One of the Biggest Gifts That Teaching Yoga Has Given Me

One of the biggest gifts that teaching yoga has given me is an understanding of human anatomy. I consider myself very fortunate that my first yoga teacher training at Yoga Works gave me a really strong foundation in my understanding of the human body, which sparked in me a curiosity to want to learn more. I bought an anatomy coloring book and colored on my own, just for fun. I bought extra books and read more about the muscles, joint actions, and how the body moves. And I continue to take in-person trainings, when time and money allows.

Which is why I attended the Spine Module of the Yoga Medicine training several weeks ago. I did not know what to expect, but I was blown away. The first couple days were review for me, but then we talked about dysfunction and pain, and ways to work with our students to help. But in the beginning, little did I realize that I would get tools to help chronic, long-term dysfunction in my own body.

When I first started doing yoga about fifteen years ago, I was at work one day and flicked my wrist to throw some papers in a trash can and something popped in my mid-back. I was in immediate pain and could barely walk for several days. The pain ultimately subsided, but I ended up with a feeling like something was out of place for well over a year. I constantly felt like someone was poking me in the back and could never find any relief. I saw doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists and was not able to feel any better And honestly, I don’t know how the extreme discomfort finally went away, but it finally did; however, I was still left with chronic mild discomfort in that area of my back.

Also at some point many years ago, I started to notice pain in my right SI joint. I had to do a lot of reading and research on my own to try and understand what was happening, because this was well before my anatomy training. The pain wasn’t enough to make me go see a doctor, but it was always there and I noticed that often times yoga would exacerbate the issue. So when I took my first yoga teacher training, I started to learn how my flexibility was actually problematic and I needed to build strength, particularly in my core and in the muscles around my pelvis.

So I used the information from that training to start to strengthen my core and my hamstrings and my glutes. But I could still feel that I was missing something. I knew I had some pelvic asymmetry, where my pelvis tilts forward and rotates gently to the right. I noticed it particularly when I laid on my back and different parts of my back and pelvis touched the floor. And although I knew I needed to create stability, I wasn’t sure how to work on the asymmetry.

And then I attended the Yoga Medicine training. Tiffany Cruikshank specifically educated us on pelvic asymmetry and how to deal with it. Since we have so many muscles around the pelvis, she told us which ones get tight and which ones get weak, and then gave us tools on how to start to work with these imbalances. I felt like I’d been trying to complete a puzzle for several years but had been missing some of the pieces and she handed me the missing pieces.

I’ve been doing five different exercises, 4-5 times/week for the past three weeks and am already noticing something start to shift in my body. First, I do not have a gripping sensation or pain in my SI joint when I do forward folds in yoga. This is huge! I can’t remember the last time I didn’t feel that gripping feeling. In addition, I’m noticing a feeling of release in the area of my mid-back that has felt uncomfortable for so many years. I feel like I can find more breath in that area, because now it isn’t mildly twisted and compressed. And I also feel that I can find more extension of my spine when going into mild backbends (I haven’t tried bigger back bends yet). Finally, I’m noticing I have more stability in my hips when I walk. This stability keeps my hips from collapsing and compressing my SI joint when I walk.

I’m still on my journey, and I don’t know how I will feel as I continue this path. But I will tell you something. Given the information and tools I know have, I have been able to make my body feel better, even after spending a lot of time and money in the past for other professionals to help me. All of those people were smart and caring and tried their best, but were never able to give me long-term relief. I am so glad that I can help myself. It has been such a true gift.

I had learned to live with chronic discomfort and pain and didn’t even realize how much it was impacting me until it subsided. If you’re interested in learning how I can help you with back issues, please feel free to reach out. Now that I have this information, I feel a huge need to share it!