Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi Rob

That’s wonderful to hear. The addiction is a healthy one if one doesn’t overdo it. 😆

I am really happy that the discussion has led to a good resolution.

Let me know if there’s anything else that I can help you with. If you feel willing, just post an update!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Claire

Leonard could be right but before I agree with him, I would like to reserve judgment because there is a lot that may not be known yet.

Is it possible that you are literally trying too hard? This is yoga not a triathlon. I am not trying to be flippant here. If you approach your yoga with sensitivity then that is completely and utterly different to approaching your training with a no holds barred fashion. There are MANY people that exhaust themselves by training at yoga too hard.

What could also be happening for you is that you are not yet acclimatized to the heat. It is also possible that the heat could be hotter than normal. Maybe you are aware of the exact temperatures and not just what people say it should be.

Regardless of the heat levels, there is a physiological acclimatisation schedule that your body is adapting with and that’s going to happen no matter what. Part of that schedule is FOR MOST people, you lose MORE salt during these first few weeks than when you are acclimatized. So, take extra sea salt or electrolytes for the next 2 weeks.

Next, at what time of the day are you going?

That’s it for starters. Don’t give up hope yet. Begin by going in a yoga/meditation
frame of mind. Use body awareness and the moment you feel ANY sense of struggle then you know you’ve gone too far. Remember too to breathe, mouth closed, through the nose, rhythmically!

I hope that helps.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Helen

Haha, that’s funny! In this case, I wasn’t asking you to move it, I was asking you to either add to a thread on both of those poses, or create a new topic by copying your question and posting it elsewhere under the right pose name. Here it is really only for Pada Hastasana. That way it will be easier to find for everyone.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Helen

A couple of important things. You mention you are bending forward from the hips. This is actually one descent that is not at all coming from the hips. This particular pose is served by tucking the chin and then curling from the neck down to the hips through the spine.

That’s possibly your first problem. Let me know if you need more tips in this area. It does seem you are going to an exactly recital based exactly class. IMHO the script is seldom if ever going to give you the answers to your problems in any pose – and that’s why this forum even exists. Haha!

The next thing is I don’t know where you are placing your hands. Perhaps letting me know where they are in relation to your feet will give me a better idea.

Back leg has to be locked out, don’t be so concerned about the front leg being locked

That’s all for now, folks 😆

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Blue

Adrenal exhaustion is a situation where your body operates in a state of continual emergency. It’s possible that you are either stressing yourself too much in your classes (by the techniques you are using) or you have physiological stress because of excessively high heating in the studio, not enough electrolytes in your system and perhaps even not enough fluid.

It’s possible it’s a combination of both.

What is happening is possibly an immuno-suppression where you just feel exhausted. It would be great for me to know if there are any poses where you feel you are not getting that sense of satisfaction or if you feel you are trying hard with struggle being an operative word!

Please also tell me:

>> in what way you are topping up your electrolytes
>> what is the name of your electrolyte supplement if you’re taking one or if you’re using sea salt
>> how much water you are drinking per day
>> what is the actual temperature of the studio that you’re practising in (not just a guess please).

It is possible that you are either not drinking enough water or combine that with not enough supplementation of electrolytes. Both of these things can lead to bloating.

Looking forward to your response

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Valerie

Before I go into recommendations would you please tell me if you feel any discomfort or any tell tale signs at all in any particular poses?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Helen and Kristin

The main thing for the moment is this: Sit down low but keep the chest up. THEN slide down. But in trying to be ‘the shortest person in the room’ one NEVER leans forward. The moment you do, you’ve lost it and the hips twist and the body is no longer in balance. Just keep those hips square and the back up. Rather than squeeze the legs together, squash the top leg down onto the bottom one.

Does that make sense? Do tell :cheese:

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Kristina

It could help us all a lot if you let us know in which country you are located.

Something to consider: Teachers who lead a 90 min class are really needed for at least 2.5 hours. One way to look at it is “what would I be comfortable accepting as pay for 2.5 – 3 hours work?”.

Remember too that you can consider paying a certain amount that’s a basis for that class with incentive for larger classes. There are many formulae.

Are you a yoga teacher? Would you like to write me personally either through the forum messaging system or perhaps at gabrielle @ this domain (hyd) .com? I may be able to give you some more pointers and perhaps even send some teachers your way.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Heather

Have you had a chance to look around the forum yet? There are so many questions on heating in studios and at home that you should be able to find your answers.

If you wouldn’t mind, please send me an email (help @ hyd .com) and let me know what company it is that you’re associated with.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Sammy

Another question for you:

What treatment have you had for your compressed vertebrae? I assume it was diagnosed by a specialist and some kind of radiographic technique

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Daniel

Thanks for your patience! 😉

The ‘dialog’ is not a good friend because it tells you to do things that compromise your pose and get your body into positions that create havoc – as you have discovered.

If you can remember that this is a standing BACKBEND then the idea of keeping the c-curve is confirmation of that.

The idea is to press your foot back into your hand (as you have been doing) and then keep the body as UPRIGHT as possible while you activate the pose ONLY by your ‘kicking’ leg. The backbend is created FROM 2 ENDS: the leg goes backward and the front arm stays high.

Next time you are in the studio, try to resist the body coming forward at all PLUS try to keep the arm up. The arm right out in front of you as you have it at the moment is the ‘final pose’ position and you are not near that yet, so what’s happening is by dropping your front arm you are lessening the traction and losing your balance. So, you’re also compensating that issue by working your back leg and I think that is compounding the problem.

What will help you tremendously (as it seems it is difficult to hold that foot) is to hold the foot below the toes (from the ball of the foot down across the centre of the foot). Let the ankle hold go for a little while. You will actually have MUCH more control of the mechanics of your leg. I am positive that I can give you some distinctions to stop that leg hurting. But first, my friend, please try this because I don’t want to overwhelm you. I also think that you can make some discoveries with this new position that could solve this for you completely.

Come back and let me know what you find

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Christina

I was just going through forum posts and noticed that there is one last thing we didn’t answer for you yet. You said:

Is it lower or upper back?
I believe in the advanced extension of the pose some can get their feet onto their head. I’m nowhere near that but am just wondering where I should concentrate on?

The upper back is activated when you press your arms into the floor. Plus you are by default using your lower back when you even out your hips and raise the single and then double legs.

You have yourself proven that until you used your upper back by focusing on your arm use (and therefore activating the upper back), that the leg lifts were not nearly as effective nor satisfying.

The advanced pose is very impressive isn’t it?! 😉 It’s really not the same pose at all and uses the muscles in a completely different way.

Keep doing what you’re doing. It seems to be paying off very nicely!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂