Gripitz and Wheel Pose

I have mentioned in another thread about pain in my write when I practice poses where wrist is involved. I am going to see a doctor soon to find out if there is something wrong.

It does seem like Gripitz will help a great deal doing certain poses where wrist is involved. I am sure it helps good when doing “bhujangasan” cobra pose. But I am not having any issue when doing cobra pose. My wrist pains are only when doing downward bending dog or even doing pushups.

I am lately attempting the “wheel” pose and realized I get the same wrist pain in wheel pose as well.

Looking at the designe of “Gripitz” it does seem like it helps in doing push-ups and downward dog. I was wondering if it will help in “wheel pose” ?

I am glad I am able to answer my own question. I just saw the demo of GRIPITZ and it did show this pretty girl doing the “wheel” pose. :slight_smile:

Here is the link. I believe it will help somebody.
http://www.primogaleria.com/gripitz/details.cfm?item=102280370&cat=3470

I would still welcome your comments, suggestions and advice on the matter.

Regards
Yalgaar

Your doctor might appreciate a demo of how you do cobra and how you do down dog and pushups to help him/her talk to you about your diagnosis. I’m glad you’re getting it checked out.

I don’t think you should “attempt” wheel if you have not yet healed your wrists. You have to practice Ahimsa which is non harming. Yoga is not just about getting into poses. Hurting yourself in poses is not Yoga. It is just calisthenics or exercises resembling yoga poses.

Your wrists dont’ hurt in cobra because it is not weight bearing like down dog and plank.You really need to have a session with a qualified teacher who can tell you what is wrong with your plank, chataruanga and down dog.

It could just be weak wrists but in my experience as a teacher, it usually is just a result of bad yoga. You are usually doing something wrong. Buying wrist guards is like putting band aids on a gun wound. You need to figure out what the problem is and heal it and not just camouflage it.

David Williams says that “yoga heals all injuries except injuries caused by yoga”. Please Yalgaar, my heart is telling you to back off until you can find a good teacher. I have injuries from bad yoga and they are no joke. I know this from experience so trust me.

I know you want so badly to practice yoga and I admire this. Yoga,however has 8 limbs. Asana is only one of those. The other 7 limbs will not make your wrists hurt.

Dear Yalgaar,

I want to echo the words of Lashannasmall here. I checked the posts that you have started so far and most of them is about the problems you experience so far in attempting to do yoga on your own.

If I remember correctly you recently started with a home practice a few months ago and you are already attempting the wheel? That is just plain incredible and irresponsible at the same time. Incredible, because this is an asana the require much preparation in other asanas and you attempt it so soon. Irresponsible because this asana has the potential to really hurt you badly if the foundation is not strong and well laid.

Please study the yamas and niyamas first and lay your foundation good, know that harming yourself is as Lashannasmall said not yoga at all. And above all, seek a teacher to help you.

[QUOTE=lashannasmall;21260]I don’t think you should “attempt” wheel if you have not yet healed your wrists. You have to practice Ahimsa which is non harming. Yoga is not just about getting into poses. Hurting yourself in poses is not Yoga. It is just calisthenics or exercises resembling yoga poses.

Your wrists dont’ hurt in cobra because it is not weight bearing like down dog and plank.You really need to have a session with a qualified teacher who can tell you what is wrong with your plank, chataruanga and down dog.

It could just be weak wrists but in my experience as a teacher, it usually is just a result of bad yoga. You are usually doing something wrong. Buying wrist guards is like putting band aids on a gun wound. You need to figure out what the problem is and heal it and not just camouflage it.

David Williams says that “yoga heals all injuries except injuries caused by yoga”. Please Yalgaar, my heart is telling you to back off until you can find a good teacher. I have injuries from bad yoga and they are no joke. I know this from experience so trust me.

I know you want so badly to practice yoga and I admire this. Yoga,however has 8 limbs. Asana is only one of those. The other 7 limbs will not make your wrists hurt.[/QUOTE]

Let me clarify that there is nothing wrong with my wrists normally. I just feel the pain when doing certain yoga poses. Like I mentioned before I am going to get it checked by a doctor in just a few days. Thank you very much for your concerns but I really have not been able to find a good teacher, atleast right now. I am working on it to find one that will make sense to me.

I understand the other 7 limbs will not hurt my wrist and I am practicing them as well as much as I can. But I don’t think there is anything wrong with having the desire and passion to practice the asanas as well. To me hurting my wrists in certain poses is a challenge I am going through to achive my goals in yoga, well in this case asanas. I am sure there are challenges in practicing other limbs as well just in a different way. I have learnes from my life not to just give up when challenged and thats exactly I am doing. Not give up. Try all that I can to overcome the challenge. Challenge of not finding a teacher, challenge of not finding enough time, challenge of hurting wrists and many many more. Asking question in this forum is an effort to face and solve the challenge I am facing.

Now about the Gripitz, which was my orginal question. Your reply kind of implied it is not going to do any good. But based on what I read about it and what I have been advised from other threads, it seems like Gripitz is the right thing for pain in wrist when doing such poses. Do you not agree with that?

[QUOTE=Pandara;21263]Dear Yalgaar,

I want to echo the words of Lashannasmall here. I checked the posts that you have started so far and most of them is about the problems you experience so far in attempting to do yoga on your own.

If I remember correctly you recently started with a home practice a few months ago and you are already attempting the wheel? That is just plain incredible and irresponsible at the same time. Incredible, because this is an asana the require much preparation in other asanas and you attempt it so soon. Irresponsible because this asana has the potential to really hurt you badly if the foundation is not strong and well laid.

Please study the yamas and niyamas first and lay your foundation good, know that harming yourself is as Lashannasmall said not yoga at all. And above all, seek a teacher to help you.[/QUOTE]

Dear Pandara,

Thanks for the caution. I know I have to be super careful when advancing my home practice without in person guidance from a guru.

I am still very curious to know what makes you believe that my attempt to practice “wheel pose” is incredible and irresponsible? What makes you believe the asana is so advanced that I am not ready for it? I do not think you know me enough and what my body and mind is ready for?

I am already studying and practicing yamas and niyamas. Can’t say I have studied it enough but who has? I also believe there are many many people out that having no concept of yamas and niyamas who practice all advanced asanas without slightest challenge.

My final note, I really appreciate all the caution here and I have taken it very positively; but I would also like to point out your comments were completely off topic and discouraging. Your reply was full of what I should not be doing without proper reasoning while missing my original question on how “GRIPITZ” work and how it helps to ease pressure on wrists while doing those asanas.

Thanks again for the cautions.

Regards
Yalgaar

[QUOTE=yalgaar;21270]Let me clarify that there is nothing wrong with my wrists normally. I just feel the pain when doing certain yoga poses. Like I mentioned before I am going to get it checked by a doctor in just a few days. Thank you very much for your concerns but I really have not been able to find a good teacher, atleast right now. I am working on it to find one that will make sense to me.

I understand the other 7 limbs will not hurt my wrist and I am practicing them as well as much as I can. But I don’t think there is anything wrong with having the desire and passion to practice the asanas as well. To me hurting my wrists in certain poses is a challenge I am going through to achive my goals in yoga, well in this case asanas. I am sure there are challenges in practicing other limbs as well just in a different way. I have learnes from my life not to just give up when challenged and thats exactly I am doing. Not give up. Try all that I can to overcome the challenge. Challenge of not finding a teacher, challenge of not finding enough time, challenge of hurting wrists and many many more. Asking question in this forum is an effort to face and solve the challenge I am facing.

Now about the Gripitz, which was my orginal question. Your reply kind of implied it is not going to do any good. But based on what I read about it and what I have been advised from other threads, it seems like Gripitz is the right thing for pain in wrist when doing such poses. Do you not agree with that?[/QUOTE]

I did respond about the Gripitz. That is where I said it is like “putting a band aid on a gunshot wound”. I don’t advise it. Also as far as yoga being “a challenge”. Yoga is not supposed to hurt. It is therapeutic. It is supposed to get rid of pain not cause it. It is one thing to be sore from working body parts that are not used to a certain range of motion, but another thing to have pain.

I practiced Budokon for awhile and I experienced pain in my wrists. I bought wrist guards and the pain still persisted. The minute I stopped doing Budokon, it went away. I am not saying that Budokon is bad, but it was obvious that I was doing something wrong so I felt it would be better for me to stop and stick to what I know which is yoga. I am not saying stop doing yoga completely, just hold back until you can get clarity on what it is you are doing improperly. You don’t have to do chatarunga and you don’t have to do downdog either. You definitely don’t have to do wheel. There are many other back bends that don’t put any pressure on your wrists. I am not really going to go into different options though because I have given my opinion on what you should do.

Yoga also involves non attachment and you seem to be very attached to an Asana practice. There are many great yogi’s who don’t do an Asana practice or for various reasons, let their practice go.

When I hurt my hamstring, I had to let certain aspects of my yoga practice go so that I could have healing and I was no less of a good person because of it.

Good luck

Dear Yallgaar,

First off, I didn’t say anywhere in my reply to you that is is an advance asana, this is your own projection. What I did say is that you need much preparation for this asana through other asanas and I will stick to this.

I think I have described my believe about being incredible and irresponsible well enough, please read it again.

I am glad you realise this, because this is exactly the problem with a Forum like this, we don’t know you at all, but you post all these problems you experience and those of us here who made the mistakes and learned from it (I suppose this is why you came here to learn and to take heed to good advise) see these mistakes and we try to warn and guide lovingly as far as we can. It is up to you from what you know about yourself to take note and apply the advise where necessary and applicable. :slight_smile:

Stretch your arms out in front of you so they are parallel to the floor, flex your wrist back toward you, finger tips reaching up toward the sky. Do your wrists make 90 degree angles? If not, it might be the simple fact that your wrist do not have the flexibility needed. Your hands need to be able to bend at more than a 90 degree angle, unless you are extremely open in the chest and back body.

I don’t know the severity or circumstance of your wrist problem, but I would think rest if necessary, than start by simple wrist stretches that are non-weight baring in the morning. This well increase flexibility, lubrication, and tone muscles in any healthy human body.

[QUOTE=Pandara;21292]Dear Yallgaar,

First off, I didn’t say anywhere in my reply to you that is is an advance asana, this is your own projection. What I did say is that you need much preparation for this asana through other asanas and I will stick to this.

I think I have described my believe about being incredible and irresponsible well enough, please read it again.

I am glad you realise this, because this is exactly the problem with a Forum like this, we don’t know you at all, but you post all these problems you experience and those of us here who made the mistakes and learned from it (I suppose this is why you came here to learn and to take heed to good advise) see these mistakes and we try to warn and guide lovingly as far as we can. It is up to you from what you know about yourself to take note and apply the advise where necessary and applicable. :)[/QUOTE]

I would agree on that one that you never said that this was an advanced pose; but would you not agree that this was implied? Do you still not agree that “Wheel Pose” is a advanced pose even though you did not say it.

OK you also mentioned that it needs much preparation through other asanas. I did do some research on this all I had found before attempting this pose is that you should be able to comfortable do the “Brdige Pose” which I did and I was able to do it comfortable. Only then I decided to take a step further and attempt the “Wheel pose” Believe me, I am not trying to hurt myself, last thing I want. I do a lot of homework, work very hard to achieve all that I want to achieve. I would appreciate if could tell more about the preparation that you are talking about?

About being irresponsible, I will have to differ but I still take your opinion and comment in a very positive way. This will even caution me more. I really apprecaite it.

I agree 100% with you that relying 100% on informations you get from the forum could be very dangerous, but trust me I totally understand that. To me forums is a very good teacher but one has to be very careful on following any advice or or suggestion you get from here otherwise it could be very dangerous. I get that part. To me this forum shows me the ways, gives me leads. I have to use my senses to follow it carefully. Thanks again for all the caution and advise you have showered with love.

[QUOTE=lashannasmall;21279]I did respond about the Gripitz. That is where I said it is like “putting a band aid on a gunshot wound”. I don’t advise it. Also as far as yoga being “a challenge”. Yoga is not supposed to hurt. It is therapeutic. It is supposed to get rid of pain not cause it. It is one thing to be sore from working body parts that are not used to a certain range of motion, but another thing to have pain.

I practiced Budokon for awhile and I experienced pain in my wrists. I bought wrist guards and the pain still persisted. The minute I stopped doing Budokon, it went away. I am not saying that Budokon is bad, but it was obvious that I was doing something wrong so I felt it would be better for me to stop and stick to what I know which is yoga. I am not saying stop doing yoga completely, just hold back until you can get clarity on what it is you are doing improperly. You don’t have to do chatarunga and you don’t have to do downdog either. You definitely don’t have to do wheel. There are many other back bends that don’t put any pressure on your wrists. I am not really going to go into different options though because I have given my opinion on what you should do.

Yoga also involves non attachment and you seem to be very attached to an Asana practice. There are many great yogi’s who don’t do an Asana practice or for various reasons, let their practice go.

When I hurt my hamstring, I had to let certain aspects of my yoga practice go so that I could have healing and I was no less of a good person because of it.

Good luck[/QUOTE]

Dear Shanna

Like usual I like all that you say here. It makes me think and gives me directions. I have read and re-read all you have said here several times and all makes sense.

I wanted to mention this since you may not know my exact perspective. I understand I do not have to be expert in doing all the asanas nor I have to be doing asanas at all if i am going to hurt myself. I totally get that. Like anything in life I just don’t give up very easily just becuase it is difficult or challenging or there is a road block. I try to put every effort possible, try to work very hard to resolve a situation. That is exactly I am doing right now. In the end if I find out after doing all the research and home-work that I should or should not be doing something, ofcourse I am not going to push myself. Also wanted to clarify that I just attempted “Wheel Pose” once, I realized it was hurtig my wrist and I came out of it and have not attempted it ever since. I have not been doing any other asanas either that will put weight on my wrists. I hope you will agree that I am actually cautious about what I am doing. But doing homework, trying to find out what my options are cannot hurt, can it?

I also wanted to point out that I faced a lot of challenges doing “headstand” i.e. Shirshasana in proper way. i.e. getting into the pose slowly and gradually without the push and jerk. I am sure you will agree even this is a dangerous pose. But I did not give up. If I had given up, I would be not be able to do headstand the way I do right now. I talked to people. I posted here and got so much wonderful advice including from you. Finally i am today able to do headstand very smoothly and slowly. What a joy!!

Yalgaar, it is all your projection, I have said what I have said and nothing more and nothing less. When I wrote that I never even thought of that asana as advanced as I have recently taught it to a lady in my class after six months of doing yoga. Why? Because I could see that her body could handle the asana, while there are others in my class whom I still hold back on teaching it to them as I can see they are nowhere near it to attempt the asana, they still need to do some more work though asana and pranayama.

What preparation do I imply? What is first and foremost in my mind when I talk about preparation is can the nervous system handle this abnormal position it is placed in? If the sense of proprioception (your sense of where you are in a given space) is lost then strength is also lost. Here the bridge pose is a good indication, but not always telling enough. I also look at how the student perform their back benders as they are telling if a student is ready or not.

Generally I also look at how the student perform in breathing exercises, especially how much control do they have of their diaphragm as those with poor control of the diaphragm most of the time are also overwhelmed by the muscular efforts of chakrasana.

I look at the strength of the student in the following areas: the abdominal muscles, the respiratory and pelvic diaphragms, the psoas, iliacus and rectus femoris as they all need to protect the lumbar region when this asana is performed. If there is a weakness in any of these, the student can hurt himself/herself and I usually will hold back and do a few months of more asanas to prepare those areas before I will ask the student to attempt the asana.

And than lastly I use my intuition to guide me. :wink:

Just a last thought. Yalgaar, I don’t think we say to you don’t do it, but what I think most of us are saying it take it slow, three years before I found my teacher, Sri Durga Devi, I practiced yoga on my own. I learned bad habits and I also thought that I have researched everything properly. All we say is, Rome wasn’t build in one day, take it slow, one of the joys of yoga is the discovery, to do the child pose over and over and over and week after week to discover what it does to your body, mind, emotions and spirit. There are so many levels. Remember you have a whole lifetime ahead of you in which you can practice and develop.

I trust this sheds some light for you on your own practice and where you are.

[QUOTE=Pandara;21302]
Just a last thought. Yalgaar, I don’t think we say to you don’t do it, but what I think most of us are saying it take it slow, three years before I found my teacher, Sri Durga Devi, I practiced yoga on my own. I learned bad habits and I also thought that I have researched everything properly. All we say is, Rome wasn’t build in one day, take it slow, one of the joys of yoga is the discovery, to do the child pose over and over and over and week after week to discover what it does to your body, mind, emotions and spirit. There are so many levels. Remember you have a whole lifetime ahead of you in which you can practice and develop.

I trust this sheds some light for you on your own practice and where you are.[/QUOTE]

Dear Pandara

Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share with so much of love. Its been very helpful.

I am really aware that people here are not asking me not to do it; sometimes it may just seem like that since the limitation of communication over the net. I am sure it would be a totally different interpretation of the same words when combined with voice and body language.

I also would like to add that “taking it slow” is an individual perspective. What I might be taking it slow may not be slow enough for somebody else. I have never claimed and will never claim to have researched everything since I am a very strong believer that knowledge is infinite just like the devine. So my pursuit of any knowledge be it be yoga or anything else is always going to be a journey and there will be no such thing as “everything”

Totally agree on “Rome was not build in a day” But it was build with lot of planning and hard work and stong determination of many. We have to agree with that. So to clarify I am really not trying to achieve anything in a day; just making sure I am doing eveyrthing it takes to build “the rome” I want to build in all aspects of life.

Then we agree. :slight_smile:

Enjoy and have fun while planning and building your “Rome”, just remember Rome has many buildings with poor foundations as well! :slight_smile:

[QUOTE=Pandara;21309]Then we agree. :slight_smile:

Enjoy and have fun while planning and building your “Rome”, just remember Rome has many buildings with poor foundations as well! :)[/QUOTE]

HAHA!!! :slight_smile:

I will always remember that. I am sure when they were building it, they put in their best though to ensure there is no building with poor foundation.

[QUOTE=GreenTree;21295]Stretch your arms out in front of you so they are parallel to the floor, flex your wrist back toward you, finger tips reaching up toward the sky. Do your wrists make 90 degree angles? If not, it might be the simple fact that your wrist do not have the flexibility needed. Your hands need to be able to bend at more than a 90 degree angle, unless you are extremely open in the chest and back body.

I don’t know the severity or circumstance of your wrist problem, but I would think rest if necessary, than start by simple wrist stretches that are non-weight baring in the morning. This well increase flexibility, lubrication, and tone muscles in any healthy human body.[/QUOTE]

When I make 90 degree angles with my wrist, I feel the same kind of pain that I feel when doing the asanas. This seems to be happening on both the hands, but it is much much lesser on left hand than right hand. Like I said before, I don’t have any pain normally. I experience pain only when getting the wrist at 90 degrees or more or while doing the asanas. For now I have decided not to do any weight baring asanas until I figure out what is going on. Hopewfully I find time to see the doctor soon.

Your doctor will probably tell you that the normal range of motion for wrist extension is 80 degrees. Attempting poses that require 90 degrees of wrist extension at an early stage can only lead to pain and injury. It is possible to modify some of the poses to avoid excess ROM. E.g. fingers pointing backwards in dandasana (staff pose). E.g. a book under your wrists in downward dog. Wheel pose also moves your wrists beyond normal ROM AND inevitably puts half of your body weight on to them. Is this the cause of your wrist pain? For minor injury, please allow 4 - 6 weeks of rest (no weight bearing) to allow for healing to take place.

I’ve been following your other posts for a while. I like your enthousiasm, and your questions are stimulating, but I get the impression that your need for advancement is somewhat too rajasic. You are certainly exploring your limits with wheel pose and urine neti (which is not even mentioned in hatha yoga texts). Could it be that you desire something very badly, or that you want to get rid of something very badly? Is it sleep apnea?

In the end, practicing on your own may cause some harm and thereby delay your progress. Why not seek out an excellent teacher or yoga therapist? Just a few hours of private instruction could allow you to advance more rapidly at lower risk. We all suffer from avidya (lack of knowledge) and a teacher can help to clarify things and show by example what the word sattvic means. Provided that the teacher is a yogi and walks his/her talk, or course. Lacking a teacher, please listen very carefully to your inner teacher. Admittedly, this could be difficult before you develop your listening skills, as you have demonstrated.

If you really need a teacher, the teacher will appear. And some people will go to great lengths to find one. I have witnessed people flying several hours in one day just to see one of my teachers for one hour. Amazing, isn’t it?

i just interest to know where can i buy that GRIPITZ

[QUOTE=tina;21444]i just interest to know where can i buy that GRIPITZ[/QUOTE]

You may buy it from the following places. I am sure there are many other places you can buy as well:

http://www.primogaleria.com/gripitz/

http://www.yogaprops.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=yp&Category_Code=hand