Nauseous afer backbends

Yoga Discussion Structural Yoga Therapy
#1

Hi Mukunda,

I hope you can help me out with this one. I have been doing hatha yoga for over 8 years. For the last year I’ve been doing more Atma Vikasa yoga which incorporates more backbends. I’ve become aware that most backbends (cobra, wheel, locust, camel and especially bow) make me feel very nauseous after getting out of the pose. Usually this feeling lasts for several minutes, sometimes longer and sometimes accompanied by the feeling of faint. It’s quite frustrating. Also, I would like to mention that poses that use more of my abdominal muscles such as boat pose creates this after effect of nausea as well, but not as severe.
I was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia over 10 years ago. It does affect my digestion at times, but it’s pretty much under control. However, I don’t know if this could be causing the reation. In addition, I have 2 large uterine fibroids which press against my other organs and push my stomach upwards. Hopefully soon I will have these fibroids taken care of with a procedure called uterine fibroid embolization and have one less problem to deal with.
Anyway, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this. I don’t want to give up backbends or approach them with fear of anticipating a negative reaction. Is there anything I can do to help my situation and control the nausea?
Thank you. Namaste!
Bri

#2

Suspect very much that the hiatal hernia is not healed and that the backbends are showing you this. Backbends increase udana prana the upward moving prana that when accompanied by hiatal hernia can cause reactions such as you are mentioning. I would suggest you seek competent evaluation for this and if so then treatment.

Fibroids can also increase udana prana as they are pushing upwards so together they are most likely causing your nausea. One of my students studied with Susan Weed, the master herbalist and wisewoman. From her she learned that eating a raw beet daily for 30 days cures fibroids and taking one a month is a preventative. In giving this advice to others they have reported that it was indeed helpful.