The funny of Bhujapidasana

This is one of my favourite poses to teach. For no reason other than it's hilarious to try to get into it. Or, more hilarious to watch students try (and succeed) getting into it. I'm pretty sure that I get this semi-fiendish delight from my own yoga teacher. See, the way that I was taught to get into Bhujapidasana is by doing a funny walk backwards and forwards on your mat, whilst in a forward fold, your arms wrapped through your legs, and your hands holding onto the inside edges of your heels. Supposedly, this helps you to get your shoulders further behind your knees. Which helps to make the pose accessible/ way easier. It's also the same set up used to get into Tittibhasana; especially the version where your legs are pointing straight up to the sky =) (Yogis come up with some crazy stuff.)

 Some obvious limitations for this pose: hip flexibility, hamstring length (to some extent), arm length (hahahahaha t-Rex arms), and, very importantly, wrist flexibility. Also fear.

 The wrist flexibility is a big thing, actually. If you look at the angle of the wrists in this pose (and in many arm balances), the wrists are massively extended (even hyperextended). Students often complain of sore wrists when doing yoga, and especially when a class is focusing on arm balances. It's extremely important that we look after our wrists, and, in the same breath, look after your shoulders, too! I have some lovely (read: torturous) exercises to build 'wrist'strength, as well as some funky stretches to do. I'll probably share those in an upcoming post. Or you can just come to one of my classes ;)

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New words

Some of my clients, and all of my friends, are aware of my ongoing struggle with pain. Again something that I'll probably go into in more detail as time goes by, but, for now, I thought I'd share a little bit of my current frustration with you.

“ Fibromyalgia: widespread pain that is present for at least three months; must occur on both sides of the body, above and below the waist, and along the length of the spine. There must be pain in at least eleven of eighteen specific points in the body.”

I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It's still largely a mystery to  health professionals, and used to be used as a I-don't-know-what-is-wrong-with-you-so-let's-diagnose-you-with-this thing. There have been some advances in the understanding of fibromyalgia, like, they can now prove the brain involvement with special MRI scans which would show that the brain perceives pain differently in someone with, as opposed to without the condition. Essentially your body becomes hypersensitive to pain.

The average person takes five years to be diagnosed. This is seriously painful... in more ways than one; going for that long without knowing what is causing your often constant discomfort, having no treatment for it, and usually being told to just 'get over it', is awful.

Because fibromyalgia is still a relatively new diagnosis, and because it's such a vast disorder (symptoms vary from pain in specific tender points of the body, to IBS, to insomnia, to depression), it is often misdiagnosed (for approximately five years). Similar symptoms appear in Rheumatoid arthritis, polymyalgia Rheumatica, Lyme disease, restless leg syndrome (aka Willis-Ekbom disease 😳), ankylosing spondylitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, major depression, thyroid disorders, myofascial pain syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivity... If you understood all or most of those names, then you're either a well-trained physician, or you've been through the diagnoses wars.

If you're the latter, then my heart goes out to you. I feel your pain. And I wish you a speedy diagnosis, and a very wonderful and friendly doctor that understands your pain, too.

So far, smiling, laughing, and playing around as much as possible has been my best medicine. Doing (and sometimes teaching) yoga helps me to deal with the constant bugging annoyance of pain. Testing my limits every day, to see where my body is at, and, MOST importantly, listening when my body really just needs to rest, even if I feel like I'm just being a lazy poop, or like I'm over-reacting to the pain.

K, I've had enough of talking and typing about pain for now. So, my leaving message: just be kind to your body, dammit. And smile.

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Insomnia

Last night, I just could not get to sleep. My new Fitbit (I needed a watch, and I needed a heart rate monitor, and then I also got a sleep analysis thing with it!! Yay for bonus things that I didn't even knew I needed (or wanted) until I got them!) says that I only got to sleep at 12:30. Which was really late, considering that I was in bed at 9:45 pm... Okay, typing it out now makes it seem like it wasn't actually that long... but it felt pretty awful.

Anyways. The really good thing that came of my stint with insomnia was a burst of work that I managed to do! It was agony lying in bed, trying to relax and fall asleep, so I got up, and went and sat on the couch instead. And I typed out a loooong email of to-do's: mainly things to change on the website, and exciting new things to advertise... 😁 The more I thought about it, the more weird and wonderful ideas came to mind! It was amazing!
Except.... now I can't remember any of them... 😨🙊

Kidding! I can! And I am sooo excited to be rolling out all my new ideas to the lovely people out there that need me in their lives (even if they don't know it yet 😉)

So, keep an eye on the Facebook page, and the glorious website, and be prepared to be blown away by all the awesomeness that my exhausted late night brain came up with!

Looking at things from a different perspective often helps. Like an exhausted brain. Apparently that helps. Though, I wouldn't recommend it... *

* This does also not include the unmentioned fact that I sent messages/ emails to two clients that I had to then rectify in the morning, because I hadn't thought them through properly... we live and we learn...

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Time flies

It's been a very busy time for me and my little business. There's been some serious personal growth (which I may or may not go into more detail on in the near future), loads of little hiccups and 'technical difficulties', and even more new friends, connections, and places. The business side of things has seen more classes, lots of subbing (filling in for other teachers - getting with the lingo :-p), setting up and moving studios (yes, in that order, unfortunately), new and excited clients, and, most recently, the decision to go ahead with my first Yoga teacher training here in Johannesburg!!

I've run/ assisted on several teacher training courses at the stunning Hout Bay studio, the Wellness Connection, but that was with a massively supportive team of amazing people. This here is more like my own baby... The course is still being run through the same studio, and I do have their guidance and support (because they're just THAT amazing), but it's pretty much all in my hands. And I am SO excited.

Ever since I started assisting with TT courses (TT = teacher training. Lingo, man), I was hooked. I love teaching yoga, and getting people to connect with their bodies, experiment to see what their bodies can (and can't) do, and to start appreciating and loving their bodies more. But teaching people to pass that same thing on to others... it's pure magic. The most fulfilling part of my yoga journey so far. By far.

So, here's holding thumbs that it all works out! =) Eeeeeeeek!!

Me, trying to blend in with the Strelitzias. Is it working?!

Aaaand me practicing my Paint skills at 2am to advertise this fantastic TT course!

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Spring

It's been a ridiculous journey over the past few months to get to this point. Like a winter hibernation filled with procrastination, and planning, preparing, practicing, and playing. And now it's spring. And with it comes the blossoming and blooming of all the winter's efforts. Hopefully.

Yoga has this phenomenal ability to bring to light what's needed in your life. I've been struggling with standing balances in my practice lately, and lo and behold, when I did some introspection I found my focusses to be wholey unbalanced! So, with srping comes the end to my procrastination and planning, and a shift to doing. Putting into action all that has been cumulating over the past few months.

Enter The DAVINCI. This coming Saturday marks the start of an amazing adventure and partnership. Every time I have a meeting related to this venture I get silly-crazy excited about the prospects! A beautiful setting where I get to work with lots of people to bring yoga to their lives! And such an amazing team of people that I get to work with to make this all become a reality!

Then, starting on Monday, the opening of a collaborated studio in Northriding. I'll be working alongside my colleague and friend, as well as a fully fledged dance school to make yoga more accesible to parents of children attending dance classes (or anyone else in the vicinity who wants to join!), and hopefully, maybe, possibly, getting some of the dancer kiddies involved in yoga, too! How awesome?!

And then there's the launch of my spectacular new website!! =) Cannot contain the excitement!! Let spring BEGIN!!

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