Fix Lower Back Pain with Iyengar Yoga Therapy

Long air travel has been never been good for my lower back and this recent trip back from Canada brought it back with a vengeance. I have been back-ache free for many many months. There was no personal class with Nuvana this week so I decided to attend her back-care class on Saturday at Sunset Yoga Center.

The class was overflowing - wow! I barely squeezed in. She asked by a raise of hands on how many of us were suffering from lower back pain. Majority raised the hands. I was expecting the usual poses, but Nuvana had a different sequence today. The class started with a Dandasana, with real focus on lifting up the spine. We quickly moved to Tadasana. From Tadasana, it was urdhava hastasana and then Utkatasana. She focused on making sure that the back was straight and the buttocks moved down. That action of pushing the buttocks down and stretching of the upper back is key to relaxing the lower back muscles. That brings immediate relief.

We then moved to doing an arm stretch on the wall and the slipping down to a half Uttanasana. The focus is again on stretching the spine, and creating some space for the lower back to relax. The next set of poses involved using a chair to perform a forward bend while sitting on the chair, but tying a strap around your lower waist. This was followed by a twist on either side while in a forward bending position.

Then a standing pose against the wall with one leg on the chair in a square position and pushing the bent leg back to the wall while pushing the opposite leg to be flush with the wall. This pose was amazing for the back as the pressure was applied to the gluteus muscles to tighten and give the relief and space to the back muscles.

By the time we approached the last asana of the class - a supported badhakonasana / savasana my lower back pain had disappeared. Its been over 24 hours and there has been no recurrence. Not only did my back get relief, I was relaxed and felt I had a decent workout as well.

As I left I had convinced one new student that this was the way to go. My colleague mentioned that her headaches had improved after her first class with Nuvana. This is the power of Nuvana's sequence of yoga poses and Iyengar Yoga Therapy. Thanks Nuvana!

Namaste

The Yogi.

The gluteal pain - Its over and gone

I was travelling the last 4 days and was at a trade show. Ever since the last yoga therapy session with Nuvana I have become even more aware of my posture, I have been pulling up my knees, pulling up my feet and stretching my calves, performing supta padangusthasana. THE PAIN IS GONE... It really has gone. So now I look forward to getting back to my yoga classes. Its been one month since I was at the Sunset Yoga Center. I will probably skip the advanced class for now and start again as a novice level 1/2. I also have finalized a plan to visit Pune in early to mid April for 2 weeks for business. I hope to stay next to the Iyengar Center and I hope they will let me take classes. I will blog every day. I can't wait for it.

Namaste

The Yogi

Another inspirational yoga video

Well folks my journey with pain continues. It has subsided but not gone. I will be going through additional physical therapy. Its unclear what is wrong with my leg. I just hope its not a disc problem. I may need an MRI. Whatever it is I know I will overcome. I am in resting mode right now but I keep performing certain stretches that keep the pain in control. I changed my office chair so the back is better supported. So I ramble.....

In moments of pain and despair, I go out searching youtube for enlightening and inspirational videos. I found this one by Jim Bennitt, who teaches tantra-hatha yoga in chicago. I thought was a nice combination of yoga poses and a short discourse on yoga philosophy. May love and peace be the center of your life...



Namaste

The Yogi


Yoga by Jim Bennitt

Managing pain and suffering in your life

Written and adapted by "The Yogi" from various sources including B.K.S. Iyengar’s “Light on Life"

We often focus on the past or the future to avoid experiencing the present, because the present can be painful, full of hardship and difficult to endure. The pain and hardship is actually there as a teacher because life is filled with pain, hardship and struggle. In the struggle alone, there is knowledge. Only when there is hardship do we see the light – the light at the end of the tunnel. Pain and hardship is our guru that shows us this light!

As we experience pleasures with joy, we must also learn not to lose our joy when the pain and hardship comes. As we see goodness in pleasure, we should learn how to see good in pain. Learn to find comfort in discomfort. We must not try to run away from hardships but make every effort to move through and beyond it. This is the cultivation of tenacity and perseverance, the stretching and pushing of ourselves with calmness. This is the spiritual attitude towards life, the essence of Yoga. While we don’t actively seek pain or hardship, we should not run from this inevitability that is part of all growth and change. By facing pain and hardship head-on, we learn to balance and adapt to the world that is always moving and unstable and we learn how to become tolerant to the permanence of change and difference.

Endurance and patience is needed to convert an unbearable pain and hardship into a bearable one. The act of bearing is an acceptance of adversity and suffering in our life and allows us to overcome such suffering. It resolves our anxieties and helps us get on a path where our life gets better, more fulfilled and the light at the end of the tunnel appears closer and brighter. It leads to inner peace and freedom giving optimism that life can only get even better.



Namaste!

Enjoy this video...

Journey of pain -- Sciatic, Gluteal Muscle.....Ever tried accupuncture?

My journey of bearing this gluteal muscle pain continues and it has now become sciatic. At my last massage Jeremy suggested trying accupuncture for relief. So today when the pain became more severe I called up Angelic Healing, http://www.angelichealinghands.com/ and made an appointment with Brett, their resident accupuncturist and herbalist. I was apprehensive at first, but when he started talking about doing the "pigeon pose" and "child pose" I felt immediately at home. The poking of needles was scary at first. He put needles on my right arm, right upper shouler, left and right upper hips, left hand, right foot and then 25 minutes later turned me over and put needles in the back, sacrum, both calves. Every time a needle was inserted I could feel a reaction. That was expected!

I can tell you honestly, it brought immediate relief in the thighs and hamstrings, as they had just tightened up with sciatica pain. I could do the child pose a lot easier after the treatment. I went home a lot more relaxed. I continue to use the strap, do a variety of therapy poses all day long including in my office, so I can manage this horrible pain. Tomorrow is another evening with Nuvana and I look forward to it.



So I have learnt a lot more about pain lately. Both physical and mental. I can say it is just too hard but then rather than succumb to it, I have been trying to deal with it the best I can.

Namaste

The Yogi

"Acquiesce" to Pain -- today's mantra!

Monday evening was a challenging class for me, though I thoroughly enjoyed it. The poses were difficult, so the next day I was in pain and extremely sore. I was walking funny as my left glute was particularly affected. Therefore I decided to make an appointment for massage with Jeremy this evening. So here I am on the massage table, being pulled, kneaded, stretched, pressed and crushed. And each massage stroke would result in more pain.

I felt it was making it worse until I had another "eureka moment". I recalled something I had read in "Light on Life" by Mr. BKS Iyengar a while back. It was a chapter where he discussed "pain" and "surrendering to pain". It had particularly struck me, as life is full of painful moments. So I "acquiesced". I let my mind surrender to all the pain in my body, which included my particularly sore glutes and quads and back. Suddenly I felt a new appreciation of the pain. Then the calmness sunk in and I started breathing. I finally relaxed to really experience the massage while letting go of the pain it was causing me!

In that moment, I realized my body had simply re-awakened. It had "oxygenated" and the cells in my muscles were regenerating. The soreness and the pain was simply a catalyst. Jeremy commented that the muscles were not as tight as the last time a few weeks back. They were sore but they seemed to handle the pressure better.

So "acquiscence" is the new word I re-learnt today. Acquiscing to pain is not just a great way to learn difficult yoga poses but to deal with pain in life as well. By acquiescing, we let the pain and all it manifests in our life to take its course. We give ourselves room to appreciate those painful moments and in that process we build new strength to learn to bear such pain. An appropriate thought and frame of mind, as we learn and re-learn all those difficult back-bends and difficult asanas. I appreciated Guruji's words in his book more than ever. I deal with stress and pain all the time. Acquiscing to it is probably a better way to deal with pain, more so than fighting it.

Namaste

How was the massage?

Jeremy's massage is probably the most intense I have encountered. Its a relaxing massage with a work-out. The stretching is phenomenal. The virasana type leg stretched and the arms stretches really feel like yoga. He also used some aroma therapy with a chinese herb oil that the accupunturist on staff uses for clearing up my sinuses and heating pads for my back and shoulders. All in all very refreshing and good massage soreness. I highly recommend this type of massage for de-stress.

What a way to burn stress!

So tonight I finally got my butt in gear and went to my first class this semester with Nina. I attend classes at sunset yoga (www.sunsetyoga.com) as well as take a personal class at my yoga guru's home. Oh what a relief! I have been having lower back-ache since since Xmas. Today when I got home from work it had moved from the left side to the right side. I HAD TO DO SOMETHING!

I somehow motivated myself. Cancelled my tabla class and went to the advanced class with Nina. I told her I was having lower back pain. Lo and behold the first pose Nina chose was suptapadangusthasana... http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/483 . Yes its a mouthful, but for all you who have lower back-ache this is a wonderful pose to help you with relaxing your back muscles. If done correctly it forces your hamstrings to work and relieve pressure on your lower back. We did several other poses, that included uttanasana (forwared bend) see http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/478, wall supported uttithatrikonasana (triangle pose), and then transitioning into ardhachandrasana (half moon pose) see http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/784. Between these four poses my back-ache had pretty much disappeared. We did several other more advanced poses involving lotus positions and finally ended with shirsasana (head stand) and sarvangasana (shoulder stand). 90 minutes later I was refreshed energetic and had a sumptous Daal and Rice dinner when I got home. I felt alive. This is what yoga does for me -- at 5 pm i was tired and stressed out, lounged in front of the TV. By 9 pm I was a new man! Thank you Nina!