Adaptive Yoga

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi, my name is Joseph and I’m a T6-8 paraplegic. I was injured when I was six months old and I just turned 29 on the 10th.

About two and a half years ago, I started doing yoga at my local gym (at the suggestion of my sister). Initially I went to a chair yoga class, but I quickly outgrew that and was anxious to further my practice by trying out regular yoga classes. I ended up falling in love with hot yoga and faithfully went to classes 3 times a week for 8 months or so. I would still be doing classes there except I go to a different gym now (bare bones, they don’t offer any classes). I still do yoga on my own, though.

Back when I was still at that gym, my instructor/teacher suggested that I do YouTube videos to show how adaptable Yoga is for people that are disabled. Now everyone’s disability/ability level is different, but I found that there were a lot of things I didn’t think I could do in yoga that I realized I could do either right away or with a little bit of work/practice and for those things that I could not do, she came up with some nifty adaptations that worked well for me. (I was blessed to have 2 very understanding and accommodating teachers when I was doing yoga there. They both stayed after class several times to help with things I was having issues with.)

So, anyway, I finally starting doing some videos of various poses/postures and putting them on YouTube. I only have two up right now, but I have a bunch more ready to be uploaded in the coming weeks. I was hoping to do most of them on the beach (mainly because it would look nicer than in my room), but I didn’t want to wait until summer. The next batch I do will hopefully be on the beach, though. =)

So the first two videos are here if anyone is interested:


(Tried to embed them, but couldn’t figure out how)

The others I have recorded so far include:
Child’s Pose
Corpse Pose
Handstand
Modified Lord of the Dance
Pigeon (although I might redo this one)
Revolved Tirangle
Modified Shoulder Stand
Side Angle Pose
Wide-Legged Forward Bend
Supported Headstand

My next set of videos, which I’ll do in a few months, will probably include:
Cow Pose
Sun Salutation (I actually did it for this set of videos 3 times, but didn’t like how they came out)
Easy Seat/Easy Pose
A modified Half Moon Pose
Modified Down Dog
Warriors I, II, and III
Reverse Warrior

If anyone has suggestions for other poses I should do, please don’t hesitate to post them.

Thanks for reading all this and namaste.

#2

Hello Joseph,

I watched and enjoyed both video - more than I can say for most media postings. Thank you.

Are you aware of or familiar with Matt Sanford?

#3

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I am a little familiar with Matthew Sanford. A couple of months after I started doing yoga, a fellow student in one of the classes let me borrow Matthew’s book “Waking.” I really connected with a lot of what he said in it, although his injury was/is different from mine.

I remember one part in particular where he mentioned that he wanted to have the rods that were attached to his spine removed because they hindered him during his practice of yoga. I’ve found that for some poses (Upward Facing Dog and Cobra just off the top of my head) I have the same issue because I, too, have rods attached to my spine to keep it straight.

#4

I’m curious about your take on alignment (in your practice of course) specifically as it relates to the lower extremities since you are placing them. Is there anything you can share along that line?

#5

It is impressive…

Keep doing and keep sharing please! This is will be an inspiration to many people.

#6

[QUOTE=CityMonk;52642]It is impressive…

Keep doing and keep sharing please! This is will be an inspiration to many people.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. I just uploaded a new video.

(Supported headstand.)

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;52578]I’m curious about your take on alignment (in your practice of course) specifically as it relates to the lower extremities since you are placing them. Is there anything you can share along that line?[/QUOTE]

The instructor that helped me most often previously used to mention alignment when working with me on specific poses that I was having issues with (because of my disability).

Triangle pose, for example, she suggested doing while seated in my wheelchair because she thought that the way I was doing it while on my mat caused my alignment to be compromised. It is true that my alignment on the mat isn’t what it should be. I’ve always been told that for triangle you should imagine yourself being between two panes of glass. When I do triangle on a mat, though, my butt is sticking out and therefore not in line with the rest of my body. Additionally my side angle pose ends up looking a lot like my triangle pose because I have to support myself only with my arms.

That said, though, I do feel like I get more out of triangle when I do it on the mat than in my chair even if my alignment is off.

#7

Are you considering a sequence? I am interested in how you move from one posture onto the next and your breath.

Your room works very well BTW.

#8

[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;52669]Are you considering a sequence? I am interested in how you move from one posture onto the next and your breath.

Your room works very well BTW.[/QUOTE]

The videos I’ve done for now just concentrate on one pose per video, but it would definitely be a good idea to do a short sequence to demonstrate the breath and movement from position to position, as you mentioned.

When I do a Sun Salutation video I will at least have a little bit of that shown. It would be nice to have a 10-15 minute sequence, though. (Currently I can only upload videos up to 15 minutes on YouTube.)

I’d need to develop a sequence in order to do that, though. …or, better yet I could get someone to develop a sequence for me because I don’t feel I am far enough along in my practice to do it myself, actually.