When I was a little girl, I remember being diagnosed as having a slightly crooked spine. A slight case of scoliosis. There was some anxiety as I went to my pediatrician every six months or so to get it rechecked. He said if it got any worse, I'd be in a back brace. The back brace never became reality and I continued on in life with my slightly crooked spine. Frequently in yoga, I become aware that I am not laying straight in both stomach and back facing savasanas. However, since I'm not standing over myself, I have no idea which adjustments to make to straighten out.
Frank notices this and fixes me sometimes. Tonight, after slugging my way through a very mediocre feeling class, I lay in final savasana, crooked. Frank came over, lifted my head gently and moved it left. Then he gently pushed my left shoulder down towards the back wall. "There, you are straight now". These two adjustments are the same everytime. I lay there, feeling completely crooked, wondering how I could be straight. My instinct was to get up and end the savasana. Instead I lay there in wonderment at how very crooked laying straight feels!
I know exactly what you mean! I have an s-curve in my spine that makes me about 3 inches shorter than I'd be if I didn't have scoliosis. My hope is that the yoga will gradually improve my curves. In the meantime, I often feel crooked when I'm in the 20-second savasans. I wonder if I'm actually crooked, or if I'm actually more in-line and I'm not used to that so it just FEELS croooked. I still don't know. It's a weird feeling!
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling to, when I got massage the last time even the masseuse said that I was laying on the bench as a banana.
ReplyDeleteBefore each and every spine strengthing pose I look into the mirror to see that I am laying straight.
Juan said something like "when you start to become aware about your crockedness it is starting to straighten out"
Bikramjourneyer: It is a weird feeling! Glad somebody can relate
ReplyDeleteAHappyYogi: Crooked as a banana huh? That's pretty funny!
I have the same issue, M, and when I would ask someone to adjust my posture, "Normal" felt abnormally so. Yet... sometimes we are truly out of whack, so how do we tell? Ahhh! It's all a journey, I guess? Hahahhaha.
ReplyDeleteI have the same feeling. I am 7 classes into doing birkam for the first time in my life. My back aches! Is this normal? Will my muscles around my spine start feeling normal? I have to say that reading similar accounts has made me feel much better!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous~ Yes! It's normal! Keep going and things will settle down and fall into place. :)
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