Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
in reply to: total hip replacement on friday #6202
Hi Amy
I’m excited for you! Thanks for keeping me in the loop (both here and via our personal chats). I will be thinking of you and sending special healing thoughts for a quick, efficient and thorough recovery … so that you can enjoying returning to your vibrant and active lifestyle…
Wishing you well, always
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: tendonitis #6194Hi Megan
I have several questions for you!
>> What is it that you do now routinely?
>> Do you work? At a desk? At a computer?
>> Are you right handed?
>> What gives you relief from these obviously very uncomfortable sensations?Please see what else you come up with as answering the questions may prompt you to think of other information that you realize has some relevance too.
Looking forward to your reply!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: ACL Reconstructed #6193Hi Elizabeth
I canNOT believe it! Did I really NOT answer your question?
I have probably disappointed you terribly and I feel bad! Please tell me if you have managed your issue. How is your right knee? Did you manage to get back to your yoga to your satisfaction?
I am very sorry that I seriously dropped the ball here. I remember reading your post and obviously got distracted. In the ensuing time things must have changed so if it is appropriate, please tell me how is it that I can help you?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: I am quite overweight and doing hot yoga #6192Hi Lori
Lee has some good points to make about body shape change and gave some insight into his own challenges. Thanks!
I was wondering if you would be willing to tell us what “bad knees” means. Is there any difficulty in any other activity or is it just kneeling? Sitting down on your knees with bottom down on your heels as well is often a different proposition to kneeling in readiness for Camel pose. Can you tell us a little more? Because it could be about patience but I may be able to give you a modification or 2 that will keep you more connected with your practice rather than feeling despondent and missing out!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Sweat a lot, difficulty to hold postures #6185Hi Therese
To help me out a little, would you please tell me what exactly you find difficult? Which poses?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Vinny
Is it not possible to ask HQ to treat your application as if you were a home practitioner given your issue with studio locations? And what about getting a letter from your current studio based on your experience up to now?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: 5 tibetans and hot yoga #6164Hi Tia
I am not personally familiar with that Tibetan exercise although I believe that I have done similar things in Pilates. What I do like about the ball exercise is the way that the core is strengthened without involvement of the neck at all (and without involving other muscles in the trunk unnecessary for the exercise).
Thank you, I am glad you like my video!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: bustyness preventing head from touching the knee! #6159OK here’s the answer 😆
You really have no choice but to separate your feet. Is hip distance apart enough? Basically you want just enough space to have the opportunity to straighten and lengthen your spine. Whether that’s with bent or straight legs doesn’t matter. You MUST have bent arms and fingers that hold underneath the heels (ideally from behind and at worst from a small angle from behind and to the outside). Elbows bend so that you can activate your biceps muscles and not engage your shoulders!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂PS “no choice” means that you will have to have the fortitude to do it correctly despite what your teacher is telling you. I know that can be hard and bring up some stuff for not just you but your teacher, but you are really at risk of involving muscles that should not be used when doing it with your legs together, and at risk of some muscular strain in your back and shoulders etc. Any questions, please feel free to ask them.
in reply to: bustyness preventing head from touching the knee! #6158Hi polymexina
Thanks for posting! There’s absolutely no issue following on from an old thread.
Letting everyone else here know that I used the private messaging system to work out what pose was being referred to! It obviously wasn’t Awkward. A little detective work and we can make sense of it when you substitute in Pada Hastasana or Hands to Feet pose.
I now see that you beat me to it!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Trixiebelle
OK! Let me see if I can help you.
in standing bow pose when the Teacher says kick and stretch – I find I kick and then I stretch … to me I cant go in different directions at the one time.
I hope it makes it easier for you when I say you don’t really need to think of 2 actions at once. If you are stretching upward in set-up the only thing you need to do (besides maintaining your arm up high trying to resist it coming down) is to kick! Your body will find its position. The difficulties will come if you try to position your arm somewhere. Just kick. See other posts on Standing Bow to help you!
In Standing Head to Knee: Lock out the leg (it can be hard sometimes to keep it fully locked out as you position your leg and hands) but do what you can to keep the focus on a solid active leg. Try this too… Lock the leg, bend the other into position with leg at right angles and foot flexed, suck in stomach then round over to interlock fingers under the foot. Don’t lock your thumbs together. If they touch or cross that’s great but fingers provide a flat bed for your foot.
Again there are tons of points to learn by going to posts on that pose too!
Let me know how you go
And remember to relax 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: High Expectations? #6137Hi Cynthia
Thank you! You’re welcome and welcome to the site! :cheese:
I would like to answer your questions in turn.
Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes 😆
I only had a few minutes but may add more later.
Have the intention, have the goal. Let go of the day to day expectation of something visible or tangible happening. Just notice what you notice. Enjoy the process and let the magic creep up on you as you find unexpected positive changes affect all areas of your life.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Entering Knee Pain #6136Hi YogaSkier
What you are saying makes perfect sense! Can you make the same adjustment in Utkatasana now? Actually the way I do it is adjust my hips by swiveling them into alignment (this has effects that I can fine tune right down to the foot!).
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Jeffrey
If your heels are touching your hips with your knees apart that is fine. You should not allow any space between hip and heels.
What is not fine is feeling pain. If you are feeling pain please sit upright with your knees together as suggested (with feet pointing backward with heels together).
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Jeffrey
You teacher seems to be telling you what I recommended in one of my posts of the 2nd of January:
In this case you would avoid bringing the heel to hip for Tree pose and for Supta you would kneel with toes, heels and knees together and sit on the heels without the heels moving laterally. Sit upright and just enjoy this healing position.
Would you be willing to please go through your problem again as requested in the post of 2:20am 3rd January?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Jeffrey
I hope you can clarify your problem to me because I may be misinterpreting the information:
When I try to stand up straight and tighten the leg joint, it feels sore.
and then …
The soreness is only noticeable when I try to tighten the leg joint. It doesn’t feel anything when I am standing.
And the photo you gave me seemed to indicate to me a place on the outside of the left knee where I assumed it was hurting while you are sitting in Varasana.
So if it’s OK with you perhaps you can detail
>> everything in one place at one time
>> at what point in the pose (or in regular activity) and
>> exactly where the soreness happens
>> if it ever happens when you are in any other pose, when you are standing or if it’s only when you are sitting in various parts of the Fixed Firm pose.Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Jeffrey
It seems you may have some damage. Are you willing to go and check it out?
In the meantime you could avoid putting your butt between your hips. If you are experiencing pain on the outside of your knee it could signify some outer knee ligament or cruciate ligament damage.
A great way to practice at the moment would be to avoid twisting of the knee. This actually could resolve your problem in and of itself, but if it doesn’t then some intervention could be called for. In this case you would avoid bringing the heel to hip for Tree pose and for Supta you would kneel with toes, heels and knees together and sit on the heels without the heels moving laterally. Sit upright and just enjoy this healing position.
Of course if you think there is also something awry with your quadriceps muscles or anything else for that matter please do tell.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Jeffrey
This is the perfect place for your question!
It does seem to me that you would benefit from staying upright in the starting position for a while longer. A little extra time on your butt with a vertical torso will open your body up much more effectively and sustainably than going backward before time. I get the impression from your word use that your butt is not as heavily on the floor when you go backward. Correct me if I have it wrong. It does seem as though the ‘falling back’ part should have more ease in it than you are currently experiencing. Neither your knees nor your butt should lift at all on the way back.
Have the knees apart because that is perfectly acceptable. Just let gravity help you for a time (can’t tell you how long – could be 12 classes could be 30).
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Entering Knee Pain #6113Hi YogaSkier
There are 3 things that come to mind:
What does your professional health provider say is wrong with your knee(s)? Any provisional diagnosis?
Is it painful to set-up without putting your head back?
If it is then I would like to find out if you could manage a regular kneel where you sit with knees, heels and toes together and hips on heels (don’t let your heels spread out under your butt)? This is often experienced as a neutral restorative position for your knees and could help you.Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Stephanie
I like Nynn’s suggestion to think about coming off birth control pills. They do play havoc with your system. And I don’t think one could confidently say it was NOT the pill just because you only recently experience those terrible symptoms.
You want a natural solution. There could be ‘nothing more natural’ than not taking the pill. It’s just a suggestion and you have to do what’s right. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that this could be a successful strategy for you. The yoga does seem to play a role here too! 😉
The adjustments to your food (as discussed here and on private emails) is something well worth looking into regardless of your action regarding the pill.
Wondering if you would please tell me when you actually started hot yoga Stephanie.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Entering Knee Pain #6107Hi YogaSkier
Thanks! I just realized that I don’t know if you have your hands are on your feet or if they are on your hips. If they are on your feet then I would like to ask you to tell me what happens if you just leave them on your hips and drop your head back. In this case I would probably try first with legs parallel (hip distance apart).
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hot yoga IN an infrared sauna #6101Hi Tracey
It’s not really a weird question! Would you like to let us know the dimensions of your sauna? It could help to know how much space you have and what success you’ve had so far. I don’t know how big your sauna is. I imagine you mean it has room for 2 to sit.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Ventricular Tachycardia QUestion #6098Hi Thomas
I do believe that yoga can help enormously with cardiovascular problems. The question is whether hot yoga is the right place to start for you. I am not a cardiologist so this is just my opinion. No one but you can decide whether you should try it. I hope others may chime in and offer some thoughts.
Are the limits to your heart rate self-imposed? Does your specialist advise you to keep your heart rate below that level?
I just found a testimonial of a person with ventricular tachycardia. It’s someone who goes to a studio in Fitzroy Australia. They have an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator). This testimonial is definitely worth a read: Testimonial by Student with Complete Heart Block and Ventricular Tachycardia.
Now if this were me, I would do whatever I could to personally get in touch with the person who wrote this testimonial because I would want to feel reassured about their experience. Maybe they can offer you some advice about the best way to start or approach the practice. I would find out if they felt they made any mistakes that you could avoid. That kind of thing. In this way you could make a more informed decision and whether you want to take the ‘risk’. It seems to me that improving your cardiovascular health is very possible here. The thing that rang alarm bells for me in your post was the limit on your heart rate because I have no doubt that a hot yoga class will raise your HR higher than that. This is why I ask you about the limit.
OK my new yogi friend, please report back and tell me what you are thinking.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Heart condition and hot yoga #6097Hi Suzy
This is a very personal question and also poses a medico-legal problem for someone to answer it. So I ask you to recognize that I am just giving you my opinion!
It is great that your mother expresses her interest and is wanting to take her health in her own hands. The only person who can make the decision to do the yoga is your Mom.
I am thinking that the best way to approach this is to give you both some things to think about? It could be a starting point in the decision process for her.
It is important to know that the yoga can be challenging for anyone, regardless of fitness level, age, flexibility and strength, their physical or emotional wellbeing. The heat seems to be a multiplier of the effects of the yoga itself so starting gently for me would be key to determining the best approach. If it were my Mom I would probably consider starting by doing it at home without the heat. You could be helping her through some techniques. She could for example watch the first set of a pose and do the second with you.
There are other considerations too. Are there any other cardiovascular conditions present? The advice about the best approach to the class and to specific poses could be affected by whether she has high blood pressure, low blood pressure or if she has labile hypertension.
What are the current issues your mother has on Warfarin? Are you considering starting the yoga after the procedure? With the effects of her drugs there is no indication of her ability to cope with exercise at the moment. What is your mother doing now to keep fit? How will that ability change with the procedure? Is it worth waiting for some rehabilitation before attempting something new and unknown?
One step at a time, gently. Your Mom will know what she’s capable of but with her current issues and the fact that I too have little information I would say don’t throw her into the hot room as her first experience. You could for example be at a studio where the heat is too high, there are too many people, with the heat index too high (combination of heat and humidity) making it too hard to cope and so on.
I am sure I could give you more but a lot of this is based on conjecture so if you want to give me more information then we can take it from there
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: camel pose – strongly emotional #6096Hi Jeffrey
Are you saying that you find Fixed Firm a pose that is strongly emotional for you (the topic of this thread)?
We will continue this conversation ‘over there’. May I suggest you go and take a look at the posts for Supta Vajrasana for further information? My brief answer is this: Your butt should definitely and unequivocally be on the floor from start to finish, don’t budge it or adjust it! Please post in Supta with more details about your sore legs so I know what, where and when it’s happening!
BTW: I just noticed this post is in Chit Chat rather than Camel so I will move it now!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Fever after class #6095Hello Darcy
Welcome to the forum and thanks, I appreciate your comment!
I notice that you said that you are on a daily dose of antibiotics. Your body may simply be reacting to the drugs in your system.
RandomFemale could be right here. You shouldn’t be suffering for your practice in the way you describe. ‘Suffering’ to some degree in class is one of the ways that we learn to overcome stress – and this is a great thing. I know you love the yoga so here’s something to consider. Is it possible that your system is finding it difficult to heal with the antibiotics coupled with the extreme environment of the hot room? On that note have you tried yet maybe doing the yoga without the heat or in a warm room at home? It may be worth diagnosing this and put your mind at ease.
If I am interpreting your words correctly and you are still on your antibiotics then I would probably exclude that cause before moving on to hormonal imbalances etc.
Having said that it could be the ambient conditions. Are there others who have a similar problem? During class are there several people consistently and at the same time experiencing difficulties like skipping poses or lying down or resting? There are many studios that are not in control of the heat and that is reflected in unnecessary difficulty and obvious suffering in the studio. What’s your opinion of the conditions that lead you to mention heat and mold etc?
Namaste
Gabrielle 😉 -
AuthorPosts
