TheHotYogaDoctor

Weird question, but I find I can’t get my arms as underneath my body as I should because my “top half” keeps getting in the way.

Any tricks around this?

Kristin

Hi Kristin

Nope! Not weird…

We women can have this issue. It is quite common for the better-endowed. Negotiating your arms around ‘the girls’ can be difficult. You simply have to find your most comfortable position.

Ela asked a related question here: Cannot turn my palms down in locust pose

Thanks for asking. I have a question for you: Are you able to lie comfortably in belly-down Savasana with your arms by your side?

Namaste
Gabrielle

Thanks Gabrielle!

Yeah, I feel like I can’t get quite the height since my elbow can’t get in as close as they could if ‘the girls’ weren’t in the way.

Belly-down Savasana is pretty comfortable.

Kristin

Hi Kristin

The size of your ‘girls’ means that you can’t plant your shoulders down on the floor. Losing shape from that area will definitely yield results over time. You’ve probably recognized that it is an upper body strengthening exercise, which also builds your core strength. The ability to place your shoulders on the ground will always be a determinant in how high you can get your legs despite how much core strength you have… When you have large breasts the arms tend to need to rotate inwards to get some contact of the shoulders on the floor. Ideally (in flatter chested folk) they want to rotate outwards to get a solid platform against which to lift.

Hey, your body is the way it is! Observe and celebrate your wins.

Namaste
Gabrielle

Belly down savasana is REALLY uncomfortable for me and my…um…better endowedness.  (I won’t even get started on locust). Any tips for the savasana? It seems pointless if my shoulders are hunching and the awkwardness prevents me from relaxing. I feel better with my arms out to the side but my teacher says to fight thru it. What do you think?

Hello

Hmmmmmmmmm…...

You’ve got to wonder about someone’s logic when they say: “fight through your Savasana - to get your repose”. Yeah right

Relaxation is a learned skill. And at the moment your body is not able to surrender which means your mind is also fighting the position. I mean, you are probably even experiencing massive self-talk about how uncomfortable you are. If you weren’t in the studio and someone asked you to lie down on your belly in the most relaxed way possible you wouldn’t end up in classic belly-down Savasana if you have large breasts! Would you?

My advice is don’t fight it.

Here is what I did when I was well, larger. I am actually quite flat chested now, but I breastfed my girlie. When my breasts were full there was no way I could lie on my chest without pain. So I am guessing the sensation for you could be quite similar.

The steps:
* Fold your arms so that your forearms are parallel to the mirror and your hands lie passively and relaxed.
* You can place your forehead on your top forearm.
* Or you can turn and look to the right first side and then to the left second side of each pose.
Simple
* Actually you should have no difficulty looking to each side. And you can swap the arms so that each arm has a turn at being on top.
* This was particularly useful for me because I also wear hearing aids (that is a whole other story!). But when my hearing greatly deteriorated a few years ago I had to rest my forehead without turning my head in Savasana, so I could hear the teacher even with my aids in.

Once again it upsets me that the dogmatic styles of some teachers actually stands in the way of YOU getting YOUR RESULTS. A student should NEVER feel intimidated by a yoga teacher (ie feel guilty that they aren’t listening to their own body).

Please come back and report what works for you!

Namaste
Gabrielle

Thank you Gabrielle for that wonderful answer. You summed up my feelings exactly. I’ve had an issue with fully committing to Bikram because of this dogmatic approach to teaching. I’ve always found one of the great beauties of yoga was the attention to what your body needs and to listen to what it tells you. There have been several times when I’ve questioned something that didn’t feel right and the answer was to push harder and do it anyway and it completely put me on guard.

I tried raising my arms tonight and it was so helpful and so much more relaxing. Thanks for your advice!

I think it is my chest size that stops me from doing this pose correctly.  I noticed last night that when the teacher said, really push your shoulders down into the floor at the same time as you push your hands down.  When I push my hands down my shoulders pop up and my back arches.  It’s hard to describe, but I can’t lift my legs up more than maybe six inches and that’s it.  I have NEVER felt anything good in this pose, I’ve felt lame in trying it for eight years.  I’m thinking more and more I’d better order Gab’s manual and study up on it.  There must be some way I can improve…

At this point in time my VERY favourite pose is Savasana.  I’ve got that one mastered.  Boy, am I good at relaxing!!!

Woohoo!  I just went and ordered the Hot Yoga Masterclass set!  I convinced my husband he wouldn’t have to do any shopping for me, why, he could just order this!

I’m sure I won’t have it for Christmas, but that’s okay.  I’m very excited!