Silver linings, injuries, bandages, backbends, and ahimsa

If you’ve been to any of my (Joanna) classes this past week, you may or may have not noticed that one of my wrists is swaddled and bandaged up.

I’m okay! Thanks for asking. I wont bore you with the details of how it happened. I will say though, that sustaining an injury (especially when you guide yoga practice for a living) is one of most humbling experiences, ever.

What I found most interesting/troubling is how much I take my body for granted. Simple movement such as pushing open a door, carrying my cat’s 13lbs carrier (yeah, she’s kinda tubby), and yes, many many many yoga poses become the proverbial Mt. Everest for someone who is injured.

I come across a lot of folk who come to yoga with previous injuries, ailments which are much, much more serious and painful than what I have...I’m talking scoliosis, herniated discs, arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia...etc. Of course, here at the studio we help them modify and certain classes are better for them than others, but I can understand how frustrating it is being in a room with other people who are injury free, and being the only one in a modified version of a pose the entire time, feeling a tad rare, and on display.

For instance, I was in a ashtanga - vinyasa practice last week, and for those of you who’ve practiced this style before, your know it’s peppered with poses which rely on weight bearing on the arms...which wasn’t good for my wrists. So there I was, in shoulder-busting dolphin, while everyone was in their delicious, stretchy and gooey downward dogs. It was hard not to feel resentful at myself...how I could let this injury happen??!! I’m a yoga teacher for goodness sakes!

The mere action of being on hands and knees caused a searing pain. So I knew that I couldn’t handle another group vinyasa practice. I then got pro-active and designed a practice for myself which would involve absolutely no weight bearing on the wrists.

Therefore, all of the poses in this practice were either on my back, my stomach or on my feet.

For those of you who have a consistent home practice, you know that it’s easy to default to the poses that are your favorites (and by proxy, probably poses that come easy to you). You also probably avoid poses that you hate (poses that are difficult for you).

For me, I tend to shy away from prone backbends like shalabhasana, danurasana etc because, well...I find them not all that pleasant to be in. It’s like taking oregano oil when you feel a tickle in your throat...you know you’ve gotta do it, but you’re gonna hate every second of it!

Viparita Shalabhasana (Locust Pose)

Dhanurasana(Bow Pose)

So, reluctantly, I navigated through the above poses, which I regularly don’t spend much time in otherwise. And I’m happy to report, that since last Wednesday I’ve been consistently working through these back-bends every-single day! And yes...some soreness. And yes...I felt my breath getting slightly cut off at the apex of my edge. And yes...these poses are dang hard to maintain for more than 10 breaths! But every day, I feel by back getting stronger and my heart opening to the possibility that I may, in time, actually LOVE these 2 poses.

So, to make a long story short I try to look at this minor injury as a cloud with a silver lining.

First, I was humbly reminded of Ahimsa, one of the most important and relevant teachings of yoga - the teaching of non-harm...something that I thoroughly remind students of during class. Second, living yoga is about navigating through the rough patches or injuries in life with ease, grace and flexibility. Knowing that when old poses, or habits are no longer serving you...it may be time to give them up, if only for a little while, so that you can move on, and open to other possibilities.