I completely understand your post, as i think i can relate personally to negative results stemming from posture/asana practice.
In my case, i am a little wary of doing asana ,period. Because of this i don’t attend classes,as i suspect the same results i get at home would occur also after class. And the teachers are sound and quality. I just feel a yoga ‘class’ is not entirely always suiitable for me, and the last class i attended in March last year,08 made my body feel tighter ,increased the tension level. My owh theory for this is that the myotatic stretch reflex might be kicking in after class, conditioning the muscles into a higher state of tension, and cementing any misalignment or poor posture that was already there.
I might feel very energised but my body feels tighter, and i beileve you want to synergise the two- the subtle/pranic and physical … I once attended a chakra workshop that involved posture work and i really did feel miseerable after that,involed focusing on specific chakras during asana work. Perhaps i had blockages, so my body was’nt prepared for this kind of energetic practice… I also pulled an intercostal( behind the right pecs) at the start of the morning when warming up during surya namskar practice which was discouraging to start with. Deep breathing and moderate beck bending combined at the start of sunsalutations contributed. The teacher is not bad, just the class is inappropriate for every individual , especially those with health issues, which you allude to the thought yo might have. Sounds like you you may have some health issue(s).
I woulld’nt necessarily describe what i’ve experienced as nausea, perhpas an over-excited or agitated nervous system maybe, energetic and physical bodies out of synch and balance.A higher level of muscular tension.Energised but tenser. I would possibly have a restless night of restless sleep, and then i’d return to my Hanna Somatics practice ( see my ‘[U]Hanna Somatics[/U]’ thread, http://www.yogaforums.com/forums/f18/hanna-somatics-3719.html, or consult somaticsd0tcom for more info.) or Somatic excercises, to help alleviate/unlock that muscular tension, unwind those maladaptive postural patterns. I’ve been learning this practice since May last year and have built up a modest repertiore of special movments done a certain way with awareness and slowly which offer some relief and realignment. I’ve yet to crack our inherent pattern fully, though i’ve experienced a few breakthroughs, yet to repplicate. It’s how one does the movments that matters, like asana, just as much as what one does.
Negative results can frustrate… To echo what someone here has said before, there is appropriate yoga and inappropriate yoga for each individual.
ANy time i do asana work, i frequently feel tighter so i have to be very careful what i do and like you say, how i do it.
I definitely do not like the style of yoga of going from one postion right into another and into another and on and on. I like doing a position, easing into it and holding it.
And i favour mind/body integration, i.e not going fast. so mind can keep abreast of what the body is doiing.
Maybe asana done mindlesslsy one after another at moderate pace is contra-indiciated for you .
I know it is for me.
As i say i’ve lbeen learning somatic excercises and have some repertoire but yet to crack this system fully.
I suffer particularly from a tight waist on one side, my left, particularly the muscles that connect my ribcage to the pelvis but also hip complex on that side and the core/muslces at the centre of the body.( abdominals, those that relate to the spine&affect it’s alignment etc), in effect the whole left handsside of my body., but mkaes itself most pronounceed right on the left side, and centre of body.
From a Hanna Somatic point of view my left handside of my body and i suspect my right brain hemsiphere needs waking up.And i have actually felt neural connections firing up on occassion.- better sensory-motor re-integration, or mind-body repatterning .
If this is correct and i believe it is, i suspect, from a yoga/tantra point of view i have a dominant pingala nadi sytem . When i read about one of the beneifts of nadi shodhana pranayama as balancing the left-right brain hemispheres through cleannsing the nadi channels i began trying that out, for about a week now, and gaining som benefit. Though like anything yoga-related i try to prqctice very gently and cautiously. If you thinkiing of this, would suggest you do this way -
Breathe slowly, gently as well as fully.(And No retention or fancy stuff.)
I’ve seen baba ramdev do it on u-tube and he seems to be using a lot of force which i, for one would not use, and would think be inappriorpiate for a beginner. just my huunch/ intuition.
Nothing should be forced in yoga( a cardinal rule; hard to strictlyabide by following the kind of classes you mention), especially ihear pranayama.( and i don’t like the idea of kapalbhathi, even one instruction maybe suggested to force the exhalation, that in itself puts me off it)Ratios or holding in pranayama is adavanced practice, i would’nt bother with. Breather naturally, fullly conisitently and uniformly., and slowly and gently with nadi shodhana. It ( nadi shodhana)also is alleged to help with stress and anxiety as well, calms & balances the mind and emotions.
I’ve begun to look at the Pawanmuktasana Series ( 12&3) ( i have the bihar school of yoga publication that lists it, [U][I]Asana, Pranayama, Bandha and Mudra[/I][/U].) as i hear the Structural Yoga Therapy approach of Mukunda Stiles embodiess a modified version of it which he calls and you might read here here referred to as Joint Freeing Series.( i dug this fact from a previous post, http://www.yogaforums.com/forums/f16/jointfreeingseries-vs-pawanmuktasana-2750.html)I read that this might suit folk for which a vigoruous asana practice is unsuitbale like seniors and health issue people…
Whether it will indeed provide me any wanted relief remains to be seen.I’m only just looking into it Maybe if i worked work gently , mindfully.
BUt like that book you refer to as helpful i suspect it also suggests you should have a healthy attitude to your life and healthand your eventual healing.It’s all too easy to get depressed and dispirited by health issues or mind-body pratcies that do not seem to work , amd maybe agggravate your condition. II’ve also been looooking at vata-balancing ayurvedic diet and lifetyle. In ayurvedic dosha terms , according to a crude dosha test( dosha is body-type or constittion, of which 3 are identified in ayurveda) i did online, I think i came out tri-doshic, leaning towards pitta though as i always susepcted ,& with a noted( or notable) vata imbalance( though i hear, might be worng vata imblance is acommon hallamrk of disease)_.Other readers here maybe be able to shed more light on this and my dosha, what i can do to help myself.
So you could consdier what i’ve been exploring laately-
1)Nadi shodhana- good one, would seem safe-ish practice if done gently,slowly, no fancy stuff( i.e ratios or retention).
2)Pawanmuktasna- yet to road test this series.
3)Uddiyana Bandha- would love to get a hnadle on this but am not fully versed ,ith how to do it corrrectly and/or safely.( especially during asnan practice which i would’nt really employ anyway)
When i got my breakthorugh in asana practice 2 year ago, during my second iyengar class( when i finally arrived ataa studio, my first teacher had a manic practice without pausing) i was using both concurrently ujjayi breath and emplying uddiyana bandha it would seem throughout the entire pratice which not to brag, is no mean feat,( requires great focus concentration and disciipline) I just think it very intersting and telling of the power of these pratices that the effects they can deliver when used together. But that was after ten months of solid pratice when i started out with yoga. But it would seem i was’nt quite ready( or prepared) perhaps for the changes that took place. And when i returned to my asana practice 4 days later one morning in my eagerness i pushed toofar( something andrew coulter in his book ’ [U][I]Anatomy of Hatha Yoga[/I][/U]’ cautions against, precisely when one is feeling superhuman)
I stilll don’t fully understand uddiyana ( with or without employment during asana) or the subtleties maybe involved in using it correctly. One teacher endeavoured to show me as a stand-alone practice.
.
The beauty of hanna somatics is it’s lack of esotericsm and mysticism as well as safety and reliability ; these things can baffle beginners to or those that struggle with their hatha yoga practice. The old ‘secret’ texts the practices are based on make more sense, speak more directly, when one’s practice is awakened and fruitfufl.
Another approach which i have also yet to try is find a yoga teacher who is willing to work with me therpaeuticaly. or one-on one basis.Even a few sessions, if i can scrape the expense. Find a experienced teacher i respect,get on with, who can tailor the practice and observe anything wrong i maybe doing in asana say( adjust, draw attention to faults etc), i.e vinivyoga…
An experienced therapist familiar with all the tools available would be better than private asana tuition per se , but they’d seem harder to come by, a rarer breed.
I can only speak from my own experience(practice, results of practice) and knowledge, if you can call it that,i have picked up on the way, here and elsewhere, . More like intuition, perhaps.
I don’t have all the answers but It can’t be plain sailing all the time for everyone, i wonder? perhpas other yogi’s have walked this road or a similar but then emerged on one of healing perhpas after some protracted period perhaps, after being frustrated in their practice and learning more of the complexities and subtleties of healing oneself.
Regards.
