Yoga for bad knees and back ache - An update

This is no epiphany - increase weight, even 10-15 pounds can add you to your backache woes. I have gained about that much in the last 4 months. As my stress mounted, I missed yoga classes , my walking schedule went to hell, I went back to using fattening foods, too much sugar, overeating and yes a few more trips to McDonald's as a medication for stress. The discipline I had maintained for nearly 1.5 years has been slowly dwindling. So old problems like backache and more recently painful knees have re-appeared. So here is how I am dealing with the two:

Bad hurting knees:
I noticed them while climbing stairs. Solution - when doing standing poses, such as VB-I (Warrior Pose), I perform a trick taught to me by Nuvana. I simply move the foot below the bent knee more to the right, so its at an angle rather than straight. This works for many standing poses, where you are putting pressure on your knees by bending or extending them.

Hurting Lower Back:
While in attempting a VB-1 with ropes last night in class, I pulled my back and I had a spasm in the middle of the class. I immediately went into back relief mode. I tried to not join my feet while doing Uttanasana and Utkatasana despite instructions to do so. I also tried to pull the buttocks down while doing Utkatasana. The action of spreading your legs and pulling your buttock muscles down, helps release back muscle spasms. Also pulling up your arms and upper back, along with thbe downward pull of the butt brings tremendous relief. I found Halasana and Sarvangasana to be very uncomfortable. Its better to try it with a chair or try Setubhanda Sarvangasana instead. Any twisting pose such Marichi Asana I and ending your session with a Viparita Karani, with your legs up brings additional relief to your back.

Today I spent an hour half with Nuvana working on various back relieving poses. It works well before my long trip to Pune tomorrow. Yes I am heading back to the mother ship. I will be working mostly, but I hope to blog as well from RIMYI. I arrive non stop to Pune for the first time and will avoid the drive from Mumbai at the wee hours of the morning.

Today was Guru Purnima in India - Guru's or Teachers day. Its a big event at RIMYI. I want to thank all my teachers especially all my yoga teachers especially Nuvana - she has inspired me to remain dedicated to yoga and every session with her helps me learn more about my own body and how to self heal, physically, mentally and emotionally. Nina, thanks for inspiring me with your quotes from the Sutras and Terry for being patient and encouraging me to attend your level 3 class. And most of all to the greatest inspiration of all - Guru Iyengar - his books and omni -presence is a driving force in my life and so many others who are dedicate to his yoga and philosophy.

Namaste

The Yogi

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!