Prelude to the Poses
Integrative Medicine
Historically, yoga coexisted with Ayurvedic medicine, nutritional remedies, astrologers, snake charmers, shamans, and various religious means to cure illness. Today we have a similar array of sciences and healing modalities that can be used concurrently. It does a patient no good to ignore, either from choice or from ignorance, other means of healing. At times, using two methods concurrently is much better than either attempted alone. We must resist Classical Yoga’s tendency toward independence and purity for the good of the person with arthritis. Later, some practitioners will be able to proceed with yoga alone, and leave behind the scaffolding that helped them to that fortunate point.
Yoga off the Mat
As your body awareness improves through this practice, you will be able to adjust your postural and movement patterns in a more refined way while involved in your normal daily activities. You will recognize opportunities to let yoga inform your movements and posture for the better.
The Poses
The poses we have chosen are a combination of classical asana and variations or excerpts of poses that have particular therapeutic benefit. The poses in each chapter are arranged to be practiced in sequence, which has its own logic, but once you have tried to do all the poses, you should concentrate most on the ones that feel right to you. Poses with stages have progressive levels of difficulty; the variations to poses give alternatives requiring equal skill.
The Chapters
We begin with ubiquitous poses. They appear so frequently throughout what follows that they deserve a chapter of their own, which we call “The All-Stars.”Look at them while you are fresh; done properly, there is something wonderful about each one. The All-Star poses can be done as a complete practice by those wanting a general arthritis-preventing regime. After the All-Star chapter, each subsequent chapter is specific to a joint or a condition. We describe each joint before going into the poses. It helps to understand what is going on inside your body, and how you might work around your physical difficulties in daily life. Education is preferable to medication. You cannot overdose on education. It does not expire. The main side effect is curiosity. But be careful, knowledge is addictive: after a certain amount of exposure, you want more and more.
Where an All-Star pose appears in a later chapter on a specific joint, it is identified by an asterisk and an identifying picture stands alongside the name. We suggest that you refer to the full description of the pose in the All-Star chapter on the page cited. You may also want to practice a version of the pose that is different from the one pictured. For instance, Adho Mukha Svanasana is listed in the chapter on shoulders, and you may choose to do the variation with a wall (Wall Dog) instead of the full pose. If the variation is sufficiently different from the All-Star, then there will be neither an asterisk nor a small picture, but rather the pose will have a full description with illustrative pictures just like any other pose. If the departure from the All-Star is slight, then you will see the asterisk, the small picture, and an instruction describing the change.
Other poses also have variations. At times we refer to the basic pose, and number the variations’ instructions by just continuing the numbering of the basic pose. At other times we start over with new instructions, pictures, and numbers. The decision depends on just how different the variation is.
At the end of each chapter is a table indicating which poses address which ranges of motion for that joint. The tables are not uniform. They are designed to help readers and therapists efficiently design programs that focus on one or several joints or problems. There is no table in the chapter on scoliosis, since all of the poses there are aimed at correcting spinal curves.
Contraindications
Contraindications, or reasons for not attempting a pose, are of two types. One type is absolute. If you have an absolute contraindication, do not do that pose. The second type is relative, which means you should use extreme caution and vigilance when you attempt the pose, but with sufficient care the pose might be done. These poses are often best initiated with a teacher or therapist. All contraindications are relative unless stated as absolute.
Of course we cannot mention every possible contraindication to any pose. However, we can categorically discourage doing yoga less than three to five hours after a full meal. The best general advice we can give about yoga and arthritis in just about any context is to use common sense.
Working from a Book
Reading this book while you are doing the poses may prove to be cumbersome, so you can try different approaches: Read the instructions through several times and “rehearse”the pose in your mind, then do it without the book in your hands. Or have a friend or teacher or physical therapist read the instructions out loud while you do the poses. You might also tape-record them. With repetition you will remember the most important elements, and then you can review the instructions periodically to see if you have missed anything. Please be sure to read all the instructions for each pose before attempting it; do not skip over the preparations. These details about placement and actions will greatly increase the effectiveness, safety, and enjoyment of your practice.
Props
In addition to the yoga mat, we suggest the use of props such as chairs, blocks, blankets, or straps. These can ease you into poses that would otherwise be dangerous or impossible. For example, a man with a colostomy may not be able to lie on his stomach directly, but with two or three folded blankets placed under the chest and under the pelvis, it would be easy. If your legs are tight and you are reaching for the floor, shortening your reach by use of a block is sensible.
A Word about Words
There is something we have noticed about teaching yoga that is a perpetual source of wonder: people, entire yoga classes, respond to directions that in themselves might not make much sense. Mr. Iyengar has often said, “Make space in your lower back”or “Relax your ears.”Yet people hear these obscure commands, and they all do the same thing, which is exactly what is intended. Please be tolerant in what you read. Rather than analyzing each direction, let it direct you. You, and your yoga, will be better for it.
The instructions offered here are inspired by both Iyengar Yoga and Anusara Yoga, developed by John Friend. Mr. Iyengar created many, many beautiful poses and developed others in a way that combines classical knowledge with solid physiological instinct, geometrical precision, and hard work—especially the hard work. John Friend, who studied extensively with Mr. Iyengar, worked with these well-wrought asana, and formulated principles based on everything he had learned. Friend’s methods lend themselves well to teaching beginners by promoting awareness, alignment, and enthusiasm in a user-friendly way. Throughout the text we express many universal concepts through the methods of Anusara Yoga. Mr. Iyengar’s teachings are implicit in the instructions and are also guiding us throughout. If you want to study either or both of these methods more deeply, you will need a teacher. See the Resources section for details.
The word firm is usually encountered as a noun, as in a law firm, or an adjective, as in the request “Be firm with him.”Here we use it as a verb: “Firm the muscles of your thigh,”meaning contract or tighten them, but with care. We use tone as a synonym for firm. We also use root as a verb to mean reach down into the foundation of the pose as roots of a tree reach into the earth.
Medical words, especially as they appear in the contraindications section, might be unfamiliar. We have tried to anticipate this and defined them in the glossary.
Your Attitude
Each pose requires focus and a willing intellect and body. One of the best practitioners we know approached yoga originally (at age four) as a form of play. Although the purpose is absolutely serious, that may be the right attitude. There is a tradition for this in Indian lore. In the midst of rival armies arrayed before the great battle set forth in the Mahabharata, Arjuna asks Krishna why the universe was created. Krishna smilingly replies, “For sport.”Some of the most serious things are best done in dedicated high spirits.
Respect your body and listen to its signals, including the pleasure and comfort of stretching in the poses, and pain and fatigue. Learn to distinguish between the discomfort of stretching a tight muscle or joint and the pain of overstretching. In the same way, learn to identify the heaviness of lethargy that will dissipate as you move, as opposed to true fatigue that tells you to stop and rest.
How to Begin and Finish
We often show you the full classical pose even though sometimes you might not be able to do it right away. In any event, just seeing it will give you the Gestalt, an idea of what you are aiming for, what you are starting out to do.
Set the foundation, the part of you that touches the floor, carefully, and be aware of the details. To prepare for a pose, breathe in. Breathe out as you go into the pose, and breathe normally while holding the pose. Decide for yourself how long to hold the pose, and do not obsess about timing; your body will tell you. You can use a timer or your intuitive clock. Do not count. To finish the pose, inhale and return to the position in which you began the pose while still active in the body. Do not let go of your focus or your energy until you have come out of the pose fully. Finally, take the time after each pose to feel its effects. At the end of any practice session, rest in a comfortable sitting or lying position for five to ten minutes. Let the effects of practice settle in.