1:1 Monday, March 31

My regular Monday Client.
She went to a strong vinyasa class and could not do some of the stuff so I allowed that to guide our session. Helping her see how she could modify and tweak. She really enjoys when we work more vigorously. She can handle it and believes that it is what is helping her lose weight.

Start Supine
Hip Rotation and Spinal Extension Work

Transition All Fours
Cat/Cow
Barrel Roles

(We use blocks under her hands so she can step through more easily).

Plank
Dog
Lunge
Dog
Lunge
Dog

Rest and Look at Side Plank (one of her ?s)
We looked at the bent knee on floor variation and this proved to be successful.

Standing Pose Sequence from Dog
Lunge
Side Angle
Triangle
Prasarita Padottanasana
Warrior 2 Dance
Lunge
Dog


Play with Up Dog (tops of feet hurt, so we stayed on toes)
Rounding from Dog and From Plank, Chaturanga.
This was, as expected really tiring, but now she has a sense of how to approach it in a class.

Standing Poses on the Other side

Dog
Step forward
Uttanasana

Her physical therapist told her that her balance was not "normal", as in not in the normal range. From what I have seen, she seems to be totally normal as she is showing such quick and fast improvement once she focuses. My understanding is that the shaking is from the nerves re patterning. But I could easily be wrong. Several of the medications she is on supposedly make balance difficult.

Toe Lifts
Little Tree
"The Dean Potter"

Transition to Floor

Navasana was a another ?

We approached it like this:
Pinup Pose
Table Top (this was incredibly difficult)
Navasana Stage 1 with knees bent and hands under knees. Draw chest up and allow toes to lift from floor, balancing. (She went right up and was delighted).
Rest and Rounding
Navasana Stage 2 with hands under knees, shins parallel to floor and then legs straight
Rest and Round
Navasana Stage 3, moving from bent knees to straight and then releasing hands. She nailed it.


Cross Legged Forward Fold
Repeat Other Side

Slumpy Swami Twist Both Sides
Hands in Belly Forward Fold
Revolving Head to Knee Pose

Upavishta Konasana

Bridge Pose
Upward Facing Bow Pose Play (Just to start to create the "memory" of moving towards it so it would not be new in a class).

Legs Wide Up Wall
Baddha Konasana Up Wall
(I pressed on her thighs to create more opening)

Supine BK Rack Stretch

Savasana

Case Study: Pain in the Metatarsophalangeal Joint

A friend mentioned today that for the last 2 weeks she has been experiencing pain on the inside of one of her feet behind her big toe when her toes are bent forward and bearing weight.

The friend is between 25 and 30, female, and fit. She is moving to a new town, in with a new roommate and new job. She is newly single. She has been doing yoga for 10 years.

She showed me all the moves that cause it the most distress. The action of rolling forward into Cobra or Updog and back to Down Dog and the action of pivoting from sole of the foot on the ground onto the ball of the foot were the primary ones.

1. First Step
I pulled out "Trail Guide to the Body" and looked up the spot. I learned that between the 2nd and 3rd bone of the Big toe side of the foot is called the Metatarsophalangeal Joints. The spot is also known as the "Base of the Phalanges". The Tendon that attaches the Base of the Phalanges to the Metatarsals is called the Abductor Hallucis.

2. A Guess
My guess was that she should stop doing what hurts it and follow the R.I.C.E. protocol. "Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate." Yet she should continue to move it in gentle circles and keep blood and attention flowing to it.

3. Google
Since my pal thought she had a sprain I typed in "abductor hallucis" with 'injury' and 'sprain' into GOOGLE. These searches revealed that an injury in this spot is super common among football players and is often called "Turf Toe". I also learned that it is the joint that bunyans often grow from and a hot spot for arthritis.

4. Nerve Pathways
One site mentioned the nerve connection to the Sacrum, which inspired me to pick up the Atlas of Human Anatomy by Netter. From this I was able to see the nerve relationship between the S1L5 and that spot in the foot.

5. Conclusion
I was not able to discover any "magical cure" but the increase in the understanding of a 'problem' will often open you up to new insight. And in our research, we began a dialogue that led us up through her whole spine into a much more integrated discussion about how she was put together.