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Hi Stacey
WOOPSIE!!!!
What the? And such a greatly specifically detailed post too! Yikes.
Quick question to get us on track (finally ;)): Can you tell me if your left leg is more knock kneed than the right? Or is it even? A few descriptive words please?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Jelena
Ouch! What comes to mind as a first port of call to investigate is something called heel spurs. This could be as a result of something called Plantar Fasciitis. OR it could be a condition (spur) unrelated to Plantar Fasciitis. So both would probably have to be investigated.
Heel pain can result from tight muscles on the back of the legs (calf muscles particularly). This seems already to have occurred to you.
There are very likely other causes. It could have something to do with the way you walk and how the support mechanism of your plantar fascia is able to support you.
Do you for example have trouble or pain with closed in shoes. It’s probably quite warm for you right now so you may not have had the opportunity to test that out.
Do let me know please what you discover. It’s time to see somebody methinks!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Solarium before or after hot yoga ? #8906Hi Sarah
I really have no idea as to whether the experience would be unpleasant as a result of sweating.
Sweating dehydrates and rids the body of electrolytes. So both do need replenishment. The answer to your question is probably quite complex with convoluted biochemical considerations to be taken into account.
Of course I wonder whether there is a good reason for you to go to the solarium!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: DVD's of both standing and floor series…. #8905Hi Diana
Thanks for writing. I promise hand on heart, that I have sent you responses to your email (as I ALWAYS do :cheese:).
For some reason, your emails often come back undeliverable. I could send you a PM or email through this system at the forum but they are linked to the same email and I would likely have the same issue.
SO…. You received 2 DVDs in the package and 2 other discs. These other 2 discs, the ones that are the subject of this email ARE AUDIO CDs. They are not DVDs. They are that extra different 90 minute class that you requested.
On requesting them you should have received an email that talks about these CDs. Given our difficulties in replying it may be that you didn’t receive that email.
I am hoping that you come and check the forum to see what I have written just in case once again the notification of this response is lost in the ether! 😉
PS I am going to remove your email from your post because of security issues. Have a great holiday weekend
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: 30 day challenge after not practising for 3 months #8904Hi Randi
Welcome to the forum! And thanks for the little note about the MasterClass manual. :cheese:
A very powerful way to approach your 30 day challenge is with an outcome in mind. Attach it – for example – to the way you will be able to be more active because your body aches disappear and (if this appropriate) you’ll be more able to participate with activities with the family. If it’s just attached to say, your wish to lose weight then that may not be a strong enough as that goal in and of itself may not have been sufficient up to now. You’ll work out what that seductive motivation is. It could have something to do with the way you’ll feel WHEN you’ve lost that weight, or done those classes, or the type of person you’ll be because you’ve accomplished it.
That’s one thing. The other is that I would suggest that you allow some wriggle room in your own ‘rules’ for your challenge. Make sure that you work in a day off per week. Make it 6 days minimum so you don’t wear yourself out and your body can recover.
It is possible that events beyond your control could make it impossible to attend a class one day. Then you just make sure that you take no other days off that week.
If you’re happy to start on September 12 then attend 4 classes up until that time and that should get you well on the way to re-developing the stamina and getting body re-acclimatized to the heat. However if you’ve done this yoga for 3 years then you kinda know the score, so if your outcome (see above) is strong enough theoretically there is NO reason why you couldn’t start tomorrow – just as long as you listen to your body (paying attention to your acclimatization process and the way it affects your practice, your hydration and electrolyte needs and any aches or pains that need to be noticed so you can adapt your poses).
Have fun, let me know what you decide.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hair in the way of practice- especially in rabbit! #8901Hi Cathy and Kristin
@C You’re welcome
@K Well, regular headbands simply do NOT work for me. The ones I use are elasticised at the neck around to the ears (the band there is about 1 inch wide). Then from ear to ear over the top of the head it expands from the 1 inch band to about 8-9 or so inches to cover the head.
The elasticised nature of the band holds my hair in place and I rarely if ever have to adjust it. The only time I may need to adjust it is in Supta because the arms over the head, combined with the head position can dislodge it.
My fringe/bangs are held off my face and I have no hair around my face at all. It’s the best solution I have ever found.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hair in the way of practice- especially in rabbit! #8898Hi Cathy
😆 A problem that has plagued many a long haired yogi!!! Heidi plaits work. I actually wear my hair in a low ponytail and then sweep the hair off my face with a headband which expands open on the top of my head like a scarf. They work a treat.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂PS: I seem to remember another hair conundrum thread that may have some other suggestions for you. Take a look. If you can’t find it, let me know.
in reply to: How long to wait? #8897Hi Amber
🙁 That’s really not a good story! I hope you feel better very soon.
You know, it’s likely you have a case of whiplash. How serious it is, I cannot tell from your post.
What is likely is that you have some muscle spasms in your neck and shoulders. This needs to resolve before you go back to yoga. It could disappear with a little muscles relaxant or pain killer or even a massage (maybe even a night’s sleep).
I think that it would be worth letting someone have a look at your neck to make sure that you have only a mild condition. I can’t tell you for sure but that person’s insurance should be covering you for a problem caused by the accident. Well, I would be surprised if it didn’t.
Please go get it checked out by a professional of some description (therapist, doctor and so on).
After your spasm disappears then you should be OK (under normal circumstances) to go back to yoga. BUT (and that is important) you must make sure that you protect your neck and shoulders by using your arms and shoulders in the correct way. Go and see the last video on the free videos page about posture..
If you’re unclear about what I mean hunt around the forum for posts about shoulders. See half moon, backbend, and other assorted posts. It’s important to nurse your neck back properly and then carry your good technique forward!
Stay safe and don’t take anything for granted. Let someone who knows put their hands on your neck and shoulders to work out how serious the problem is. (Put a claim in to your insurance company if that’s relevant so that your care is accommodated.)
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Mel
Have FUN trying. Be easy on yourself. Remember to surrender. AND recover.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Thumb and forearm numb? #8895Aaaah, that’s a relief! Thanks for letting me know, RosalynN! It must have been your shoulders. Keep them in optimal position in class and out …
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Building muscle tone & resting #8894Hi Anna Denise
Well, I don’t think it’s normal to take a class and ALWAYS feel sore afterward. I can understand it if you’re coming to a new type of exercise or if you’re new to exercise that your muscles would probably feel sore for a few classes (max). But for them to be sore every class? There is something underlying this and it should be uncovered.
Have you any other ideas of poses that may be the culprit? The other thing to look at is your nutrition and electrolyte levels.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Shoulder Impingement #8890Hi Sasi
I thought so! What you must do now is completely remove all poses that put weight on your shoulder. No planks or high and low push ups. It is most likely that all the progress you make with your physio is being stripped away with your yoga.
The hot yoga series popularized by bikram would be a better bet for you right now as long as you don’t introduce further shoulder and neck strain.
Do let me know if you’re able to do that and I can advise you specific modifications.
Keep seeing your physio and keep doing yoga without supporting your body weight on your shoulders!!!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Thumb and forearm numb? #8888Hi Rosalyn
It sounds as though you have something going on with your median nerve (in your arm). Sometimes these issues happen as a result of incorrect technique or poor posture. It could be something that was ‘brewing’ long before yoga. It would be impossible to say at this stage.
It is possible that you could benefit from reviewing the video at the very bottom of the page!
The video may resonate for you with respect to your practice and your posture. It may not. It could be pose technique that we need to look at. The kind of symptoms you are talking about could indicate a few things. Perhaps it is an issue with ‘carpal tunnel’ syndrome or something that has to do with lack of best technique with shoulder use or incorrect posture.
Let me know what occurs to you as a result of the above and we can move forward
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Shoulder Impingement #8887Hi Sasi
Does your practice involve sun salutations or not? Any high and low push ups or plank positions? And how long have you been doing your physiotherapy?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Creating a home hot yoga room #8886Hi Jocelyn
It’s really going to depend on whether you have drafts, how big the room is, whether it’s an open space or an enclosed room. The size of the room, the height of the ceiling, whether you have insulation in the ceiling and perhaps in the walls, the number and size of the windows…. the list goes on!!! In other words, if we are to help you, we need more information.
Well done for taking your practice home! It’s such a commitment.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: feet a cause for lower back injury in this pose! #8885Hi Martin
Thanks for the compliments. I am happy you are finding my websites useful!
Your post doesn’t give me quite enough information to know whether you’re engaging your core or not.
But I can tell you that you are giving me clues that you are ‘trying too hard’ and not surrendering. Pushing yourself beyond where your form or alignment is ideal for you, could be causing you some issues.
It’s very common for men (well, not just men!) to push past where they should be and that often happens because we want to follow the instructions. If you are going to a scripted class (recited) then this happens A LOT.
So for your next class rather than trying to BEND over into your back and side bends try LIFTING into them. It’s subtle but it definitely works.
If you need to check on your core activation then going to a therapist or some kind of trainer will help you. But first let’s see what happens with the above.
Arms above head: Just see if you can keep them there without activating your neck and shoulder muscles. The position of your arms is less important than resolving tension in your neck.
Come back and tell me what’s on your mind or in your body! 😆
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Mary Lou
The answer … is to stay with both hands on your hips/lower back for a while longer. You can do a lot of damage by only going back with one hand. It can be quite unsettling. So stick with both hands and keep focusing on lifting up through the spine and the chest rather than simply leaning back. Push hips forward and lift up, up, up!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂PS Welcome to the forum :cheese:
in reply to: having a lot of trouble balancing #8883Hi Mary Lou
The reason that works is because when people worry about their balance they end up thinking too much and may even chastise themselves. Focusing on the peripheral vision is a way to get your attention away from your thinking mind and start to allow the natural oscillations that occur with the ‘act of balancing’ without taking your attention to them specifically.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Endocrine Issues #8880Hi Lis
You’ve been on some journey.
I would personally be very wary of any spurious and unsupported claims about Bikram yoga depleting progesterone. There is much propaganda and misinformation out there.
I can NOT tell you whether that happens but I would be asking the person or people who are claiming that, the precise mechanism by which that depletion happens.
I would be checking on the temperatures of the studio I was practising in. Perhaps the temps are too high. Well, this is in fact very common in the BY world. Heat is a stressor and although higher temperatures (body temps) are useful for progesterone production, (or so my research indicates) my gut feel is that you don’t want to stress the system too much. That’s easy if for example the heats are very high and you don’t seem to be sweating a lot. The perception is that the heat is not so high. This could be happening.
So do some homework and find out the bases for the progesterone claim, see if you can find out REAL temp readings for the studio in which you practise and then come back and we can talk about that.
You could consider practising in your own studio. You could control the conditions.
There are plenty of people who have had children having been in the hot environment so of course we know that is possible. If your system is already quite sensitive then placing it under undue stress (adrenally and hormonally [generally] could be something you want to avoid or at least control closely.
Having said all that, I can swear that in 2 cases of women that I KNOW not just third hand ‘a friend of a friend’ stories, both these women have had children. One of them after having tried for years. Both of them after developing their regular frequent Bikram yoga practice. One of these women was told from puberty that she was infertile and would NEVER, ever have a child (that it was impossible). So she never tried. Now she has 2 children.
Coincidence? The yoga? We will never be able to tell. We can only surmise.
Knowledge yourself up and know what’s really going on. Examine your belief systems (around say that comment you read on the other forums). AND do the yoga in SAFE conditions. Limit the temperature to about body temperature and not those nosebleed temperatures that many studios subject their students to. Oh, and come back and tell me what resonates for you!!!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: having a lot of trouble balancing #8879Hi Jontue
You know, balance is exactly what you are experiencing: Moving backward and forward and side to side as your body is in constant search to find balance. What you need is practice at balancing and as you get that you’ll find that those gross movements become finer and finer. They won’t disappear. Balance is not a static thing.
Just surrender and don’t worry about it. Just observe and marvel at your body at work!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Stomach cellulite and loose skin #8876Hi Yaya
Wow, it seems you have found new inspiration. Thanks for the support Kristin!
OK, a couple of extra things. It sounds like you are practising at home. There is quite a bit of information in this website and forum that will help you.
There are some details and even examples of how to heat your room at home.
Also take a look at the free videos. I have dozens of unsolicited emails from previously overweight or untoned women who swear by the video about flattening the stomach and strengthening your back. There are other free vids that are very instructional: Find the Instructional Free Videos Here!!!
At my store I actually sell an audio and an audiovisual Home Practice Kit. They come with an mp3 of the class, CDs, an optional instructional DVD, plus a 196 page pdf which will give you detailed information about setting up your space at home and answer MANY questions about food and nutrition.
And the other product that may interest you can be found also at my store and it’s called Easy Weight Loss with Hot Yoga. This is a massive resource I put together which also has a 144 page recipe book with a lot of raw and transitional foods to help you incorporate raw food into your everyday life (along with cooked food recipes).
I don’t want this post to sound like a big plug for my products but please go and see if My Weight Loss Product sounds useful to you.
There’s plenty around to help you (including the free forum!). Please let me know if there’s any other way I can help you.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Shoulder Impingement #8875Hi Sasi
What style of yoga have you practised already?
Are you talking about an outstretched arm to the side, front and even back?
Are you able to put your hand on your shoulder (same side) and lift your elbow up and to what height?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Cyberry
Just 2 things: I am eagerly awaiting your results. And … I lost a few posts in the beginning months of this forum. If you’re taking a long time to write something, never (and I mean never!) press “submit post” without first checking it first with a click on “Preview Post”. Sometimes it times out, but, if you’ve previewed first you can always ‘go back’ til you find it. This is impossible if you have only selected ‘submit’.
Because you tend to write quite detailed posts it’s worth knowing that trick. Actually since losing a few, I almost never submit without a preview first.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: overworked #8873Hi Mich
Take care to keep contact with hands against chin on both the inhale and the exhale in Pranayama. And please take care with your shoulders by relaxing them down and back away from the ears. This will have an enormous positive effect on your neck. Just don’t push anything. It sounds as if you’re back on track
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: March 30-day challenge #8872Hi Natalia
I like to choose the simple approach: Unrefined salt. I use Himalayan crystals and have used other types too: Celtic (Atlantic), Maldon, or other types.
I use it in and on my food and sometimes I sprinkle a dusting into my water for class with or without a little lemon juice.
Anyway, it’s MUCH cheaper than coconut water – which I prefer to have directly from a coconut. 😉
Have fun
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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