Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hi Barbara

Thanks for sharing your story. Welcome to the forum. And congratulations on getting to this point. I wish you great joy in discovery, recovery of your flexibility and movement, your shape and that sense of calm! Keep us posted and feel free to ask questions anywhere in the forum. And remember there are a whole raft of people out here who are reading these posts, and even if they aren’t replying they are right there with you.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Cindy

Sometimes it is about not being so attached to the thing that you are good at!!! :cheese: On a practical note you can now focus on the stretch that happen because of the vector of force that goes through your elbows. You can feel it draw down and inward and the corresponding stretch through your shoulders. You seem very flexible, so simply thank your fingers for helping get where you are today and move on! You can now also check in to that feeling of your wrists together. Your fingers will be far more passive now.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Naheed

I agree with you. I am not ever satisfied with a blanket statement to cover all cases. Did your teacher say that all people with neck problems should not tilt their head forward (as in a chin tucking) or did this person quote particular conditions that affect the neck? You mention cervical spondylosis. Did this come up at training specifically?

The issue for me is not whether the person has greater ease in one direction or the other. For me it concerns many other areas. For example: what is the underlying cause or condition, the severity of the problem, what is the person doing currently to cope with this condition, what treatment have they had, have they had any fusions, what x ray evidence have they got, is it muscular, what exercise history have they got, what is their profession and so on.

More conditions of the neck will respond to increasing the range of movement around the neck than those that require you to avoid particular movements.

You are right to be curious about this person’s statement. Maybe you can check again with this person and give them the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps seek some clarification about whether they meant all neck problems or specific ones.

As for specific poses to avoid for cervical spondylosis I would need to know a lot more about this person’s condition, experience, treatment etc. There are many grades of this condition. Some people need to move and on the other end of the spectrum someone may be a candidate for surgery.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Elizabeth

What is your gut feel about what your next steps should be?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Elizabeth

I was looking at your posts and worked out you have been practicing for some time. Correct me if I am wrong! Is this exhaustion a new thing? If it is, what changes are you aware of in your life, your nutrition? I wonder if it is worth having blood tests to exclude some issue there.

The other thing I thought about was not doing class in the middle of the day, despite the apparent convenience of your studio, and leaving class til the end of the day. The way your day is working out at the moment is taking its toll on your body and your mind with your body clock completely out of whack. It seems your ‘day’ has taken up residence elsewhere (middle of the night/earlier in the day perhaps?)!

I am interested to hear your comments/response.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello kumagirl

You are welcome!

Concerning nourishment: My family is vegetarian. I grew up eating a diet which included plenty of meat. I did carry some extra shape for a number of years and discovered with a good combination eating plan that meat did not ‘sit’ well with me. I also lost a ton of shape by doing this. I felt so good that I became vegetarian (16 years ago). You can create a commonsense combination plan with all the foods that you love (which I believe is key) and include meat if you like.

There have been some contributions to the forum that may interest you. Here are the links: What DO You Eat? and Regaining Your Figure. Plus we had a little blog post that a few people contributed recipes: Your Favorite Yoga Recipe Resource List.

If you are willing to go veg and if you really want to ‘clean up your digestive act’ then I would also encourage you to avoid dairy, at least for a month or 2.

As you know the internet is an amazing place and you can find many free online resources for recipes and ideas. The library is a great place to test out books and find the one or 2 or even more that really talk to you!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

My most humble and grateful thanks, Amy

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi kumagirl

I am positive that doing hot yoga can have you feeling young again!

I would like you to consider something VERY important before you start. It seems that you most likely are experiencing difficulty in activating your core muscles. This appears evident with your troubles at work and your back spasms and stiff back over the past number of years.

I am wondering if you would consider seeking out some core activation training. You can to a gym and have some private training. You could go to a physical therapist and even one that devotes their practice to helping people build core strength. You could attend some Pilates sessions.

If you start your yoga without knowing HOW to activate your core muscles you won’t actually strengthen them in any appreciable way.

So please deal with what could be your most serious problem first. I think that once you can do this you will already feel more comfortable in your day to day life. This yoga WILL give you back your flexibility and your range of motion. With a regular frequent practice you ought to get to a point where you have no aches and pains in your body and you feel good just about all the time!!! And your sleep should improve too.

Go to the videos section of this website and have a look at the video entitled: Flatten Your Tummy And Strengthen Your Back. This has a neat exercise that you can start with just about straight away.

Congratulations on making this great step towards changing your life!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Robert

Can you please tell me if you think it is about your ankle flexibility, ankle strength, toe flexibility or toe strength?

You will probably work out what your issue is with a little dry run through when you read this.

Just as I am writing this Robert has also posted a response! 😆

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

PS I do have some tips for you depending on your answer!!!

Hi Cindy and Sander

So what is the difference between an evolving or injured body? Most of the time it is the expression of pain in function. It takes some studious monitoring to work it out. And it may only take a pose or 2 (or a movement or 2) to work it out.

When you have struggle with the body or the breath, or experience pain that is excruciating then it is usually an injury.

There are gray areas because you can injure yourself as a result of your body opening. Maybe you don’t have the solid strength and foundation from optimal physical form. Your body realigns itself and now you have to learn how to strengthen your new form or learn how to create better integrity. (In other words you are relying on muscles that have not been previously required or not used optimally).

An injury caused by the above reason (lack of normal/proper use) or an injury through misuse still has to be treated in the same way. Avoid creating that pain by modification of the pose or by avoiding yoga altogether until it is no longer acutely experienced.

A body that is opening where the muscles are tender or sensitive usually doesn’t cause struggle or excruciating pain. You should find relief and release while IN the poses. And depending on the pose entry or exit you may find that some pain is exacerbated and requires some modification for the entry/exit.

For example:

** When you have a shoulder that is aching (through opening and learning new range of movement) you may have to bend arms a bit in half moon
** You may have a pain in the midback as your scoliosis resolves. As your body opens your body is busy trying to resolve the muscle spasms on particular sides of your curves through your spine. If your back is resolving through the mid-spine it may worsen the spasms to come into Hands to Feet or Sep Leg Intense Stretch with a straight spine. Round down instead and then work the pose correctly. Avoiding the pain of the entry is better for your body because you are resolving the spasms, even though it wouldn’t be excruciating it you were to enter in the classic way. But you work with the body to open it up.

If nothing you do resolves the pain and your face is grimacing while you are entering or exiting the pose and even while you are in it, then you need to stop and think. Don’t go to yoga when your conditions are acute.

If you are using correct technique then your body should not hurt DURING the pose if it is an expression of your evolving body. Generally if you can’t avoid the pain by either correct alignment or modification AND it hurts DURING the pose then it is an injury.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Vincent

You know, if you did anything that depleted your store of essential minerals, electrolytes, nutrients etc (and that includes not eating well enough) then it would be bad for your heart.

Sweating a great deal will lead to depletion of Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, etc, etc and cause problems with muscle firing (skeletal and cardiac) if you don’t do anything to replenish your supplies.

So exercising in the heat can be dangerous. The person doing the exercising can pay attention to many things. Some of these are included here:
** how hot is the room. You can place yourself in danger if the room is too hot causing your core temperature to raise itself so high that the body can’t cool itself. Please check this out here: Lesley Funk’s article on exercising in the heat.
** don’t wipe your sweat. Reading the above article will help. It talks about how evaporating sweat helps you cool your body.
** nutrition and electrolyte supplementation if necessary
** noticing what is going on in the body: if your limbs are tingling or you feel faint or you continue to feel lethargic or lack energy then you may need to investigate (electrolytes? iron? nutrition? supplementation? water?)
** drink enough before and after class (and have water on hand)
** and so on … 😉

Do recognize that there is a lot of fear and ignorance around doing this hot yoga. The people with the strongest opinions are usually the ones who have NEVER even done it. It seems that this doctor may be one of these people.

A fantastic balanced resource to consult is Professor Lawrence Armstrong’s “Performing in Extreme Environments”. There is an excellent chapter on exercising in extreme heat. There is a clear acclimatization process that occurs within 2 weeks that starts with an improved cardiac output and increased stroke volume. It may be really valuable to read and pass this information on to your doctor acquaintance.

Remember it is up to you to look after yourself in the hot room and that includes choosing an environment that is not too stressful for your body. There are no prizes for exercising in the hottest room in town. All you want is enough heat and humidity (yes and while you are at it google ‘heat index’ for the combined effects of heat and moisture to affect your perception of heat) to get a ‘cleansing’ sweat and a warm enough body to get the benefits. If there are many people in the room and the humidity is high (65% and up) there is no reason to have temps of 105+. You will find it can be closer to 100F and you will get a really satisfying result plus be physiologically safe in the process.

As you can see there is a lot to this sensitive subject and I am sure I only really touched on it. But I do hope that this goes at least part way to answer your query. I really welcome others’ opinions

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi

Cindy that is excellent noticing. One of many little tips is to lift the front toes off the ground which also has the effect of drawing the weight back towards the hips.

When people’s legs slip it is usually about weight distribution. This can be from foot to foot through the hips (notice if either or both set of toes are taking the weight), and/or from front to back (make sure you stretch up through the arm, while pushing the other elbow back into the knee and that the lower arm connects at the right spot on the leg – mostly people lower their arm too far).

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Ana

In ALL your poses see what you can do to lengthen your neck and relax that shoulder away from your ear (both shoulders of course!). Until you see and feel improvement I strongly recommend NOT straightening your arms or clamping them to your head in half moon side bends. I know that is what you are told to do but this pose particularly can really exacerbate problems like yours.

How amenable are the instructors at your studio to modifications? There are things you can do. Firstly simply bend your arms a little, bring the chin up to correct position because in all likelihood you are dropping it a bit, drop the shoulders down and back, and bring the arms back. Back off a bit if your shoulders climb even a little bit.

You will get MUCH more out of this pose if you are not struggling to squeeze your arms and head and causing pain and strain.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂