Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)

Hello krayne

so, just cruising over old posts and found yours. Did your lack of sleep issue resolve? Generally folks don’t lose sleep just because of the yoga, there are other extenuating circumstances. These could be systemic issues, something to do with nutrition, hydration, electrolytes, stress, so many things. My remiss forum behaviour (sorry!) means the urgency has hopefully left you, but if you are still in the ‘area’ then let me know if all is OK or if we can nut this out. Just talking about these things might help others who find themselves in the same situation.

For what it’s worth, the avoidance of kapalbhati breathing is a guess from that particular teacher that probably has no effect on your practice.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Henry

Wondering if you intend your question about testosterone to be part of or separate to the redness issue.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi JaneJoyce

This is a very odd problem indeed. Do you still have it now?

You have outlined some issues and some very valid ways to deal with the problem and these things don’t appear to work! Very baffling.

I would like to know if you would be willing to try going to yoga one week ONLY in the morning and see if you have the same itchiness.

Have you tried not using the moisturiser? It’s worth a try. Maybe using coconut oil. Something else.

Looking forward to your reply

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Eagerbeaver

From the date of your post you have probably had your procedure. I hope you are feeling better and have recovered well and easily. I would like to help you with this problem. Are you still willing for me to do that. I will await your response and then get back to you with some questions.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Henry

I wonder if maybe too, the loss of lean muscle mass has an effect on one’s ability to balance. I responded to your other post and so catch us up on details whenever you feel the urge!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Sounds very nourishing and satisfying!

Hello Diana

Would you please tell me exactly what or where is cramping up? Is it always the same location or does that sensation move around? Which pose or poses trigger the cramping? Is it always the same point in the class where this happens? What stops the cramping? Aside from taking something (salt, whatever — maybe tell me if you actually do take something) what else do you do to stop it happening (in the interim, between classes)?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello realpro53

I am reluctant to blame your age! It’s possible that other things are at play. Here is a list of possibilities where one or more factors maybe involved or indeed others I don’t include:

1. An underlying condition
2. Breathing is not smooth
3. Trying too hard
4. Emotional upheaval
5. Plus now the worry that something is wrong has you focused on a potential problem or even just the struggle and not on the practice
6. The studio is heating the room too high all of a sudden (even though that may be imperceptible to you)
7. The studio is heating the room too high and even though it’s been going on a long time, you have developed low grade chronic heat exhaustion
8. The conditions are now more humid (for whatever reason) and combined with the heat (even if it is not considered too high) is creating a high heat index that is making it hard for your body to cool down (again causing heat exhaustion)
9. An issue with electrolytes in your body

That’s a little laundry list of possibilities. Something has changed to alter your ability to cope and it’s physical or emotional or a result of ambient conditions or a combination of these factors. Without more information it’s hard to say.

I do know though that tens of thousands of hot yogis do have mild to moderate conditions of heat exhaustion. It’s worth googling heat exhaustion and hyponatremia to see if you have any of those things lists happening.

Get back to me and fill me in on more specifics as I would love to help you get to the bottom of this

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi kspeelman

Thank you so much for telling us your experiences. It’s great to get another positive story about doing hot yoga during pregnancy.

I too found a slightly cooler temperature to be better for me. As it was my own studio we kept the temp at or just below body temp (94-98F or 35-37C). I never condone temperatures that are high just for the sake of it, even for the able-bodied, those not pregnant and those without any health issues. We are doing yoga and it’s not a ‘risk’ sport and should never be dangerous. It is a path to mindfulness.

I think that it’s important to acknowledge that everyone is different, that your baby’s position may have had little or nothing to do with your yoga practice and hip openers or other poses may have had little or nothing to do with your resultant C-section.

It is equally possible to consider that your yoga made your delivery better and less risky. We’ll never be able to say!

I don’t want to scare*** anybody or influence them unduly in either direction. It is certainly not my position to give advice on a supremely personal, subjective and critical journey. My pregnancy (as you may have read) culminated with a lovely water birth of a child WAAAAAAY overdue (fifteen days, in fact – but not ‘overcooked’! 😉 ) . I do remember at the 21 week scan her head was firmly lodged in my pelvis and nothing I did, no headstands, or other maneuvers would budge it. I had to wait another week. It ‘was what it was’ and sometimes we just can’t change things.

What you most aptly expressed is the importance of listening to one’s own body. If temperature is too high then do something about it.

The only reason I did no yoga at my studio in the last 2 weeks (ie after the due date) was that I was wanting to escape all the well-meaning and excited commentary about how I was late and what I could do to bring on the birth. I would have kept going to yoga if I didn’t own the business (probably drop it back to 2 times a week). When you’re the one at the front desk and or teaching and your job is to run your business, everyone is going to talk to you! So it was a lovely holiday.

Congratulations on the birth of your healthy little man! 🙂

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

*** I am not suggesting there is any scaremongering going on here, just my part in the process is to inform and hopefully give a balanced message! I really appreciate your post.

Hello SS

I apologise for not getting back to you earlier. I have been overseas and was unable to respond to forum posts (and other communications!).

First things first. How are you now? Tell me if the acute pain has been handled. Are you ready to go back to yoga or do you need to wait it out a little more? Also do let me know if you ended up getting any professional help, what it was, what advice for exercises and so on.

At this stage, since over a week has passed since you posted, it’s better for me not to launch into ideas without knowing where you are at.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello jbeale

Your friend is correct about the relationship between thigh muscles and knees. I prefer to say “pull the kneecap up with the quadriceps muscles” rather than “lock the knee” (although I do say that occasionally if I need a shortcut and my students understand what “locking” means).

It’s possible that you don’t routinely engage your quadriceps (etc) and create the space in your knee at times other than in your yoga practice. Maybe you have a sedentary job and never use those muscles except in class. I know I have felt that in myself in the beginning.

You mention you can feel ‘stuff moving around’. I am wondering what that means. Are you able to elucidate? Is it fluid, is it inflammation, a mass, small large?

I think that that observation in and of itself warrants a visit to a physiotherapist. It’s possible that you need to address this professionally regardless.

I started writing this ages ago. I must apologise. I thought I pressed ‘submit’. 🙁

So, hopefully you’ll come back and tell me more about that ‘stuff’. 🙂

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello louisemary

Just letting you know that I have read your post and I am going away for a few days so when I get back I will get onto it!

Enjoy your weekend

Namaste
Gabrielle  🙂

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor).

Hi Naquadaq

Hot yoga mostly has static poses where it’s easy to do what I will suggest below. Maybe you could be inspired to attend a hot yoga class! Who knows?

Get yourself a foam yoga block, not a wooden one. The block will be positioned between your knees. As the block is rectangular there are 2 distances apart your legs can be. Make sure your feet are positioned at the same distance as your knees.

The ideal pose to try this is with Utkatasana or Awkward pose. This is a 3 part pose in the Bikram or static hot yoga series. Please take a look at this photograph of part 1 of this pose.

You are going to need more instruction for this pose. There are 3 parts. In each part you would put the block between your knees and squeeze your knees for the duration. Parts 1 and 2 I would put the block at its longest length between the knees. Over time you would see if you could get more advantage by rotating the block to its narrower orientation. For Part 3 I would try it at its narrowest (particularly because of your bowleggedness). I do have some resources for you to look at. In order for me to give you all the details of how to do this pose it would take a tremendous amount of description. The idea is that you would find an equalisation of muscle use.

I don’t like directing people in the forum to purchase anything but on rare occasion I find it is the best thing. If you feel comfortable with the above advice then I do have an app with visual and onscreen written instruction. It’s inexpensive. You can navigate directly to the pose (Awkward or Utkatasana) and learn it (and maybe learn other poses too!). You will see how the pose is done and see how to avoid mistakes. You would add the block in as described above. You will note I do have a book with step-by-step instructions for all the poses with even more detail but honestly at this stage, unless you are going to explore more of the series, then the app will give you sufficient detail for the time being! 🙂

If you need more instruction than that then please come back here. The images on this app will be superior to me describing what to do, simply because you are not familiar with the poses, and the Utkatasana pose I am talking about is different to Utkatasana in other styles. There is great advantage in seeing the images on the app as the technique on the photos is correct and if mistakes are shown then that is clearly marked with a red ‘X’.

I know this technique has helped other people before and I have even helped people with a similar approach (with a slight variation) for those with ‘knock knees’.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂