Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi sashanjade

The first thing you can try is the more obvious solution of pulling back on the feet with the four fingers of each hand below each foot. Your fingers would pull against all the toes, from below them, at the level of the ball of the foot. Elbows point down (not out), shoulders down and back. Now, be prepared for your teachers to possibly tell you to only grab the big toes. You will definitely get better leverage on your ankles when you pull the foot as described above. There is no reason not to do it this other way, except that it’s in the dialog. So just know it’s a preference thing because of the script that may have teachers telling you you are making a disastrous mistake. It’s not really. It’s just going against the flow to get a better outcome for your body. Do tell me what happens. No need to let anyone know what you’re doing beforehand. Just do it and feel the difference.

I say obvious because there is another thing you can do. You have a kyphotic spine which means that paschimottanasana poses are naturally a challenge for you. Paschimottanasana poses are supposed to be an intense stretch for the spine. With kyphosis your back rounds forward. You should try to reverse this. May I ask a cheeky question (because it makes it easier for me!!!)? Do you happen to have my book or have access to it?

In it I explain how to approach paschimottanasana and all poses with that element that show in clear photos how to extend the spine in these forward bending poses. What these poses are designed to do is to elongate your torso and spine. When you bend up the legs a little bit, your weight shifts forward on your hips (sit bones touch the floor and anus lifts off), your back is straighter as you pull back on your feet (see instructions above), your arms are straight. As you pull back on your feet, you feel the traction in your arms as the FRONT of your body stretches upward. You’ll also feel the delicious stretch in your lumbar spine. You may need more detailed description which I am willing to give you. I have yet to unpack my book to give you page references, but stay tuned.

You have enough to go on for now! See you back here soon. 😀

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Christina

There are many pose elements we could explore together. It’s my job to try to find the source of your issue. The trick is to look beyond the obvious.

Can you tell me if you only ever get the pain on the left side?

How does the area feel when you try something such as Standing Bow? This is a counter position to the poses that are causing you grief at the moment. So if that works in any small way then do tell me. It won’t be the whole answer though. I just want to find a way to help you relieve the issue now. If it does I can give you something to do easily at home without the issue of balancing on one leg.

Have you seen the video called Great Posture From The Ground Up? Clicking this will open it up in a different window so we can keep talking. 😉

It’s possible that the way you weight your body through your feet could be making things difficult. Let’s try to exclude that on the gross scale. There are subtle elements of weighting that effect Triangle, but first let’s see the answers to the above before we go on.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

You never know, Jim! Stranger things have happened. 😉

Hi Juli

Trying hard not to yet still resting? It happens to the best of us! Everybody rests on their calves at some stage. Sometimes it’s when you just don’t have the puff anymore. Just descend to a point above and see if you can stay there. 😀

I shall keep a look out for your post
Thanks for the blessings

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello juli

Thank you! I am so happy you love it. Are you saying that you can descend with a vertical (and straight) back? When you do descend to your limit, tell me please are your calves and hamstrings touching (even resting) together? What are you working on while you’re boxy (hehe)? Can you describe what happens the moments before, the moment of and the moments after you are told to come back up?

You didn’t think I would just come out and give you the answer do you? 😀

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello perrec

I am wondering about your hydration. Before I was certainly concerned about the level of heat that you were subjecting yourself to. So satorisan is correct to a point. The information you have given is that you have undertaken a 30 day challenge. The historical information is that you have been in conditions I would consider too hot. So stress is definitely a factor.

The questions I could ask you are: Did you go for 30 days straight or take a day off every week? And what do you mean by weight loss AND gain?

Well done on completing your challenge.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Eva

Just wondering something: Reading about Tetany’s syndrome resonated with you because of your experience. So what success have you had simply breathing normally during class, (and breathing through the nose), hydrating well, dosing up on electrolytes? Because it’s clear you are an intelligent woman and you have thought about this very carefully. It wouldn’t take much change in your habits to do the above because half of the list can be taken care of outside the studio and then it’s up to you and your breathing. What success have you had?

Have you tried sipping water with salt (and lemon juice) or your electrolyte supplement DURING class?

Have you ever practised yoga without the high heat (maybe low to mid 30s celsius)? What happened? If you haven’t it’s really worth a try. If you can’t do that at home, then perhaps your studio will put on an appropriately heated class to try to exclude heat as the trigger. Probably the first step would be to go through the entire 90 minutes at home with low or no heat as a control.

I just thought I would add these ideas before I retire for the night!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello racoll53

Thanks for being patient. We’ve been moving! So sorry because the answer is really simple! :cheese: I just didn’t have internet.

The problem you’ve been having with this pose has been that you’ve been a) following the recited instructions and b) influenced by other people that you can see directly or indirectly while you do this pose!

So, this quite clearly illustrates what I stand for: Clear instruction that fits the OUTCOME of the pose. Allow me to tell you where your studio practice has you struggling to do this pose, yet in your kitchen you can do it, beautifully!

Here’s what you do in class (a little abbreviated):

1> Inhale arms up. Swing arms into position.
2> You bend the legs and try to get as low as you can. You also try to get your body low and you lean forward.
3> You lift right leg to wrap over the left…

And here’s what you did in the kitchen:
1> You were probably standing near your bench and you bent your legs.
2> You probably just lifted the leg and wrapped and discovered you could get further than you can in class!

Haha!!! So what’s the difference? Is it really just that you didn’t wrap your arms?

The answer is no. It actually doesn’t have anything to do with the arms. And that’s GREAT news. Because you can repeat this success in class with the understanding that your pose success (with the wrap in particular, in this case) has EVERYTHING to do with understanding the OUTCOME of this pose and not following scripted instructions to the ‘T’ … because those instructions are misleading and are actually at loggerheads with the outcome … and present you with a couple of things that are ambiguous. That and the fact that most other people are unwittingly being misled and thus all making the mistake together. There’s a part of us that believes that everyone else must be doing it correctly so we tend to go along with the pack…

My philosophy is that a pose is not something you do only when you get it or are flexible enough to get it. A pose is what everyone does regardless of flexibility and how deeply they get into it. In other words, you set up a pose, you go into a pose and at every moment you are IN that pose exhibiting the exact behaviours and using the exact pose mechanisms that the experienced yogis are using. And the only difference will be that you go in less deeply (but you look just as good! because you’re doing it well). This is possible with every pose. If you, for example are wobbling or can’t stay in something such as Standing Bow, it’s because most likely, you are ‘charging forward’ and ‘bringing the body down’ faster than people who use the proper mechanisms in the body do to properly express that pose. That’s another story, but the short explanation of that is that when you actually perform the poses with the right instruction, taking into account body and pose mechanics commensurate with proper physiological expression, that the poses become instantly more easy and satisfying and you can FEEL your body working the right way. It is no longer about the way your body will look when you get into a pose, you can FEEL it working every single microsecond. You experienced that in the kitchen so let me give you specifics.

Alright, so let’s continue:

The difference is in point 2 of the first list (of 3) where you sit down and lean forward.

In the kitchen, being close to a bench or table you probably kept your body upright. (BTW full instructions with photographs are detailed in my Hot Yoga MasterClass manual for all poses and in all pose tutorials… and if you have my book then take a look at the Chapter for Eagle Pose in pages 102-107.)

What you did and have to do to have success in the pose, is to:

1> Keep feet flat, weighted evenly between both feet. Never, ever shift the weight from one leg to the other. Your body will do that naturally without major shifting of your hips and will do that unconsciously, just as it does when you walk or run or move!
2> Keep your head up, chin parallel to the ground, shoulders back (regular starting position for all standing poses) and bend the legs.
3> As you bend the legs, keep the body upright, head only moves downward in a vertical line. Allow your legs to bend, your lower back to arch so that your body is stable and your weight is still even over the feet.
4> Now simply lift the right leg and wrap it over the left. (Of course try the reverse, left over right).
5> When you’re in front of the mirror, your gauge will be this: Watch your head move down to a point when you bend your legs. If your head bobs up or moves from this position when you lift your leg up to wrap, then you’ve bent forward and need to start again.

Clearly you can do all this with your arms in the crossed position. So add that in too.

There you have it! A long explanation for something that will become an automatic expression of the pose and one whose principles you can apply to other poses. Poses are not endpoints. They are works-in-progress.

Please come back and tell me of your progress.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Abby and Rebecca

Abby, I believe you are correct to go and check your situation out more closely. The lethargy and weakness are things that warrant a little investigation. If you are willing to to report back that would be great. I could ask you a lot more questions about your general everyday habits and even the conditions of the heated room you attend. So we’ll start with this: Perhaps you could tell me if you feel lethargic and weak after ANY activity or if it’s ONLY after hot yoga. That would be helpful.

Resting heart rates indicate heart efficiency. Waiver … in healthy individuals. In fact, in healthy active individuals. It means you have an efficient pump. When you are active during class, Rebecca and your heart rate doesn’t climb much then that is telling you (again read waiver) that your heart is efficient and doesn’t need to ‘stress’ or ‘strain’ much to keep your motor running! 😉

Contrast that with somebody unhealthy. Hey, if you’ve ever gone through periods of low activity (limited or no exercise) and then you have to run a short distance, or you return to exercise, then you’ll know that in no time at all your heart is beating very fast and you are very pooped! It takes some regular exercise to get that efficiency back to where you’re not pooped and your heart is not performing like a runaway train.

I think you’ll find that if you research resting heart rates of say, high level athletes, that you would find figures of 40-50 bpm give or take.

The yoga is definitely teaching you to breathe more efficiently and more deeply. Same with the efficiency of your body’s systems.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Jill

I do believe with a couple of things to look out for, you can go back to yoga before you have the operation.

I would avoid Toe Stand. Are you saying you CAN do Tree Pose?

The danger is not necessarily bending the leg up in that manner, but when you straighten the leg again to standing. If you feel anything ‘catching’ in your knee joint when you straighten your leg, in ANYTHING you do from now until you have the repair, bend the leg as much as you need to (you should feel relief) then massage with your fingers on that medial side as you start to straighten the leg. You’ll be avoiding further tearing that way.

With a tear in the medial meniscus, theoretically, you should actually be able to do Fixed Firm because you are actually creating a little more space on that medial side by sitting in that way. My advice to you is to do one of 2 things.

First, remember that your default position for this pose, if you’re feeling too much pain with the bottom on the floor (see next point) is to just sit with knees, heels and toes together in a regular ‘closed leg kneel’. Sit upright.

Second, try sitting in the regular way with bottom on the floor, but regulate the pressures by widening the knees as much as you need to. Your thighs may be even at a 45 – 90 degree angle to each other. Which means your knees may be quite some distance apart. Keep them wide (unless of course there is no pressure AT ALL on them in the regular position) until after the op.

Remember the first tip about straightening the leg and being mindful of any pinching of the meniscus.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Paul

Generally the poses that would exacerbate or inflame an inguinal hernia are the ones where you bring your body down from upright, with a straight back. These poses include Pada Hastasana, Standing Separate Leg Intense Stretch and also Half Tortoise.

Do you have a sense of other poses that bother you too?

The solution for poses similar to the above 3:

Avoid entry with a flat back. Mimic the entry to Standing Sep Leg Head to Knee. In other words, tuck the chin first, and roll the back, descend with your head close in, then place the hands on the floor.

Because the technique described is an important protective and restorative modification, I have included it in my manual (with photos too!) “Hot Yoga MasterClass”.

Of course it is necessary to try to maintain your muscular corset! That’s your core and it’s not the same as ‘sucking in your stomach’. I have another question and that is, how do you do your sit-ups? Try to break it down completely for me please.

Let me know what other poses you sense are ‘challenging’ your hernia.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Perrec

I need you to look up “heat exhaustion” and “hyponatremia”. I need you to see that these 2 conditions overlap.

But what I most need you to see is that confusion is a sign of heat exhaustion. It is possible and indeed likely that the room you are in is too hot. That along with the humidity is creating a very high “heat index” (hello Dr Google!).

There are critical temperatures that your body most not reach in order to STAY healthy. Ambient temperatures do not necessarily mean your body temperatures have climbed too. But it could be that your core temperature is too high. This is critical. STOP practising in this hot room NOW until we exclude heat from the equation.
[strong]
If I am on the right track then you must not be practising in this room at all until they lower the temperatures.[/strong] I don’t say this lightly. This could make it difficult at your studio because there are some very weird attitudes in the Bikram world about making the room much hotter than it actually needs to be.

I also hope I am very wrong here and that we’ve missed the mark.

Please do something about this immediately.

I hope I got your attention. I am only sorry that I did not see your comment about the ultra-high heat in the room. I bet you that you could practise at home with your home heaters on at a high heat (say in the 30s – celsius) and not feel this confusion. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND doing this to test this theory.

Please get back to me.

I am going to send you a private message now to make sure I have alerted you to this problem in case you are not getting notifications for this thread.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

PS we can talk about the other issues (even studio related ones) in due course.
PPS I am alarmed by this. Please take this seriously. If heat is excluded then you can go back to your studio.