The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ustrasana › Love/hate relationship with camel
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ustrasana › Love/hate relationship with camel
-
AuthorPosts
-
Since the beginning, my body and mind seem to be taking opposite sides of the fence over Camel. I get woozy before this pose, even before I move into it. It’s as if my body knows it’s coming and wants me to stop. Mentally, I enjoy the pose, and look forward to how I know I’ll feel when I take it all the way back. Once I’m there, the nausea subsides almost 100%, but moving in and out makes me dizzy and weak. Has anyone else experienced this, with Camel or any other pose, and is it something that will pass?
I find this too.
I basically rev my brain up to the idea that I don’t have to panic, that it’s all okay, and that I WANT to go into the camel, and it is when I do THIS, that I can go in and freak out less.
When I remember to enter it properly and relax into it lifting my chest up so my body doesn’t shake and my breath doesn’t get nearly as irregular, things are a lot better.The more I focus on form, the less I seem to worry going mentally, if that makes sense?
I don’t know how it passes because I’ve only been practicing 5 weeks or so!!!
I’m finally starting to learn to relax a bit more prior though.
But I am glad you posted this, it definitely is common to feel MANY different things as you go in, before, after, and during camel pose.And yet… I love it too. How odd, indeed!
-Angela
Hi fellow yogis,
I think it’s safe to say we all struggle at some point with camel. (Why else would it be called the master posture of the series?!) Although each person learns his/her own methods of practicing, I have found that breath is, truly, the one element that is absolutely essential in camel. Slow, relaxed, calming breaths. Before, during, and especially after the pose. I had a teacher who always said, “Send the breath to where it hurts”—it’s a key phrase I think of every time I sink down into savasana after camel.
In terms of the dizziness and nausea, moving slowly and deliberately is also essential. No flopping around, no throwing yourself backward, no rushed exit out of the pose. Any excess or rapid movements are only going to spike your adrenaline and heart rate even higher. I find that if I give myself a moment’s pause at the top, when my hands are on my lower back and my chest is lifted, and look myself right in the eye in the mirror, I’m able to center and focus and relax. Just a one-second checking in with yourself. You’ll find, nine times out of 10, that you’re 100 percent fine, if you just breathe and relax.
Your mind plays games with you throughout the entire 90 minutes of class if you let it. And the same goes for camel. It’s a tricky pose, yes, but I do think that we psyche ourselves out and stress and panic because we let our minds overtake our bodies. In the end, it’s just another pose. Just another back bend. Perhaps keeping it all in perspective is a key element as well!
Good luck!
Hannah
Yes, I agree with Hannah – esp. a good breath before going into posture. Other smaller points: dizziness is softened if you rise out more slowly. And it’s not a good idea to gulp water before going into camel. So breath is key, and just slow it all down some.
Some lovely help here – after 9 years of practicing I personally think that things come and go all the time (especially when I have breaks from my practice) … and the old saying “this too shall pass” does help as inevitably, it always passes …
I had a couple of thoughts to add:
1. Anticipation.
Anticipation can be the ruin of any yoga practice! When someone starts to anticipate a pose for any reason eg. Looking forward to savasana, or dreading reactions to camel, then one’s yoga practice is already moving away from the “non-judgemental” aspects of a solid practice. “It is what it is” … so using the breath to focus back into the moment is excellent advice. (Especially in camel where due to the intense frontal stretch, it is harder to breath into the belly – but try doing this and it could transform your pose. “Paradoxical breathing” or upper-chest breathing with stomach sucked-in and “protected” occurs with panic or anxiety and is the opposite of a deep, abdomino-diaphragmatic breath. This type of breath can easily be triggered with camel – hence, try the belly-breathing.)
2. Dizziness. Exiting with head last.
While not the only cause of dizziness (lack of breathing being the main one!), as Andrew says, coming out slowly is key – AND – a classic mistake is to lead with the head on exiting camel. Never lead with the head! It’s dangerous for the neck (can cause strain) and can also stimulate dizziness – so make sure as you exit that the head is the very last part of your body to come out slowly – and the last thing you do before taking savasana is exactly as Hannah says – make that connection with yourself eye-to-eye in the mirror.
That’s my 2c – hope that helps!
Robert
I’ll pay more attention to how I breathe throughout the posture, and try the belly-breathing trick. I’m pretty sure I’m breathing deeply and evenly at the onset of the pose, and that I don’t exit headfirst or in a hurry, but I have noticed that it’s difficult to inhale evenly when I’m all the way back.
Do you think it’s possible that my scoliosis could have anything to do with it? I try to focus on keeping my alignment in every posture, which is particularly challenging for me since I’m naturally a little off center in both directions depending on what part of the body we’re talking about. Such an extreme backbend is probably challenging enough for all you straight-spine people!
And here’s another added goodie that I sometimes experience in Camel, I go blind in my right eye!
Now, that’s something to look forward to!
Hi Bonnie
Have you ever had that checked out? Could that be something to do with pressure in the area? I don’t want to alarm you so I thought I would ask you if you have any intuition that you should look further into it, or do you feel totally fine with this occurring because you ‘know’ it is harmless? For example is it a momentary thing or does it last for a while after the pose. Are you aware of doing something differently on the days it happens? If you are at all worried about it happening is it possible that you are tensing up your neck or shoulders in preparation?
I am just asking you to be conscious of observing any habits you may have around it, or any intuitions or thoughts so that you can take appropriate action or not (as you deem fit). I just wanted to let you know that I believe that going blind as a result of a yoga pose is not normal and as your yogini friend I would remiss if I didn’t just tell you what I was thinking.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I did too have problems w/ this pose…. I Found the key for me was making sure my bum was tight and not sinking back down. I was also really hunching my shoulders! I can breathe a lot more easily and deeply in the belly w/ my new improved form.
PS thanks to my hot masterclass book 😉For some reason it doesn’t alarm me, it goes away in the savasana right after each Camel. I have a yearly ophthalmalogic appointment and will ask when I see him. It’s only momentary, but I realize going blind in yoga is not recommended!
I have since come across an explanation for the “temporary blindness” that sometimes overtakes me in Camel.
My daughter’s friend says she’s fainted twice in her life and both times just prior to fainting she lost sight, with her eyes open.
So that’s what I attibute it to, a precursor to fainting. It makes sense to me, not enough water, well into the class and bingo …
Achhh, Camel is one of my favourites now, on Day 50! I find it so much easier now that my shoulders and chest have loosened a bit so that I actually can lift my chest instead of just pushing forward with my hips. Love it, love it!
Camel is now one of my favorites, too. I nearly always get dizzy when I come up on my knees before the pose. I just tell myself that things will get better after I move into it. I have found that looking as far back as possible, as opposed to up my nose, makes all of the difference in the world. Thanks, Gabrielle, for that huge hint. That, combined with slow conscious breathing makes this one of the most enjoyable poses for me.
Now how in the world could one look “up one’s nose”??? ha!
LOL 😆 You’re right, that might be awkward. However, how do we actually look down our nose when we are looking UP toward the ceiling?
Hahaha, I love your sense of humor!!!
Let me see if I can explain it because it is probably the biggest problem with student’s backbends. There is a ton of fear around bending backwards. When the fear or panic kicks in students will start to come out of the backbend by changing their visual focus first. So they don’t bring their heads up first, their eyes move from looking behind them to looking directly up or even forward. Maybe they never even looked backwards at all. Essentially they are looking to avoid discomfort and intensity and they are looking in the direction they most REALLY WANT to be and that is upright and not in a backbend at all. Try it. Go into a backbend and then change your focus up extending from your nose upwards. See how your neck, back and shoulder muscles react. Go on! Indulge me. :cheese:
PS Bonnie I can see the giggle in looking up one’s own nose (of course). Just a matter of frame of reference! 😆
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.