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Hi Eva
Here’s round 2 of the questions. Let’s see if this takes us to a different conclusion to tetany. There are still some rocks to look under. 😉
10 >> Do you have a low salt diet? Do you have a diet where you don’t particularly monitor salt?
11 >> Do you take an electrolyte supplement? When? Which one?
12 >> How much water do you drink? Per day? During class? Is it plain water?
13 >> What temperature is your studio at? How do you know?
14 >> Is the studio in a humid location? Or dry? Do you know the percentage of humidity?
15 >> How many people per class generally?
16 >> Do many people have to stop and rest during class? Or is it just you that you perceive as having difficulties?
17 >> It’s both hands isn’t it? Never just one? What about any other extremities? Do you ever get any cramping in your feet or your legs? Any other sensations in the body that occur independently of, or along with the issue with the hands?
Eva, the detail is very, very helpful. Carry on with that.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Lung or diaphragm breathing #11269Hello hellerworkca
Yep, you found yet another inconsistency or example of poor instruction in the ‘dialog’. Teachers will often tell you to suck your stomach in at the wrong moments. You have intuitively worked out that while you are inhaling that your breath is being hampered by sucking in your stomach.
One of the issues is that sucking in one’s stomach is being mistaken for improving core strength.
One can improve core strength by engaging the core. There are ways (and it’s not necessarily pertaining to this particular pose) to suck in the stomach (and the timing with certain poses) which actually weaken core strength. I am not going to go into that here.
So …
When you are inhaling your job is to get long. As you bring your elbows up, you can feel your body lengthen, especially at the sides, along from your hips to your armpits and then up to your elbows.
Try inhaling and doing this motion without sucking in your stomach. Notice how, automatically, your body flattens in the abdominal area simply because of the movement. This is not you sucking in your stomach, now is it!? :cheese:
The problem with sucking in the stomach on the inhale (remember, this is not core engagement we’re talking about) is that you shorten things rather than let them extend, elongate and create space. It actually shortens your spine.
As you inhale think about your spine and the spaces between your vertebrae opening up. The actual stretching of your torso will make it difficult for your diaphragm to move outward very much at all. What you will find is that your lower ribs will expand to accommodate the expanding of your lungs.
This beginning Pranayama exercise is NOT an example of abdomino-diaphragmatic breathing. There is a touch of it plus a big serving of chest breathing. Not the top-of-the-chest panic breathing but that nice low deep breathing that occurs in the lower part of the ribcage. You will hamper that system if you suck in your stomach by drawing in the lower ribs instead of letting them expand. No wonder your breath feels limited, trapped.
Try this: Notice how you can keep your legs locked out on the inhale but let your butt muscles and a portion of the muscles on the back your legs go as you inhale… and let go of and lengthen the muscles in your lower spine. Feel how you can really grow tall on the inhale as a result and your belly does not feel constricted in any other way than the natural elongation of the body.
Once you have reached the zenith of your inhale, and before your exhale, you squeeze the butt, lock the pelvis in place and then exhale with that perfectly straight back. THIS is the exact moment – when you squeeze the butt, in the instant before exhaling – where you suck in the stomach!
Pranayama in the Bikram dialog is scripted* wrongly and takes the nuances out of good, efficient, effective and satisfying breathing!
Hope that brings you the magic you are looking for. Come back and tell me how you go
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂* A script – any script is just a snapshot. It’s not the instruction. That’s why instruction has to vary.
in reply to: Heat and Heart Rate ? #11268Hello gturner_n
The reason I asked is that many people have either the thought or the fantasy that they could set up a studio at home. As I mentioned, there are pros and cons to practising the yoga in your chosen location. For example, even though I can and do practise at home, my preference is to go to a studio away from my house because I like that I have an appointed time to show up, the conditions are good, the showers are there, the whole experience is contextualised. Then I go home and I continue with my day. I do love the convenience of walking 20 metres to my own home studio too and there are also inherent challenges in that. Hence, would you be well motivated to set up at home?
If you’re well self-motivated then there are ways to set up systems at home that encourage frequent practice. We can delve into those!
So … you can probably see where I am going.
Practise at home. And NO, you don’t need the heat. Or at least for you, you don’t need the high heat. You may never be suited to the high heat of most public yoga studios. Not all studios heat as high as others. Your first visit may have been in a high-heat studio.
My recommendation for you would be to start a practice at home. By all means you can start with low heat conditions and work your way up. If you don’t already have a heater that you can turn on in your dedicated yoga space then you can warm yourself up via exercising (bike, brisk walk or whatever) for 5 minutes beforehand and avoid the heat. That way you can see if you can manage the yoga in different scenarios.
If this idea appeals to you then I can recommend some ways to go about setting up at home. It does not have to be high tech. After all, as far as I can see, you probably really need to start low and work your way up with reasonable temperatures.
Now, completely apart from the issue of the heat, is your general fitness level which I have no clue about. Perhaps you can enlighten me.
The heat is one thing that may have caused you to feel terrible the last time you did Bikram. But actually when you’re learning yoga there are other things going on.
Piggybacking along with the heat for you there could have been other issues. When one’s mind is overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks and instructions one is supposed to carry out, some normal functions get put aside… For example, you are very unlikely to remember much or anything about the quality of your breath at the time. This in and of itself, could have set up intense feelings of panic and inability. You may have attributed it solely to the heat but it’s highly probable that other factors were at play.
So depending on your response to this post, I will have varying things to suggest. Some of these could be resources that you can locate on this website.
If you are going to start at home you will need to be your own teacher. You will need to do this yoga safely and be responsible for you the comprehension levels and how they translate into a satisfying yoga practice that gives you great benefits. I definitely have many resources for that. I have to be honest and say that there is much information that is completely free on this website. Would it offend you if I suggest a selection of paid products that will help you (in the form of recordings etc)?
Please let me know.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Calf injury #11265Thank you Loretta
I greatly appreciate your trust and your kind words. If you’re willing or if you need to, please do come back and let me know how it’s going and if I/we can offer more support or help!
Sometimes in that hot room the tendency is to get a little obsessed with the outcome of the pose rather than the holistic outcome of the yoga! Seems to me, thankfully, you’ve got this one in the bag! :cheese:
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Heat and Heart Rate ? #11264Hello gturner_n
May I ask you this simple question? Are you the type of person who would easily self-motivate to practise at home? It’s a serious question. You mention you would do practise at home if you could afford to install a proper heat-controlled studio. So I thought I would start with that point.
Some people prefer home and the freedom that gives. Some prefer the studio. There are pros and cons to everything! 😉
Let me know! Then I can start with some recommendations.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Heat Versus Form Question #11263Thank you Ian :cheese:
Welcome back. It’s great to hear from you.
That is really useful information. I would also add that the very high temperatures are probably depleting your resources more than they would in a ‘normal’ situation.
That’s a great result and thank you very much for the recommendations. Very much appreciated.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Eva
I will get to answering this in the next couple of days! There’s a lot of detail. Thank you for that.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Issue with Body Proportions in Poses #11261Oh boy! It’s only been a week! 🙁 :wow:
Hi Laurel 🙂
The answer is easy peasy!!! So worry no longer. However, if your teachers are already telling you not to separate your knees ever then I doubt they are going to let you do what I am suggesting in class. Damn!
The problem is that you are not able to SURRENDER to gravity at any stage of this pose unless you are leaning back on your hands. And when you do that, you are no doubt lifting your hips (whether a tiny bit or a significant amount) in order to relieve the pressure from your knees.
Here is what you actually have to do. You need to find something that will intervene between your bottom and your legs that will allow you to surrender your weight without hurting yourself.
I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE this will yield the results for you. I had a student at my Teacher Training Course in Costa Rice 3 years ago who had this exact problem. Within a few days he was able to sit down after never having been able to do that before. I have seen this multiple times over the years. The guy I mention above, was doing class with me about 10 times in a week so the results were super fast.
The first time this happened was weeks after I returned from bikram certification (many years ago). I could see that this woman could not sit as directed. So I devised this technique. The woman’s daughter is also a Bikram teacher. Jan came to my studio and within a handful of classes had her butt on the floor… She cried and I was asking her if she had a problem. She said that she hadn’t been able to sit on the floor for 20 years! Yay.
OK, what you have to do is this:
>> If you cannot do this in class, then after class is good. But equally, do it at home. You may be less warmed through but it of course will be helpful.
>> Get yourself some towels and stack just enough towels on your feet under your bottom so that you can sit back into the pile. Your bottom will be 2-3 inches off your heels (as you have indicated) but you will be sitting on something.
>> Sit up straight. Have enough wadding there that you do not need your hands on the floor.
>> A quick word: If you are finding the surface of the floor too unforgiving to surrender because your ankles, shins or knees are hurting, then you may need to double your mat, or find something softer underneath them. Remember the magic word: SURRENDER. If you cannot do that, you will never be able to sit on the floor.
>> If you need to, separate your knees a little. *** See the important note below. With this technique you will find increasing freedom in your hips and knees and ankles to make things more flexible and comfortable.
>> Sit in this position for the length of the pose. If you’re at home, watch television or bide your time sitting like this for as long as you can or want to. Surrender. Read. Have a conversation. Sit like this for some time!
>> Please DO NOT put any of the towel layer CLOSE in to touch behind the knee. You don’t want to force your cruciate and other knee ligaments into a risky (overstretched) position. You are aiming to find ease in this position.
>> Learn how much wadding you need. With towels you have the ability to fold them differently to take a layer or small thicknesses away at a time.
>> You’ll notice that you can sit a little lower and a little more comfortably as the time goes on.Laurel, that’s the theory of it. Now it’s your turn to practise. My recommendation is just firstly to try this with knees and FEET together. In the same way you would sit (as some would say) “Japanese style”.
THEN, start to separate the feet a little. YOU DECIDE how far your knees will be apart.
*** The great thing about moving your knees in this pose is that YOU make an EASY adjustment that can make the difference between ease and RISK (danger to your knees). So if you are sitting there with knees together one day, with the same level of wadding that you had yesterday, and your knees are hurting, or more importantly, you find you CANNOT SURRENDER, then the VERY FIRST PORT OF CALL without having to come out of the pose at all, is to widen the knees a little bit.
If that doesn’t work, then come out, and fold the towel to increase the wadding thickness. Then remember that magic word.
OK?!!! :cheese:
If that is not clear then please come back and ask again.
Oh, here is something that I can add… You can use armchair cushions. Either the seat cushions or the decorative throw cushions you may have around the traps.
It’s just not the ideal thing to use in class because of all the sweat and moisture. But at home, they’re ideal.
Come back and tell us all your progress.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Chronic fatigue #11260Hi Helena
That is a truly horrible experience you have had and seem to still be having. I am so sorry that things are not as they should be.
Have you taken a look at the other chronic fatigue story from years ago? I will just see if I can find it … (tick tick)…
I popped the words “chronic fatigue” (without “”) and found a good dozen threads that may be interesting for you to read. I cannot find the particular one that I was after, but I shall continue to search over the coming days. It concerned a man who lived a few hundred metres from me, and his amazing feelings of energy with the yoga. But it’s not essential. You’ll find other threads of adrenal fatigue and so on.
I wish you had come to the forum when you started experiencing your issues. You see, whatever has triggered this condition for you, is possibly (and probably) not the same thing that is keeping you super tired and in a less than optimal state.
The initial issues on first collapsing most likely were a combination of hyponatremia and high heat. It is highly probable given the level of confusion you were experiencing that you had “heat exhaustion”. Please go and take a look via Google searches for the signs of “hyponatremia” and “heat exhaustion” (and then the worse condition of “heat stroke”). I am positive that you were not at all ‘detoxing’ (and that is irresponsible of your teachers to have been telling you that and I do not say that lightly) but you were experiencing some very serious physiological symptoms.
I am not sure it’s going to be worth asking you about how hot the room was in actual terms because your memory of that will be unreliable. You may have been able to notice that other people were also not coping. Perhaps there were always several people taking breaks often. Or others who had to sit out a pose or 3 at a time. That is usual what happens. But having said that, there are always individual responses to heat and moisture that might have been singling you out. If you have anything that you would like to tell me about the level of heat, or your reactions to it and those of others around you then I would love to hear (read 😉 ) them.
If you have chronic fatigue then getting back on track again and finding your ‘mojo’ may take some time.
I have some suggestions for you, but before I do, perhaps you can take a look at what I have said in this very post and see how that holds for you. Do your research and let me know your gut reactions. That way we can head you in a useful direction.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Neck wekness from Bikram Yoga #11259That’s fantastic news Perrec! Thank you for letting me know.
You’ll probably already be noticing how many poses your shoulders creep upwards in. Keep expanding your awareness around it. And of course, come back and ask me about specific poses or problems.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Calf injury #11253Hi Loretta
May I ask you this? How many days have you taken off to rest your muscles? There is certainly a need to heal. If you have torn tissue, which it sounds as though you have, then it is important know that it may not be wise to simply stretch it.
As with hamstring injuries, often there is a weakness that needs some strength work. Most people think, stretching out their hamstrings is the way to heal that tightness. More times than not, the muscles need attention from a therapist who can massage it, as well as give strength building exercises. Otherwise more damage happens and it just gets tighter.
For these reasons I do not necessarily recommend gravity stretching (yin). It may (and equally) may not work.
Have you been to see somebody for an assessment?
If you decide not to go and see somebody and doing yoga for several classes doesn’t fix it, then it probably won’t and you will need to go down a different path – perhaps the one above (seeing somebody).
Oh, another question: Do you straighten your legs in Standing Sep Leg Intense Stretch? Please go and see the information about finding the hidden length in your leg muscles. You may very well find that bending your legs in the pose mentioned and a couple of related poses will actually ease your calf muscles back to health.
Go easy. There are instructions in the scripted class that are ambiguous that may make things harder or worse for you. Stay very mindful and then come back and tell us how that class goes. Don’t go for the ultimate stretch. If you feel it tugging, then bend that leg to let it go. (And tell me what standing with a locked out leg feels like. That will be helpful to get a reading on how you’re feeling.)
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Neck wekness from Bikram Yoga #11248Hello Perrec
Aha! Just as I thought. Your efforts to follow the one-size-fits-all instructions to straighten arms and squeeze the head, is very likely causing some real problems with your body.
I think that if you can spend some time taking a look at previous forum posts, it would be very valuable for you!
In this very section of the forum (Neck, Shoulders, Arms, Upper Back) you’ll find many related threads from which you will learn what to do. In fact there are many threads like this throughout the whole forum. I recommend you take a look around to see what others have experienced and also how much the following technique has helped them … instantly.
In a nutshell:
>> Do whatever you can to keep your shoulders down and back at any moment.
>> With arms over your head, if you feel ANY tension at all in your head, neck or shoulders (and obviously you are!) bend your arms just a little bit. Bend them just enough to drop the shoulders down. Then little by little you’ll start to be able to lengthen them again, so that one day your arms will be straight… but with the shoulders in optimal and non-risky position.
>> If you feel your neck tighten, neck shorten or chin drop, those are all signs that you have tension in the area and have to micro-bend your arms.
>> It is more important to have shoulders down than straight arms – any day!If your neck can stay long and your shoulders down, the tension will disappear. Your yoga will improve and your body will open up and you’ll make more progress than you ever would if you continue to work against the body’s need to open up!
Let me know if I need to point you to other related techniques.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Neck wekness from Bikram Yoga #11246Hi Perrec
At this moment, with the information before me, I would tend to think it is a matter of muscular use. (Although those other issues are not off the table! Thanks Allison.) It is an unusual thing to actually feel the heaviness of your head. So there may be other issues at play. I will start with some questions and a technique and then I will wait from feedback before we proceed.
I would like to ask you a couple of questions: Do you – as directed – always try to straighten your arms when they are over your head? Do you – again as directed – try to squeeze your head with your arms?
Here is one thing I can suggest for you that could make immediate improvement.
Years ago I recorded a video that could very well help you right now. It will take you through your stance in Savasana, how to lift your arms over your head and also how to position your arms in your day to day posture.
Please answer those questions and get back to me. Also watch the video. While I am formulating the response to the new answers you can get busy applying what you see on the video.
Meet you back here 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Eva
Thanks for that! I have a lot of questions. I think I shall ask them in chunks.
Before I do, here is what you said about your issue, in the event that a reader here has not seen the other thread:
[em]Recently, every time I do hot yoga, my fingers start closing up and into each other against my will! I cant move my fingers as they all just sort of pull into each other, forming something that looks like a lobster claw. I asked my teacher about it and indeed, she said I was getting “lobster” hands. Its always especially exacerbated by Lucust Pose, I assume because I am cutting off circulation to my hands and arms.
In any case, its getting to the point where sometimes its actually quite painful in a numb sort of way (if that makes sense) and as you can imagine, if I cant open up my hands, I cant do many of the poses!
unable to move arms, muscle spasms, extreme fatigue, limbs “falling asleep.”
Most teachers say its dehydration and based on different people’s advice, I’ve tried coconut water and electrolyte packets, pedialyte, and trace mineral drops to add to my water. None of this has helped.
[/em]
Eva has found a reference to something that could be Tetany. See the quote at the top of this thread.Now for round 1 of those questions:
1>> How many times per week were you practising when you first had the problem in your hands?
2>> How many times per week do you practise now?
3>> Did you get the problem EVERY time you did yoga?
4>> How long did it hang around and make you feel uncomfortable after each class?
5>> Did it stop you going back as frequently as you would have liked?
6>> Do you still get the lobster hands problem?
7>> You say the issue is exacerbated by Locust (when your arms are under your body) and those words imply it appears before Locust. What poses has this problem presented at? Could be different poses.
8>> What do you think is meant by the term over-breathing?
9>> Why do you think you are over-breathing?
Dat dare is da first chunk
See you soon. Feel free to copy and paste my words and pop your answers in. Use some paragraph spaces so we can tell one idea from another and it will be easier to make sense of and read. Be as detailed as you can and or want to be. If there’s not enough detail for me, I will simply ask for clarification, so don’t be stressed! It’s a process. Jumping to conclusions is something we all do sometimes – and it’s sometimes the right conclusion. But let’s make sure we break this down and see where it leads us.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Lobster hands and fingers! Please help! #11238Hi everyone
If you’re interested in following the progress of this thread about lobster hands and fingers, then we’re continuing it in a similar thread, right here, so that we don’t have to duplicate answers!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Who's up for a challenge? #11237Thank you Allison!
That’s so lovely of you. I appreciate it. The obvious activity comes in waves where people are posting. Mostly the place is buzzing behind the scenes with about 35-50 people at the forum at any moment of the day 24/7 (and why this is the most visited and learned from bikram and hot yoga forum in the world). They’re reading the answers that are already there.
Keep posting. I love to answer questions and have fun connecting with you.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Who's up for a challenge? #11233Never fear, dear Allison
You haven’t been bowled over with offers to join you. Don’t worry, it’s prolly just a timing thang! Maybe come back and tell us what’s going on for you during your challenge! I would be happy to support you. 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Heating a home studio–redux #11232Hello Suz
Have you checked in at the other threads to see if there is useful information there? There are definitely must-do and nice-to-have elements discussed in detail there.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hello again!
I just responded to your other similar post. A couple of quick questions for you: Do you think we could choose one of these threads to continue the conversation? Otherwise we’ll be duplicating stuff! My thought is that we could have a link in one of them to take us to the thread of your choice. Would that be OK?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Lobster hands and fingers! Please help! #11230Hello Eva
You’re back! :cheese:
You are very happy and I am very happy for you. Naomi and I are friends! While you may be on the right track, I think you owe it to yourself to do a little investigating. What you are reading is clearly very resonant for you. I definitely have some questions. And I want to make sure that you never create the same conditions again.
There are some things I need to ask you or know about certain aspects of your practice. When folks come to the forum I really like to have some toing and froing with them to confirm and clarify. We didn’t get that chance the last time and I would like that now. It will not only help you (hopefully 😉 ) and me, but certainly anybody else out there who finds this forum post!
So, would you be willing to answer some questions for me? What do you say?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: YogaBody supplement really works #11228Hi Hanif
Don’t apologise. I get it. It’s certainly untested. It’s only anecdotal responses from people (including me). Who knows what expectations I had and how the placebo effect could have played with my mind? Only proper clinical double blind study would prove or disprove the point. And then it would have to be an extremely well designed study. How can any study take in all the parameters including practice experience and the presence or absence of injury, one’s beliefs about food, supplements, and myriad other things? If one has an expectation that something is going to be really good and create a certain outcome sometimes (and not in every case – and that’s what makes life interesting) that outcome may occur. Or not. 😉
Nothing can substitute for great nutrition. And unless you can’t get something in any other way (in optimal amounts), as far as I understand it, it is always better to get your nutritional needs met through food rather than supplements.
Thank you for your input.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Issue with Body Proportions in Poses #11224Hi Laurel
If it’s OK I would like to ask some questions about you and your practice. I need to have a clearer picture and so this may take a little toing and froing.
First round of questions:
When you are sitting in the first part of this pose:
>> Are you sitting with your back completely straight (vertical)?
>> Are your feet aligned with your hips (alongside them)? (Top of your feet on the floor?)
>> Are your knees together? Or are they apart?
>> Where is your bottom at this stage? Is it hovering in the air, and how far above the floor or heels is it?
>> Are you able to relax in this position?
>> Or do have the need to put your hands on the floor for support or to stop discomfort?Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Increased hunger…. #11223Hi Lori
Eat!!! I am sure it will settle down into something more ‘normal’. Quick question for you… Are you craving eggs AND going to eat them? That might be quite conflicting for you.
Another question! Are you hungry immediately after and then that hunger dissipates (hopefully after a good feed), or are you hungry for hours after, even after having eaten?
Plenty of vegans have started and continue the yoga. So maybe it’s got less to do with your diet status but more to do with what you eat and when. If you want to share more details about the whens, what and how much then feel free. It could help somebody help you.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Can yoga cause/cure a hernia? #11221Hi John
Great news. I think that Bikram yoga and the STATIC hot yoga poses are excellent for consolidation and strength building. They are great for building core strength, IF (and I mean this most definitively) and only if one knows how to engage the core in the first place. Sucking in the stomach is a hit and miss affair for core strength building. This would come as quite a shock to many people. But maybe you know somebody out there who has great abs – a real six-pack racked guy – yet has been debilitated and bed-ridden with back ache.
I think that avoiding the hernia-challenging, or more correctly hernia-exacerbating poses for you is the practical and sensible thing to do!
Now all I want to know is … can you play the trumpet again? :cheese: (Our daughter took it up a year ago and she loves it!)
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: locust pose #11219Hi Willie
I do love that story about your beloved mamma! It seems to me that the inspiration of that is allowing you to get out of your head for the pose and make it happen with more ease – automatically. That sounds perfect to me. The more you do it now, you’ll just start to notice little tiny details. So for example, you’ll notice if you had your legs locked the whole time or if they started with a bend. Or you’ll notice what part of the cycle you started your lift. Was it exhale? From there you’ll build up your ability to better do your pose each time.
Those visualisations you are having are helping you. And even though ideally one would rather be present with everything that is going on right then, that is unrealistic. We are human and there is nobody you will meet who can keep total focus for 90 minutes. It’s the nature of the human mind. So have the goal of being present. And understand that you will move in and out of presence. Paradoxically, it is the moment that you notice that you are not present, that you are indeed present.
Thanks for the response!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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