My yoga journey has had many false starts. My practice finally stuck in 2008 because my employer at the time (until beginning of 2013) offered yoga class once a week in the studio. Sit at my computer for another hour vs. 1 hour of self-care/awareness/exploration proved to be enough incentive for me to get the habit going.
Prior to this, I had taken a yoga class at the Fashion Institute of New York for college credit. It was ridiculously cheap (and tax deductible!) and I was already making the commute for a drawing class on the same night. It was a good foundation that included nutrition, chakras, and basic idealogies. But even my downward dog was sad to be quite honest.
Since the yoga sessions at work were with only a couple co-workers, I was able to freely ask questions and got lots of individual attention. I started to get better and better. I remember that my hamstring started to bother me, and I started riding my bicycle on Sunday nights to a candle light yoga class in the East village that got hot enough to sooth my pain. Pretty soon, I was hooked, and adding more classes, instructors, and studios into my repertoire.
Since this new awareness/journey started, I've worked through several injuries. I've had a slight case of scoliosis since I was young, my spine has about a 5% curvature that is enough to throw my shoulders and my hips off balance. The effect of my offset hips is that my legs are like they are different lengths. Prior to this, I've treated the resulting back pain with massage, a Chiropractor, a Physicsl Therapist, a Chinese Acupressurist, and an Acupuncturist. But I did all of these things after I was already in pain, to fix the symptoms. Yoga is a proactive long term solution.
As mentioned in another blog, over 2 years ago I got Plantar Fasciitis for the first time, which is a pain in the arch of your foot. Most people have heel pain, but I did not. I wasn't able to run for about a year. But after a couple months of PT, and rest, I started running again a little over a year ago. I switched to running in Vibram Five Fingers, which require some retraining because you use all of the muscles in your foot that you don't normally use when wearing conventional sneakers. You actually have to change your stride and strike in the middle or front of your foot, as opposed to heel striking which is what most people do in conventional sneakers. It took a lot of time and it was like starting over, but I was able to increase my mileage past the 5 mile wall that I kept hitting previous. After switching there was no more knee or IT band pain. I felt so great that I became a New York Road Runners member in January, ran in the Brooklyn Half Marathon (my first half), and ran in enough races to qualify for guaranteed entry to the New York City Marathon for 2014. 2013 was the year that I fell in love with running, and it was also the year that I fell out of love with yoga.
How could this happen? I still believe in all of the principles and goodness of yoga. But about a year or so ago, pain started to develop in my left shoulder. I thought it would go away, but it got worse over time, and my right shoulder started to bother me a bit as well. I wanted to avoid chaturanga, and Aerial Vinyasa not only achieved that, but was also fresh, and helped stretch my hamstrings and decompress my spine while I was training for my first half marathon. But eventually the pain worsened to the point that there was no joy left in yoga, and I finally decided it was time to go to physical therapy and deal with my injury.
By ignoring my injury for so long, I allowed my shoulder muscles to weaken a lot. Eventually other muscles in my neck and back had to compensate for the weak muscles, which made physical therapy an even more difficult process. Sometimes I would be in throbbing pain for days after PT. We were able to improve my range of motion and I did gain strength, but the results came slow because I could not do my exercises at home often enough. Something did not add up.
Towards the end of my physical therapy is when my doctor told me that I am hypothyroid, and I did reading and found that this was likely the cause of my Plantar Fasciitis and my shoulder pain. I've been taking Synthroid and have figured out the best time to take my pill in the morning and when to have breakfast and take other pills. (Synthroid has to be taken on an empty stomach without any other food or pills for at least 30-60 minutes after or absorption can be effected). I am due for a blood test and follow up with my doctor to find out if my dosage needs to be increased. And I'm plugging away on my reading list so I will be prepared to ask the right questions this time and manage my own health. Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago my left knee started bothering me, and since I don't remember injuring it I can only assume that this is a result of the hypothyroidism too. All I can do is wait for my synthetic hormones to build up in my system, and ask my doctor if a cortisone shot as a temporary fix for the pain is appropriate.
So the recent knee injury has put a damper on my running plans for the near future. Which totally sucks because I am supposed to start training soon for the New York Half Marathon which is in March. In the meantime, I've been easing back into yoga and really enjoying it. I've indulged in a few restorative yoga classes lately, if that doesn't make me fall in love with yoga again then I don't know what will. My current roster of yoga studios are all studios really close to my home or my work, and places that I really love. I did take advantage of a free trial week at a studio today to help jump start my yoga comeback. Sometimes I need variety, but right now it's cold so I just need convenience and warmth.
When I was in physical therapy, the therapists kept telling me how many patients came to them with injuries from yoga. How is this even possible? All of my time spent in physical therapy, I have never heard anyone say that they were there because of yoga. I'm sure it happens, I'm just saying that I think that they are skewing the numbers a bit, and I blame that article in the New York Times about people getting injured in yoga. The worst part of that article was everyone who would never in a million years being all smug acting like, "See, this is why I don't do yoga!", when they never would because they don't do anything physical.
Ending on a good note, I finished my 10-week Beginner Spanish class and I got an A on my final exam. I am going to study on my own for bit with my ipad. And the next project up, Salsa dancing lessons. Never a dull moment!
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