Hip instability is a very common problem among yogis. Most postures move forward and back, especially in beginning classes, allowing significant adduction and abduction weakness. More women than ever, especially yoginis, are requiring hip replacements at a young age. And I have weak hips that have caused IT Band and knee issues. I just came across this publication full of pelvic stabilization exercises from Princeton University. This is from the paper's introduction: Pelvic Stabilization program is geared toward improving the function and strength of the pelvis and hip regions which will address faulty movement pattern. Lower back, hip, knee and ankle problems can be affected The whole thing is here.
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The "Practice" posts are about progress and learning. The pictures and analysis of my own practice help me find areas that need improvement. This morning I took some time and tried to improve the engagement and alignment of my Chair Poses. There are 3 main variations of Chair in the Ghosh Lineage, and even though they look similar, the engagement of the back and legs is actually very different between the postures. The first part is simple enough. Feet flat on the floor and sit down halfway. The tricky part is in the back. Some teachers encourage an arched back where you pull your chest up and curve your lower back so your upper body is upright and looks like a ski slope. When we discussed this posture with Tony and he demonstrated, his back was almost completely straight. I have looked at some pictures of Chair Poses from other traditions and read some anatomy books, trying to figure out if there is a good reason to either arch the back or keep it straight. I have found evidence of straight backed and arched back Chair Poses. But I can't find any good anatomical evidence to arch the back in this pose, so I am going to practice keeping it straight for awhile. Keeping the back straight is complicated in this position because the quads are so engaged. It is easy to just let them pull the top of the pelvis forward which would then arch the back. Straightening the lower back requires some relaxation of the quads and some engagement of the hamstrings to tilt the pelvis back a little and flatten the low spine. The second part, Chair On Toes, is the power posture of this little sequence. Being up on the toes really changes the alignment of the legs, so the calves, quads, hamstrings, abs and back all engage differently. The flat back is easier to achieve in this position because the center of gravity is further forward. I was surprised to find that my hip and back engagement was easier and stronger from practicing the first part with a flat back. (This reminds me of the pelvic tilt in Eagle Pose, where I have been finding more stability and power by tilting the pelvis back. But that is for another time.) The third part, Chair On Heels, is challenging in its simplicity. This is a posture that requires very little muscular effort compared to the first two parts, and yogis have been trying to make it harder and harder. This is actually a pretty gentle posture, a safe and engaged way to bend deeply into the knees, warming them up. Some yogis like to hold their hips up an inch off of their heels for the power in the quadriceps. What this is more likely to do, especially over time, is to strain the tendons in the front of the knees. The same goes for the 'bouncing,' another great way to strain the knees. We are still warming the body at this point in the series, and we need to open it gradually.
Standing up out of Chair On Heels is another great place to strain the knees. A gentler way to come up is to bring the upper body forward, letting the hips go back and the feet come flat on the floor. It doesn't look nearly as bad-ass as powering straight back up out of this position, but it takes the pressure off of the knees. I have been doing some strength training for the past couple months to compliment my yoga practice. From the start I have been worried that lifting weights and doing exercises to build strength would limit the range of motion in my muscles and joints. I have been monitoring the depth of my postures as I start to lift more weight, and to my surprise all my postures have gotten deeper. I have seen absolutely no stiff side effects to the weight lifting. Quite the opposite, really. I think the strength training is making me more flexible. I have two theories why that may be true.
1) Stronger muscles mean that I can engage with more power. With more back strength I can straighten my back more. With more abdominal and quad strength I can pull my upper body and lower body together with more force. But the place where I have noticed it the most is in my hips. I have been doing Squats, Deadlifts and One-Legged Bridges (like the Bridge pose in yoga) that have made a huge difference in the strength of my hips, gluts, hamstrings and quads. So in a posture like Tree Pose, I have much more strength to pull my knee back. I never realized how the strength of one muscle can aid the stretch of another. 2) My second reason is a little bit more theoretical. I think that the strength in my muscles is increasing the stability of my joints. And since "flexibility" is a neurological relationship between the muscles, the nerves and the brain by which our nervous systems halt further movement when they sense danger, I think that increased stability in my joints is relaxing my nervous system. My body can sense greater stability and therefore it is willing to permit greater length and greater depth. More strength means less chance of injury, so a deeper stretch is possible. According to the NY Times, a study has shown that while we sleep our brain cleans itself. The brain has its own system similar to the lymphatic system that is relatively inactive while awake but dilates when sleeping. This system flushes out debris and repairs neurons. Lack of sleep prevents the brain from healing.
Read the whole article here. This is from a post by my teacher Tony Sanchez.
OBJECTIVES OF HATHA YOGA The trajectory and understanding of the objectives in Hatha Yoga developed in Sivananda’s and Ghosh’s systems are the same. These objectives included, maintaining a youthful body, developing physical and psychic powers (siddhis), awakening the potential energy (Kundalini-Shakti) and finally attaining enlightenment. To my understanding the Kundalini and the Vagus nerve are one of the same. It also goes by the name “the happy nerve”. Good standing or sitting postures extends this nerve. Become aware of it and it’s connection to all the different internal organs. Metal attitude plays a very important role at this level of practice. The heat used in Bikram's class (105 degrees F) is the subject of a lot of passionate discourse both for and against. I practiced regularly in the heat for 3 years. For the past 6 months I have also been practicing at room temperature, usually between 60-80 degrees F. Based on my experience in both situations and what I have learned from listening and reading, here are my thoughts about the heat. It has pros and cons. But the strange part is that many of what people consider to be benefits of the heat are either untrue or actually detrimental.
PRO - Burn more calories and lose more weight I have been in Bikram classes where the teacher claims that you can burn up to 800 calories in a 90 minute class. Luckily, the Bikram Yoga College of India recently sponsored a study where they hooked up a bunch of yogis to monitors while they practiced. They measured metabolic rate, heart rate and core temperature over the course of the class, so we have a pretty clear idea of what is happening to the body. According to the study, women burn about 330 calories during a Bikram class. Men burn about 460. The difference between men and women is mostly due to body size. The other issue, weight loss, is a tricky one. As I just mentioned, a class in the heat doesn't burn nearly the calories that some claim it does. The main way to lose weight in the heat is through water loss. Water is very heavy, and we can sweat out 2-4 pounds of water throughout a class. Sadly this loss is very bad for you because it is dehydration. Also, the weight goes right back in when you drink enough water to hydrate your body, which I hope you do. PRO - Reduced warm up time In a super heated room, the warm up gets cut down to Breathing, Half Moon Series, Chair and Eagle. 15-20 minutes. Even the Triangle series (Triangle and Standing Separate Legs Forehead to Knee), which in Ghosh's original sequencing goes right after Half Moon, gets moved later in the class to act more as therapeutic and less as a warm up. Our muscles get good and warm in that short 15-20 minutes. Incredible. The heat practically eliminates the need to do postures to warm the body. In 90 minutes we can do a good amount of therapeutic postures, from Wind Removing all the way to the end. When I practice at room temperature it takes 60-90 minutes to get my body sufficiently warm. As far as I can tell, this is the greatest advantage of the hot room. PRO/CON - Warm muscles are more flexible Yes, it's true that we can stretch farther in the hot room. Our muscles loosen significantly, but this is as bad as it is good. The hyper loose muscles allow us to overstretch and strain our muscles. We can't feel the usual neurological feedback from the muscles when they are tight or at the edge of their comfort zone, so we push them farther than we would in normal circumstances. We can strain the muscles and, even worse, we can strain the connective tissue. Our tendons and ligaments. Tiny tears in our connective tissues don't heal nearly as fast as our muscles, so if we practice in the hot room on a regular basis we can generate real damage in the tissues. This can lead to torn ligaments and loose joints, both things that take a very long time to heal if ever. PRO/CON - Lots of sweat When we practice asana in a hot room we sweat like crazy. The supposed benefits are twofold. 1)Your body sweats out toxins, making the extreme sweat a purifying process for your entire body. 2)Your skin gets clean and exfoliated from all the sweat. All the gunk and grime and dead skin washes right off, like scrubbing every inch of your skin from the inside out. The problem with perceived benefit #1, that we sweat out toxins, is that it has no foundation in biology. Our sweat is made up of water and electrolytes for the singular purpose of cooling the body. There is a fraction of a percent of anything that might be considered a toxin in our sweat. Medically speaking, our body eliminates toxins through excretion (urine and feces) and to a lesser extent exhalation. So we don't actually sweat out any toxins, just water. And that raises a significant Con with practicing in the heat - dehydration. The hot and humid room actually short circuits our body's natural cooling mechanism, so we hemorrhage water. Sweating is designed to cool us by evaporating from our skin, taking large amounts of heat with it. When the air is humid, our sweat cannot evaporate effectively, so we cannot cool. Our body keeps sweating more and more in hopes that it will help. It flows out of us in vast quantities as our bodies try to regulate their temperature. So at the end of a practice in a hot room, we are likely to be severely dehydrated even if we started the practice at optimal hydration. CON - Heat Stroke Heat stroke and heat exhaustion are so common in the hot room that teachers act like it is normal behavior. "We are ridding ourselves of toxins," they say. "Stay in the room no matter what." Cramping, lightheadedness, headache, nausea and vomiting are all signs of heat exhaustion. And it gets worse when a person is dehydrated. I have seen all of these symptoms and experienced most of them myself while practicing in the hot room. The recommended treatment for heat exhaustion is immediate cooling through air, ice packs or cold water, which goes directly against the usual refrain of "stay in the room." If we are feeling lightheaded or nauseous we should leave immediately and cool our bodies. In conclusion, I think the heat does more potential harm than good. The greatest advantage I see to the heat is that it saves time by warming the muscles externally. The possible dangers include strained connective tissue, loose joints, dehydration and heat stroke (which causes brain damage). I had a session with a trainer this morning. He identified some weakness in my left leg, probably the result of many ankle sprains from my soccer playing days.
The most significant discovery of the session was foam rolling. I have never used a foam roller before to massage and put pressure on my muscles and tissues. He showed me how to roll my IT Band, where I have been having soreness and tightness. It was excruciatingly painful, but I felt immediate progress with the release of the tissue. Less tightness, less soreness, and better knee mobility. I am very excited about the potential of this technique! I am determined to develop a series of exercises for men that is a complete and specialized workout. Postures for muscle development and strength. Postures for determination and will power. And postures for balance. Perhaps also exercises for stress relief and healing of injuries, and men generally have tight hips and hamstrings.
Am I overlooking anything significant that I should incorporate to make a complete workout for men? Men, what are you looking for in an exercise program? Have you tried yoga? What is missing in the classes? If you haven't tried it, is there a reason why you avoid it? "There’s this entrenched idea that it’s good to ‘sweat things out,’ but sweating, per se, provides no health benefits.”
"You aren’t gaining extra health benefits from drenching your clothing with perspiration; you’re only ensuring that you’ll need to sip from your water bottle more often to avoid losing too much fluid." "The benefits derive from the exercise itself, and the more intense, generally, the greater the health benefits." Read the whole article here. I have been reading a lot about the hips, how they move and what types of movements tend to cause instability (including this article by Michaelle Edwards). It is well known that the legs and hips from an arch, a stable way to transfer the weight of our torsos down through our legs into the ground. The sacrum acts as the keystone to the arch. It is the point where the force is the greatest and where it splits down the legs.
This has me wondering why we encourage people to do any yoga postures with their feet together. Does this compromise the strength and integrity of the arch? Isn't it important for the feet of an arch (and therefore the feet of a human) to be sufficiently wide to make the transfer of weight most effective? Or does standing with feet together only make balance more challenging with no effect on the sacrum? I am going to keep these questions in my mind as I practice for the next few weeks. |
This journal honors my ongoing experience with the practice, study and teaching of yoga.
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