I’m tangled in my sports bra!

Help! I’m tangled in my sports bra! Actually, my arm just won’t work!

If someone complains of a hurt shoulder and they describe it as some sort of catch when..”I raise my arm like this…” it’s a sure sign of rotator cuff injury.

Rotator cuff injuries are pretty common and depending on the severity, can often be healed on their own.

The key, as with any injury, is to simply understand what’s going on so that you can continue practicing yoga or whatever else it is you love to do.  The only positive way to know it is a rotator cuff injury is with an MRI.

What is the Rotator Cuff?

The cuff is 4 muscles and it’s tendons who’s function is to stabilize the shoulder.

• supraspinatus
• infraspinatus
• subscapularis
• teres minor

Rotator Cuff Injury

Any stress, tiny or large tear to any of these muscles and or their tendons is a rotator cuff injury.

The most common injury here is associated with the supraspinatus tendon where it attaches to the head of the humerus.

The job of the supraspinatus is to raise the arm above shoulder level.  Depending on the severity of the injury, this movement is compromised.

This injury can be from tendonitis, impingement, bursitis or bone spurs.

Tendonitis occurs when the tendon is inflamed, often from rubbing against another part of the shoulder repetitively.

Bursitis is when the fluid protective sack that lies between the acromion process (see diagram) and the supraspinatus tendon gets inflamed.

Impingement occurs when the tendon and or bursa gets so inflamed that a sort of pinching happens between the acromion process and humerus.  Because of bone shape variations, some people have more space here than others.

You can see how this type of injury could occur from chronic over use like throwing a ball over and over.  Sometimes the injury can start with a sudden reach out of the arm or bracing with a hand to avoid a fall or to catch something.  A tiny tear can occur that can then turn into a chronic injury.

There are a couple of situations where surgery is probably necessary here.  One being when there is a traumatic or complete tear and the other when there is a bone spur causing the tear.

A bone spur is a tiny bony process that usually forms as the result of inflammation and they often just come with aging.   They commonly form on the underside of the acromion, leading to impingement or stress on the tendon and or bursa sac.

Minor tears or strains are the most common injury in the rotator cuff and they can be healed on their own.

First of all, continue practicing yoga.  It’s during the time of injury that our bodies and minds need this practice more than ever.  Move forward seeing the injury as one tiny part of your body and the rest of your body as strong and capable.

Move with more awareness than ever.  Notice the poses and actions that cause sudden pains or catches and just don’t do them or do them differently.  Shoulder strengthening moves are almost always beneficial here.  Holding planks, side planks and down dogs are good for keeping theses muscles active and strong.  Of course, if the nature of your injury is such that this angle cause more pain for you then modify the postures by going to your knees or avoid all together.  It really depends on the exact cause of your injury to know which postures will work, an MRI is a good idea.

You will probably find that actions like lifting your arms for poses like warrior one are difficult.  Either don’t lift your arm or fold your arm into your body and attempt to lift straight up from there.  It is important to keep the muscles and tendons as fluid and active as possible without causing further harm.  If you don’t continue to move the injured shoulder and arm, you can develop a frozen shoulder which can be much more painful and difficult to heal.

Get to know your subscapularis.

This is the muscle you use when sliding your shoulder blades down your back.  Activate these muscles often.  The subscapularis can begin to help pick up the slack for the supraspinatus while it is healing.  The more you activate this muscle, the more it will start to help with the job of lifting your arm above your shoulder, which is what the supraspinatus has trouble doing when injured.    If you practice classical head stand, do this often with awareness.  Emphasize the action of sliding your shoulder blades away from your ears.  This will activate the subscapularis.

Using ice and anti-inflammatories will be helpful.

You might find that your shoulder hurts a lot at night.  Try to avoid sleeping on the shoulder or in a position that causes pain.  Uses pillows to prop yourself in the most comfortable position before falling asleep.

As with any other injury, be patient.  Awareness is the key to continuing with your practice and healing.  Know what the injury actually looks like and how certain actions affect it.  You will get better eventually and have an entirely new appreciation for a healthy body.

I looked around my studio and it was sort of like a cocktail party…

A couple of years ago I had a friend, who was also a yoga studio owner, visit me.  We were at my studio prior to class and she looked at the gathering crowd of students and said, “what do you do about them?”.  I replied, “what do you mean?”.  She said, “well, when my students talk too much prior to class I ring a gong.”  I couldn’t believe it.  I looked around my studio and it was sort of like a cocktail party….it was loud, lots of talking and laughing, music playing, lots of smiling faces.  There was no way in hell would ever ring a gong!  When I asked her why she would want to do that, she said something about the studio being a sacred space and that people needed quiet time.

I believe sacred space is shared between two or more human beings and that yoga is  the “cessation of the fluctuations of the mind stuff”.  What better way to practice getting out of our own mind stuff than by connecting and laughing with others?  

I actually believe that laugher is a built-in motor reflex protection mechanism, a mechanism that takes us out of ourselves.  Just think about it, when you are laughing, what else are you able to do?  You aren’t capable of much else.  You sure aren’t worrying about that 10 lbs you need to lose or your over due taxes or how much you hate your job.  Laughing is a total experience of the present moment that involves 15 facial muscles and specific breathing patterns.  Isn’t this spirituality at its essence?  The experience of our authenticity?

With its facial twisting, gut wrenching, thigh slapping, belly squeezing effect, laughter is a huge release of tension on all bodily levels.  We are born knowing how to do it…infants start laughing as early as 4-5 weeks.  And then they laugh at everything!  Talk about blissful, spiritual beings.  Somewhere down the road, we adults forget to laugh so much, especially at ourselves.

Laughter is our expression when we are shaken out of our mundane mental habits.   Something completely unexpected and spontaneous happens and we burst into noises and gyrations that sound like something off of Animal Kingdom!  Laughter truly takes us back to our roots!

Laughter is shown to increase the levels of dopamine.  Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that supports the feeling of reward and pleasure.  Laughter decreases the levels of cortisol and other stress hormones, supporting a healthier immune system.  The shaking and exercise effect that laughter has on our chest is even shown to support the health of our heart and it’s blood vessels, decreasing the risk of heart attack.  William Fry, a pioneer in the study of laughter, claimed that it took a man 10 minutes on a rowing machine to get his heart rate to match that of a strong belly laugh!

You better believe that the “cocktail party” environment of connection and laughter carries out through the classes at our studio.  Sure we are into ujayii breath, focus, silence and space, sweat and intensity…but we have an unwritten agreement that laughter is not only accepted, it is held sacredly.

If you haven’t yet, practice a light-hearted attitude next time you are at yoga, maybe let a smile in and who knows, maybe even a big ol’ belly laugh.  You will love your practice even more.  AND you might sleep better at night.

What the heck is my psoas any ways?

If you hang out in the yoga or fitness world for long, it’s very likely that you will hear some talk about the psoas (pronounced so-az)  and how you need to stretch it.  What the heck is a psoas any ways?

This thick muscle begins at the 12th thoracic vertebrae (at the level of the bottom rib) and wraps around the front of the hip to attach right below the hip socket on the leg. The psoas actually joins with the iliacus muscle before tendon insertion at the lesser trochanter of the femur, so also called the iliopsoas.  You have one on either side of your spine.   It is basically the bridge between the trunk and the legs.  It’s main responsibility is to bring the trunk to the legs or legs to the trunk.

This muscle, just as others in the body, has a tendency to tighten up.  Look at the pic below and imagine the muscle tightening, you can see that it would compromise the lower spine and your lower internal organs might lose a bit of space.  As you can imagine, this would cause some imbalance, depending on the degree of tightness.

Earlier I wrote an article that addressed the “fight or flight” reaction in the body.  Basically, every thing that is needed to turn us into super-human-ready-for-fight beings is triggered.  We would need immediate full access to the strongest parts of our body.  The psoas is one of the main muscles put on over-drive when fight or flight kicks in.  So yeah, we’re gonna blame it on stress again….being in a constant state of stress and anxiety can tighten your psoas!  Another reason to take a deep breath.  Do it…..now…….and yes there are other reasons the psoas might tighten.  If you are sitting a lot with work or travel or whatever you sit a lot for, the psoas would have a tendency to shorten.  Get up and move.

Try these yoga postures to lengthen and release the psoas:

• Half pigeon:  Begin on all fours and slide your right knee towards your right hand, bring your right foot out from under your body, towards the front of your mat, placing your foot where you can extend your left leg back behind you and still rest your body over your front leg towards floor.  Stretch your arms forward.  You will be stretching the psoas of the left leg.
• Low lunge:  Begin on hands and knees  and step right foot forwards toward right hand.  Stretch left leg back behind you and keep top of foot into floor.  Place both hands on right thigh and allow your right knee to slide forward towards your toes or past your toes.  Keep your torso up right.  You will be stretching your left psoas.

If you want to get a better feel for how your psoas works in your body try this:

• Stack two hard blocks near a wall and stand on them with your left foot while placing hands on wall for support.  Just let your right leg dangle heavily, release all muscles of the right leg.  Close your eyes…try to visualize and feel the psoas extending from the low spine, deep in the body beneath your organs, traveling down and around the front of your low hip, attaching on the top inside of your femur.  Take 10 full breaths.  Step off and feel the difference between your two legs.  You will have released the psoas of the right leg.  Repeat other side.  This is also a great exercise for those who have a psoas injury.  Just by doing this, they will be releasing the muscle as well as bringing attention to it which will increase vitality and healing.

Psoas Injury

Beyond over tightening, the most common thing to go wrong with the psoas is tendonitis.  The tendon of the psoas wraps around the front lower part of the pelvis, following along your groin until it attaches on the femur.  This tendon might get over stretched or slightly torn with a traumatic injury or chronic over use.  This is often felt as a deep groin pain with specific movements like lifting your leg or folding your trunk towards your body.  The suggestions above will help.  But the main thing to do is to stop doing what is irritating it.  Any time you are stretching this muscle, be cautious and focus on stretching the belly or center of the muscle versus dipping into stretching the attaching tendon.  Focus on breath.  Find movements to activate this muscle without causing pain.  If you continue doing things to irritate it, the recovery will be slow.  At the same time, keep stimulating it, don’t avoid it.

Through awareness and mindful movement, you will eventually heal.  As with any injury and  your yoga, keep practicing.  As soon as you start moving and breathing you will kick in your body’s natural pharmaceutical production and healing will begin.  Yoga is medicine.

The covers become twisted and tangled as you grasp for something out of reach…SLEEP.

There’s something about the darkness of night-time that makes your thoughts become more vivid and wild.  Situations become problems and problems  grow bigger until they become the end of the world.  The roller coaster of thoughts keep spinning and reeling out of control, the covers become twisted and tangled as you grasp for something out of reach……SLEEP.

 

30 Million Americans depend on sleep aids to take them to the place where thoughts no longer exist.

Many sleep aids, like Ambien, don’t work by making you “sleepy” they work by inhibiting the processes of the brain responsible for processing thoughts.  It’s when we finally get off this dark vivid roller coaster of thinking that we are able to drift into sleep.

The Brain / Neurons / Neurotransmitters..how it all works

Basically, the brain and the nervous system are made up of tiny cells called neurons.  All of the activities of the brain are carried out because of the interaction between neurons.  The way they are able to interact is by substances called neurotransmitters.  The neurons produce neurotransmitters (chemicals) that bind to receptor sites on other neurons and voila…communication is happening.

GABA 

A GABA is a form of neurotransmitter that is produced to inhibit interaction between neurons.  Sort of like those plastic things you stick into electrical outlets so nothing can be stuck into them to create an electric current.  Once a GABA is stuck to a receptor site on a neuron, communication or activity won’t happen.  Our bodies naturally make GABA, but for different reasons, sometimes not enough.  In order to relax, we have to slow down our thoughts, in order to slow down our thoughts, GABA’s gotta kick in and do its job.

The key ingredient in Ambien is Zolpidem, it works by acting as a GABA on the neurons responsible for processing thoughts.   So, you can’t sleep, you pop a pill and toss in some artificial GABA to block that stinkin’ thinkin’…but not without consequences.

The most effective pharmaceuticals are those that are made to be a copy cat of something our body already makes.  But the copy cats never work as well in the long run.  Our bodies tend to get thrown off in other areas when artificial substances get thrown in the mix…the artificial stuff usually works way overboard…then it drops off quick.    Ambien works so strongly that some people are known to do things like sleep-eating or even sleep-driving,  having no recollection of it the next day.  Ambien is also highly addictive.

Yoga as medicine

This week I had a new student start practicing for the first time at my studio.. she has come 5 days straight.  This morning she told me that she has had insomnia for 30 years and it has disappeared since starting.  She is a long distance runner and has tried many methods to battle insomnia..including acupuncture and meditation with no luck. I’m amazed at how I hear this same testament over and over.  What a miracle…yoga works.

How yoga works on insomnia:

One miraculous way that yoga works is by increasing the bodies natural GABA production.  In a study done by Chris Streeter, MD of the Boston University School of Medicine, it is shown that yoga increases GABA by 27%.  Imagine that!  An alternative medicine that has no negative side effects and in fact hosts a slew of additional positive effects, including an increased ability to perform tricks at parties and family functions.  What more could you want?

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, the Vagus nerve is also stimulated when we practice yoga, which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which triggers stress reduction processes.  Which I’m certain will lead to better sleep.

Then there is the squeeze we put on our endocrine system that supports the production of sleep supporting hormones like Melatonin.  Inversion postures also bring a flood of blood and fresh nutrients to glands like the pineal gland which produces Melatonin, the pituitary, thymus and thyroid.

Sure, we can get a quick fix for almost anything these days but it seems we are getting wiser and wiser when it comes to pharmaceuticals.  If it seems to good to be true..it surely is.  Our bodies are designed to heal..yes there are certain circumstances where medical intervention is a necessity, but let’s give our bodies more credit than we do.  Instead of trying Ambien, try yoga.

And if you already practice yoga..keep practicing and practice often.  It’s not about whether you “feel” like it or whether or not you like the teacher on the schedule…it’s about believing in yourself and your ability to heal and enrolling in the most powerful preventative medicine program out there.  Get on your mat! And if you happen to be in my class at The Yoga Project…you know what I mean when I say “Go Gaba!!”

No wonder I heard blue birds singing as I walked out the door…even though I felt like shit when I arrived.

I recently had a lady show up to my yoga class and as she walked in the door she announced..”my husband told me I had to leave and go to yoga”!  Just yesterday I had a friend show up who said, “I’m here to sweat out the grumpies”!

Those of us who practice yoga would agree that it almost always puts us in a better mood, but why is that?

In the yoga world, we hear all sorts of talk about getting present and dropping our thoughts, finding our authentic selves…but seriously, let’s get beyond the yoga fluff and look at some concrete evidence on how yoga puts us in a better mood.

In a previous blog post, I talked about the ability of yoga to stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system and the effect that has on our over all well-being. None of that good stuff would be possible without the work of the endocrine system.

This system is made up of ductless glands that pump out hormones right into our blood stream which play a role in our ability to relax or stress, our experience of pleasure or frustration and whether we have fear or joy, amongst many other things.

So how it might go down….you arrive at the studio for the 5:30 class after barely making it there because of the ##@@!!* traffic.   You get on your mat and you start breathing…ahh…then you start listening to your breath just for a few.  The nervous system sends the initial message…”Hey maybe you’re not being eaten by a tiger after all“….then the endocrine system is what actually goes to work by pumping out chemicals (hormones) that do the job of relaxing you..slowing your heart rate, reducing stress, etc.  The moment the grip of stress begins to let loose, your ability to experience a new mood emerges.  Simultaneously, little opiate like substances are being produced by your pituitary and hypothalamus, making you as happy and relaxed as Dorothy in a field of poppies!  This is the magic of endorphins.

If your endocrine system is a little stagnant or just not quite up to parr, your bodies’ ability to produce these vital hormones may be inhibited.  The nervous system could be shouting messages all day but the stress relief just won’t happen.  The endocrine system affects practically every process in the body….keeping it healthy is everything.

There are two obvious ways that yoga affects the endocrine system and hence our mood.

One way is what is discussed above:    Shift in focus—–>nervous system stimulation—>endocrine system kicks in—>chemical / hormone pumping—>shift in body processes

The other way is mechanical stimulation.  With all of the twisting, pressing, opening and upside downing that we do in yoga, we aren’t just affecting our muscles and bones…our endocrine glands are getting a much-needed squeeze.  The theory of exercise says that any animate object that is poked and prodded will come back with new life.  We are squeezing our glands to new health and vitality.

We are also getting a big pay off from inversion..when we turn upside down, for instance in down dog or even head stand, our pineal, pituitary, thyroid and hypothalamus are getting flooded with increased blood flow, increasing  health, well-being and mood.

No wonder I heard blue birds signing as I walked out the door….even though I felt like shit when I arrived!

So get on your mat, fine if it is a yoga butt that you are after, but know that you are enrolling yourself in the most effective preventative medicine program there is.  And you just might be a lot nicer to others because of it.  Practice yoga.  Practice often.

“The room is spinning….just let me forward fold for a second…”

“I’m sweating, I’m moving, breathing…I’ve got this.  I’m strong…..yeah I nailed that crow!  Eagle pose…feeling good.  Uh oh…dizzy…vision narrowing…why are my fingers a little tingly…the room is spinning…just let me forward fold for a second..”

It happens..you’re feeling fine and then all of a sudden out of nowhere you get sideswiped by light headedness and all you want to do is hang your head down low because every time you go back upright the room spins.

When we sweat, we obviously lose water but we are also losing minerals.  Both of which lead to a drop in blood pressure.  If your blood pressure already tends to run a little low….this drop would take you below what your body can function properly at.  Those that are prone to this experience in a yoga class are people who have naturally low blood pressure OR  those who are on beta blockers, prescribed for high blood pressure.

Hot sweaty yoga is the perfect environment for this to show up in because 1) you are sweating 2) you are changing your body position from up to down quite frequently.  When body position is suddenly changed, the blood wooshes away from the brain and one may feel woozy, light headed or nauseous.  The heart is simply not pumping enough blood to satisfy the body parts involved in the change in position ane time.

The good new is, this issue can usually be easily remedied.  Consider the following precautions:

• drink plenty fluids and have salt in your diet
• avoid heavy meals within a few hours of practice (the process of digestion draws a lot of blood to the abdomen and away from the rest of the body)
• maintain a good balance of minerals..if you are not certain that your diet is varied enough to support this, take supplements.  Especially sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium..know that food sources are always better, it’s controversial as to whether or not the body can even absorb nutrients from supplements
• if the light headedness happens to you during practice..just avoid quick body positional changes.  From my own experience and from many others I have talked to, it almost always happens somewhere around balancing postures or triangle postures..it’s probably that it’s just been enough time to get a good sweat going.  Stay low to transition poses…keep your head below your heart..for instance, when coming out of twisting triangle, don’t stand up before going pyramid or wide straddle, just stay bent over and move into next pose.  OR  simply take child’s pose if needed.  In a posture like triangle where you are holding a hand straight up from body, just keep it down instead.
• drink something with minerals / electrolytes in it right before and during class..something like coconut water works well
• stay hydrated all day…don’t show up to class already dehydrated because there’s no way to catch up at that point

And most importantly…keep practicing yoga.  Your yoga practice will put the good squeeze on all the systems of your body in a way that continues the cultivation of balance.

It will Knock the Socks off your Anxiety!!

I used to think it was normal to stress out over simple decisions or to get anxious about simple things like painting a room. I had the hardest time making small decisions, paralyzed in fear that I would choose the wrong way. I spent many years of my life suffering from anxiety but didn’t even realize it. These days I come across so many people who describe their anxiety symptoms to me and I can so easily relate. I also have met so many of our yoga students who have had huge relief from anxiety through their yoga practices. Many who have even gotten completely off of anxiety meds after practicing yoga. I now realize that my own anxiety symptoms became much less as I began practicing yoga. It was after I began practicing yoga that I realized I had been suffering from anxiety..it was not until I was out of it that I could see how strong of a grip it had on me. I think what happens often is that someone suffering from anxiety thinks they just have something “wrong” with them. Constant upset stomachs, chest pain,, headaches, fatigue, excessive sweating, insomnia are just a few symptoms that lead us to the doctor to see what is wrong. These are all side effects of the cause of a problem that starts elsewhere…anxiety. How does yoga help anxiety? Last week I shared about yoga’s stimulation of the Vagus nerve which is the highway for the triggers of the parasympathetic nervous system. Let’s look at this again along with its relationship to anxiety. It helps to understand the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic Nervous system (also know as the Fight or Flight System) induces: increased heart rate increased blood pressure decreased digestion blood flow to large muscles, legs, core; hence cold feet and hands increased cortisol increased adrenaline or epinephrine Parasympathetic Nervous system (also known as the Rest & Digest system) induces: decreased heart rate decreased blood pressure increased digestion increased blood flow to extremities decreased cortisol decreased adrenaline or epinephrine A Simplification of how Anxiety Happens Our brains have a tiny part within them called the amygdala. The amygdala is responsible for detecting if a situation causes threat or no threat. As you can imagine, this plays a vital role in our survival as human beings. Especially during the years we may have been chased by tigers and the like..without even thinking about it, our body goes into super human mode, ready to defend, protect and get away from whatever it is. The only problems is that even though now a days we are not faced with these types of life threatening situations (or hardly ever), our brain still works in the same capacity. Our amygdala is still detecting threat and danger within situations that just aren’t threatening our lives. So, if I decide that I might make a mistake in choosing the wrong paint color and that this mistake might cause lots of problems and that how others perceive me will be compromised….I have sprung into fight or flight mode via my amygdala…whether I want to or not. My amygdala instantly decides that my life is threatened—>instantly triggers the hypothalamus to trigger the—->sympathetic nervous system and all of the above listed is triggered. Man, all of that for just paint. This, in a nutshell is anxiety. Happening over and over again, usually without us even knowing it. Our heart rates are up, blood pressure increased, cortisol being produced like crazy in turn increasing our belly fat and decreasing our ability to burn fat and on and on and on. YOGA STIMULATES THE VAGUS NERVE WHICH TRIGGERS THE PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM!!! The very system that INHIBITS the sympathetic nervous system. Yoga is for Everything and it will knock the socks off of your Anxiety. Practice and practice often. Get on your mat even when you don’t want to, this is when you need it the most. Our bodies are so beautifully equipped with the capacity to heal..we just have to be willing to listen. Hope this helps some of you like it has me…