I’m offering yoga therapy to a 54-year-old man who is seemingly in
good health. It turns out he has arthritis is his joints. I haven’t seen an X-ray yet but he was told (and he feels them) that there are bone spurs in one hip, one shoulder, and in some of the spinal segments. He is responding beautifully to sequences that emphasize moving the joints through their R.O.M. Before we hold any pose, we move in and out with the breath, easing our way into greater opening and freedom. His main restriction is in the thoracic spine. Can you give me some advice in how to work with him?
What you are doing is good. Vinyasa motions coordinated with breath can release joint pain. My sequence of joint freeing series is important as the specific sequence given there allows the prana to move through its 5 forms to the subtlest, called Vyana. The development is to teach him how to send Vyana Prana into the joint that he is moving. At first showing how to keep attention onto specific joint and visualize its functions anatomically, then progression is made by learning to stay attentive to the feeling of prana as it moves into and throughout the joint. The fifth chapter of the Hathayoga Pradipika describes this as the method of overcoming bad practice and how to generate healing force of prana.