular tensioning of the space).

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Lyndy

That’s some injury. A good place to start is to tell me where you have any discomfort or pain in any activity or any pose. Can you tell me which poses? Which activities? What makes it hurt? What brings relief?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Rose

Sabina is definitely asking the right question. 😉 How many times are you doing each pose?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Paula

I hope you don’t mind, here are a few questions for you!

So, are you still having the issue?

What did your Bikram teachers say when you approached them?

Do you feel the sciatica trigger when you are simply standing with your legs apart and turning your body to the side? Is it the back leg in this case?

Are you locking out your legs in Standing Separate Leg Intense Stretching pose and rounding your back?

See you soon!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂