Day 6 - Loves and Hates

Like every Yogini I have yoga asana that I love and yoga asana that I hate.

My personal nemisis are backbends. Strong backbends such as chakrasana and full unmodified utrasana are big no-nos for me because of my scoliosis. These asana put too much pressure on my thoracic spine and end up doing more harm than good.

However, I do need backbends within my practice to open up my chest -- one of the problems with thoracic scoliosis is a tendency to slouch into the chest so chest openers rather than strong backbends are the way forward. Whilst I really do have to persuade myself into them I do find a gentle Setu Bhandasana or Salambhasana very helpful. Some days I'm even up for a modified utrasana (with my hands on my lower back rather than my heels).

Working through modifications for back problems such as scoliosis and fatigue problems such as CFS and Fibromyalgia has been one of the highlights of my career thus far as a yoga teacher - I cannot tell you how liberating it is to find a way of modifying a posture to gain the benefits without putting the body under strain.

But what are my loves when it comes to yoga asana? Well I love anything that works on elongating the spine and sides of the waist and works on lifting out of the hips whilst grounding through the feet:- balances such as vrkasana for example, or vertical standing poses such as virabhadrasana 1 (although personally I would say the stance in that picture is way too wide!)

But my all time favourite yoga pose has to be Downward Dog. I am happy to hang there for breath after breath, releasing and releasing and releasing into my crooked spine :)

Sometimes it's good to think about those poses we dread - very often the body needs what it least wants.

Namaste!

Day 5 - New World Order

The week of the G20 Summit I propose my own New World Order:-

I yearn for a dawn, a dawn most blessed
when every child has protection and is cherished;
every fist opened, every caress for giving not taking;
every clenched heart that hits out be melted;
every mouth fed, every head sheltered;
where weapons would be beaten once and for all into plough shares;
where difference could be celebrated
as the walls of dogma and division come down;
where broken relationships may be restored;
and unspoken family members hold each other in long embrace
--Tess Ward

Day 4 - Nearly holiday!

I have just finished teaching my Saturday morning pregnancy yoga class - 6 round women this morning, and in a particularly rowdy mood. Took me ages to settle them to get started and they bordered on the hysterical whilst we were doing partner squats! Must be something in the air - everything is in full bloom and the air smells of sunshine and spring. Spirits are lifting from the dull days of winter.

So now, time for some lunch before a private session with a client this afternoon. She is one of my regulars from my Wednesday night class who comes about once a month to work on her own self practice. She likes to pay particular attention to core strength so I incorporate quite a bit of Pilates into her sessions.

Once she goes I have no more classes or clients until Tuesday 14th April. Whilst I love teaching, I love time off just as much. It helps me gain that perspective I was talking about.

I hope it is beautiful spring weather for all of you.

Namaste!

Day 3

This morning I taught my last class at The Mulberry Centre, where I teach volunteer yoga to people with/recovering from/caring for someone with cancer. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, my schedule has spiralled out of control and I've had to cut back on a few classes. I've chosen this particular class less because it doesn't pay (that's really not a huge issue) and more because it involves a nearly 2hr round trip in the car which really depletes me of spoons!

Word had got around that it was my last class and nearly everyone I've ever taught there turned up! It's not a huge room so it was a bit of a squish, but we had a lot of fun and worked on pranayama and meditation. It was so incredibly moving and humbling to see so many amazing people coming to me for their yoga - and thanking me afterward for everything I had given them. Some of them had all sorts of advice/tips for living with fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue as well - although I'm not quite sure how that bit of information got out into the public domain!!

Speaking of the fibromyalgia, I had my follow up appointment with my GP today to get the prescription for the Lyrica (for reasons I cannot understand, you need 2 doctors say so before you can get it). I picked it up from the chemist today - although there were only 10 tablets in the whole of Surbiton and I was prescribed 84. I have to go back for the rest next week.

Because they can cause drowsiness at first I'm going to start taking them Saturday night as I'm teaching pregnancy yoga tomorrow morning. It seems somehow serendipitous that I have all of next week off in which to get used to the drowsy feeling!

So I think that's it for today - have a great weekend everyone!

Day 2

My Wednesday night class is usually an intermediates vinyasa flow class. I tend to get between 7 and 10 people (and believe me, the size of that room, 10 is pushing it!); last night due to holidays and sickness I only had 3. Three very exhausted students and one equally exhausted teacher! I always find the clocks going forward leaves everyone slightly jetlagged.

We decided to take a break from the norm and work on a more yin than yang practice. I started with some focussed breathing practices, letting go of the day with the breath and drawing in energy; and then followed with my current favourite - the Pawanmuktasana series. Moving on to postures on all fours, some gentle sun salutations and standing postures focussing around the Warrior series.

Returning to all fours and gentle backbends before coming into child's pose for complete release.

I finished the sequence with some seated postures (holding twists and forward bends for longer than usual to release both tensions and emotions), some supine hip openers and Nadi Sodana before coming into a Yoga Nidra.

My students' verdict?

"Oh I'll sleep well tonight" :-)