Rapid Activation to Wellness:
Building a Pain-Free Body & an Injury-Free Practice
The solution is to strengthen the muscles in an appropriate range of motion before taking deep stretches. Once strengthened, the deep stretch will feel more blissful because it is supported by strong and stable muscles -- without pain. Often, runners, yogis and other athletes create injuries by stretching into ranges they can’t control. Information from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission seems to support that: It reported that more than 3,700 sports-related and yoga-related injuries were treated in doctor's offices, clinics and emergency rooms in 2004. Common injuries included repetitive strain and overstretching of neck, shoulders, spine, legs and knees.
When we stretch, the central nervous system signals the muscle spindles to resist the stretch, and the muscle reflexively contracts. That’s what it is designed to do. However, if the stretch continues beyond 6 seconds, the muscle will relax or "shut down." This is a protective reflex mechanism. Under normal conditions, the muscle turns back "on" within a few moments. But over time, repeated passive stretching with no attention to proportional active stretching trains the muscles to stay shut down.
When this happens, reciprocating muscles move in to compensate, potentially leading to pain and tightness from overuse or incorrect use. For athletes and non-yogis, this same principle applies, whether from overstretching, bad posture or a trauma injury.
When any one muscle gets too tight, it may start torquing in the spinal column and in turn put pressure on nerves and create pain. Sciatica, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, piriformis syndrome, heel pain, shoulder pain, bad posture are just some of the symptoms associated with muscle imbalance.
Stability, mobility, strength, endurance & balance
R.A.W. Yoga uses a combination of customized isometric and active stretching postures with core strengthening postures to “turn on” dormant muscles, and focuses on active symmetry, allowing you to achieve increased range of motion from a position of stability, mobility, strength, endurance and balance. This translates into a pain-free yoga practice, and you can imagine what that can do for your daily activities such as walking and sitting!
As an example, when you lift your knee up toward your chest, the muscles of the lower abs are working. The height you can lift the knee is your active range of motion. As soon as you grab the knee with your hands and pull it closer to your chest, you’ve moved into the passive range -- the area you don’t control. The difference between the "active" and "passive" range is therefore unstable, a condition in which injury is more likely to occur. By increasing the active range of motion through exercises that strengthen the body into its extreme ranges, the gap decreases.
R.A.W. Yoga techniques are used with more traditional yoga techniques to fortify and complement those styles, allowing you to achieve a stable, increased range of motion, and active, strong muscles that properly support your spine and the other joints of the body. When strengthened muscles function correctly, you'll find your body can move pain-free and with greater ease, and you are more likely to stay injury free!
Allow me to share the experience of one of my students: Marilyn had fallen and injured her hip at the hospital where she worked. Her physician prescribed that she rehab with physical therapy. After several sessions, she felt like she was not making any noticable progress, and had pain in her hip all the time. Here is what she has to say:
About Private Sessions and R.A.W. Yoga
Armed with the knowledge that the body can move pain-free if flexibility and strength are in the correct proportion, I will evaluate your current condition through an assessment process that involves muscle testing. I will then give you corrective postures to re-balance your body, and provide you a strategy to build strength, giving you a benchmark to work from and creating a yoga practice that is right for you.
For those new to yoga
This innovative series of yoga postures is a combination of technique and approach, directing you into your body to awaken your health, vitality, mind and spirit. Here you will reduce stress, and improve flexibility as you build strength into that flexibility, balance the weight of your body, increase your energy and improve the quality of your life. Yoga works on the body, mind and emotions in positive, life-changing ways. You’ll feel better even after your first session!
Heart, Soul & Commitment
Sustained practice will create an evolving synergistic balance between the physical, mental and emotional benefits. I am committed -- as I want you to be – to help you achieve radiant health through yoga. Even if you've avoided yoga in the past because of a low fitness level or chronic pain, yoga is for you.
If you are an experienced yogi or athlete who has suffered an injury, R.A.W. Yoga will be an important component in your healing, and we will build on that foundation each week. Continued practice in R.A.W. Yoga techniques will help you stay pain free and injury free. I will design a practice that meets your aesthetic as well as physical needs -- gentle, healing rejuvenation or juicy dynamic flow -- and you will feel a new, delicious freedom in your body that you could not have imagined!
If you are interested in how R.A.W. Yoga can help you, call me to discuss your goals and book your first session.
Experiencing is believing! Pam Lindsay: 512-743-3238
*Pam Lindsay is certified as an Advanced Teacher in R.A.W. Yoga through Sunstone Yoga.
Yoga Training That Travels to You
"Then I found Pam. After the first session, I noticed a difference, and within a few sessons, the hip sequence she designed for me had significantly reduced my pain and had increased my mobility. Additionally, I had more energy. I found I really enjoyed the sessions -- with her soothing voice and gentle encouragement, I found I could work beyond my own expectatations."
--Marilyn Arnold, Nursing supervisor
--Marilyn Arnold, Nursing supervisor
Rapid Activation to Wellness:
Yoga for a Pain-Free Practice & Injury-Free Body
Can you even imagine?
Pain does not have to be a part of your daily activities
Whether you are new to yoga, an elite athlete training for a marathon, or are recovering from an injury that has caused mobility issues, through R.A.W. Yoga, Rapid Activation to Wellness, you will: Experience drastic increases in your range of motion; build active, strong muscles that support your spine and the other joints of your body; bring the body back into symmetry; alleviate pain and be able to prevent injuries.
What happens when we stretch
Many people experience chronic pain in their lives, or feel pain with movement -- whether walking, running, stretching or practicing another sport. If you experience pain when stretching, for example, that is your body's way of telling you there is weakness; the body is not being supported in that range of motion by your muscles.
