Recently several clients have been arriving in my Studio with serious back problems, (and not so serious ones) including herniated discs, narrowing of the foramen, bulging discs, bone spurs, nerve impingement, and other expected sequelae of spinal stenosis. One client is extremely flexible; another is inflexible and overweight. I feel competent working with routine back care, and have other clients with disc problems who has responded to conservative stretching, abdominal toning, neutral spine etc. I have the energy, breathing and visualization part under control. Can you give me some insight into the significance of stenosis, and how to work with it? Based on the emergence of these new clients, I guess this is an area I need to learn about and work with.
Jyoti
Short answer is to learn to extend spine, make it longer in all poses. The way I do this is to focus on breathing constantly. As you inhale create openness, and as you exhale create length. Focus on spine and region of stenosis yet also allow for the fact that prana is another name for sensitivity. Where you are sensitive/aware that is where prana is. So openness could be in ankle and length could be in lumbar. End the pose when one of these two factors is no longer occurring. For overweight person this should work well. For very flexible person if they are sensitive to these subtle changes it will work. Keep them away from trying to generate sensations of stretch, as this will not be beneficial but harmful and destabilizing. Get out anatomy book and show them areas of body where there is narrowing of vertebrae. Then learn to visualize space in physical structures as well as developing the psychic feeling of openness.