Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher Training Journal Day 1 The day started with a 5:15am alarm clock to get to the airport between 6:45 - 7 for our 8:30 flight. The morning was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and it was already warm outside. Seattle forecast, sunny and 80. The forecast in San Fran, marine layer and 61..... just a reminder to us to never plan a trip away from the northwest in August! We got to the airport, no traffic, yeah! Get to the gate just to hear the announcement that our plane had been delayed 1hr 15min......""Ruh roh Raggy!" Translation, "Oh crap!" I was going to be late....Ryan calmed me down. He's good like that. So I called the studio and let them know. Well, the story goes on, and 1 1/2 hours late we were in the air, with a small child right in front of us..... I don't think more needs to be said on that except napping was out of the question. A tip to parents with small children, bring something for the kid to suck on in take off and landing! Suckers work fine and the kid is happy they've got sugar! We landed, got our rental car, a Prius. I'm glad Ryan was driving and damn glad he's an engineer because they didn't give us operating instructions, but with his skills we were mobile within minutes! Me, I would still be sitting in the parking garage going "Really? Why won't this f@#^*ing thing stay in reverse!?!" Finally at the studio, I walk in at the end of Elise's introduction, everyone else had got to go already, and class began. We learned that most scoliosis is "idiopathic", meaning they don't know what the hell causes it. There is "structural", meaning it forms as you grow and has both a lateral curve and a rotational curve. Sometimes it's "functional", meaning your habits in everyday life cause it, the way you walk, carry a bag, sit at your desk, etc. Sometimes your just born with it, your vertebrae are different shapes and sizes causing a curve, but that's more rare. We learned that women are 7/1 more likely than men to have scoliosis. By the end of class Elise had looked at all of our backs and identified all of our different types of scoliosis and taught us all how to do the same. Then we got to stretch a bit, hanging on these ropes on the wall....I gotta get me some of those! My classmates were joking that they were going to find me hanging there in the morning, because DAMN! It felt so damn good on my back! After class I walked outside into to blustery, fricking freezing cold, hopped into the Prius and my chauffeur, (my honey), took me back to our hotel, where I got the grand tour, then we went to a movie and dinner. We went to go explore the downtown area, but the clouds were so heavy that our GPS was having a hard time finding a satellite, and we ended up going back to the hotel and decided to adventure out on Tuesday because it is supposed to be a little bit warmer! That was day 1..... to be continued...... Day 2 Since class doesn’t start until 12:30, we got up late and went exploring! It was still cold and overcast, but we made the most of it. We went for a walk on the beach. On the way there we were looking at the landscape and decided it would not be a great place to be in a tsunami. Funny thing is, as we were walking back to the car, a tsunami warning siren sounded up and down the beach! We looked at each other, looked at the water, which wasn’t whooshing outward, and looked at the locals just strolling along. After the siren stopped, THEN the guys voice came on saying, “This was a test of the tsunami warning system.” So ok, I get that the locals probably know that it is a test…but what about everybody else? Maybe give the announcement, sound the siren, give the announcement again? Would have saved an “Oh crap!” moment for a couple of tourists from Seattle! Well, then it was off to class! What a day! My daily practice will never be the same! We started learning how to modify our practices and the practices of our students with scoliosis, and the hands on adjustments that go with each modification. Now, most of you have seen my Chattaranga (basically like a push up, the lowering part). You know it’s strong and the muscles around the shoulder area in particular are very capable of holding poses for a long time…… I felt like a beginner. Two poses into the practice, my pectoral muscles and my lower trapezius on the right were fatigued like I had never worked them out, ever. And actually, I haven’t. I learned how certain muscles take over and compensate while others basically atrophy. And I’ve started to learn how to access those muscles that haven’t been in use. In yoga we are always taught balance, and working the pose in a way that balances in the body. For most people this means working the pose equally on each side of your body. In people with scoliosis, or other conditions that bring imbalance to the muscles and bone structure of the body you have to learn to access all of those muscles individually. In doing this you can start to strengthen the muscles that are weaker and start to lengthen the muscles that have shortened….. Very amazing stuff! We also learned how important lengthening and strengthening the psoas muscles is. And oh baby, did we access those muscles! Holy crap batman! I felt like I was in one of Ana’s classes! (Some of you know what I’m talking about) Very intense, but very good! All those different lunges we learned with Ana, have a whole new place in my body…. I get it! Wow do I get it! And my psoas muscles thank you! I will stand a little taller from this day forward, I might actually reach the height it says on my drivers license! LOL! Anyway, we ended the class with a nice supported savasana, legs up on a chair, back on the floor. Ahhhh….. Ryan picked me up and we continued our adventure. We drove by the Golden Gate Bridge, and saw Alcatraz. We went to Fisherman’s Warf, (it reminded me of Disneyland) and ate dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp, yum! We saw all the sea lions lounging around and one actually doing upward dog! I have a picture I’ll try to post! It was a fun time, I felt like a tourist…. Oh wait! I am! To be continued…… Day 3 Still cloudy, the day started off mellow….. Nothing too crazy. No tsunami warning siren, no late plane, no screaming child. Ahhh…. Just eating, sleeping and reading. Nice. We made our way to the studio, and soon after, class began. We worked on standing poses! Yeah! Some of my favorite’s right? All but which one? Jean knows….. Yup, my all time arch rival pose….. Triangle. Come to find out there is just cause for triangle and I to have a strained relationship, its name, scoliosis. To learn how to go in to any standing pose properly with scoliosis, according to Elise, we have to master triangle and find where our bodies over extend and where they collapse. Then we need to be able to make adjustments and just go far enough in the posture to where the body maintains length and openness. I have never liked triangle because it pinches in my ribs, I couldn’t get a full breath and I just felt out of balance. Well, that’s because I was trying to do it like everyone else! My body needs to go into the pose a little different. What a difference that made! Elise said, “We’ll see if you learn to like it by the end of the week”. I just might, it felt a lot different. We also worked on Warrior 1 and 2 in class. Warrior 1 is a lot like triangle for me, I never feel balanced. Well, duh! I’m not! So I have to work on shifting my pelvis up so I don’t lean forward and keep working that psoaz muscle to help get more upright. I also need to draw in and de-rotate the right side of my ribs, while lengthening and breathing into the left. Learning how to work all the muscles individually has been a real gift to my practice. After class Ryan and I tried to go to a dance class but we were informed that they were booked solid and they didn’t take drop ins…. Oh well! We found a little neighborhood Mexican restaurant and had dinner, then started exploring! We drove through part of Presidio, (because I gave Ryan bad directions), and then, we went the other way and got to drive down Lombard street. It was funny because here we are driving down this very narrow, curvy street, like this, ~~~~~, but down hill, and there were tourist everywhere taking pictures. It was fun, but I was grabbing the “oh crap” handle (like the edit Jean?) all the way down. After that we drove around downtown just checking it out. I am really looking forward to Thursday’s class! Hmmmm…why would I be really looking forward to it? What could we be doing? INVERSIONS!!!!!! Yeah! I’ll be upside down for the better part of 4 hours! Yeah! To be continued…… Day 4 Day 4 and 5’s entries were delayed due to my computer going wacko, but here they are! We arrived at the studio a little early and walked around the neighborhood. It’s a nice little area with a lot of little hole in the wall restaurants. The houses in this town amaze me. They are all connected to each other but each unit has its own style. Pretty darn cool. In class we did inversions! Elise talked a lot about how to get the fearful student into handstand. Great new techniques for me to try on all of you who are afraid to kick up into the pose! Hehehe! Now, remember the ropes on the wall I talked about? We got to hang upside down from them! One way was hanging bent over from the pelvis, feet on the wall and legs straight, then legs bent. It felt great! But, I think my favorite was hanging upside down with my back towards the wall and legs up the wall behind the ropes. It kind of looks frog like, but ooh la la! It felt good! My back is so tired from working my muscles in a different way, but Elise said that we should expect that until our muscles settle in to a new routine. Hurry up muscles! I can honestly say, this way of practice is having a profound effect of the way I look at myself and others in postures. I am looking forward to sharing what I have learned! After class Ryan picked me up and we hurried out of there. We were on a mission to find sunshine and a good meal! So we hit the freeway with thousands of other people and sat in traffic trying to go over the Bay Bridge. We slowly inched our way across and finally half way across the bridge …THERE WAS SUN! It still exists! I dug out my sunglasses not because I needed them so much, but more because I was in California…. In the SUN!!!!!! We drove to a town called Walnut Creek, and my sweet man spoiled me rotten with dinner at a really nice steakhouse there. (Thank you sweetie!)He picked the restaurant off the internet, and it was a converted train station. It was cozy, the décor was nice and the wait staff adorable. They were attentive and very friendly people. If I lived down there, I would go enjoy their space when I felt the need to splurge! We found a park on the GPS that was named after Ryan so we had to take a little stroll through. The sun was going down and the cold setting back in, so we called it a night. To be continued….. Day 5 Our last day here…. I am learning so much, but ready to go home. Ryan and I went for a walk this morning. We explored a park overlooking the ocean. The land was owned by a mayor of San Fran back in the 1800’s and he donated the land to the city to be used as a park. It was nice, but the pictures of the land when it was at its prime were beautiful. Only a shadow of its original beauty remained, but the view was amazing. We also drove and walked through Golden Gate Park a little. We had seen this windmill from the road and decided to investigate! It was cool to see it up close. The gardens around it were well kept too which made it very picturesque. So, I took pictures! (Someday, I will figure out how to post them, but, that day is not here yet!) Class went well. We worked on back bends and back and abdominal strengtheners. We worked poses like wheel, bridge, boat, cobra. Bridge was interesting. We did it with a chair. Our feet were on the seat of the chair and our hands holding the front legs of the chair. It was interesting to feel how much space you can get in the spine in that position, but it was very intense on the neck for me. The back strengtheners were so informative. We worked with a partner and as our partner was in a pose, we checked out the muscles in their back. Looking at the back you could really see which muscles were working and which ones were on vacation. After observing, we assisted our partner in trying to soften the over active muscles and engage the vacationing muscles. The results were huge! You could really see a difference after the adjustment ….. I love my job! Class ran a bit over and I had to get to the airport, so I did leave before savasana, but, I did get to thank everyone and say good bye. The week was so full of amazing information that I just cannot wait to share with my students! Ryan and I got to the airport and again, plane delayed, but only half an hour this time! Namaste’ In love and light, ~Tricia~ |
Taking yoga beyond the mat |