amz said: Is there any other advice anyone could add as to a) what might be causing the impingement and b) how to still practice, while avoiding movements that would aggrevate the shoulder?
Hello AMZ,
As a yoga teacher I’m delighted to hear how you are using this thing that has come up as a bridge to cross deeper into who you are as a person and what things you might be ready to look at, what messages from the physical body you might be ready to respond to. That sort of inner work will almost always be more fruitful than dealing only with the physical body.
The sort of shoulder issue you outline comes about (from asana) due to a lack of engagement of the serratus anterior in Adho Mukha Svanasana, Adho Mukha Dandasana, Utkatasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Virabhadrasana I, Vrksasana, Pincha Mayurasana, and Adho Mukha Vrksasana. It is an action that leads to alignment. Since there are always multiple ways to view the forest, there are also some ways of moving toward alignment that are wholesome and others which are less so.
Shoulder injuries are very common in the styles of asana you ascribe to. There are three reasons for this; fatigue which deteriorates postural integrity, lack of appropriate action and alignment to begin with, and simply an inappropriate pose for the person doing it. For example, a student with a year and half of asana practice who has not totally learned the action and application of the serratus mentioned above, that student should not be doing handstand while holding an expectation of remaining injury free.
Why? Because it is that action which protects the shoulder joint (as Siva mentions) AND the limbs are weight-bearing. It is not as big a deal to have the shoulder “out of joint” when the arms are not weight-bearing BUT it develops a certain samskara (habit or pattern) in the student’s consciousness that may come to bear later on.
There is no reason you cannot have a robust yoga practice but there are a myriad of reasons you would have to modify an asana practice. Working through an injury is not the same as working with an injury. Working with it takes only some modifications to your postures. Working through it mandates looking carefully at how you feel you bear the weight of the world (on your shoulders), the complexities of your responsibilities, your meditation practice, your lifestyle and nutrition, and the ways in which you are (or are not) living your life’s mission or Svadharma.
If you are in the UK then I’d recommend you look up Drew Stallcop (who is the only certified Purna Yoga? teacher in the country) or go and spend some time with Aadil as he is heading that way very soon.
gordon
Ah, patience.
