Pulled muscel – hurts

Hello ‘Old Man’ 😉

Thanks for your patience! OK so I do have to kick off by asking you what your Fixed Firm pose looks like. Can you explain that for me, please?

Before you go back, are you able to sit comfortably with your hips on the floor between your heels, tops of your feet on the floor, body upright (back straight, lumbar curve present)? Are all those things happening together? Or which parts of that equation are you expressing?

Can you also explain how, when and how far you actually go back? What exactly are you doing?

Oh, you also didn’t say which of your quadriceps muscles you have pulled. You say your knee on that side is not very flexible. If you can also make special mention of that knee or side when you answer all my questions that will be very helpful

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello again

So, from your account it seems you are progressing in this pose beyond your present abilities. If you’re willing to go through a process of a few back and forward messages and follow directions I am positive you will be doing this pose without pain before too long. I can’t say how long exactly. But I have used similar methods for countless folk who have advanced beyond their wildest expectations. And that of course means, not just looking good in this pose, but feeling great, and opening up their bodies so that other poses work better for them. What it also means is that your ‘old body’ hehe will feel better in AND outside of the yoga room.

So, are you with me?

First step is this:

Are you able to kneel. Simply kneel. Toes, heels and knees together. Tops of feet on the floor. Just kneel. Back straight. Hands resting on legs. Can you stay there for 3 mins? If you can’t stay there for 3 minutes how long can you stay there for?

If you need your hands on the floor to hold you up or stop something hurting then explain what’s going on, please.

Report back and we’ll take this step by step. 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi

Let me know if you and how long you can sit in a regular kneel with your back straight and whether or not you need your hands on the floor. And we’ll go from there! 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello,

thank you for that detail. Your job is to sit in kneeling position (no space between the legs, tops of feet flat on the floor) until you feel comfortable there. You do realise I think, that I am talking about asking you to kneel with your feet together, not with them apart. I hope so. Sit there and notice if you feel any pain or strain or struggle to sit comfortably, at all. If you feel strain in the tops of your feet against the floor then try putting an extra layer of padding there (towel, or mat). This will be your mission (see waiver below) for a couple of weeks in class. Don’t go back at all while you are kneeling this way. You will find this is a great position for you to prepare you for the next steps. It’s very restorative for the knees and of course your quads feed into the knees so this will help you.

If you are super-comfortable in your kneeling position (and that is the waiver I mentioned!), AND it is only moving your knees apart that causes you discomfort pain or strain – however wide apart the knees – and you still can’t get your bottom down, then can you please do something for me?

Would you please get either cushions at home (eg from your couch, throw cushions or the squab) or rolled up towels or mats in the studio (take them there) and place them under your bottom. The idea is to be able to totally surrender your weight to gravity.

You see, at the moment, you are sitting there trying to go back, and your bottom is not on the floor. While you’re doing that, you’re holding yourself up off the floor to stop the pain in your legs. You’re lifting your hips a bit, your ankles are possibly hurting too. And all this is stopping you from making the progress you want – and need. 😉

So, find a position with your knees apart (not too wide as it is not necessary in this cushion/towel/mat supported position) and ONLY sit there with your back STRAIGHT and VERTICAL. NO GOING BACK. Please do not go back as you will defeat the purpose at this stage. OK?

IF your studio gets a little high and mighty and doesn’t want to let you do this (that’s really just because it’s not in the one-size-fits-all script which your body is not responding to!) then you can do this whole exercise at home. In fact you can sit there in the comfort of your own lounge room or wherever for minutes or extended periods of time, anytime you think of it. The more the better. The trick is to let gravity do the work for you.

The moment you feel you have to support yourself with your hands to stop pain, or anything at all that’s stopping you from surrendering your FULL WEIGHT into the cushions (mats or towels) then know that what you’re doing is not working. What you have to do is to put MORE space between your bottom and the floor. Add in a little more layer and try to surrender again.

Conversely, if you feel very weighty then experiment with taking a layer out by using thinner cushions, or with the mat or towel folded or rolled less bulkily.

Now you have a SYSTEM to improve.

I have used this with countless students and it works every single time. If it’s not working for you then please come back here because it will simply be that I may need to describe the goalposts and method again perhaps in different words. If it’s not that, it could be that you have removed layers too quickly or … we’ll see. I can ask you the right questions and work it out with you. OK?

Just a word of warning. Be aware of any pain in the knees. Know that placing excessive spacing right in behind the knee (touching the back of the knee) can cause ligament damage. So avoid this ever happening and place your cushioning in under the bottom (and top half of the upper leg) and a good several inches away from the back of the knee. If you do feel pain in the knee you should assess if you placed padding too close. The other thing would be to put more padding under the bottom so that you can surrender easily and comfortably without any pain.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

This is good information. So, when you are trying to kneel (as one does in “Final Breathing – Kapalbhati”) where if anywhere are you experiencing pain or strain? Tops of feet? Ankles? Knees? Quads? List everything.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello

This is a specific process I am taking you through. If you read my responses you will note that I have asked you to stay straight AND vertical. That may not have been clearly indicated enough. In other words. I am saying … please do NOT go back at all. Stay sitting upright. Stay upright and vertical and sit there kneeling for minutes at a time.

Until further notice (hehe) you are to stay upright and vertical through the next parts of the process. Don’t try to go back. There are too many other things that your body is doing that are sabotaging your process.

And there are other things to do before going back.

Here’s your rule of thumb for going back. Please note, you are not ready for this. I am asking you to kneel and NOT go back. Here’s the rule: Until you can comfortably sit on the floor with your bottom between your heels and your ankles and feet and knees and quads feeling comfortable with the full weight of your straight and vertical body, you must stay seated and NOT GO BACK at all. That means if you are simply kneeling, then you do not go back either.

As you are going back before you are ready, you are making it harder for your body to open.

I won’t give you any further instructions at this moment beyond the following. Please do this for me: kneel with hips on your heels (NOT trying to get your hips on the floor) in a regular kneeling position with hips ON heels and knees together and sit there upright NO GOING BACKWARD. Just sit and see if you stay there for a minimum of 3 minutes. Do it several times a day. Maybe try that for 3 days and …

Then come back to me for the next part of the process!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂