Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Great question Wallflower

I think, like most things, the ritual was derived through convenience. I would say that the first studios only had one wall of mirrors and that was at the front of the room. Out of that came the standard. Often the reason gets made up retrospectively. For example: ‘You stay facing the same way because stepping out on carpet is a great way of strengthening your legs and inner thighs.’ Then myth becomes engrained and everyone starts to believe it, and they are totally unable to name the source.

These days there are plenty of studios that turn for poses along the mat. It’s no big deal. But I guess it’s just group etiquette to follow the main orientation of the whole class where possible. I too hate sinking into other people’s sweat puddles. It’s really off-putting.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Fia

Welcome to the forum!

Do you have to stop and rest? That depends on the problem. Are you feeling acute pain? You seem to have read quite a few posts. If it’s a hamstring weakness then get that checked out. If it’s technique issue then check out and employ the techniques addressed in Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga.

There are other poses that have related pose mechanisms to that referred to in the post above. When you go to class next, work out where and when in class you feel the problem and I can hopefully point you in the right direction.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Philip

I’ll be interested to read how much more effective your heater operates when you have the carpet down.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Gale

I was thinking that because it is ONLY happening in this pose that we should approach it from a different angle for a while…

Would you try going into this pose and placing your forehead in a position on the leg where your camping doesn’t occur?

Get EVERYTHING else right, the hip alignment, the foot positions (heels aligned) everything except the forehead to knee. It will be forehead to top of shin methinks. You can talk some time exploring this and little by little moving your head further up.

If that doesn’t work come here as I have another idea.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Binny

I am so grateful that you have worked through ALL your problems and I so happy that I could guide you there. Thank you so much for coming to report your transformation. I love being able to share in your joy.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Robin

I would like to tell you a little true story!

I am reminded of a couple who used to come to my first 2 public studios. They were the studio regulars coming 5 times and sometimes more per week. They loved it. They both had amazing benefits from the classes. The woman’s arthritis disappeared along with other holistic benefits. The man had some terrible back problems and arthritis all of which also had him living a pain free symptom free life.

That was UNTIL they started seeing an Ayurvedic practitioner (I have no agenda here except to tell the story btw) who told them they were variously Pitta and Vata/Pitta combinations and they should stop doing hot yoga. They heeded this person’s advice and within 6 months when I bumped into them, their arthritis and back issues were returning. Within a year the husband was scheduling himself for a back operation.

I can’t say definitively that the yoga would have saved them had they kept on going to class but it does seem that they would have been in a better position.

The point is that their reliance on someone else’s opinion was stronger than what their experience was serving up.

I could ask you because I can’t tell from your name whether you are male or female. I was wondering about hormonal challenges of someone in their 50s. I won’t make any assumptions. 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Briar

I guess it’s important to know first what limitations he has in everyday movements. Are there any? Or is he simply fearful of tearing his ligaments again? What is his balance like when he stands on one leg? Which ankle is actually affected?

Thanks for being patient… Lots of forum questions at the moment. Phew

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Kim

Oh you must be feeling very distressed by all this.

Here are my immediate thoughts:

It is possible that you were not well enough hydrated or are in need of some electrolytes. I just had a private student here the other day (experienced) who was completely wiped out after class. I couldn’t even let him go home for a couple of hours. And then when he went back to his hotel, he went to sleep (early evening) and I believe he slept through til morning.

I actually did invite him to take water into class and he declined saying that he doesn’t like to drink during class. Now you’re probably thinking that you drank and that wasn’t it. But this was a very experienced yogi who, much to his own surprise hadn’t drunk enough. You’ve only had the one class so you have no other experience to gauge. So this is definitely a worthwhile thing to consider.

You have had lots of wonderful experience as a runner, trainer and ballet dancer. It’s always fascinating to me that the movements in yoga can reach all your cells in a way that ‘regular’ exercise cannot. So another reason for your response to the class is that you ‘moved’ a lot of stuff, and possibly a whole lot of physical stuff around your body. Not to mention the emotional ‘cleansing’ that this yoga can help you process.

Now, is it normal for the instructor to want you to stay in the room? Yes it is! It does depend on the student and their response to the class. (There are some teachers who are adamant that you MUST stay in the room no correspondence will be entered into. That’s a different story). If I have a new student and they want to leave the room, I will ask them if they would please lie down so that I can literally keep an eye on them. My rationale: It’s cooler on the floor, I can look after them and my other students. I can place a wet washer on their forehead, I can reassure them. This is better because there have been numerous times when that student has, despite the circumstance, rejoined the class. If you walk out, it’s hard to come back in. That’s a significant factor.

I can’t stop them going out. I can only request they stay in. There are of course times when I let them go out of the room. But that would be ONLY if I go with them to reassure them. If they’re feeling sick, I can’t let them be alone. If there’s someone else who can run the class then great. Or I’ll ask the class to continue in the pose their in or whatever works.

Kim, for your own cyber-safety, would you please go to your ‘control panel’ and edit your username so that it doesn’t reveal your email address? If people want to contact you they can do so by clicking on PM (to access the Private Messaging system). Then you can choose who has your email address.

I hope you’re feeling better.

If you’re willing to go back to class, get some electrolytes into you before and even after class. Understand that the second class may seem harder than the first because your mind will either act as if it knows what’s going on (it’s done those poses now!), or may want to attach some importance to your difficulties today. Now that you know that, you can let that go and just prepare yourself physically and set yourself up to just experience what you experience, no judgments, that’s it.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

How motivating, Cory! Thanks for the update. Didn’t take long at all.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Joy

I see by your Wind Removing example that you have intuited that relaxing the part of the body you don’t need is imperative to ‘get’ your pose.

I also note that I don’t yet know which side of Triangle actually makes your left hip hurt. My guess is that on your first side where your left leg is straight that you feel it, but does it also hurt when you bend your leg for the second side (or is that left over discomfort)?

You indicate that your arches collapse. Can you confirm that this is in your life outside your yoga practice as well as during yoga? This I am sure is a major contributor to your issue. It will involve placing some conscious attention on your stance (whether you lean on one leg or use both legs and feet evenly when you simply stand up or cook or wait in lines or whatever); perhaps evolving the way you walk; it will involve understanding the process by which you balance in all your poses (even the 2 legged ones) and how poses are built from the ground up.

I’ll have some modifications for next post so in the meantime please check out my free video: Great Posture From The Ground Up and we can take it from there.

You know, my opinion is going to differ a bit from those you’ve spoken to. It is possible that your body can find it difficult to get through the challenge but this is usually because you have not built in the right rhythm for your body to physically recover, PLUS it is very possible that some of the techniques CRUCIAL to a safe practice are not being incorporated in your poses.

We’ll keep talking and see what resonates from the video and then we can talk about adapting your practice to hopefully say good bye to the pain!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Joy

I would like to ask you about your alignment generally and where else your hip hurts (which poses). What can you tell me about your arches? Do you walk with your feet turned out, in or straight ahead? I would like more information to work out if it is a physiological or pose technique issue.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Sandra

It’s totally up to you! I really like to do Pranayama at the beginning of even short yoga sessions because of the instant calming effect on my body and mind. I may do one set just to ground myself sometimes (without yoga!). There are benefits for the Kapalbhati exercise after your standing series, equally you could lie down. Try it and see how it feels to do it before lying for a final Savasana.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Freia

I could write for pages on this and I just went through your answers again and realized that there is an assumption that many hot yogis make that seems to be hinted at in your post. The belief seems to be that if you’re doing it hard, then you’re doing it right. To me that is NOT correct. If for some reason challenge and struggle have come to mean the same thing, then there needs to be a rethink.

Pose elimination or modification occurs to avoid risk of injury, it is not at a whim but due to functionality and safety. There are plenty of common pose mechanisms in the poses that repeat themselves many times throughout the class. There are ways to modify that preserve the intention of the poses. If the pose mechanism changes then so do the benefits. I like to find the way that will preserve what works in the ideal pose.

I have some thoughts I can add about some of your specific poses. So here goes, even if it is going beyond the philosophical discussion that we were having. 😉

Locust: Where are your arms? Can you still have them palms down but not so close together? This is the way you are going to strengthen your arms. It’s not just about the legs. Palms up doesn’t do the same thing but can be a modification if you really can’t have your arms palms down.

Tortoise: You want to challenge your core. Some people physically CANNOT do anything but curl down. They start to descend and their back rounds no matter what they do. Are you finding it hard or are you struggling? That’s the question you need to ask yourself. I can ask you other questions that may give me more, but we can take things one step at a time.

You mentioned slipping on the lino floor. It is true that there could be a weakness if you are slipping. If your body or legs are very weak then you muscles will create tension in your body to try to stop you slipping (protective reflexes included). That very activity will actually stand in the way of creating that vital balance of surrender and effort in your pose – because the whole time your body is ‘on alert’. A lino or marble floor is not slippery if it’s not wet. If it’s wet you will slip (even Bikram would). So for me it’s a question of safety and especially in litigious America it’s a question of whether the customer is being placed in an unreasonable and unnecessarily risky situation.

In all cases the modifications are about safety and reducing or removing risk. If your shoulder is aching and feels as though it’s ripping something when you straighten your arm up over your head in half moon you find a way to improve the experience. If you have a teacher barking at you to straighten your arms then you have a dilemma. Do I keep myself safe? Do I listen to the teacher because they’re supposed to know better than me (after all they ARE the teacher)? Do I listen to the teacher even though I have a little voice inside my head telling me that I am not ‘getting it’ and there must be another way? Am I worried that if I do something different that I’ll be singled out? Do I risk feeling uncomfortable physically so that I can feel part of the class?

What now are you thinking, oh thoughtful one! 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂