Day 10 & Day 11

Day 10 - another satisfied new client! Hurray! Taught a class afterward, busy yoga evening. My practice - restorative in bed - bolster, eye pillow, bliss. Read an interesting breathing technique in "The Breathing Book" to help clients to get acquainted with the full extent of their breath chest, ribs, back, belly - I think I'm going to use my husband as a guinea pig and then try it out. My last 2 clients breath into their belly, but it is quite shallow breath and there is no action in the chest or sides.... stay tuned...

Day 11 -
block/strap - gerat way to check in, and I am limited today... interesting, no hip pain but my right butt/abductor wouldn't stop turning on when I was adducting. I had to dial it way back!
grounding into the wall, ankle to knee up the wall, heel pulses, legs up the wall with block/strap.
Savasana on the ground + bolster - woosh release through my hips!!!!

What a lovely morning, I work later on today so I have time to take my dog for a walk (the cat came too, hilarious)! What a glorious day! I live in the most beautiful spot, walking by the farm with a mountain view and 5 minutes later I was walking by the ocean. I noticed my hip starting to "whisper" - soften through my legs/shoulders and started to breath, much better.

Off to work at the hospital now. I think I'm going to bring a strap to figure 8 my mother on my break (she works in a different department and she has a crazy tight front line... for many reasons, one obvious being the computer work). It is so fun to keep learning from different bodies and experiences.

Day 8 & 9 - what a difference a day makes!

Day 8, I woke up with an unhappy body. It happens. Left hip, woah. I feel that this has something to do with the fact that I am SUPER nervous to start practicing my yoga therapy with clients who are not my husband – as such the tension in my body is up there. Especially after my not so stellar weekend in terms of work. Practice today? A bit of hips stuff (block/strap and my hip flexors fire… ohhh interesting….) and restorative. Calm down!

Taught 2 classes today – bringing in my principles of yoga therapy, one gentle flow class and one sweaty power class. Pure movement was on the docket and the feedback was great!

 Day 9 – my first client today (well technically my second after my husband)… woke up a little better, off to work. Home and my first client came – super interesting – spinal fusion, knee surgery, shoulders which the physio’s have given up on…. Well he had a pain of 3/10 on the floor and by the end he was pain free!!! Yay! Lots of relaxation with this guy, lots of places to go with him too. Home program given and appointment for next week! Very happy/relieved that it went well. And my little yoga room is the perfect size too!

My practice? Well my  hip was feeling much better after my client left, not 100%, but better. Restorative with bolsters under knees and block at my pelvis – siiiinnnnkkkkkkkk. Block/strap (hip flexors didn’t fire), supported spinal twist, restorative/supported pigeon (bolster under the back thigh for extra support and pelvic stability), tennis ball at the hip on the wall, butterfly, knee drops, ankle to knee, pull overs, top it off with supported child’s pose (2 bolsters – seriously good for my knees). After my 1.5 hour “me session” it was dinner time. I’m probably at a 1-2/10. Much better than the 4’s I’ve been having with some movement. All unraveling…. Interesting that as I let go of compensations that did not serve me, my body tries to claim new ones… keep unraveling and trust the process. I’m loving it and excited about a prospect to help my clients and myself out of pain – we deserve it.

Day 7 - gravity vs. ground force

Just came home from family dinner, the first one since my training - its good to get some practice to explain what on earth yoga therapy is and how it is different to conventional yoga. I've been asked "isn't all yoga therapy?" - the answer is pretty loaded, and for those who are not in pain, or not in enough pain for it to really hinder their function throughout a conventional yoga practice then the answer is "yes, all yoga is therapy, if it feeds your soul, then yes it is therapy". HOWEVER, there are those people who have a lot of pain, debilitating pain, who cannot participate in a conventional yoga class. Chronic pain is a big one here. Unstable joints. Combination of factors.... Regardless, some of these people have either tried a yoga class and it didn't work for them, or are too afraid to try a yoga class... Enter Yoga Therapy.

The easiest way to try to explain Yoga Therapy is to liken it to if you were to go to your physiotherapist or your massage therapist - this is 1:1 therapy and each program is tailored to each individual. I am assessing movement of the major joints and exploring the compensation patterns associated with how an individual moves. Yogic principles of holistic healing through relaxation and breath are amazing tools; however a yoga therapy session does not look like your conventional yoga class.

I operate on the principles of Newton's 3rd Law of Physics - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
- we all have gravity coming down on us
- at the same time, the earth emits a force through us to counteract gravity.
- when our joints are working appropriately, when there is enough space within them, when there is pure range of motion - the energy from the earth is able to travel through the body to balance gravity well.
- unfortunately, most of us have something going on in which our joints are not working optimally - therefore the earth's force does not balance gravity equally - and we run into problems. We compensate for a lack of movement, we have pain, we have tension... the list continues. Gravity starts to win....

Yoga therapy brings that optimal movement through the joints back.

How? A combination of small, controlled movement exercises coupled with hands on movement training. We are re-training movement here. This is unique to every individual.

The movements are small, but by really stripping away the tension and getting back to basics, the body opens and expands naturally. Restoring the balance of gravity to ground force. You may grow a bit through out this process! It is amazing!

My first case study: Meet Daniel - my husband. Electrician, baritone saxophone player, cook, and dog walker... (he is much more than that, but you get the gist.... love this guy). Dan has been complaining of neck pain and left wrist pain. In addition, when he gets into any high impact activity his right hip starts to hurt (the site of a previous hip fracture 9 years ago... that's a whole other story). I started Dan on his back in his first session. Assessed movement in his shoulder blades - they were quite stuck. In addition, assessed his pelvic stability - this was a little on the shaky side. Second session today - we have successfully started to unstick the shoulder blades, this is a work in progress; however, he has started to use the muscles that are designed to do the job! As a result his neck pain and disappeared and he has not complained of left wrist pain. hmmm this is curious.... its all connected..... His hip stability has started to improve as well and we will continue to explore as his body opens up.

Finally, on to me. I taught 2 classes today - a power and a gentle hatha. I was using my pure movement principles and it was so cool! I felt a little like a fish out of water, but the feedback I got was "Robyn, the movements we did were quite small but WOW were they effective!".... I guess that is what pure movement will do for ya!
Went a little to far in warrior one during a demo in class, but was able to use it as an example. Heated my back and took it easy, I'm pain free now. My body is really starting to unravel (in a good way) in terms of tension and as a result I'm noticing a lot less pain, it is quite a relief. Anyways I'm off to my yoga room to get in a session before bed. I know I will sleep very well.

Day 6 - tension relief necessary

Saturday, but a bit of a brutal Saturday... At least the sun was shining and I learned a lot. Difficult professionally from a few different stand points.... Regardless my practice today was hugely restorative. I got on the mat and all I wanted to do was sink into the floor. So I did.

Previously, at a time like this I would probably go for a power flow type class, but I was able to cultivate my awareness around this reaction and determine that my body just needed to rest. I'm not going to solve the tension in my body by adding more tension....

Similar to Susi's Chili Pot Analogy. You have a pot of chili and it is spicy, you don't like the spice so you add tomatos to thin it out. You don't add more spice to dilute the spice.... Same goes for tension and pain, to get rid of them, you don't add more tension and more pain.... but we do. All the time. Or I used to, that is one of my default patterns that has not served me.

Regardless, as I prepare for sleep, I'm still miffed, but my body doesn't hurt (and that is saying something because my back has been talking to me frequently this week). We all have days like this. Life happens.
Life happens.
Life happens.
How can you serve your body during this time so that when life turns (and it always does) you are not dealing with the aftermath of a whole load of tension that is residing from the original issue.

Day 5 - Happy Friday!

Lots of work today, was I ever happy for my yoga therapy practice! Giving myself the time to release tension from my day was a real blessing. My body was indicating a lack of mobility in my shoulder joints so that ended up being my focus. I love this practice, really it is all about what the body displays and we go from there.

Block/strap, ankle to knee, marching on the spot and knee drops– little back twinge so I move on from there, I am bracing in my shoulders to do this action. Rolled felt pad +block for some spinal integration – nice one. Sun rise/sun set, pull overs, up to the wall for dolphin – I feel lobsided. Standing for some scapular mobility + strap – oh there was a release! To the wall for dolphin again – that’s a bit better. Back to my back for some spinal strip action… oops my phone goes off – dad thinks that I’ve been napping… Apparently I sound really relaxed…. Back to my spinal strip + blanket under my hips, on to hand fold. Back up to the wall for dolphin – MUCH BETTER. Final savasana on a heart bed.

I’ve mentioned that I’ve started sleeping with a bolster at my knees and a 10 pound meditation cushion (ZAFU – Halfmoon.bz) on my hips. You would never believe the release in your legs. Seriously, try this. You will melt into and possibly through the floor. It’s so good.

I am so ready for a movie with my husband now, mind is clear, tension decreased, I can really focus.

yoga therapy converation

As I'm getting into this yoga therapy process I'm getting lots of interested people coming out of the wood work...! Seems as though many people have unresolved pain that they are just living with. It really doesn't matter what age you are, this is a common theme. Below is a quick conversation I had with a friend of mine regarding his pain and if yoga therapy could help.

Client: yoga you say eh, I actually have chronic pain in my left leg right now (well upper left thigh and into the lower back). Just started seeing a chiropractor for that. Would yoga help in something like that?

Me: Absolutely. This could be a nice complement to chiro actually. You get the joint manipulations from the chiro and what I am looking at is movement within the joints and compensatory patterns that are likely present due to a lack of functional mobility at the joint. These compensatory patterns in the joints often cause pain referred to different areas of the body. So we start to see that where the pain is may not necessarily be the source of the problem. But it gives us great information regarding where to start.
In my programs I assess movement and together we start to access pure movement in the joints to allow the muscles surrounding to relax/act appropriately vs. compensate. This process allows the body to open up and in tum relieve pain. It's pretty cool. This process will make your pain decrease and/or go away, and perhaps make it so your don't need to see your chiro as often as your bones/muscles start to work more efficiently and functionally.

Questions?? Please please please email me/call me/comment below! Lets continue on with this conversation!
What would it be like if you were in less or no pain? Seriously, what would that be like?

Day 4 - Trust the process

Woke up this morning with a bit of back tension, luckily I work late today so I can make a little “me time” to resolve some of it.

On the floor – noticing tension increasing, felt pad under – not quite right, quarter blanket under – much better… hmmm tight front line. Block/strap, knee drops, ankle to knee exercises. Tennis ball to my outer hips and some more ankle to knee – ooh more range came of that! Cat/cow, down dog (modified)- ooh my shoulders are tight. Spinal strip + pull overs, and then a little restorative on my side.  Legs up the wall with block strap + felt pad. Cat/cow, down dog – oh that feels more open! Wall sit to finish off. I feel taller and lighter!

Throughout the day, back tension comes back into play… so where are my default patterns kicking in again? Restorative practice after work, quite nice. It is interesting, since I have been more aware of my body my pain has shown itself more… Double edged sword of awareness, however I’m happy to be taking this road because it is more sustainable in the end. Trust the process.

restorative set up!

Home studio

Day 3 – back in class

My first class back in the teaching role since my training… I was so stressed out! As if I was coming back to the very first class I ever taught.... And guess what? My back started to hurt. Quite cool actually, in a way, it has been feeling great all day and then mood change and there we go! Default pattern… the first step is awareness into that pattern. Quite curious when it is revealed and repeats! (and repeats and repeats and repeats… well I guess that is why it is called a default).

So back to the stress, I mean class… – my new knowledge of yoga therapy and putting that into practice within a class… hmmm that’s another step.  Gentle hatha, I went in with recommendations of no pain, pure movement, and smooth and even breath.  Started with pelvic floor, accessed the transverse abs, went onto twists and the obliques, and we were off!  Overall it was a fun class, but I definitely have some interesting lessons coming from this. 1. Be mindful of your cuing. This class I was very cognisant of cuing the actual pure movement vs. the end result of the movement (i.e. twists, lead from your obliques and not forcing with the arms). 2. Meet every student where they are at. Some are ready for a conversation re: pain free ROM,  others love “go big or go home” – and that is ok.  3. In the end, appreciate if you can reach out and make a difference for even a couple of students (I had a great conversation about the pelvic floor and kegel exercises after class…. Hilarious).

Overall, I’m in love with this new twist on my current teaching methods. I felt authentic, even more so, I felt light and excited to teach, and my students really enjoyed it! About half way through the class I had an epiphany that I still know how to teach, all of a sudden my body let go of all the stress tension and it just happened. Beautiful. I just have a few more tool with which to assist my students get out of pain.

 I look forward to continuing to spread the good word about decreasing pain, finding peace and stillness in the body, and healing… this is my thing and I’m in love.

Now it is a little late and I’m about to go upstairs to my yoga room for some before bed practice. I’ll report on that tomorrow. What I will say is that I have been sleeping with a bolster under my knees, a 10 pound sand bag (aka meditation pillow from Halfmoon) on my hips, and an eye pillow; I am out like a light. The added weight just allows me to melt into the bed, seriously, it is amazing. I am so excited to do this again…. Yummy.

Day 2 - Every day is day one.

So I woke up today in a fair amount of pain, at the same time I was feeling very overwhelmed regarding the prospect of integrating this journey into my existing structured life. I hear Susi in the back of my mind telling me something about bandwidth and how I have surpassed my existing limit…. Time to reintegrate. Every day is day one.

 I am taking today to do so.

I am fascinated by the many layers of understanding of the yoga therapy concepts and applications. Just when I think I’ve got them my body goes and does something (like be in more pain) and then I am re-learning. Again, I hear Susi in the back of my mind telling me something about being ok with the unknown and letting my body embody the mystery…. No matter how hard I try, I will never have control completely over my body – this process is not about demystifying… the opposite is true.

So this being said, I am in a bit of a bad mood. I’m not a fan of pain, and my previous strategies would be to tense, strengthen, and get down on myself for not having done this enough… I know this doesn’t work. I am a house of cards…. Tension under strength, and then perhaps another layer of tension… Take it from me, this is not sustainable. I’m lost without my default pattern, taking mindful care to know that a new one must be established – this is hard work, physically but especially mentally. It is interesting that as I am resetting my patterns and unraveling my compensations which kept me upright, I’m feeling the pain… but really this is the pain that has always been there under the surface. I am committed to healing; therefore, I have to go deeper, feel my body, resist taking a Tylenol, and explore appropriately.

I am exploring the mind body connection today – or I’ll say that it is coming up. I’m overwhelmed and generally on the lower end of the mood scale and guess what, I can feel my back. So that concept of thinking positively to facilitate faster healing is being challenged here. I have a choice to make. I can feel like crap or I can decide to be excited about the journey. Which one will contribute to my healing quicker? I’ll give you one guess, and I am on board. Even as I write this I feel lighter, my eyes have opened a little wider, my back is not pulsing quite so much… hmmmm…. See I have always known this, but I feel like yet another layer has been uncovered. I am a very large onion when it comes to this subject (and perhaps others, but that is another conversation)

My yoga today: I went to a hatha class. I don’t think I have ever moved so precisely and slowly. And you know what… I was sweating. Pain free range of motion (or that in which my back didn’t get worse) – check, move as purely as possible – check (Susi would have been so proud of my prayer twist, it took me forever to get into purely – obliques, shoulder blades, add arms last, don’t force), easy smooth breath – check (I grip into ujjayi far too easily). How do I feel? Yummy. I was able to release some of the negative energy surrounding my thoughts of how my body “ought to feel” and get into the reality of what my body is really feeling.

My yoga therapy practice: block and strap, knee drops, pelvic floor exercises, marching, ankle to knee, sunrise/sunset, cat/cow, table top + arms and then legs.

Pain/tension assessment pre practice: back 3/10 pain, tension in back 2/10

Post practice assessment: back 1/10, tension 0/10!

Coolest thing about practice today was that I’ve progressed! My knee drops are more and I can march on the spot with a quiet pelvis… ooohhh its working! I’m in a better mood now…!

Day one – every day is day one.

First day post my therapeutic training, wow did I ever sleep well!  Every yoga training, no matter how physically based, is an incredible journey of discovery in to all parts of the self. Physical body, mental body, spiritual body – it’s all happening. It’s all happening.

 I got home (my Toronto home aka Emma’s apartment) last night, had a good cry (in a good way), and got into a yummy restorative practice. Yoga Therapy Rule: listen to your body. I got home last night, my body said “get on the floor” and there I was, starfish + bolster + sand bag on my hips. I swear I was melting into the floor. Bliss.

This morning was beautiful, I am so happy to be alive and to have my practice. I’m not a church go-er, but I feel as though every time I am on my mat is a spiritual experience. I am me. Me is great.

Self Assessment: Shoulder tension was about a 3/10 (10 being the worst, 0 being no tension), back pain was a 2/10, back tension was a 3/10.

My practice this morning:  breath work, block/strap, pull overs, sunrise/sun set, leg press to the wall, wall sit. Took me about 15 minutes. It was wonderful.

Reassessment: Shoulder tension was about a 1/3, back pain 0.5/10, back tension 1/3.

As I write this blog post I am on the plane back to Richmond, BC – my home with my husband. I brought my yoga strap in my carry on, I’m quite excited about it because my shoulders got all tense from hauling my bags through the airport – time to “figure 8” up! Feels so much better, some of the tension has released from my jaw and my back pain has gone down. You just never know the cause and effect – I’ll write more on this a little later.

I hope I get a chance to practice a little when I get home, before bed. Unravel the plane ride. I am happy to be going home – to sleep in my own bed and get a good hug/kiss from my Daniel, but I will miss my Toronto experience and Susi – she has resonated and influenced me so much. I deserve to be out of pain, I deserve to find comfort – she challenged me when I wanted to go further than my body could handle, and I appreciate it very much. I am forever changed. Every day is day one. Every day is an opportunity to find ease, grace, and tranquility. Om.

30 Day Challenge – On the path to find ease and pain free movement

Yoga Therapy – a 1:1 practice involving movement, breath, and stillness. Instructor and student work closely together to assess movement at the major joints to determine each individual’s optimal range of motion. The purpose is to decrease and/or eliminate pain, find relaxation, & ease of movement.

I just finished my intensive yoga therapy training with Susi Hately from Functional Synergy. Throughout the training we have been exploring the kinesiology of yoga & therapeutics. What is therapeutic yoga? Basically, it is about moving in the way the body is anatomically designed to move to relieve pain via easing compensations throughout the body. In other words, this is yoga rehab. I love this stuff!

I am an occupational therapist and yoga instructor by training; now I can add yoga therapist to the resume and skill set. It is all about function, when pain in the body gets in the way of the activities of daily living that you want to do and you’ve had enough…. Call me, I can help!

Living my practice and practicing what I preach.

I have been challenged by my therapeutic yoga teacher, Susi, has given me a 30 day mind/body exploration. If I learned anything, I learned a lot about my body through this training. Basically, I have pain in my body, I have limitations, and I am compensations – it has got to be a bit of a vicious cycle and I’m ready to do something about it. 30 days. Assess my movement, explore my body and my breath, get still and letting go of tension. This is the space in which I can heal PROPERLY!!! I’ve been on a “yo-yo diet of back injury healing” – enough is enough.

Not only is this a great opportunity it ease pain in my body and really experience the benefits of this transformative practice. I will be blogging my experience including rating my pain and tension levels throughout.

Intro to Yoga Therapy 101

Stress load: The amount of stress on the body – whether it be from physical, emotional, social, institutional (etc. you get the point) sources – that one may not be equipped for. These forces come from every direction at any time and they show up on our body, most often as a physical symptom of pain and/or tension. What to do? Well stress from an external stand point is inevitable. Does this mean that we are doomed to be in pain/strain/tension forever? NO! How we deal with stress from an internal perspective is manageable. Dare I say it is even possible to thrive... We can make the choice to develop strategies within our lives and bodies to cope with these stresses and keep the pain from showing up in the first place or, at the very least, keep it from increasing.

Stress is a part of my life. Life happens. As such I have developed a great many strategies to cope with this. One of my favourites is through my yoga practice - the place that I can get on the mat, breathe, relax, put aside all judgement, and just be. Yoga therapy principles have taught me that it is not necessary to be in pain. If we can equip our bodies and create stability at the major joints for the current load/life demands, we can thrive in a pain free range. How liberating! Once we start operating within a pain free range of motion within pure movement (a.k.a. allowing the joints to do what they are designed to do) the body will open up and dispel pain. Seriously. No joke.

So let us dive a little deeper. Using the principles of pure movement developed by Susi Hately, it becomes clear that moving within this pain free range of motion is the ticket to freedom. Do only that which you need to do and nothing more, learn the art of slowing down, listen to your body – really listen – and you will be amazed at how the physical, mental, and emotional body will respond.

No pain, no gain does not apply here. EVER.

Feeling lighter, more energetic, younger – now what would that be like?

Sound good? Lets talk... robyn.emde@gmail.com