Yoga changes your life; I
became stronger and more aware. Breathing became a conscious thing and
how far apart my toes could be spread was more important than the old t-shirt I
adorned. Yoga is not just about health, or being lean or flexible.
There are no guidelines of who can take part or who should stay away.
In yoga studios there are
no mirrors or pumping beats, you are in a room full of people but alone on your
mat. It is hard to explain the feeling of calm that comes over you before
you start your practice. The breath slows but awareness heightens, and prepares
you for a battle. A battle with your own mind that is about to commence.
The battle is not to bend
yourself in-half, that will come. The battle is staying aware for the
whole practice. The trick is to not let your eye wander to your chipped
toenail polish or the yogi with the perfect headstand in front of you.
It’s to not think about the day you just had or what groceries to buy later,
training the mind is harder than training the body. When your mind
is focused your body can achieve great things, anything…almost.
Stretch, hold, release
*crack*! It was like the most exquisite yoga class combined with the most
intense deep tissue massage. I was on a table, the body that I tried to
worship and treat like a temple had broken. The body I indulged with
yoga, walks, plenty of sleep, a vegetarian diet and sex had in an instant turned
against me. The nervous system was my downfall, a pinched nerve in the
hip will bring down the most toned healthy body and it was horrendous.
The pain is outrageous and the posture destroying painless position
I worked myself into was mortifying. Drugs were not my answer; either was
resting awkwardly in a bed for days. I had to get proactive and find a
natural health solution, one which would be effective but kind to my
body. I did not want to numb my pain I wanted to understand it; my answer
was going to the Chiropractor.
On a warm table I was pushed,
prodded rolled and cracked. My limbs were realigned and massaged.
My sockets had the bones pulled out and pushed back in, I was just letting myself
be arranged but it was a work out. It didn't always feel great
but I could feel my body easing into it. It wanted to be straightened and
put into place. It was evident that the yoga I did in the
evening wasn't undoing the damage I was doing in the day; my fabulous
work heels, love of literally curling up with a book and outrageous/ jarring
dance moves on were playing havoc with my joints. My temple was not
happy, and this made me unhappy.
I have a love for my body I
accept and treasure it, but even the most aspiring yogi has a downfall.
My chiropractor told me that a pinched nerve especially in the hip area was
likely to keep happening, all the strength work in the world wouldn’t combat a
sudden slip or knock. But he also had a beautiful way of viewing
health. He said to be healthy is to be normal. Our body wants to be
healthy and fit and happy, it shouldn’t be a distant goal but a constant sense
of being. Even if I feel sick, sneeze or vomit it’s a sign of my body
readjusting itself. It is working. My chiropractor really
understood to the roots of his practice. He was inspired by Daniel David Palmer who
created chiropractic care.
“I desired to know why one
person was ailing and his associate eating at the same table, working in the
same shop was not. Why? What difference was there in the two persons that
caused one to have pneumonia, catarrh, typhoid or rheumatism, while his
partner, similarly situated, escaped? Why?”
This was a revelation, it’s
better to focus on the person with the disease then focus on the disease that
the person has.
No pill would fix my hip, I
needed a personal touch, someone to physically touch me, feel my body and tell
me what was awry. I only went to the chiropractor twice, after that my
nerve problem felt eased and I was free to get back to yoga, love, walking my
pup and everything else I value. My body felt aligned and fresh, so did
my soul, but I had a new awareness of how tough and fragile I was, that what
gave me so much pleasure would also harbor pain.
I was back on my mat the next
week but it was hard to still my mind, I felt a subtle ghost pain in my hip and
I could feel myself holding back from some poses which usually I would dive into,
fearless. Yoga will help get my confidence back, as soon as a can
quieten the battle in my mind and be free to stretch into myself.
