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in reply to: Sacroilliac Joint Injury #6921
Hi Johanna
May I please ask you in which poses you feel your back reacting and if you can be as specific as possible I would be very grateful. Please detail what you are doing when you feel the problems. Also what relieves your pain?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Yogabody supplements #6915Hi Jeffrey
It’s actually not available retail unless your studio is stocking it. Here’s the link to the online site: Yoga Body Supplement.
Someone out there correct me if I’m wrong: the YogaBody provides trace minerals, a trio of green stuff (spirulina, barley grass and chlorella) and vit C and some MSM. You still may need some electrolytes and for that why don’t you go the low cost route and take some pure unrefined sea salt or Himalayan salt. That way you can get the best of both worlds. 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Labral tear (hip) #6912Hi Jackie
Thanks for your very informative post.
I have known MANY a yoga teacher who has hip problems. I wonder if the pursuit of the open hip, and the pursuit of flexibility without creating the required strength of structure underlying it before moving further in a pose is the cause of this problem.
As you know I believe passionately that to have strong alignment and a precise practice will get you further than you can imagine – and I don’t necessarily mean depth in the pose but how you experience your benefits. I call it applying Precision Practice Techniques – the principles that this forum (and my manual) is based on.
Do you have any theories to offer? I would certainly love to hear them.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hip flexor discomfort – question #6911Hi Rachel
I just wanted to say that I will get around to your answer soon! So much forum activity!!! Your question is on my list of things to do!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Opening a Studio #6910Hi Suzie
That’s a lovely sized studio you are preparing. May I ask if you have thoroughly searched around this forum? There are some hints and contacts dotted around the place. Including types of heaters, ideas about insulation and window coverings.
Please let me know
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Melinda
A vital part of this pose is keeping the hips in alignment. Perhaps with very tight hips this student overbalances and could even fall over. I would prefer to see a person work on their hip alignment as a matter of priority. This way she can work on a great form rather than achieving a goal which isn’t going to achieve the opening she wants and needs in her hips. The next step for her is to move her feet into alignment even if it’s a 16th of an inch each class.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Tightness along tops of my feet #6908Hi Ilonka
What can I say? It’s just patience for you. I assume you have your fingers facing forward. Just keep testing the waters and bending your elbows. Have you tried separating your knees a little. And of course your butt has to stay firmly on the floor.
I would love to hear of your progress.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: C6-7 Fused Disc #6907Hi Srinivas
The poses I would modify are Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Janushirasana and Rabbit (and of course Standing Head to Knee if you are in the final stage with head to knee). When you go into the standing pose put your nose on your shin and don’t be concerned with curling so tightly to get your forehead on your knee.
In Rabbit you have to find a point where you can put your head to the floor without a big strong chin tuck. Perhaps the point will be halfway between your forehead and the top of your head. You will have to experiment. What you can do is NOT walk your knees to your forehead and see what sort of pose you get. Make sure you are in some way able to alleviate the weight from being mostly on the head.
And just untuck the chin a bit in the floor Janushirasana and proceed as above. The great news is that you can still get the wonderful stretch through the body with good technique.
It’s interesting that your neck hurts only after Poorna Salabhasana but not the other belly down poses. Have I got that right? There’s no need to push it. Just release from the pose and then fold your forearms to land parallel to the front of your mat and lay your forehead on your forearms.
I hope that helps!
What does your physician say about your yoga practice?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Yogabody supplements #6904Hi Marise
I think for the most part this product helps in providing a few key ingredients that help with creating an alkaline environment and seem to work well when taken with water prior to your class. There are different types of green ingredients (from the sea) and some MSM and trace minerals etc. It is not a magic formula per se. It is perhaps best to approach it from a holistic sense and how it works in well with a good, healthy mindful diet.
I think the right attention on building strength at any time in your practice with or without supplements is important. But I am pretty sure you won’t all of a sudden go hyper-bendy because of a green supplement.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Ankle sprain (should i continue exercise?) #6903Hi Chin
When you go for more medical or physical advice make sure you find out what you CAN do. It is important to maintain the right movement around your ankle so that scar tissue doesn’t unduly limit you in the future. You definitely don’t want to be encouraging any swelling with your exercise – whatever it is.
Good luck!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Tightness along tops of my feet #6902Hi Ilonka
Yes, this is the right place for your question.
Here’s what you can do! Just stop before the painful tension and just breathe into that area. Any frustration and tension you create by going too far back (or being unduly concerned about it) could create difficulties in surrendering to the pose. So try to let go of your body AND especially the expectation that you should be somewhere else in the pose.
Yoga is ideal because it teaches you to be happy with what you’ve got or where you are! So just let it go. (Just confirm for me: Are you somewhere between being back on your elbows and with your shoulders on the ground?)
The other poses that will help you are Standing Bow and Floor Bow. Regardless of your flexibility in Standing Bow I would hold my foot and not my ankle with my hand. Place your hand across the foot opposite the ball of the foot and not at the arch. When you kick back and up you will feel the area in question getting a beautiful stretch. It won’t happen for you if you are holding at the ankle.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: a story to share #6901That’s wonderful news Amy. You’ve gone through a tremendous amount this past 18 months. I am very happy for you. I do love hearing about it.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: March 30-day challenge #6900Hi Una
Thank you for sharing all that with us.
I look forward to reading more as you move through your challenge. I am interested to see where you find change and progress.
Feel free to pose any specific questions!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: excessive sweating #6897Hi Valeria
Thank you so much for the update. I have been wondering what was going on with you. You have great courage and determination. I am pleased to read you are keeping up with your exercise. Let me know if you would like some ideas to work your way back to the hot yoga in stages. PM me.
I hope there’s someone out there who has a story for you of their own personal recovery. I do have a story of someone who has withdrawn from a different type of drug recently. I can ask that person if they would like to share if you think it’s relevant to you.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Trouble with legs #6896Hi Ilonka
It sounds as if you are starting to learn how to really USE your whole foot. I am very excited to hear about that.
I may write an article soon about how the feet work. It’s fascinating.
However I have so many forum responses to write at the moment it’s incredible!!! 😉
Keep us posted
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Itching and runny nose #6886I see you Allison 😉 Woopsie!!!
Well, let’s see… What you are experiencing is normal but maybe not so common.
It could be triggered by the way you breathe – that is, you could be sniffing through your nose rather than drawing your breath in through your throat. If you don’t know what I mean, please let me know. It may help you to go and check out the free video: Effective Breathing In Hot Yoga.
I would be particularly interested to know at what stage of the class your itchiness and the runniness (if there’s such a word!) starts. They could be independent of each other. For example, does it happen at Pranayama, or only on the floor?
Does blowing your nose alleviate the itchiness as well as clear the fluid? Is your nose itchy on the inside?
One thing that often happens is that when one has such a distraction, when it is triggered it can keep re-triggering for the whole class. So the answer may be to find a way to avoid the trigger.
I would love to hear any more thoughts you have in your reply.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: a little freaked! #6877Hi Kimberly
I wonder if you can share with us a few things. Your issue may be a timing or a food thing or maybe even a combination:
>> What is the nature of food that you eat? What percentage cooked and raw? Whether you are an omnivore etc. Anything you would like to add.
>> At what times do you eat and when are you main meals of the day?
>> How many times per day do you eat? Once, twice, or do you graze?
>> At what times do you practice hot yoga?
>> What do you feel most comfortable eating after class?
> Can you clarify if you feel bigger in your clothes rather than feeling more toned and muscly?Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Breathing Exercises #6876Hi Sandra
I now have a better handle on what I think is going on for you. Let’s try this one on for size …
It is possible that in this early stage of your practice you are still ‘learning’ how to breathe… Deeply that is. It can be quite disconcerting to have the instructor count for 6 and you unable to get any more air in say, at the count of 3 or 4.
I know the feeling because it happened to me (as it happens for countless others). It took me more than 5 months before I could go through an entire set of Pranayama without sneaking in another breath or feeling as if I couldn’t go any further.
So is it possible that you are experiencing something like that? That you feel as if your breath is caught in your chest and you can’t expand yourself enough for the duration of the breath cycles?
If that is the case, then just keep working on it. On the zenith of YOUR inhale, when you can’t breathe in any more then simply hold your breath. Then exhale in as controlled manner as you can and if you can’t get any more out then just see if you can hold it or indeed take a quick sip of air. You will notice how your body will adapt and your lungs will become larger and have more capacity.
It is about patience and surrender. There is no schedule for you to get this right. Just do what you can and enjoy the path to a much fuller more vibrant breath.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Breathing Exercises #6866Hi Sandra
I am positive that the whole routine would still have great benefit. I don’t think that is the point however. I am wondering what triggers you to ask the question in the first place.
I can tell you however that “I know the feeling” of not wanting to start the class. Somehow the thought of starting Pranayama in the past has on occasion triggered feelings of dread perhaps because it heralds a whole 90 minutes of hard work. But – here’s the thing – as soon as I start the engagement of body and mind in this rather complex exercise creates a presence that brings me right into my practice in a quick and rather easy way. I have come to really love the way it grounds me.
So, what is it about this exercise that you would rather put aside? Is there a physical issue that makes this pose uncomfortable or is it more a mental obstacle?
I would be very interested to hear your thoughts.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Breathing Exercises #6863Hi Sandra
I think that most people would be extremely surprised to find out that some very strange things can happen with incorrect breathing.
Fortunately these are rare occurrences and I have only been witness to one (that was a very weird phenomenon indeed which I won’t detail here) and heard about another. Both had to do with incorrect Pranayama technique (the first and not the last exercise). Of course Pranayama is a forced breathing technique so if you are consciously breathing incorrectly and perhaps causing an imbalance in CO2 levels, you could conceivably hyperventilate at any stage throughout the class. These problems seem to be extremely rare.
Staying present with your breath and avoiding struggle will avoid most issues of breathing. Don’t overbreathe, try not to go too deeply with your breath or your pose with undue effort.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Y’all
Still trying to get that info to you about the sweat. Sorry about the delay!
Michelle, what’s your skincare routine?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: vulnerable knees #6859Hi Jennifer
Thanks for all the detail. I have another question! Are you still a runner/jogger/marathoner? How often are you feeding your habit? 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Planning to go next week. Some question. #6858Hey Nattie!
We are all looking forward to hearing how you went with your first class(es). Would you be willing to come and update us? We’re here to support you!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Is the studio I go to over-heating the room? #6857Hi Bricks
It’s great to hear of your enjoyment that has come with your practice.
If you are having a reaction to the heat and finding it difficult then it is either as a result of your internal or external environment. It is highly possible that with the warmer weather your studio’s environment is losing less heat to the environment.
If it’s because of your own bodily systems then it’s important to know where you are at with some kind of test and take it from there.
If it’s because your studio does indeed overheat the room then you need to know exactly what the conditions are to even be in a position to take action. As you have no doubt read, your perception of the heat can change due to ambient conditions and even your own physical, mental and emotional resilience.
Sometimes *stuff* happens and we simply feel hotter and less able to get through class. This happens to everyone. However, the effects of going to a room where the temps are consistently too high can sneak up on people and they get physiological symptoms of heat exhaustion. This is literally dangerous and even life threatening. Some people have stronger constitutions and can withstand the higher temperatures for longer so you can’t really compare Peta with Paula! 😉
Studios that have controlled heat systems create safety for their students. No prizes to someone because they can practice at 115-130F (45-55C) (and there are studios who have heated this high). There are no EXTRA benefits although it is often seen as some kind of great human feat.
So bottom line, know what you’re dealing with first!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Help! Excessive Tiredness #6856Hi zp
That’s great! To have a base point from which to work is very wise. I’ve said it quite a lot lately but if you don’t use proper unrefined salt instead of table salt that is a great place to start. It completely reverses the common belief that salt is bad for you.
If you’re wiped out after class – just as Valeria and Allison suggest – go late in the day and try perhaps a little less frequently and work your way up to your best rhythm.
It really is quite common for people to have all kinds of reactions while their systems are normalizing. But, systems are more prone to upset if there is an underlying lack somewhere.
Please keep us updated
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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