Day 7 in Pune - Wise Cracking Yoga Teacher

I missed the Thursday class. Work fires and meetings early morning. But there was something to look forward to on Friday. It is to be with Gulnaaz, a short fair Indian-Irani lady who has wise crack style. She is incredibly funny and her style just lends to learning and pushing without it being too serious. I saw her practicing Urdhva Parsarita Padasana in the main hall prior to class. Guess what? It ended up in the class and it is tough, especially if you are asked to do 10 reps twice in a row. We did the usual typical poses, like a wide Uttanasana to adho mukha savasana and then the various Supta Padangusthasana variations. This pose is done pretty much in every class. My hip and sciatic pain has completely disappeared. I really liked her instructions. They ask you to pull your arms back with the belt in the I pose and then in the II variation she asked I not take the raised leg down completely to ensure the other leg was straight. She showed how in the quest to get the leg down, we lose alignment. Nice tip! And then came the wise crack. An older gentleman in his quest to stretch his leg wrapped the belt around his neck. She yelled "Sirji please don't do that, I need to see you in my next class"! We all just cracked out laughing. I have a hard time keeping composed and I find her class the most enjoyable and look forward to next Friday's class. There is so much to learn. I feel I have gained a new level of flexibility in one week.

Namaste!

Day 4 in Pune - Bump on the head and fall on the back- Reality check!

April 15th 2008 : Tax Day

Jet lag can be great for early morning starts. I have been up since 230 am working with staff back home. At 6 am I get ready for my walk and then class at 7 am. The walk in the park is nice, and its much more packed with residents of the area, many drive to it I wonder why? The walk around the area is so quiet and peaceful. I get to class early. Upto level II hall. No one is there. Hmm.. what happened to the pump it up guy. Its nearly 7 and only a handful of unfamiliar faces show up. Then the teacher arrives. He is a young guy named "Raya" an upcoming prodigy. He is lean, fit and looks like a young indian sadhu. He immediately asks why I am in this class - I am puzzled. I explain and he says that this is a beginners class not intermediate, which starts at 8 am, so I should leave and wait for that class. I say in mind so whats the big deal let me just stay... well before I could say anything he allows me to stay.

Beginners' class it was not. Since we are at the tail end of the semester the students were already doing more advanced stuff such as head stand. He was rattling off instructions - this would be seriously a level 2-3 class in the states. And of course my ego came in the way today. I didnt balance on the head stand properly and bruised the head. Then came chair sarvangasana - my mind was definitly not on chair sarvangasana as I put my legs through the chair vs above the chair and down I crashed flat on my back on hard cemented floor. Yes folks this is not wood and soft and comfortable. I was still in one piece.

While doing some chair twists Raya commented on how doctors (there was one in class) and executives have such bad postures and are so stiff. Apparently he is one of the few fortunate ones to be part of the medical classes with Geeta Iyengar. I nodded my head in agreement - my posture is bad as I am constantly on a chair typing or leaning back. Then came the ultimate comment about computer software professionals "they are stiff in the head". Voila ! that hit the nail in the head being an ex-programmer myself. We had a short discussion about it. It made sense that when they are in front of a computer all day long, thinking and typing, nothing else much moves and it can lead to physical problems. I will need to re-educate my Pune staff who a year ago were doing iyengar yoga in the office once a week. Now its all stopped as transitions to newer employees diminished interest.

The class concluded 30 minutes early - beginners is only 1 hour. Prashant's class downstairs was still in full swing. I sat on the stairwell and listened mesmerized by his discources in between poses on yoga technology, breathing, kriyas and philosphy. He is a true yogi. I was inspired.

Day 3 in Pune - First Yoga Class at RIMYI

Intense class. I arrived 15 minutes early. Our routines are so different. We sit quietly on our mats and do light stretches. Here one of the first students to arrive was already pumping his heart out, doing stretches and push-outs on the rope. A 70 year old lady followed suit. I was totally intimidated. The teacher was familiar, I had attended his classes before. He loves to push you, especially standing poses. We are in the last two weeks of the semester. He gently corrected me a few times. As usual there is mad rush to switch props, and I lost my blankets to someone else. Suptapadangustana was intense and wonderful for my hip and sciatica. I learnt a new way to do Viparita Karani. At the end one of Guruji's pet students and an intermediate teacher came by and asked everyone to fill out surveys - one of the questions was how you were before and after taking classes at the institute. Great! Wish I was here long enough to do that. Enjoy the short video.

Namaste

Yogi

Supta padangusthasana - Sciatic and Gluteal Muscle Pain Killer

"The pain" - it don't go away, but pain it coming down, and it did in a remarkable way this Friday after the yoga therapy session with Nuvana. We tried a wall and belt supported suptapadangusthasan for nearly an hour and the pain subsided signficantly. Every week a different pose has a different effect. Two weeks ago I couldnt even lift up the left leg. So it seems like as you progress through this journey of pain, different poses create the impact of lessening the pain. What a concept! I observe, I bear and I understand my body more and more... So with some help I created a video for you to watch. There is some raw footage of another pose I did two weeks ago with Nuvana that had made an impact. Some kid yogini videos for fun. Enjoy the music and may love and peace be the center of your life.

Namaste

The Yogi

Yoga Therapy Video:

No Yoga Today with Nuvana

Since I am in resting mode and waiting for physical therapy to start next week (I found a therapist who is also a certified anusura yoga teacher), I didn't make it to Nuvana's place for yoga therapy. Instead she advised I roll up a towel and sit on it while I work and try a supported "supta padanga gusthasana" on the stair case at home. Worthwhile try. I have mostly just tried to relax the leg with the pigeon pose folding of my left leg. The pain continues to sustain itself and experts tell me it could be sciatic pinched nerve.

I do plan to attend her her back-care class at sunset yoga center tomorrow http://sunsetyoga.com/ which should be less taxing and more rest-full. In the meantime enjoy another one of my iyengar yoga video picks from youtube. It has no music but a nice set of surya namakar. And for those of you interested in expressing an opinion please visit my alter ego at http://haveopinion.blogspot.com/. May the sun shine in your life with vigor and energy of surya namaskar pose! And sunshine is renewable energy!

Namaste

Iyengar style:


Ashtanga Style just for kicks:

Yoga Therapy for Pain in the Gluteal Muscle

The last three days I have been walking funny with this pain in my butt and the crushing massage from Jeremy on Wednesday made little impact. The pain simply got worse. It didnt help that I have to lug around this 40 pound back pack I carry with me to work. It includes my light weight Sony laptop (yes it recently lost to Apple's new MacBook which now claims to be the lightest in the world) but old electronic relics, papers, files, notebooks, my soon to expire passport, cell phones, batteries.. an accumulation of junk really. I am conditioned to carry weight on me. Oh! I digress again, but I think there is a connection of this bag to my chronic lower back pain. Imagine how much pain the 60 pounds of fat I carried on my body must have caused? Disgusting, self torture, but wait a minute I just had another "eureka" moment! I need to get rid of this back-pack and I need to lose another 10-20 pounds.

I visit Nuvana's house every other Friday evening for a family yoga session. This includes personal one-on-one yoga training from the goddess of iyengar yoga with my 5 and 7 year old and her 3 and 1 year old climbing all over me while I am in practice, using me as a human play structure. She just returned from India after spending 2 months in Mumbai, which included teaching yoga therapy once a week at the center run by Jawahar in Bandra (I have to visit him on my next trip) and 2 days in Pune at the Iyengar center during the recently concluded Annual Day. So with the pain becoming unbearable, I had to call her and she graciously invited me to come over this evening for yoga therapy.

Yoga Therapy?
I had a serious pain that needed immediate fixing. First came the made in india yoga strap just below my waist and around the "gluteus maximus" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttocks#Anatomy for more details). The belt had to be wrapped around so that it could be tightend in the anti-clockwise direction. Yes, the direction makes a huge difference in relieving the pain, so both directions were tried and I settled for the anti-clockwise direction. Then came a "half uttanasana". It hurt to push back and stretch. So we moved to the staircase in the living room, one of the props used in the yoga practice. I was sitting on the end of the stair case with my legs stretched and her feet pushing my feet, with my knees pulled in to stretch the calves. A few minutes of it brought immediate relief.

I then moved on to a badhakonasa, sitting high on 3 blankets, back supported by the wall and one step of straps around each leg to support the thighs. It was followed by strap supported Upavishtakonasana (strap aound the foot and worn around the lower waist above the thighs and then tightened in the opposite direction of each leg). We ended with a highly supported supta padangagusthasana. Within 90 minutes the pain had dissipated significantly. I could perform a highly strechted out Half Uttanasana on her wall ledge (another important prop) with much more ease and a lot less pain.

I came home more relaxed. I have a strap around my gluteus maximus ala butt, tightened in the anti-clockwise direction. I am relaxed, with less pain, lounged in a couch potatoe pose writing this blog and watching meaningless television, "Gardening with Ciscoe Live on NWCN channel". Its a video moment really, and one of these days, it will appear on this blog. I figured we get enough visual stimulation with TV/Video so reading some bad english writing for a change would be more preferable.

Life would be a lot more painful without yoga therapy and magic of Nuvana. Thanks Nuvana and welcome back!

Namaste

The Yogi

NOTE OF CAUTION: If you are a novice or new to yoga, or even if you are an experienced yogi, please do not try what I described above without proper supervision of a trained and certfied Iyengar teacher who specializes in yoga therapy. If you are in the Portland metro area visit http://sunsetyoga.com/ for more information or visit http://www.bksiyengar.com/ to find a certified Iyengar yoga teacher in your city, state or country. It will change your life!