Forward bends and chest openings - Poses for relieving stress and tension

Yesterday was one of those days where too many things just come at me at once at work. I have learned the hard way not to get too comfortable with peace and calmness in my life - the evil spirits of stress have a remarkable way of coming in my face when I least expect them, no matter how yogic I claim I have become. With wonders of modern technology of instant communication we are more likely to get more stressed, more quickly - IN AN INSTANT :-) . We convince ourselves of changes and transformations within to handle stress with calmness.... but there is a reality check when it all blows up on your face in an instant.

It was my good fortune that this wave of stress and anxiety came right before my Friday yoga family session with Nuvana. I packed the kids into the car. We were so late. Yes! we will have ice cream after this, but I do need my yoga practice kids! You will have a swell time screaming and jumping all over me with your two friends, while I lie strapped in some supine pose trying to relax.... Off we drive down hill as Guruji's words "Change has to take place! Transformation has to take place" echo in my ears from the trailer of the movie EnlightenUp . Have a I really transformed? My old demons are back to haunt me. It had been such a peaceful Friday earlier.

We get to Nuvana's house.... I'm profusely apologizing for being late, as we have dovetailed into the dinner time of kids. No problem she says. I just need lots of restorative, my head is going to explode - I remark. Her kids had been eagerly awaiting our arrival, so in no time all four were in their best behavior. I need to bring ear plugs in the future. Somehow we calmed them down to do our OM invocations - but the quietness was immediately interrupted by slapping noises between two, which immediately transformed into massive giggling.

I was immediately instructed into a half Uttanasana on her window ledge. That didn't last for too long either. I was moved into a chest opening with Setu Bandh next. In included for a change a folded a blanket between my legs and the legs strapped around it and the edge of the sand bag on my forehead to push it towards my eyes. We couldn't find the eye pillows. That lasted for about 10 minutes.... all through this I'm un-silent. I am verbalizing my stress. "Evil spirits" exclained Nuvana. They come from your past lives her grandmother told her. You need to get a puja done. I will do anything to get rid of these stress demons I reply. In that moment I am ready to do anything , I believe in everything that could get rid of these demons from my life.

I think you need to try some forward bends, she remarked and I moved to a sitting position of Upavishtakonasana with my arms and head on the Halasana bench that was padded with blankets and two additional blanks one each side for my arms. I am still rambling... between the work problems and my experience of reading the book "First there is a mountain". I need to be quiet, but for some reason, I can't seem to be quite there today. We talked about our personal humorous experiences in Pune.

One topic was of how students are addressed, especially the foreigners, as many I think are challenged by the culture and environment. The teachers' at RIMYI frequently refer to students as "You people". The writer Elizatbeth Kadestky had made her own sarcastic interpretation in the book of the term "You people". I won't quote the words, but I couldn't stop laughing as I read it. We determined that if you don't know hindi, it would be hard to understand that "You people" meant no disrespect. The teachers in Pune think in Hindi or Marathi, or their native tongue and translate to English. "Aap log" is how folks are addressed in Hindi in group settings, which is a very respectful way of saying "You all". "You people" sounds so terse and derogatory. Somewhere in the discussion of Elizabeth Kadestky's book and experiences in Pune, the stress started to dissipate. My mind was distracted to another place, away from the demons.

I wasn't able to get the forward bend I needed with Upavishtakonasana. "Some people can get better bends with Baddha Konasana", Nuvana says. So we switch over to that pose and eventually to Janusirsana poses. All through this there was the screaming of the kids in the background. We decided to empower my oldest to oversee the younger, supervise them - a skill she is learning in school as her class welcome the newcomers (first graders) with whom they as second graders will be partnering with and guiding them through their first year in lower elementary. She too has been "really stressed" in all the preparation work that is required for welcoming these newcomers next week... Ahhh! all this "work", we are being programmed to be stressed at such a young age. That class needs to restart its yoga with me.

I must have been in these variations of sitting forward bends for an hour. The conversations about Pune took my mind completely away from my demons and by the time I was done, the head was no longer exploding and a sense of calmness had returned. We were invited to stay back for dinner. I volunteered to get some "Chole Bhature" from the Indian restaurant we had planned to visit after. The phone buzzed.... the stress never seems to leave me alone, but I handled it fine.

It was a stress free evening from there on, though I know the demons were still lingering around and will for some time, till the next wave of peace and calmness in my life. I recall something I wrote in a earlier post and wish to add the following : "Life is meant to be full of suffering and then we die"..... This elusive happiness we seek is just an illusion, a hope....we should not give up hope, but at the same time, balance hope with action, by going through life the best we can and then change might happen and transformation might happen. There is nothing but a sine wave in the cycle of life.

Namaste


The Yogi

Getting back to your yoga routine

It was Jan 28th when this horrendous glute pain hit me and took me completely out of my 3-4 day a week yoga routine. And have I ever let go of my ego and kept patience to get beyond it. This Friday it was back to Nuvana for a restart of the routine. We started with a badakonasana, a good height with cotton blankets from India and the kids all jumping around me. Having these 4 munchins (2 of mine and 2 of Nuvana) running around while I practice and learn certainly may sound very distracting, but its a great test of patience and concentration for me. I can focus and concentrate on the pose with kicks, nudges and taps, not knowing sometime if they come from the kids or the yoga guru.

I persevere to a supported upavishtakonasana, with a blanket and block under each inner thigh and then to a rajkapotasana. Rajkapotasana (Pigeon pose) and it felt so good. It felt really good. Then I tried a supported adhomukhasvanasan (Downward Dog) in a support form with a rope around my lower waist and keeping myself high trying to stretch my hands and arms to a chair vs the floor. Painful on my left inner thigh, oh that dreaded shooting pain came back. Instant reaction to back away from this. So I tried adho-mukha virasana with my arms pushing the wall. Felt good, but getting into a downward dog from this didn't. The left leg is still tight from the injury.

We had an intellectual discussion about my left and right leg. Since I lean on my left leg so much, my right leg is much more flexible and left leg more tight. For that reason in pigeon pose I felt the pose easier to do when my right leg was stretched out and left leg folded in. Makes sense? If not post a comment and I will have the expert explain more. Ended with a viparita-karani, with kids wanting to sit on my uplifted feet. My left leg couldn't handle it. Nuvana had planned to give me a back traction, but the kids were cranky and hungry, so ended the session. All in all, it was nice entry back to into my routine. I will have to restart with level 1 and have to modify some poses like downward dog.

So a small step to start back into a routine. It will not be as intense for sometime - maybe not till I hit Pune and then I hope to be back in the same class I was in July. I can't wait to be yanked and yelled into place. Oh what a feeling!

Namaste

Yogi

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!