Right / left side differences

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi,
I’ve been practicing yoga for quite sometime, and for the last year or so I have been working through the deeper physical, emotional and energetic layers, (koshas) which vary significantly on my left side from the right. The left side has achiness, density, stiffness in certain areas, while the right is clear. There seems to be emotional residue in the left that I am sloooowly working through and have experienced small changes / improvement in the way of opening of “numb” areas and dissolving density of energy, but still have a way to go. With each small release I feel a change in overall well-being.

My question is any thoughts on how to facilitate the process? Or first, why the two sides are so very different? My personal yoga practice, which includes meditation and pranayama have been key to the slow unraveling process, but I am open to others’ knowledge on this subject.

#2

I try not to get too wrapped up in this sort of question. I think the answers should be as direct and simple as possible - unless we’re in the setting of a teacher-training.

The two sides of the body are controlled by the opposite hemisphere of the brain. Those two hemispheres have their characteristics. Additionally the right side of the body is known to be the masculine force while the left side of the body the feminine.

All this presumes you are not creating functional imbalances by overworking one side of the body, at the expense of the other, in your daily life.

In asana I would obviously work a bit differently (both with action, duration, and breath) on one side versus the other depending on what I’m seeing and feeling. Also I wonder about the nature of balance for you in creativity and logic. Perhaps you are a very creative vatta sort? If that were the case then again I’d take some different approaches through diet and action in asana.

Not knowing more about you and the practice you are doing makes it difficult to say anything less anecdotal.

#3

Thanks for attempting to answer my question. My practice is quite balanced functionally.
however, I have been exploring inquiring yang/yin practices in relation to yang/yin lifestyle. Vata (in balance) years of work on that; right-brained in general, creative, intuitive.

Harmonizing brain, nadi shodhana pranayama perhaps? Also perhaps time to revisit a teacher. Haven’t had one in a long while.

#4

Sounds rather similar to what i’'ve been trying to do these past few years , restore balance between left and right sides, or as you put it ying & yang , though it seems to be a bit of a universal quest within ha-tha yoga.

In order to feel whole we need to connect with our opposites.

I think i’ve got a dominant pingala nadi, right body=>left brain, structurally and functionally, habituated for 20 years, that i’ve been trying to undo past 3 years with a first classical yoga then hanna somatics, after creating a bigger imbalance through patanjali yoga and then failing to then “fix” that with the same wand oor bag of tricks. My hath yoga practice was going very well but then i woke up one morning and created a bigger imblance which continued practice failed to fix. I imagined my poison could also be my cure but it never came so i abandoned classical yoga in favour of hanna somatics, a yin-type yoga, that i premised could release tight muscles on th left0handside of my body through waking up the brain. You can read about this, my problem, in my first post on this forum- Left-right muscle imbalance which Inner Athlete had useful adivce for.

I have also been looking at nadi shodhana and breath awareness.

I think i am actually a creative type( and a pitta with a vatta imblance) but it probably gets bullied by my logical dominant left-brain.My right body is definitely more dominant- i can sense this right at my waist, being tight on my left-hand side.

I’ve found a mixtrie of practices other than asana which was’nt really helping like lifestyle changes,

It is a shame that dedicated pranayama teachers seem to be in short supply.I attneded a workshop with one pranayam teacher visiting my country,uk, from Hyderabad who was rather good( i’m not even sure if he did any asana, perhaps some) but the asana teacher i know, who had him visiting in her house, when she went over to Hyderabad he rarely turned up to give the lessons they had scheduled. So her trip to India with respect to yoga training with this pranayama teahcer/guru was mildly dissapointing ,she related, in this regard.

As i’ve struggled to get much benefit from asana (i felt the postures as i practiced them conditioned my muscles into a higher state of tension) the practices i’ve been employing just now have become a little eclectic.

In terms of progress Hanna Somaticcs has promised and yeilded more.

I now and again ,endevaour to grasp the subtleties of nadi shodhana through breath/ energetic awareness and the rhythms and flow of alternate & opposite nadis.( ida and pingla being the key here, i hear)It can also calm the nerves, tension and the mind.

#5

Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience on this subject. Patanjali’s yoga as you term it was instrumental in my journey toward developing acute awareness to be able to unravel the mysteries of the body. Yes, there has been some tension buildup along the way, but it’s the heightened sense of awareness in response to “listening” to the body that has made the difference,and subsequent release and relief has been experienced. Changes toward union are occuring all the time. so something is right about my yoga practice.

I was hoping for some feedback to help facilitate the process. The Hanna Somatics sounds interesting, movement techniques that help alleviate discomfort. However, the process of identification of issues, deep unconscious issues, is facilitated through meditation IMV. So while techniques are helpful, without meditation, they may remain elusive.

#6

Shakti,

You’re doing it. [B]Ha[/B] and [B]tha[/B] refer to opposite sides of the body, like yin and yan. “Hatha” yoga, meaning their union. Everything else, the mind, spirit, emotions, etc., they follow. So just keep on your practice, and the rest will resolve itself.

siva

#7

Namaste Shakti-a,

Having worked through some of my own issues especially in my left side of my body as well over the past few months, I would like to suggest a book which has helped me tremendously in clearing some of the issues on my left side. The book is [I][B]Insight Yoga[/B][/I] by Sarah Powers. Her suggestions and take on yoga and integrating traditional Chinese approaches in a yin/yang practice has assisted me in moving some of the stagnant energies.

One thing that I would like to offer as well, which was offered to me by my reflexologist. Our left side of the body refers to issues in the present and of material nature, whereas the right refer to issues of your past and spiritual nature.

Hope this helps.

#8

I agree with you.

HS probably has it’s limitations, in terms of probing the deeper layers of self, you can prob. only go so far.Good for physcial discomfort and pain , lethargy etc in the mind/body, but may fail to address deeper perhaps more incorrigible levels like emotional( the ‘unconscious’, llke you say), spiritual and psycho-physcial, to bring about a truer more complete union.

Meditation sounds gd- like a gateway to realising that end.Acceptance,being and awareneess can be then possible without trying to work through with some kind of doing towards any imagined end,illusory or not.No end-gaining.Like patanjali- observe but don’t react,get washe up on those thoughts or indulge in them.

Perhpas these two sides that awareness tells you are ‘so very different’ are indeed opposites, but complementary, not conflicting.I fiind it is the contrast ,maybe quite stark,that holds my attention and interest,like on a purely physcial level( but could also relate to aspects of personality, say)

When we can let go of the physical body,internal organs , sensory experience, be they pain,discomfort or pleasure( all illusory i guess, even if they does’nt always feel like that ) it becomes easier to focus on then letting go of the mind.You can then calm down and get stable.

Highly sensory practices could create stubborness of mind,seeing as the mind is held sway and uncer influence of the senses,mind no longer master and becomes lazy, so a holistic practice best.

Of course hatha yoga can purify body, better balance mind and body,open up emotionally & cakra-wise, to prep the aspirant for raja yoga and meditation.

You sound more advanced than i ( which is’nt hard,:*)) and at higher level and i’m sorry i can’t think of anything to offer you.But i can certainly relate!

I just read some other replies so i will add this- you might ,or might not ,want to consider jivamukti or meditiative type yoga’s inspired by say sivananda and iyengar traditions that focus on holding your postures longer and feeling that one-pointedness of mind if you are proficient in asana and able to do so.

#9

Pandera-
I’ve had the pleasure of practicing Yin/Insight Yoga with Sarah Powers in person. There is also an Insight Yoga CD she created that I borrowed for far too long from a friend that was helpful. I do practice yin yoga coupled with vipassana meditation. They both have been instrumental in unraveling stuck energies. I will take check out her book.

#10

Two simple things you could try are to do things with your left that you normally do with your right and to do a concentration exercise looking to the right. The eyes are oppositely geared with the brain, I think for depth perception, in that there’s a criss-cross in the optic nerve and they go to opposite sides of the brain. Looking left while thinking implies you are seeking answers from the right side of the brain. They are independent but share information via the corpus collosum. Though one side may be preferred , in most studies the opposite side can take over the duties of the other, with some exceptions. This is simple and most likely old news to you but I thought I’d toss it in there. I also think the above advice to hold poses longer on your left side is probably good until you work things out. Namaste

#11

[quote=shakti-a;16956]Pandara-
I’ve had the pleasure of practicing Yin/Insight Yoga with Sarah Powers in person. [/quote]

I would love to have a session with Sarah Powers, I find her work very helpful not only for myself, but also for my classes. :slight_smile: