Prana Pages

I like “hot” foods. I always doctor the salsas at Mexican restaurants with splashes of the Habenero sauce on the table that often goes untouched by other patrons.  I am the crazy skinny white girl that make the cooks in Indian restaurants question, “is she sure?” when I request my meals to be Indian hot not American hot.  So, when my African friend fixed me a steak last night and suggested I “flavor it up” with a little of his African spice, I was eager to try.  The juicy meat with its marinade and steak rub combination was enough to make my tummy happy, but it was the unique powder spices direct from Africa that made my taste buds sing. With each bite, I dipped the tiniest tips of the tines of my fork into this powdery spice mixture, and I could taste and feel it at the back of my throat.  My stomach yelled uncle before my taste buds were ready to surrender.  The flavor sent me into a fit of giggles as my throat opened from the heat.  For me, a little “heat” is all I need to find a little more balance in my throat energy.  When I’m sick, I turn to the healing powers of ginger and cayenne to nurse me back to health by burning out the toxins and opening the locked expression of my voice.  I know this works for me because I tend towards a deficient throat chakra, a lack of energy in my vissudha chakra.    For others, those who tend towards excessive energy in the throat, a shot of “heat” can only exacerbate the situation, making the already raw throat more tender, and a coolant such as honey & lemon serves a better purpose.

For many people, the first indication of illness is a tinge of a sore throat.  Others of us give our throat chakra (expression) power away to various animals “a frog in the throat, a cat got your tongue” etc.  The truth is, the throat chakra is often the most obvious indicator of an imbalance in our energetic systems.  When the throat chakra is balanced and open, one experiences a perfect state of expression - the ability to state our minds clearly, concisely, and powerfully so that our expressions are heard precisely as we intended.  In essence, we are able to shout with a whisper.  But, when the throat chakra experiences imbalance, many complications ensue.  With too much energy (excessive) residing in the throat chakra, we tend towards overdoing our expression.   i.e. talking too much, speaking too loudly, interrupting others, asserting ourselves at the expense of others, and often wishing we could take back our words or regretting what we said or did.  With too little energy (deficient) residing in the throat chakra, we tends towards underdoing our expression.  i.e. talking too softly, being afraid to “raise our hands,” swallowing our words, or hiding in a corner.

So, it’s no surprise that as a child I was often the kid who knew the right answer in school, but refused to raise my hand because I just might have to say something in front of everyone.  In my teens, I suffered a rather severe case of deficient throat chakra energy, until I discovered hot & spicy foods.  I had sore throats a lot as a child.  But now they are rare, as I find I am better equipped to stand up in front of large crowds and teach.  So thank you dear friend, for providing me with a “shot of heat” just a few short days before I need to express myself to many people in a strange land as I head out to teach another workshop.

For the rest of you, heed this warning, hot and spicy foods may not be your cure-all and fixit.  If you tend towards talking too much and overexpression, a shot of honey & lemon or chamomile may be what the doctor ordered.  But, if you are like me, and tend towards keeping your mouth shut instead of saying what you think, try a little cayenne pill to kick your voice into gear

Aside from low-back pain, the number one physical complaint in America is neck and shoulder tension.  Many of us spend most of the day hunched over the computer, reinforcing the bad posture developed during the teenage years. compounded for many of us by years of studying in college followed by desk-jobs that prohibit full range of motion throughout the day.  So, it is no surprise that one of the most common injuries to occur in yoga involves shoulder pain.  Of course, these injuries usually occur as a result of improper alignment in common poses like up-dog, down-dog, and push-up, especially common in the vinyasa flow practice.  This improper alignment is almost always what results from an attitude of too much effort, the typical American “barrel through” emphasis without compensating for the years of damage the shoulders have endured in our everyday lives.  When the shoulders start to scream in pain in yoga, they are usually telling us that although we are unhappy with status quo, we aren’t happy with the process of change either. Change hurts, and the shoulders are often the first to point this out.

The shoulders represent our feelings and thoughts about what we are doing and how we are doing it.  This is to say that the shoulders hold all the responsibilities in our lives and how we feel about those responsibilities.  So, when we suddenly begin something different in our lives, such as starting a yoga practice, the shoulders sometimes revolt by saying “no, not another responsibility to burden!”  What a regular yoga practice does, however, is teaches the other parts of the body to share the burdens evenly, and once alignment is learned, the shoulders find relief. For example, once students learn to pull out of the shoulders in up-dog or down-dog, the legs begin to take more of the burden of the weight and the low back and shoulders can release.  However, until the other body parts can learn to “take the backpack from the shoulders” the only way to deal with the shoulder pain is to modify the practice, sometimes drastically, and look at how we are dealing with the responsibilities within our lives.

One of the most common pains in the shoulder manifests from the rotator cuff, the muscles and tendons that connect with upper arm bone to the shoulder blade, helping to hold the ball of the humerus bone into the shoulder socket.  Rotator cuff injuries can be as painful as feeling like your arm is being ripped out of its socket, which is your body’s way of saying, “I’m holding too much, let go of some responsibility!”  Thus, extreme modification is the best lesson any yoga student can learn as it is the ultimate of humility, of letting go, and finding sukha (surrender).

This is not to say that one should stop yoga practice and totally rest the injury to heal.  Complete rest may actually result in “frozen shoulder” or atrophy of the muscles around the shoulder while the tendons heal, setting the practitioner back further than where they began.  Doctors usually prescribe physical therapy (glorified yoga poses) as treatment for rotator cuff injuries.  PT helps to maintain flexibility in the joint, build muscle around the joint to protect the tendons once they heal.  Rest is key, so avoid poses that put excess baggage on the shoulders, they don’t need any more responsibility, but work to build the muscles in the rest of the body and train the body to take the burden away from the shoulders.  Yet, continuing to stretch and strengthen the shoulder muscles with simple stretches and modified binds can make all the difference.

When shoulder pain becomes chronic, it is time to look at the deeper spiritual issues surrounding responsibility within your life.  Pain inside the shoulder joint is symbolic of the body’s resentment for “carryiing the world on your shoulders” and not wanting to do so anymore.  What are the responsibilities that have become burdens and developed into resentments?  What are you “fed up with” and “tired of carrying”?  Keep in mind, that shoulder issues are usually representative of responsibilities you have held for other people, of responsibilities that have been placed on you by other people.  What can you do to lighten your load?  How can you “pass the buck” or delegate a little more?  Typically, for those of us with shoulder issues have lived our lives with an element of “If I don’t do it myself, it doesn’t get done right” the shoulder is starting to tell us to let go of the control a little bit.  Things may not get done the way you would have done them, but the ultimate results, the big picture, is the same.

For some of us, these daily responsibilities have manifested into a comfort level with the discomfort of our lives, and it is when the world around us starts to change that our shoulders start to scream.  At this point, we have become so comfortable with our responsibilities that feelings of anger, guilt, resentment, are suppressed and feel more like “duty” or “purpose”.  Addressing this depth of the issue is a little more difficult than simply surrendering control or restructuring responsibility, although surrender is still important.  Once one has become complacent with discomfort the key to finding peace in surrender lies in reflecting on one’s own hidden dreams, fantasies and desires and how those dreams have been relinquished to the desires of others.  Then, it is about learning that it is okay to be “selfish” and start pursuing those dreams once again.  The idea is to give up “caretaking for others, and to ask, “what do I want” over and over until a true answer, unrelated to anyone else’s desires, is found, and then to pursue that desire wholeheartedly.

No matter what the level of pain, when the shoulder hurts, it is saying, “Take off the backpack” and “stop carrying the S*** of other people.”  it is time to really fully take care of yourself and fulfill your own inner most dreams and desires.

I’ve made many subtle changes in my life since beginning a steady yoga practice, many of which happened organically, without much conscious thought.  One of the simplest adjustments I’ve made that has the greatest impact has developed into a mantra for me, “always wear sensible shoes”.  I know that at this point I am probably uttering a blasphemy in the women’s secret code, and given that I have a total of four pairs of shoes in my closet (hiking shoes, flip flops, winter boots, and black casual shoes), I know I could be considered “odd” in the world of women.  But, I honestly believe that in choosing sensible shoes over stylish fashion statements, I may have saved myself countless aches and pains over the years.

I’ve seen many students suffer with challenges of the feet in yoga, and it usually translates into a difficulty in balance poses.  Blisters, corns, in-grown toenails and warts are minor inconveniences, but years of abuse combined with genetics can result in long term issues such as bunions or plantar fasciitis.  I’ve watched many friends struggle with the unexplainable pain of plantar fasciitis, sometimes lasting up to two years.  The treatment almost always results in a trip to the shoe store and a switch from high heels and fashion for sneakers and footwear designed for comfort and support.

Plantar Fasciitis usually represents a need for or the beginning of a major life transition or change.  More often than not, this change is good, but as with any form of growth, is painful.  One of my friends developed plantar fasciitis while working as a waiter.  On his feet all day long, doctors blamed the stress of his job on the pain in his feet.  What was odd was that he had been a waiter and worked other jobs on his feet for over twenty years, so why now?  What he didn’t know, was that his feet were preparing him for the major change that was beginning to occur in his life.  The restaurant where he worked was struggling, ownership was about to change, and the new management didn’t help the situation.  He had to begin looking for other work.  Two years after the plantar fasciitis started he had moved his family to a new home, started a new job, and began a new chapter in his life.  He developed an appreciation for “sensible shoes” and, in doing so, he found himself in a career that had more financial stability, less wear and tear on his body, and afforded him more time with his family - all changes he had been yearning for many years.  In essence, his feet were structurally changing form from the inside-out, physically the fascia was “displaced”.

Energetically, his spirit was experiencing a rewiring, so to speak, a drastic change in how to respond to circumstances in his life that would bring about less stress and fundamentally promote more ease and grace.  Another friend began experiencing plantar fasciitis shortly after starting a yoga practice.  She struggled with the pain in her flat feet for some time, and was extremely challenged by yoga poses.  But, as always, the faithful yoga practice produced results.  Her foot pain began to subside a couple years into her practice when she committed herself to a daily ritual of stepping on her mat.  The flat feet literally began to change shape as her arches started to lift.  She lost over fifty pounds of excess weight, and as is common to yoga testimonials, she began recognizing countless examples of subtle changes in her life that resulted in more ease and grace.

The transformation from stress and strain to ease and grace is not always a comfortable one.  Our bodies and our souls need to undergo a rewiring, or chemical restructuring so to speak.  As our muscles develop, they ache, but we become stronger.  As our tendons and ligaments release deep tightness, our joints temporarily may creak, but in the end, we feel stronger on our feet and the bigger challenges seem like smaller molehills than the mountains of the past.  As true growth usually requires some kind of stepping out of our comfort zone, our feet often have to compensate for the shifts in balance.  The muscles and fascia of our feet have to shift to create a more stable base.  So why not invest in some sensible shoes - anything to make life more comfortable!