I asked her what she felt she needed, and she told me that the lying spinal twist we did last week made her left leg numb as she was in the pose.
We talked about paying very close attention to signs such as numbness, discomfort, sharp pain, inability to breath normally in a pose--all definite signs of stress, rather than benefit, to the body.
I was really glad she 1. noticed this in her twist and 2. remembered to tell me about it. This seems like a huge step forward for her, because she is tuning in! Not pushing and possibly harming herself. Paying attention!
Big step for her.
So I took the opportunity to instruct her in Tadasana, and I went into detail, from crown of head to soles of feet, describing how to stack and align the body, using the Energy Locks, and how to release tension in the rest of the body. Had a relatively long discussion about the bandhas.
We practiced inhaling shoulders up, back and exhaling down, while bending knees, then inhaling up. We did this cycle 6-7 times, because I wanted her to get into a flow of breath and asana. Afterward, I asked her to bring her hands in Namaste, close her eyes, and notice where in the body she might still be holding tension, where she may have released tension. Then I talked about imagining this flow as the movement of an engine that supplies energy in a cyclical fashion. I explained that doing this for a few minutes would be very beneficial, giving her balance, calm and focus, always ending in Namaste.
Then, starting at the crown, we patted ourselves down--head, face, chest (prolonged thumping & tapping here to activate the thyroid), down the front of the body, the legs, tops of feet, up the back of the legs, the butt, the arms and shoulders....Namaste!
Standing in a relaxed fashion, we then very gently helicoptered our relaxed arms around our torso, gently twisting in both directions.
This made us both laugh.
Then we inhaled our arms to the T position, palms up--gave ourselves hugs, tucked chin to chest, gently released in the shoulders & neck. Arms out to T position and switched sides for the hug.
Gently rolled in Uttanasana, shoulder and back still rounded, released arms and let everything hang gently.
Inhaled back up.
We sat down and attempted a Seated Twist, but she could tell that her leg was getting numb instantly. Came out of the twist.
Came to our backs, feet under knees, inhaled arms beside ears and simply breathed to open across the chest, under the arms & along the sides of the torso. Abigail had trouble really stretching her arms out straight, so I suggested she lay for several breaths, noting if she was able to release any further on the exhales. She really liked this and noticed a big difference.
We then went into a simple Bridge, and I asked her to relax into it and just breath.
We then came into Knees To Chest pose and rocked back and forth, releasing in the neck.
I demonstrated raising and lowering alternate leg/arm with the breath, then I showed her a less strenuous alternative, with the knees bent. She tried the first variation on 4 breaths, then I asked her just to stop and notice where she felt the energy of the pose.
We had a quick Savasana.
She recited an affirmation she has known for years, and I'm glad she felt comfortable enough to do that.
Namaste!
She mentioned once again that she really enjoys our sessions, and that she's getting a lot out of them! So that was positive. Now she wants to meet for a full hour. I'm not sure if I can manage that, we'll see, but I'm really thrilled she seems to be getting so much out of our time together.
No comments:
Post a Comment