Well, the dog was sick last week and had to have all kinds of tests, running up an enormous bill. So I was tempted to cancel the appointment I had last Wednesday with a chiropractor I had just met who specializes in teaching Iyengar yoga to students with special needs or injuries. I’ve been looking for someone good to work with me on my piriformis and then met Eve who subbed for two weeks in the Iyengar yoga classes at my studio. Turns out Eve is not only an Iyengar yoga teacher; she is also a chiropractor.
I finished my second chiropractic session with her on Tuesday and signed up for a third next week. Already, my condition is improving. And I was really excited to find out that she’ll be subbing on Fridays for the next two weeks.
Why you should use yoga as an adjunct therapy to chiropractic care
…. daily life is riddled with habitual movements, intense physical and emotional demands, and stressors that feed into these patterns. From a study on the causes of musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, these repetitive motions are correlated with the source of pain
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… a person has to balance the load of their days, which includes any repetitive strain, with an un-doing of the accumulated impact. So, one form of exercise that is often prescribed because it can help with the aforementioned “un-doing,” is yoga.
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Iyengar yoga focuses on precise alignment of the postures. This style includes props such as belts, blocks, blankets and other tools to achieve precision in the postures while avoiding strain or injury. This style focuses very much on the three elements of technique, sequencing and timing.
So what exactly is it that makes Iyengar yoga so powerful and why is it so beneficial for people with injuries and for seniors?
Some background on Iyengar
Created more than 75 years ago by BKS Iyengar, the method is based on the eight limbs of yoga as taught over 2,500 years ago by Patanjali.
The ‘limbs’ are:
- Yama (Restraints) ...
- Niyama (Observances) ...
- Asana (Posture) ...
- Pranayama (Breath Control) ...
- Pratyahara (Withdrawal of the Senses) ...
- Dharana (Concentration) ...
- Dhyana (Meditation) ...
- Samadhi (Pure Contemplation)
Iyengar is meticulous and the focus is on adapting each pose to fit the particular individual.
I was interested to come across an article outlining the benefits of Iyengar for seniors.
“After nine weeks of participating in an Iyengar Yoga program designed for senior citizens, 24 elderly females had a faster stride, an increased flexibility in the lower extremities, an improved single-leg stance and increased confidence in walking and balance, according to the findings of researchers at Temple University’s Gait Study Center.” www.yogajournal.com/...
Because our bodies lose some of their flexibility as we grow older, we are more likely to injure ourselves and have poor posture. The gentle stretches involved in Iyengar yoga are an ideal remedy, helping us to feel more comfortable in our bodies and carry ourselves with a straighter spine.
Of particular interest to me is how much research has been done on how powerful a tool yoga is in treating anxiety and depression.
In a paper on Depression and Iyengar Yoga, Lisa Walford notes:
Depression can leave a person feeling disembodied and devoid of his/her sense of empowerment – often there is a sense of being put into a dark and solitary place. Exercise in general is known to ease some of the symptoms. In Iyengar Yoga, strong and dynamic movements covering the full range of motion, inversions and sequences which build progressively toward proficiency can help to increase a sense of well-being and independence.
When the mind sinks into a deep melancholy and one feels paralyzed, we call it depression. In yoga these dark characteristics or expressions of energy are called tamas, or a tamasic statei. When the mind surfaces into a stormy reactive state and dominates life to overwhelm our experience with obsessive behavior, we call it anxiety. In yoga, too much rajas, or a rajasic state, is overly active and reactive. In both conditions, individuals feel alienated and apart from life and from themselves. Yoga postures and a breath-centered practice bring the physical body to the forefront. This is a practical, powerful and accessible way to help him/her reconnect in the moment with vitality and tranquility. In addition, Yoga asanas have profound and direct effects on our physiology and posture, which, in turn, can affect how we feel about ourselves
A great deal of the anxiety I experience this day is eco-anxiety, so I was intrigued by Solnit’s paper.
“If you’re worried that it’s too late to do anything about climate change and we should all just give up, I have great news for you: that day is not coming in your lifetime. As long as you have breath in your body, you will have work to do.”—Mary Annaïse Heglar
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I know so many people who feel hopeless, and they ask me, “What should I do?” And I say: “Act. Do something.” Because that is the best medicine against sadness and depression.—Greta Thunberg
Solnit writes that besides the daily news of climate catastrophes, “There’s also a lot of positive news that doesn’t fit the mainstream news format because it’s incremental or technical. A wildfire or flood fits the news format well; the statistics on how fast the use of renewable energy is rising or breakthrough research on better battery materials and storage mostly does not. (For example, solar power is being installed at a rate of a gigawatt per day, the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant going online every day, according to energy expert Danny Kennedy—but there’s no single day to mark that astonishing speed and impact.)”
1) Get Informed
2) Choose Your Scale
3) Find a Group
4) Direct and Indirect Consequences
The Four Main Areas for Action
1) Fossil Fuel
2) Democracy and Human Rights
3) The Human Landscape
4) The Natural World
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well.