Monday 24th April 2006
My lower back completely locked up last Friday for no apparent reason.
This has happened twice in the past year – last June I think it was caused by an over adjustment in Supta Kurmasana two days in a row, then it happened again last August and I put that incident down to overdoing some backbends.
But this time I can’t link it to a physical cause at all.
Looking back at the three days before it happened (Tues/Wed/Thurs) I’d hardly practiced at all because they were my three monthly (female) days off. I say ‘hardly’ because I did end up doing a few gentle stretches on Wednesday morning before heading off for a brisk walk up the mountain to let off some steam before work.
Thursday I did no yoga practice at all; went to bed Thursday night as usual and woke up with the deadlocked spine on Friday morning. So now I’m dubiously entertaining the thought that the cause of this recurring problem might NOT be physical, but just might be something more mysterious, something emotional, subconscious, or metaphysical. Very, VERY fascinating.
Looking back at Thursday, it was a very challenging day for me on two separate fronts.
I spent most of the day in a fairly stressful situation at work because our School was being audited and assessed for re-accreditation and re-registration – the culmination of working on the submission with two colleagues for the last 5 months. The three of us were in the firing line all day as the auditors questioned us on all aspects of our curriculum, course delivery and admin procedures. At the end of the day we finally got full approval.
Straight after work I went to visit my ex-partner who I separated from (again) 2 months ago. He was back in town to visit for 3 days and I think he held out a faint hope for reconciliation of our 6 year relationship. I too hadn’t closed off to the possibility. The two hours we spent together were quite intense for us both, imbued with a whole spectrum of emotions from love and affection to resignation and sadness. We held each other at times for comfort and the silent reassurance that life just has to go on regardless. Letting go of what has been is not easy but it opens up our life path to new possibilities and opportunities that we could never have imagined. I came away feeling very open hearted and loving towards him, but convinced that my commitment to the relationship isn’t strong enough for it to blossom.
So that was Thursday.
And Friday I woke up with this agonising backache…my lumbar spine deadlocked.
Looking at my spine in the mirror from the side, the natural curve in the lumbar has flattened out and locked itself into a shape as straight as a steel rod. It won’t curve forward or backwards.
The tender spot is slightly to the left of the spine, around L4 I think.
I cancelled my yoga classes on Saturday because I could hardly walk. Not a good look for a yoga teacher. And I cancelled my plans to go surfing yesterday with a new group of surfing buddies which I was really looking forward to. Instead I did a couple of long walks along the beach which seemed to help ease the aching a little, along with laying on packets of frozen peas.
So no practice this morning. Tomorrow I’ll do a careful early morning yoga practice in the Gallery, then get to the shala on Wednesday morning to do whatever I can do.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
My lower back completely locked up last Friday for no apparent reason.
This has happened twice in the past year – last June I think it was caused by an over adjustment in Supta Kurmasana two days in a row, then it happened again last August and I put that incident down to overdoing some backbends.
But this time I can’t link it to a physical cause at all.
Looking back at the three days before it happened (Tues/Wed/Thurs) I’d hardly practiced at all because they were my three monthly (female) days off. I say ‘hardly’ because I did end up doing a few gentle stretches on Wednesday morning before heading off for a brisk walk up the mountain to let off some steam before work.
Thursday I did no yoga practice at all; went to bed Thursday night as usual and woke up with the deadlocked spine on Friday morning. So now I’m dubiously entertaining the thought that the cause of this recurring problem might NOT be physical, but just might be something more mysterious, something emotional, subconscious, or metaphysical. Very, VERY fascinating.
Looking back at Thursday, it was a very challenging day for me on two separate fronts.
I spent most of the day in a fairly stressful situation at work because our School was being audited and assessed for re-accreditation and re-registration – the culmination of working on the submission with two colleagues for the last 5 months. The three of us were in the firing line all day as the auditors questioned us on all aspects of our curriculum, course delivery and admin procedures. At the end of the day we finally got full approval.
Straight after work I went to visit my ex-partner who I separated from (again) 2 months ago. He was back in town to visit for 3 days and I think he held out a faint hope for reconciliation of our 6 year relationship. I too hadn’t closed off to the possibility. The two hours we spent together were quite intense for us both, imbued with a whole spectrum of emotions from love and affection to resignation and sadness. We held each other at times for comfort and the silent reassurance that life just has to go on regardless. Letting go of what has been is not easy but it opens up our life path to new possibilities and opportunities that we could never have imagined. I came away feeling very open hearted and loving towards him, but convinced that my commitment to the relationship isn’t strong enough for it to blossom.
So that was Thursday.
And Friday I woke up with this agonising backache…my lumbar spine deadlocked.
Looking at my spine in the mirror from the side, the natural curve in the lumbar has flattened out and locked itself into a shape as straight as a steel rod. It won’t curve forward or backwards.
The tender spot is slightly to the left of the spine, around L4 I think.
I cancelled my yoga classes on Saturday because I could hardly walk. Not a good look for a yoga teacher. And I cancelled my plans to go surfing yesterday with a new group of surfing buddies which I was really looking forward to. Instead I did a couple of long walks along the beach which seemed to help ease the aching a little, along with laying on packets of frozen peas.
So no practice this morning. Tomorrow I’ll do a careful early morning yoga practice in the Gallery, then get to the shala on Wednesday morning to do whatever I can do.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
