I'm starting week 3 of "Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee". I loved how the last time I did this first lesson of week 3 I was amazed at how I was able to accomplish that backbend lifting my head off of the floor. Before Rodney Yee, I was doing Richard Hittleman's "Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan", and I could never lift my head off of the floor in the backbend. There is something very thoughtful in the lesson plan laid out in "Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee". The poses seem to build upon each other, and somehow, subconsciously, the mind develops an understanding of the body, so that by the time he asks you to do something challenging, the mind has already done 80% of the work needed to accomplish the pose.
I find that the yoga is not helping my back pain -- some of which I attibute to old age arthritis, and some due to scar tissue from breast cancer radiation treatments. This is guesswork on my part, since the source of my back pain has never been diagnosed despite repeated visits to many doctors, a host of tests, and a ton of physical therapists and holistic practitioners. The yoga in fact seems to make the pain worse. I think the reason is because, I imagine, the mobility of muscles that haven't been mobilized in 30 years and the breaking down of scar tissue mean that things around my spine are getting repositioned and resorted.
I may have to live with my back pain forever. At this point it's irrelevant to me, because I go about my life in spite of it. Even when I'm not doing the yoga now, I spend more time being aware of my body and what parts are tensing up throughout parts of my day. When I walk down the hallway at work, I feel when I'm slouching, because the Mountain Pose has taught me about finding that spot where my head and spine are balanced and the parts of my body that don't need to be working are relaxing. In that way, I can feel my body gliding with more ease. Part of what yoga is teaching me is that I can live with back pain AND ease of movement. It's a constant lesson, but that's what helps me see that motion (and my life) need not come to an end because of my various aches and pains.
