Fear, Back Pain, & Winter . . . Happy Holidays

The holidays are an emotional rollercoaster. This year it was the first time my family has seen Mako because of restricted travel, safety, and Stephanie’s fears related to COVID.

Fear is sometimes referenced as an acronym for; False Expectations Appearing Real. It is dismissed on 90’s t-shirts (NO FEAR,) and in the Ashtanga community, ‘Why fearing, you?’ as someone takes control of your body and limbs pulling you into a deep back bend.

Traditional Chinese Medicine links the emotion fear to the Foot Shao Yin channel, the channel that maintains fluid balance. Think, Kidneys, which happen to reside near the lumbar spine, the low back. This channel also happens to have the strongest effect during the winter time.

Is pain keeping you from your yoga practice?

Yoga, Qi Gong, or Tai Chi, when taught as a connection between breath, movement and focus, can be a tool that the individual can use with their response to the variability between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Read about that (here)

That doesn’t mean that a yoga practice is itself ‘without pain.’ On the contrary, there are two types of physical injuries that are associated with a yoga practice. Acute injuries occur suddenly, such as a muscle strain. This often happens when learning a new asana or stubbing a toe on the refrigerator at 4am.
Using analgesics and OTC NSAID’s for a chronic pain without actually addressing the aggravating factor is like placing a band-aid on an arterial bleed without applying pressure. You can change the dressing all you want but that alone isn’t going to stop the bleeding and your patient will die. Habitual use of OTC medications or illegal drugs to alleviate the pain isn’t actually stopping the cause of the pain, nor is it teaching the patient how to cope with the situation. Unrelieved pain is a common symptom in methadone treatment programs and associated with mental distress and function as well as clinician frustration.***

Coming back to yoga after taking time off

I find it incredibly hard to start again. I’m unsure of my voice.

Over the past 3 months I started to write about a few different topics and each time I talked myself out it. I allowed things to come up and distract me. I got away from my practice of writing.

How do you get started again?

yoga, HealthMorgan LeeApril 7, 2018Yoga, motivation, Fear

Are you part of the 95%

90 to 95% of the population will take this way out if given the option.

When The Boss flip-flopped his hand at me and said, 'You do.' I was being guided through Inhibitory learning. I was being allowed to fail and test out my fear in a safe environment. I wasn't endangering myself or others, well maybe Angela, Lu and Danny, but I wasn't endangering my future.

I was being pushed beyond my comfort zone.

Dr. Sam has a direct link to your local pharmacy and a vast array of 'gifts' for you. Western medical science has come up with a patch for many health problems. Taking a CNS depressant for PTSD, panic-attacks, OCD, or Social-Anxiety Disorder. (BACK BENDS?!?)

Are you in the other 5 percent?

yoga, HealthMorgan LeeSeptember 5, 2017Ashtanga, Yoga, yoga health, Fear

— Ashtanga Nurse —