One of my students, a very advanced yogini, has been practicing yoga with me for approx. 4 years; in the past year, she has also gone to Ashtanga and Vinyasa classes with two excellent teachers. For as long as I’ve known her, she has complained of severe pain in her neck, from the occiput running halfway down her upper traps; the levator scapulae is also involved. She does not grind her teeth, but holds her jaw chronically tight; observing her in class, I often see her temples tensing. I would describe her as pitta-vata.
I have recited the sutras to her that teach us to be “steady and comfortable” and tell us that by relaxing our efforts, we will gain mastery – needless to say, it’s been a hard sell. She has been resistant to my repeated suggestions to back off to 70% of what she could do.
She has tried numerous modalities – Craniosacral, Reiki, positional functional release, acupuncture, chiropractic, trigger point therapy, deep tissue massage, PT, Thai yoga bodywork, past life regression – all to no avail.
Recently, she has sometimes seemed slightly more open to doing less (though this is clearly a struggle for her), and also appears more open to meditation and ‘anything that might help.’ I suggested the “So?ham” mantra to her in order to help relax her jaw – she says this helps somewhat with the pain, and she has begun a meditation practice nightly using this mantra. The idea is to “undo” … to relinquish our habitual holding patterns. It takes a long time for her collarbones and shoulders to release, though this happens when she remains in this position for 15-20 minutes. She reports that this, too, is helping somewhat. Still, she is in a lot of pain virtually all day long.
She is very spiritual, but also seems to be struggling to find her path; I always feel that her pitta is in overdrive! I sense that though her pain manifests on the physical plane, there must be deeper layers of healing that need to be accessed. I would appreciate any suggestions that might help this dedicated yogini.
Blessings, H