Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
in reply to: Sore Knees….but NO knee history! #8744
Hi Ack
A long time has passed since you posted and Connie responded! How are your knees now? Do you need any more input?
Let us know. I am back on track now after teacher training (my program in Costa Rica) and a holiday (well deserved and very enjoyable!) so feel free to type something. Hope you’re well
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Proper situp form #8737You’re welcome Liliana!!! (Happy me!)
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Christine
Gee! I suspected that! Paschimottanasana is NOT a ‘head to knee’ pose. It’s a straight back pose.
I am about to go out, so perhaps for a bit of homework take a look around at the technique information in the forum. It’s also available in minute detail in Hot Yoga MasterClass manual and other products (sorry, I had to tell you! 😉 ).
Your body is not ready yet for the pose that you have been putting it into in the way you’ve been doing it. Stay tuned cos we’ll fix it soon!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Christine
I need to know if this is in Janushirasana or Paschimottanasana.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Christine
In order to help you I was wondering if you would help me with some details.
So…
>> Where do you feel the tingles?
>> At what moment of the pose does it happen? ie what exactly are you doing?
>> Which precise poses is it happening? Is it the standing and the floor poses? Or is it just the floor pose?Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Problems deepening into this pose. #8731Okey dokey Liliana
I see! So yes, keep your legs bent and feet flexed back in order to grab the feet. Now, grab your feet from the outside (NOT INSIDE) your legs. And if you need to separate your legs (experiment with the distance).
Namaste
Gabrielle :))in reply to: Problems deepening into this pose. #8728Hi Liliana
Just verifying, you did mean separating your knees and feet didn’t you? Are you legs bent when you grab your feet? And are your feet flexed back (toes towards your nose)?
I am not really sure what you mean by grabbing your feet “as you come up”. If I can picture that properly then I imagine that the back can’t be straight when you do that.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: sustained holdings #8727Hi Liliana
I think a mixture of approaches is good! Even from class to class. Not just pose to pose. For example for Rabbit I prefer 2 sets because I find that most people don’t have stamina for one long set.
For Half Tortoise, the practice one gets for core strengthening on the way in and out is great to do in 2 sets.
I agree about the camel and supta poses.
In the end it usually depends on time available and how you feel on the day!
Experiment. Have fun. Be the observer.
(Then come back and report if you wish!)
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Body twisting to an angle – not square #8725Hi Pravin
Even though you feel your hips may be parallel to the floor, they may not be square to the mirror on that side, have you tried playing around with your hips, swiveling them etc to see if your body comes back to centre? I would like to know if things adjust.
Let me know and then we can move on from there.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: hip pain and severe leg pain #8724Hi Maureen
Hope your leg is feeling better. Please go and read Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga and see what happens when you apply this technique.
It is very common for people to strain their legs, hips or lower back by straightening their legs in poses where the legs are better off bent. Read the blog post and come back after you’ve tried that.
Getting one’s forehead to the floor is not actually the aim of that pose. It’s mostly taught in class but the deal is to get a straight back! I look forward to your next post and we’ll see if we need to go further than this (which we may).
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Tina
You may be surprised to discover that I have answered this query before!!!
See if this thread will help you and then come back and report! 😉 It’s possible that we need to work out a little more. You do need to let me know if your arm is shorter than the other or if it is a relative shortness because of its inability to straighten. Anyway, try this on for size: One Arm 4cm (2 inches) Shorter Than The Other
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Karen
It is my personal belief that 105 is really the very upper limit on heating. I believe that given a good humidity level that the heat need be no higher than about 100. It is possible that the heat is too much for you.
Other than that I can suggest going to get your blood tested. Know where you’re at. Perhaps there’s something just a little out. When you do get tested also ask for a 25 hydroxy test for your vitamin D levels because you have to ask specifically for that one and it is a vital thing to check.
Please come back and tell us what transpires.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Mat or Carpet? #8717Hi Kelly and others 😉
I personally think it’s a little ‘old yogi’s tale’ that you purposely don’t use a mat so that you can expressly build strength in the legs. The mat is there to define your practice space. It’s also there to keep you safe. There are a number of other reasons to use the mat. One – in a carpeted studio – is to NOT sweat on the carpet so that it can remain fresh and hygienic. There’s just about nothing more distasteful than standing or worse, LYING in someone else’s sweat.
Let’s just do yoga! Safely. Mindfully. The strength will build. And by the way, for those who don’t realise, everything is a prop – mats included! Nothing wrong with them. 😆
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: new to BIKRAM – will it help my injuries? #8716Hi Shazastar
Any updates? I would love to hear from you.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Karen
Do you sweat a lot during class? Is your towel drenched?
If you’re taking all those electrolytes I really question whether you need Gatorade at all. A nice little concoction is sea salt or Himalayan salt in water with some lemon juice. You can take that in class. However, if you’re a salty sweater (that is someone who sweats a tremendous amount more than a ‘regular’ sweat-er) then you need to replenish the electrolytes more than usual and again take the high quality stuff not Gatorade.
It can only be Rabbit pose if you’re not doing it properly. This is possible. We would need to talk some more about that one!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Prolonged Nauseous Feeling in Class – HELP! #8714Hi Aimee
How is it all going? Are you feeling better? Did you work out what the problem is?
Lisa, how did your studio visit pan out?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Bikram for weight loss – any stories for me?! #8712Hi Laura
Sorry for the delay, I am on holidays.
So!! Any progress since end of June? For me what usually happened and what others have often noticed is that change doesn’t always make itself obvious. Sometimes things just look as if they’re static and then all of a sudden you notice that your shape is changing rapidly… It’s as if it drops all at once.
Sometimes too I find that obsessive attention to weight or shape change can somehow be counter productive (others find it essential). Has counting calories worked for you in the past? (I am not calling you obsessive but simply drawing attention to the constant state of awareness that needs to be there if you’re counting calories and checking scales and counters). I know some need to have a rigid set of actions. Others simply need some food or activity rules. Each needs patience (mostly!).
Most people find that 4+ hot yoga sessions per week is enough to keep them sufficiently challenged and they don’t need extra CV workouts. May I ask if you are still doing 5-6 classes per week? And also I want to know if you are taking electrolyte supplementation in the way of sea salt or some commercial product. Some people retain water because of a complex scenario regarding water/electrolyte imbalance.
Over to you
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Problems deepening into this pose. #8709Hi Liliana
I was wondering if you’ve tried just placing a little space between the feet. Maybe 6 inches could do it. Play with the distance, see what effects on the shoulders and get back to me.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hurt hamstring #8708Hi Ziad
Any progress reports for us? Just wondering how well you’re managing with avoiding junk food. Perhaps more raw salads and fruit will help. It certainly makes you feel more healthy!
Looking forward to hearing from you
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: hip pain and severe leg pain #8707Hi Maureen
This all sounds very uncomfortable for you. This yoga is supposed to feel good! So, please would you mind answering some questions for me?
Can you tell me if the pain manifested during class and perhaps even what you were doing? (Perhaps you even remember which poses it happens in.) Or did it just sneak up on you? When did you notice it first: During or after class?
When you say you feel pain in the hip flexors and the hip is it hip flexors on both sides and left hip pain or all on the left side?
Are you in the habit of getting massage? If you have seen any therapist at all what have they said? Often the stock standard reply of teachers can be “you’re just working through something” or “it’s just xxx opening up”. While this could be true, pain that would stop you going to yoga in such a demonstrative way is possibly suggesting something else.
Let’s see!!!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Health Club exercises #8701Hi calcio
You know, the best thing you can do is DO the exercises with intention. When your legs disengage then reengage them. One really just has to do the time, build the stamina. There are plenty of gym junkies who go to hot yoga who need to do exactly the same thing as you.
Have fun and do the yoga
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Why can't I stand on the cooler side of the room? #8699Hi Julia
Seems to me that you are happy with your current challenge. Stick with that. You have nobody to answer to but yourself. There is absolutely no need to put yourself in a risky situation.
Anyway, it’s hard to say what the temperature is. If you really want to know, then either ask the studio to verify it or better still do it yourself. Measure somewhere midway up from the floor. The floor is cooler.
The temperature really need not be more than about body temperature (there are other considerations that have to do with humidity and combination of heat and humidity) but basically you are there to do yoga. You are not there to put yourself at risk or apply some kind of ridiculous gladiatorial challenge to prove something to somebody. Is it yoga to experience struggle and have to stop because you’re (heat) exhausted? NO! On the one hand you are being encouraged to move to the ‘hotter’ side and I bet that on the other hand you’re being told to ‘listen to your body’.
Now, if the room didn’t have a ‘hot’ side then moving around is really a very good idea. It helps you stay non-habituated.
So…
Let it go. Laugh silently to yourself when you hear those utterances. Know that ‘they’re’ not really talking to you. Pretend that you have a shield off which the bad stuff bounces and through which the good stuff passes. Know many people spread nonsense about the heat. You know better. There’s plenty of posts about the heat on this forum! Take a look 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: YogaBody supplement really works #8697Hi Charlotte
I can’t comment about the specific MSM benefits… but I can certainly and wholeheartedly agree that there is NO substitute for “front loading” the right stuff: Good nutrition and water, plenty of rest too… Lots of raw and green food. Thank you! :cheese:
With most of ‘us’ having years, decades or a whole lifetime of poor nutrition behind us supplementation can be very important. I don’t know many people who have had organic, mostly raw diets for their entire lives who don’t need or haven’t needed to take something. Who knows how long it will take to reverse the stuff that’s happened to the body?
Lots do fall into the “taking supplements to make up for poor diet”. These days if we’re not eating organic and a great proportion of raw food then we really do need to supplement for the discrepancies! So much to choose from…
Do you take anything? I am curious!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Danger from this pose #8696Hi Stephen
It’s a bit of a double edge sword! If you don’t use them, then they’ll degenerate faster, develop anomalies etc. Your surgeon is correct to a point of course. And that point: If the elderly person he is talking about is frail or has osteoporosis then this could be dangerous. It is important to know what one is dealing with. So start’em young(er) and get people using a fuller range of movement, hydrate and nourish well with all the right stuff and voila! 😉 Recipe for success. And yes, be curious and careful too… You wouldn’t start an 80 year old with these exercises. But there are plenty of 80 year olds who have been practising for years who are doing just fine!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hurt my neck with this posture #8692Hi Kristin
Yes, keep your head back! Actually there are 2 things to do when you are coming up from supta. Either head back or lead with the head. NEVER in between. My guess is that you strained your neck when you came up with your head by leading with your chin and hunching your shoulders (YOUCH!). Of course what you must do is use your hands and elbows to initially push yourself up. The other thing to do as you’re coming up is to separate your knees more and you’ll be surprised how much more easily you’ll manage!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
AuthorPosts
