Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi Virginie

As I relayed to you in that PM, I apologise that I did not see your post until just now. It was the second last day of my teacher training program and well, life was and is a tad busy…

So, firstly … CONGRATULATIONS. I hope all went well with the delivery of your little girl and your health is back to normal.

Yoga after a natural birth is pretty much as you like it. Yoga, however post C-section is a completely different matter. It is essential for you to give your tissues time to knit properly.

If you have done a lot of yoga before the birth then it is a possibility that healing will be quicker than normal. I would leave it to your intuition plus guided by professional opinion.

Probably needless to say (regardless of method of delivery) you may need to relearn how to engage your core muscles – which by the way is more than simply sucking in your stomach. This is vital for attempting any yoga practice.

While you are healing from the C section itself you will find that conscious breathing (aka Pranayama exercises of all types) will help you enormously. Perhaps some gentle stretches and mindful movement will work for you. I haven’t checked on the internet yet but I am positive you will find something regarding post C-C yoga exercises. 😉

As for poses and breastfeeding, while you are recuperating you’ll just be avoiding placing too much pressure on your breasts. That is a self-limiting exercise. You’ll know when enough is enough I promise you. Plus when you lie on the floor you’ll adjust your arms to create the space for your breasts.

When you get back into the hot room, the main issue will be to increase the intake of fluids and electrolytes appropriately (to keep up milk production, to stay hydrated yourself as well as avoid constipation). When I was breastfeeding I was taking at least 6 litres every day.

Let me know when you get back into the hot room. I am pretty sure I have given some advice about the practice in the forum elsewhere. If you have specific questions, come back, I am sure I will get back to you much quicker than I managed this time! 😛

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

HI Erika and Kristin

I was away for 4 days and couldn’t get to a computer. Oh, alright, it was great not having to get to a computer! 😉 Thanks for getting the ball rolling K!

Anyway, Erika I have other things to offer.

Firstly, the best place to start is to ask you about your leg set-up. Can you get your bent leg at right angles? And if it is, when you bring your arm to your leg does that leg still stay at right angles? This is quite easy to check! You don’t have to look up at the ceiling. Try looking in the mirror and checking into the sensations in the legs too.

That’s your first assignment: Checking on bent and straight leg set-up. Does the bent leg stay at right angles and does the straight leg hip stay put or does it ride upwards when you bring your arms into position.

After that we’ll take it a step further

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Neha

Kristin is correct: Alignment is important! Well – actually alignment is important in all poses! it can make the difference that makes the difference for you. It’s what all my work is based on 😉

In this pose I would add that you must pay extra attention to your ankles. Often the ankles will fall inward (with the effect of collapsing the foot and affecting the complex physiology and alignment of the knees). So paying attention to the way the feet and ankles are will have a flow on effect for the knees and hips.

Let us know how you go to see if we can help you further

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi jasnags

So, in Standing Bow perhaps you will go in less fully and just work on form. In Sit-up, try bending the legs when you pull on the feet. Go and check out the technique in the forum and it’s fully covered in the Hot Yoga MasterClass.

It appears that your hamstrings injury has made your left hamstrings lacking some strength. Using the technique in the Hamstrings blog will actually help restore strength (as will numerous other hot yoga poses) but stretching it out may be counter productive

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

PS I hope that made sense, I am seriously jet lagged at the moment!

Hi Romy

Glad you finally worked it out. It’s amazing something so basic had slipped your attention for so long (and that of your teachers who could actually see you 😛 )

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi sweatheart

Thank you so much!!! :cheese:

More important than listening to your instructor is listening to YOU! Do what’s right for your body. If you don’t react there really is not much they can do about it.

As for running! If it works, do it. There are plenty of running yogis or yogi runners. I am at teacher training at the moment so to keep it short, I would recommend you make sure that you pay attention to good precise technique with Hands to Feet and check out the sit-up instructions too

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Joey

Apologies for not getting back to you more quickly. I am just getting ready to leave for Teacher Training (my course in Costa Rica). I have a lot of last minute things to do.

Quick thoughts. Your left foot problem is causing you to stabilise your body more by using your right side of the body. So you are no doubt using hip muscles and others too to get the stability that you need in order to maintain balance while you’re doing ANYTHING: walking and of course yoga included.

So it seems to me that you have a tighter psoas that is causing pain and that would seem to be reflected in the problems you are having in those poses. Massage? Physio? Is that being sought or has that been looked at?

What can you tell me about the left foot? What are you doing to rehabilitate? What exercises? What is your walking like now? Where do you place the weight when you happen to be standing on 2 feet?

Anything that you can offer to help so I can keep think… 😉

Off to finish my preparations

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi hotyogadurban

I think you will find with a quick Google search to confirm that an infra red device is not going to emit ultra violet rays. It’s a different part of the spectrum!

Have you told or read that people get sunburn?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Liana

Can you tell me what you do from the waist down in your backbends? Tell me which muscles you are tightening up? Glutes? What kind of pelvis stabilisation are you applying?

Check in the next time you practise. We may continue this PM or here depending on the outcome.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Jen

Looking for a course can be quite personal. What are you looking for precisely? There are MANY courses that teach you by making you recite a script. There are MANY courses that include countless sessions of sitting in front of PowerPoint style presentations either projected or reading them out from handouts. You may not find that out until you have actually attended so that’s a problem.

What you want depends on your outcome. Watch out for courses that say they will only certify you in ‘their style’ of yoga and nothing else and make you sign agreements to limit your ability to teach.

I have my own teacher training program. You can see that at Hot Yoga Teacher. If you would like to ask me any questions about that program I am very happy to help you! :coolsmile:

In our program there are obviously elements that would dovetail in with other yoga courses. However exercising and doing yoga in the heat brings its own very important challenges. Hot yoga is more than just yoga in a hot room.

Course participants at our program will spend significant time learning many specific aspects of teaching in the heat. This includes covering the risk factors of exercising in this extreme environment and helping ensure that your students (and of course the teacher) stay safe and risk-free!!! That’s in
the Hot Yoga Doctor Teacher Training Program

Let me know if I can help you further!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Corinne

Your challenge is over! How did you go? have you rested and recovered yet? Or have you still got that horrible pain in your back?

It is possible that you have a tight and weak psoas muscle that is causing the pain in your lower back. That is one reason and it’s quite common!

You could also have been physically exhausted. I hope you’re feeling better.

I apologise for not getting back quickly! Putting the final touches on my teacher training course which starts in 9 days and I am running a little behind with forum responses!!!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Samina

Your studio is plenty hot enough. There is neither magic nor mystery with the 105 degree figure. It’s a newish ‘fad’ to quote it. Your studio is plenty hot enough. Work on a general rule of aiming for body temperature. And really 105 is an upper limit and gives absolutely no margin of safety for the body.

Humidity levels are good from 30 up. You’ll find that generally speaking 40 – 60 makes for a satisfying sweat.

Imagine how much more environmentally friendly your studio can be by using naturally available heat! Lucky you

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Vicki

Congratulations!!!

Your anxiety is natural. Just embrace that as a part of your excitement. It’s actually quite normal to wonder how you’ll shape up for the experience.

It’s the bit about telling the other Bikram teachers which piques my interest. Firstly, you have no idea how they’ll respond to your news. That is in your head. It’s still just a story.

Granted, knowing what most of us know about many B Teachers (those that have drunk the Kool-Aid) it COULD be on the cards that they COULD tell you that you’re making a mistake, that you can only go to BTT to learn BY …. yada yada yada. Most of that is THEIR opinion and a lot of it is based in myth and propaganda. They COULD tell you that you won’t be able to teach at that studio. ALL ‘coulds’.

They COULD also say: Wow, Vicki, that’s great news. Congrats. We can’t wait to take a class of yours. Where will you be teaching?

There’s often a part of us that wants others to like, approve or condone what we do, or have some joy in our joy. That may not happen here. Would that matter?

The real question might be to you: Do you care? And if you do care, WHY do you care what they think? It’s YOUR dream. Not theirs. It’s also your life. What one would hope is that your teachers would encourage you to do what you want to do and not get caught up in politics, mythology and stories.

There are some terrible reports of recrimination, humiliation, violence and aggression from particular teachers towards people who dare to suggest that there is something else that one could do rather than the Bikram recital bootcamp.

I receive personal letters from teachers who went through the BTT and say that it was a waste of time and not worth the money or the time they spent. Others object to the lack of knowledge, others say they can’t believe they spend 2 months and then find that they have a certificate but leave with NO TEACHING or POSE ANALYSIS skills at all.

Whether one finds value in the experience, or even has a good time at ANY teacher training has nothing to do with whether the program is actually any good or if they are or become a good teacher.

There is no ONE way to do anything in this world. That’s part of the beauty of it. Getting caught up in what ‘they’ think or what ‘they’ say to you is just wasting your precious time and energy. What’s worse if you waste time on what they COULD say… 😉 because that is not even happening.

Question why you need to tell them at all OR why you need to keep it from them. What is the motive? If you don’t tell them so that you can protect yourself from a barrage of unwanted opinion then perhaps that’s just a telling sign of what you’ve managed to steer clear of by doing someone else’s training.

Ultimately you’re doing this for you, so others’ opinions shouldn’t matter to you. Unless you’re talking about your significant other, or your family whose opinions you may request but not necessarily follow the advice they proffer.

NOW, I do recommend you let it all GO, and get on with your own life! Love what you’re doing! There’s enough to go around without the scarcity thinking and protective attitudes to something that is available to us all

Oh, lastly … what can you expect? Who knows? Do you have to learn a script? What are YOU expecting? :cheese:

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂