How yoga saves my life without all the chanting.
Now for a few words about the positive health affects of yoga. Right at this point my wife rolls her eyes. My enthusiasm over the health benefits I’ve gotten from it can be a bit overbearing.
First, let’s get rid of some misconceptions my wife and friends have about my personal practice of yoga. I am in it for the exercise and the health benefits. I’m not into the spiritualism or the chakras. I will admit to an ohm or three, but that’s only to vibrate the sinuses. I meditate, but it’s not much different than what I did during the many long distance runs I did between ages 16 through 40.
By the time I turned 50 a working life of heavy traveling took its toll on my body. I was rapidly becoming a cripple. Shoulders, elbows, legs, sinus infections, head aches were all building up from year’s plane and car rides.
Because my wife and I had good insurance I did not leave my one athletic endeavor without a fight. Orthopedists were consulted and operations performed. No major injuries were found. No arthritis, but the pain was growing. My knee ached along with my elbow and neck to say nothing of my back and my wrists. To avoid the pain I was becoming very sedentary. Inactivity did not help. To work I consumed a thousand to two thousand milligrams of ibuprofen a day.
The Army taught me to take action when things were confusing or poorly defined. I tried Ti Chi, heat raps, chiropractic, air mattresses, deep massage, orthopedic pillows, OTC time-release painkillers, and yoga. All of it works to some extent and I continue to use them as I think they will be effective for me. But, my experience with yoga has given me the most consistent method of controlling my pain any time, everyday.
The first time I went to a yoga practice I thought I was going to die, but when I was finished I felt better then I’d felt in the past 10 years. About two the next morning all the muscles and tendons in my body snapped back to their own painful positions and I staggered to the bathroom for the ibuprofen. As I stood in the dark waiting for the drugs to kick in I knew I wanted to feel the way my instructor had helped me feel earlier that evening. That was eight and a half years ago.
To get the benefits I started to receive the first day I didn’t have to assume any of the postures you see in the yoga magazines or books. In fact it was nine months before any of the things I did remotely resembled those pictures. My routine then and now is one day of instruction combined with four practices on my own. I always remember to honor old injuries.
My instructor is the key to my success with Hatha Yoga. She’s been practicing for over forty years. Because of her skill at teaching the wide variety of techniques available I was able to benefit from the first day. I was lucky enough to find her through my community recreation department.
Now she does more advanced things with me and the dozen women I go to class with on Saturday mornings. I’m the only guy. Every time I work with her I reach a point where I think “Damn, how’d I get here”. Not only do these sessions help me immediately, but I learn new things to do during my daily workouts.
The practice of yoga has not the turned out to be any kind of panacea. It has loosened the muscles in my neck and eliminated my sinus infections. I used to have to go to the chiropractor every three weeks. Now, I go once a month. My wife says I still snore some. My sciatica flares up now and then. Neither is as irritating as they used to be and I can reduce the severity of just about any pain in my muscles or joints with yoga techniques.
Bottom line I can do more things and more aggressively that I could fifteen years ago. Maybe it will help you like it helped me, maybe not. Just keep as an option for you as your mind writes checks your body can’t cash.
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