Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the seventeenth day of the month is "Method."
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More than a decade ago, I had a tib-fib fracture in the lower part of my left leg. I was lucky enough to be able to have surgery the same day at a very well-respected hospital and was doing rehab within four months. But there are some lingering aftereffects, including that my mobility in my left ankle is limited by literal metal plates and my left leg swells up dramatically with fluctuations in weather and how much water I've had to drink (stay hydrated, yo!). But I consider myself quite lucky because I can walk without a limp and I have few physical limitations based on this injury.
But there are some things that are uncomfortable for me and they really make themselves known when I do yoga.
Many people find child's pose to be a comfortable resting posture. This is when you start in a kneeling position and either widen your legs to the edges of your mat or keep your legs together as you bend forward, allowing your torso to tend downwards, forehead to the floor.
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| Child's pose |
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| Alligator pose |
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| You can see the difference in flexibility here. |
What is your method for being kind to your body?
I have worked with many, many types of bodies in my teaching, including people who have had strokes, and so I have a wide variety of variations of poses. What you include is what I give to my ladies who have knee issues and for whom child's resting pose is inappropriate. My current classes include ladies who have knee and hip issues, shoulder issues, and eye issues that preclude any head-beneath-heart postures. This means that I am never bored teaching, as I'm always going through different variations for different people. When I taught yoga for stroke survivors, half the class were seated on chairs or using chairs for balance, and the other half were mobile enough to be on the mat. It was always fun and interesting to find different ways of expressing postures. Seated pigeon, for example, was one lady sitting in a chair with one leg fairly straight, and the other crossing it at the ankle. It was a great stretch for her. Our bodies showcase our lives, and every life is different, and that is why I am so passionate about finding the right posture for every person. Sometimes a student will ask if they are "doing it right" and my response is, let's see if it's right for YOU. Ahhh I love yoga.
ReplyDeleteYes, the local senior center offers chair yoga sometimes and I've always wanted to see how it's handled and what types of accommodations are offered. It seems like such a great practice for all types of bodies!
DeleteI, too, am not someone who can do child's pose comfortably after an ankle injury during my wild retail days. It's taken me years to realize that yoga shouldn't hurt and that it's ok to modify or choose the pose that works for me, which has been so helpful coming back from some shoulder/neck drama.
ReplyDeleteWILD RETAIL DAYS! Was it just from standing on hard ground so much or is there a more interesting story to the injury?
DeleteThere are so many positions and movements I just am not flexible enough to do, so I am always grateful when an instructor offers modifications and explicitly reminds everyone to do what's right for their body. One of my biggest (but not BIG, or anything) sources of exercise/fitness shame is that I cannot do a pushup. Not even a modified pushup. But I do what I can and hope that my triceps and shoulders are still working hard even if it LOOKS like I'm not really doing anything. I also have a really hard time with exercises that put pressure on my wrists -- like planks. So I definitely alternate between planking with my hands flat and planking with my elbows on the mat. It's hard to accept limitations, even if you know that everyone has them.
ReplyDeleteShoulders are a weakness for me. I struggle with modified pushups because it hurts my knees and so I tend to do pushups from the kitchen counter or one or our cedar chests. It takes less pressure off my shoulders. I wonder if something like that might work for you as a bridge between wall pushups and modified pushups. You can have a bit more control over your wrists, too!
DeleteOkay, well that's weird. I have the exact same problem as Suzanne (above.). I can't put my right wrist down flat and put pressure on it, like for planks or pushups. I just do planks on my elbows which is fine, but it drives me nuts in a Caroline Girvan workout when there's pushups and I can't do them! So frustrating. And I haven't done yoga in about a year now. I really miss it.
ReplyDeleteIt's good you've found some alternatives to the poses that bother you. Everyone's body is different, even if we don't have plates in our legs. There's no way everyone could do the sam pose the same way.
In Fuel, CG has done "declined pushups" in which your feet are on a bench or chair and you do pushups that way and I'm all puzzled as to who can actually do that? I tried to do it and just about broke my neck and am scared of it now!
DeleteAh, is there any yoga you can do to avoid wrist pain, like a mat class or something? I feel like there have to be yoga classes that don't do a lot of plank, three-legged dogs, etc!
I have the same wrist issue as Jenny and Suzanne mentioned above. So I use weights when doing push-ups, so I am not hyper-extending my wrist. As I get older, I am better at being kind to myself and accepting where I am/what I can do. My RA can be a limiting factor depending on how well my disease is managed and whether I have a virus. I can not push through illnesses and continue to workout, for example. I will just prolong the virus if I do that. It took awhile to learn this/come to terms with it, though!
ReplyDeleteI bet it's super crucial for you to listen to your body and get lots of rest when you get sick. I can only imagine how frustrating it is when you want to do something and your body is telling you to take a nap, though!
DeleteA couple of days before our wedding, I assembled and positioned a huge glass desk all by myself in our new apartment and really hurt my shoulder. I traveled from madison to peoria for the wedding weekend obliterated on muscle relaxers and sprawled all over the backseat of my little brother's friend's car. And to this day, that shoulder hurts with very little provocation (and with hormonal fluctuations). I am much more flexible on my left side and have to modify accordingly.
ReplyDeleteOH NO! Shoulder injuries are terrible! Did you have ever have problems with it with babies/toddlers? My MIL had bad joint issues, but she absolutely blamed pregnancy on a lot of her long-lasting injuries.
DeleteThis year is the first time I've done yoga consistently and the last couple of days I've felt like it's aggravating an old shoulder injury, and I'm honestly not sure HOW to modify so it doesn't keep doing that. It's one of the few times I wish I was doing yoga with an actual teacher and not with youtube.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the answer, but I find that when my shoulder is acting up, I do a lot of hand on hips in poses like Warrior. I also do all planks on my forearms instead of shoulders. *sigh* I wish you luck in figuring it out!
DeleteIn a nutshell: if it feels weird, there's a reason and don't do it! I won't do any exercize that has me bending my back the wrong way, such as a superman. Yes I *can* do it, and no it doesn't hurt but it also doesn't feel good and I can't see how it's going to make me stronger or give me any benefit.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it, something has always felt "off" about child's pose. Now I know the workaround!
Ha! I always assumed people LIKED child's pose since it seems to be go to resting pose. Or maybe yoga teachers just really like it because it's easy to transition to it from a lot of poses and from it. I am usually a bit behind when I go into alligator because it takes a bit more to get out of it.
DeleteI love the colour of your leggings.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I don't know whether to stretch an ache or to go easy on it. I mean not if it hurts, but if it's just kind of sore. I think my method to be kind to my body is to go to get lots of sleep, but that doesn't happen a whole lot...
YES!! When I tweak my neck or back, I never know if the answer is to rest or do gentle exercises. Why isn't this is the adulting manual?
DeleteI love that yoga is so "flexible" to accommodate everyone's personal body issues :)
ReplyDelete