Pelvic Diaphragm Test

This test will assess whether or not the pelvic diaphragm is working or not. It is common to strain the musculature known as the pelvic diaphragm, pelvic floor or pelvic trampoline. Trampoline is a good name for it. One of its functions is too literally through the organs up as we walk, countering the affects of gravity. Loss of function of the trampoline causes prolapsing of the organs thus crowding and eventual restriction of circulation causing dis-ease. Not the best scenario. Although the pelvic diaphragm is not the subtle anatomy of mula bandha, it does contribute to both mula bandha and udiyana bandha especially during the initial stages of learning these bandhas. Everyone has a reason to have this checked. Pregnancy and birthing even if it is not virginally is a huge strain on this area as is heavy lifting and convulsive vomiting. Incontinence is often caused by weakness in this area. Low back problems, hernias, abdominal instability, pelvic and thigh pain and sexual dysfunction can often be do to this malfunction. This test is at the core of ashtangayogatherapy.

    The person is lying supine (in this case on a table). Tester is standing on the right of the person being tested.

    Tester places his/her right hand under the persons leg (thigh is hip to knee and leg is knee to ankle) and left hand on the thigh just above the knee. Move the thigh and leg up so the top of the thigh, where it meets the pelvis is about 110 degrees (the thigh is not straight up). At the same time bringing the leg up with it so the knee is at about 90 degrees (the leg would then be about parallel to the table).

    

.    Ask the person to resist as your left hand pushes on the thigh in the direction of the foot (end) of the table while also supporting the leg with the right hand under the calf, near the ankle. This is a rectus femoris (the only one of the four quadriceps muscles that crosses both the hip and knee joints) muscle test. For our purpose, the muscle is functioning and holds strong.

     

   Ask the person to squeeze their anal musculature as if they are trying to hold back a bowel movement. Have them squeeze strongly.

    While they are squeezing also ask them to again resist the same pushing that tested the rectus femoris the first time. Remind them to use no more effort than the amount necessary to resist during the first test. If the pelvic diaphragm is compromised the hip flexor will not be strong during this test. The difference is usually a dramatic weakening. This is functional neurology. Now go to the other side and repeat, switching the hand positions. Yes a video will be forthcoming. Again be patient. There are lot of books on muscle testing if one is interested. The more simple the better as far as I am concerned.

   The therapeutic fix is a digital stimulating/irritating of the insertions of the muscles making up the pelvic diaphragm. This will awaken the proprioceptors in the tendons and will produce a stronger ability to contract the muscles of the pelvic floor. The change will be dramatic. The areas of need are usually very tender/painful and easy to find.

The pelvic floor or pelvic diaphragm is composed of muscle fibers of the levator ani, thecoccygeus, and associated connective tissue which span the area underneath the pelvis. The pelvic diaphragm is a muscular partition formed by the levatores ani and coccygei, with which may be included the parietal pelvic fascia on their upper and lower aspects. The pelvic floor separates the pelvic cavity above from the perineal region (including perineum) below.

The procedure is fairly simple and is done with thin loose clothing on (yoga clothes are perfect). This procedure is best learned in a class with feedback being given to the student by the person on the table. The teacher would use this technique on the student so he/she can have firsthand experience and on the person on the table so they can give feed back to the student as to the difference in pressure etc. Do not let all the detailed anatomy scare you, it is very easy to feel the area a couple of times and understand what to do. Almost all attachments (origins and insertions) are on bones and are easy to palpate. Blessings

Something Extraordinary Just Happened.

Anthony thanks for share my article its a honor.
Stephan about mula bandha in my experiencie in asana in some moment i feel some like fire in the pelvic special in sirsasana is some reaction when apana arise, of course in ashtanga we trie to active for have more chance that this occurs, mula bandha, but of course engage pelvic is not mula bandha, only is some tecnic that you can have more chance for create mula bandha. In the hath yoga pradipika i think said that when some yogi enter in some very deep meditation bandhas spontaneous occurs and left the prana flow free from the root to crown of head. In pranayama practice is more accurate the action and sensitive to the energetic feelings.In vipassana meditation i've feel something like that. Im sure that Anthony can say much better

Much more than an answer:  

First, no one could say it better for you are truly inspired by the Holy ones that came before you in all the yoga lineages. In this moment, I think of my Guru, the love of my life and share with you a love letter that just came to be when starting this ‘article’ which at this point is not a good description for this is a true share, Sat Sang and a blessing.

Dearest Beloved,

You have always warned me to make little of mystical experiences and I have taken heed of that warning as all of your teachings and advice has been good for me.

Four days ago I started a blog on yoga therapy, health and the like. It has been moving very fast and I have been getting a lot of attention. Just now, about to write and article about the grace of the Guru, needing to make room at my messy desk, I moved your picture from the right side of the monitor in order to move some wires (not important), placing your picture directly in front and a bit to the right of the center of the monitor. I smiled and thought that is where it should be anyway. At that moment as far as I can remember in this now altered state, very beautiful music of the east/west genera started playing. About to make a skype call, it seemed necessary to stop the music, clicking off every thing that was open on my computer, checking the cd drawer (nothing in it), the music is still playing. I checked and quit skype, with trepidation in my heart, now knowing that it was time to write you and not wanting the music, the mystical experience of music playing for no understandable reason. The music is still playing.

You are the love that pervades who I am and who I am not. You are the love that is expressed more than it is not. I have been singing the songs more recently, you know, the songs I sang to you. My life would not be filled with as much of this all pervading love and growing understanding of the incomprehensible bliss of salvation of the Holy MotherFather because of you. Between crying and exaltation, no tears will come; well, maybe one. I, the I that is no longer I but is me, loves you dearly, no, blissfully, no fully and without walls of consideration, without bridges of union for we are one. This oneness stems form your omnipresent love and maybe a little because I have been always yours, yours in imperfection, yours in recolection, your in resurection. The love that is not mine, ever growing, ever stowing...away in my heart. My heart that is no longer mine but ours. I do know that there is a logical reason for the music and remember talking with you of how laws of nature contribute to the making of miracles. You brought me into your fold and the single tear is flowing alone over the skin and bones of the cheek that is no longer mine. Singularly loving You.

Your anthony.

mailing this to you now with the unedited trust of Your eternal love. Forgive this fraud of a god that he may know you ever more as his and only his, never arriving, never leaving. Amen

We are blessed by grace Toni; we could never have the experiences of love, the mystical rising of the Kundilini with just yoga practice. It takes Guru Kripa, the grace of the guru. Many may site examples of spontaneous awakening but that is just what the poor of site could see. Behind the cosmic scenes are always the guru and the maha guru. I know for instance from a brief awakened state that Maha Avatar BabaJi did initiate Jesus as the Christ. Your teachers and guides are always with you and the determining factor will always be your trust and commitment. Doubt is not your enemy; doubt is your best friend in the finding of your true Guru. KPJ was like a father to me but he was not my Guru. KPJ inspired me and taught me and still does but it was a woman that became my Guru.

Many will not believe the story I am about to tell and many will judge me and claim that I am crazy and that they know all about me, my many mistakes, some of them true and some of them not. This makes no difference to me at this stage of my life for I am only for Thee. It has been told to me many times by the Divine ones that one must be completely outrageous to know God. Again recently this has been told to me, loud and clear, on the inner the silent voice of the One warned me to be completely myself and that it never serves an aspirant of the Divine to hide who they are for who they truly are can only be seen by the Divine.

The day had been hell on earth, my ego wanted to check out. I was pulling double shifts at a spiritual retreat to make up for those who resented seva, saying they did not pay for this retreat only to have to work. I felt that this life was over that the love I truly sought was in death. I climbed dangerously close to the edge of a rock cliff overlooking the magnificence of one of Gods rivers. Sitting down to meditate, folding my legs tight into padmasana I claimed meditation with my disturbed ego. Ajai breathe forcing out the demons of my disappointment, yelling inwardly and outwardly, “Take me Lord, take me, I do not want to be here any longer. And then something happened, relaxation spread herself all over me like a Kashmir shawl mad from the majestic materials that live only in dreams. I was prompted to release the lotus and sit in sidasana and to move back away from the threat of the cliff dropping in front of me. Light beings appeared like rain falling and rising at the same time, angels swimming in the ocean of ether all surrounding me and then it happened. Most assuredly different than the cessation of my breath that I had briefly experienced during a forty day fast. The kundilini rose like a wave gently crashing and rising up a pali only to illuminate the mountain side with gentle bliss. My crown chakra turned golden and Anthony was nowhere to be found. I don’t know how many hours passed. Two students of my Guru told me later that they heard her on the inner tell them to go find me. It could have been disastrous if, for instance a forest warden or a tourist had found me. First a women came and walked up to me not realizing the depth of what I now refer to as semi-samadhi. She placed her hand on my back and said my name and the body that was temporarily not mine exploded. What happened next, I must explain, did not happen in linear time, it happened all at once. I experienced a deep sadness, crying, shaking, convulsing, feeling deep empathy for she who had woke me with such naivety, knowing she felt immediately guilty for not realizing where I was residing at the moment she touched and spoke to me, The ego got a hold of me and said, ‘you are a real yogi now Anthony, you can sell this shit’, I prayed,” Lord protect me from the arrogant grasp of this belligerent ego self. Remember this is all happening in a millisecond. The second student, a large man now shows up with pillow and blanket in hand. Understand that the women needed to get there quickly to protect me  and empowered by the Guru, remind me not to indulge in the trauma of the experience but he needed to get there prepared to nurture and heal my nearly obliterated nervous system. They stayed with me until I could stand with his help, guiding and holding me across rocks to the river’s edge. At the retreat a temple had been assembled. With his strength I was ushered to the area of the temple where the Guru to many in the group was going to speak and give darshan. After she arrived and was settled she called me over. I crawled to her and knelt at her knees where she placed her hands on me, leaned down and whispered, “Isn’t it glorious beloved?” I crawled back to where the man with the pillow and blanket enfolded me and kept me safe until the end of the evening. I have been recovering ever since for this was Semi-Samadhi. I was still the same man with the same issues and challenges of the personality but I had had a glimpse and the structure of my nadis had been changed forever. This is not the glamour one might associate with mystical experience. It is the blessing in disguise and nearly tore my life apart only to survive through faith and trust and continuing on the path of a yogi. My life has been anything but easier ever since and for that I am grateful. Sounds like a contradiction but there is nothing worth learning in the life of a yogi that is easy and pleasant. In our society the yogi’s path is not supported. Oh the yogi athlete, that is one thing but the deeper path is a blessing followed by one more challenge followed by another blessing and an even greater challenge and so on. How else are we to awaken?

Asato Ma Sad Gamaya

For an entire year I lived with the thought that something I had done, some technique, some great surrender had lifted me into the arena of the great yogis. Not true! Yes we are all at different stages of spiritual evolution and are born with different propensities toward spiritual life but without the Guru Kripa we are awash in the turbulence of the path and may never receive the blessings of yoga and many of us are not even interested, which is certainly perfect for it is not a question of if but of when.

At the end of that year a year that lasted 1111 days, I went to another retreat with my Beloved. Soon after arriving, I was asked to meet her. She ushered me to a place to sit and asked me what I saw. Awe struck, I sat there looking at the rock where one year prior, the blessings of the Guru, the Guru Kripa had changed my life forever.

Jai Guru

For those of you who are offended by the idea of giving your power away to another, that is not what this is about. This is about surrender to the truth; this is about recognizing the truth and greedily taking full advantage of it.

Blessings

Ashtangayogatherapy’s approach to assessing proper head placement and optimal length of the breath while practicing head stand.

We are intuitive beings, it is very important that we continue to fine tune our intuitive nature. That said, a lot of our deeper knowing has been lost through lack of use, by following mans laws, by  taking for granted that ‘the teacher knows’, by living on cement, wearing shoes, breathing indoor pollution, not having to understand the stars and the waves of the ocean, the winds and the currents. We do not have to succumb to this; after all we are spiritual beings having a human experience which gives us the cosmic creativity to invent the tools necessary to transcend any obstacle.

What I am about to explain is a method of assessing whether or not a person is getting the most benefit out of doing head stand. This is a very important testing procedure. There will be more in the future that discusses cervical vertebra and disc compression etc. For now we will be considering cranial optimization of the head stand. We are becoming the new yoga therapists.

Test

1.     1.   Person is lying supine. Test the lower abdominal muscles by having the person raise the leg on the side that you are kneeling next to or standing next to if using a table (table is better in almost all muscle testing but not necessary). If you are at their right side, your right hand will cup their leg near the ankle. Your left hand will apply the downward pressure on the leg by placing it on the tibia (shin bone) at the distal third (near the foot but not on the ankle/instep. Lifting the leg (straight knee) with the right hand, having the left hand touching the leg; ask the person to resist your downward pressure and then slowly start to push down, ready with the right hand to catch/support the leg if the test is weak so the person does not get injured from the test (some people are injurd in this area and don’t know it). For the purpose of this article the lower abdominal muscle tests strong. If it didn’t and often doesn’t we would go a different direction to assess the cause of the weak abdominal muscle. Repeat on other side.

2.    2.   Have the person do basic bound hand headstand with hands clasped (could do this with other variations but this is the basic method). Note carefully the length of their breathing and the exact placement of their head (is the weight near the front or back at the soft spot etc.) while they breath five breaths.

3.     3.    Have them lie back down supine and re-test the lower abdominals. If the abdominal muscle is now weak based on your intuition and knowledge of head placement, adjust the placement of the head and based on the length of their breath ask them to lengthen or shorten the breath. All these factors are slightly different for each individual. I have noticed that a five to six second inhale and a five to six second exhale is generally optimal. This may vary from person to person but not much so be patient and repeat until the placement and length of breath brings back the strength of the lower abdominal muscle.

The placement of the head and length of the breath affects the saggital cranial suture. A sagittal suture cranial fault can and usually does cause the lower abdominal muscles to go weak. Correcting the headstand so the placement and length of breath does not cause a fault is important for optimal results from practice and to avoid any potential injury or disease from poor technique. Years of wrong practice as you know can be very dangerous.

Yes, a video would be helpful and will be eventually posted. Be patient please.

Paola Marchi asked this question:

Hi Anthony, first of all I want to thank you for all your posts and advices, they're very helpfull, and also I must warn you about my English, wich isn't very good so I hope you can understand me. Ok, I'm going to start telling that I started to practice Ashtanga about 10 months ago, and I'm doing my practice every day since April. All my life I suffered from cramps, mostly in my twenties (now I'm 35 years old), sometimes I woke up in the middle of the night with terrible cramps, mostly in my right leg (gastrocnemius or soleus muscles, I don't know exactly). Well, I toke some magnesium for a while and the cramps stopped. But now, in my practice they came back: during purvottanasana, sometimes in bhujapidasana, halasana, uttanapadasana and sirsasana (every time that I want to strech my feet). Another thing wich is important, I'm vegetarian, since 4 years ago and I'm trying to be vegan for about 5 or 6 months (I only eat dairy or eggs socially). I started to take magnesium again and I'm better but I don't think that's the solution, I don't want to be an artificial supplement dependent, right? I eat oat, bananas and others fruits, greens and vegetables, seeds, nuts... So I don't know what is wrong with me. I will appreciate if you can give me some advice or share your wisdom with me and help me to find any solution. One more time, thank you so much.


Answer:

You are very welcome. Your question is a very good one and addresses a common challenge that is associated with worse health problems if not addressed. It is also common and unsolvable at its’ cause by western medicine. Of course I can’t say for sure what the problem, nor would I because I don’t play doctor. Even doctors don’t address this accurately and completely.

It is valuable first to consider what is artificial nutrition in your mind. The ancients were processing food for storage and making extracts, concentrates and esoteric remedies that can only be described as alchemy. The market place is flooded with artificial or poor quality nutritional supplements; herbs that are not what they claim to be, that are grown and harvested with low consciousness, vitamins that are manmade and isolated from their important co-factors, remedies that are not nearly as strong as the ones used in the studies and experiments that proved their benefit, etc.. The reason I mention this is to open your mind to accepting the possibility that high quality nutritional supplements can be a sustainable method of health and healing. For instance, the magnesium that you use, what form is it in? Studies show that the manmade types ( the best at present is magnesium glysinate ) are not nearly as good as the food concentrates or those grown, for instance in saccharomyces cerevisiae, which are much more bioavailable  and therefore , more effective.

If the magnesium helps, it makes sense to test your pH to see if you might be too acidic. The easiest, not the best but easiest for you and cheapest, would be litmus paper. Check your pH throughout the day the most important time being first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything. If you get up a 6 am and go to pee, splash a drop or two from mid stream on the paper and check the number. Check saliva at the same time by first rinsing your mouth with water, wait until your natural saliva comes back, a few minutes and then spit on the pH paper. You are looking to find a number that is close to 7 which is neutral pH. If you find that it is 5, you are on the right track and now need to work with alkalizing your body. In this case the cramps are being caused my low pH that further causes the de-mineralization of muscle, bone and blood. The way I works is, blood pH is most important so the body intelligence will deplete the alkalizing minerals from the bones ( osteopenia or osteoporosis) and the muscles causing cramps rather than letting the blood pH get to low which could result in death. This is practical as death is worse than cramps or weak bones.

Because you mention the gastrocnemius and the soleus, if it were me, I would look to adrenal stress as another possible contributing factor. The muscles mentioned share lymphatic pathways with the adrenal glands. Basically, if the adrenal glands are suffering so are the associated muscles. I personally would look to herbal, nutritional and or glandular support in that case. More than likely it could be both the pH and the adrenals.

Now it gets a bit tricky, you can read the blog post on Surgery is just the beginning. If the propriaceptive mechanisms (sensory mechanisms in the tendon or the muscle belly, responsible for communication between the muscles) are not communicating efficiently and the prime movers (in this case the gastrocnemius and soleus) are co-contracting with their antagonist muscles ( generally the muscles on the opposite side of the joint/bone) you will get frequent cramps. Another scenario would be when the antagonists (apposing muscle) are weak or flaccid or not firing for some other reason ( usually neurological in nature), the prime movers, in this case the Gastrocnemius and soleus will constantly be in over contraction and frequent cramps will occur.

There are certainly more scenarios but this is a good start. I would start with the pH and adrenals. Have you been under a lot of stress, are you deficient in B vitamins especially B12, do you eat a lot of acid forming food, has your transition to vegan cause a detoxification that has lowered you pH ? Let me know how it goes.

Daniel rancan asks about full vinyasa

Hi Anthony! I pratice ashtanga yoga since 2001 and lovely my pratice. I Liked your website and your aprouch for me is a important for my studies and pratice. I wold like your opinion about a question. In 2004 I' ve been introduced to a full vinyasa form for a teacher, when a hurt my back. For me is a very good form and my body like this aprouch. But, many teachers told me that is not correct form. For me was so confused because I have a good pratice and my body and mind have balance. This was truth to learned primary, intermidary. But only in my home pratice, in workshops I did the "tradicional" form. I ready a interview with Brad Ramsey and his studies with Guruji in mysore and approuch with hole vinyasa form. In 2009 I khew Lucy Martorella and was a wonderfull workshop. She told me is correct form and not danger. She pratice this form since 30 years, and ok. Now I studie Adanced A and 6 months ago a hurt my back in viranchasana A. I stopped and did primary with full vinyasa and started intermidary the same way. What do you think about this? Thanks!


Answer:

Daniel, I am glad that someone is reading my website and benefiting from the information. As far as the ashtanga yoga of KPJ, full vinyasa is traditional and all other forms of this practice are abbreviated. The longest living profession in the western world is orchestra leaders with their constant arm and shoulder movement. This is the most important part of vinyasa. When this movement of the arms is accompanied with deep consistent breathing the lymphatic system is supported to do the job of cleaning and removing toxins and debris from the body. This cleansing of the body is the most important part of health and longevity. Asana practice is mostly important to gain health and longevity which will help with spiritual development. It is difficult to focus on the latter limbs of Raja Yoga if one is sick and uncomfortable. It also, not always but often, takes time to awaken, so more time will give us a better chance at the part of the evolutionary process that takes place while in this body, on this earth.

Full vinyasa is not always the best method depending on the person’s state of health and depending on how fast they breathe and move. Interesting that you learned this method from a person that used this practice to ruin her body, she has had nothing but problems with her body. Her bones fall out of place, not complete dislocations but slight subluxations that cause her intense pain and discomfort on a regular basis. Many doctors do not see the value in chiropractic (yes, there are many chiropractors that I would never go to and many physical ailments that could be better addressed by different therapies including yoga) partly because these subluxations are not overtly obvious (except to the person in pain). Manju knows well, the full vinyasa and Brad and I practice this way for years. Manju and Brad remain the strongest examples of ashtanga practice that I have ever witnessed; that said, they have very different (or had in Brads case) body types than most of us. There short, thick, high testosterone bodies where very difficult to train to be flexible but very easy to make strong.

In Chinese medicine, one of the first qualities that needs to be assessed is excess or deficiency. If a person is deficient, week, not because of lack of exercise but because of lack of nutrition being delivered to the cells, full vinyasa is not recommended as it will cause degeneration, breakdown of the soft tissue. If the person is in excess of toxins and fat and needs to clean the cells, full vinyasa is going to ‘generally’ be helpful. I say generally because without actually being able to do a proper tableside assessment of the person and their personal challenges, it is difficult to know for sure.

There are other factors. Early in my practice Manju mentioned that GuruJi used the salutations to treat mental problems. The recommendation was 12 A and 12 B salutations twice a day. I did this every day (once, not completely crazy) as my warm up in Manju’s class. Many people that are attracted to Ashtanga Yoga are attracted to it for this reason and in those cases, it doesn’t matter much what it does to their body (to some extent) if it keeps them from being a danger to themselves and others. This is real.

I hope this post addressed your question. Feel free to comment with any clarification you might need and put that comment on my FB page so I notice and so others might be attracted to this blog.

Blessings

Food for intense ashtanga practice

Tony Romero asked about food for intense ashtanga practice. Here are a few thoughts, certainly not complete.


Answer

Everyone need chlorophyll, it is the best food for building blood. Green drinks are my insurance that I get enough. Cooked greens can also be a valuable part of one’s diet. A basic green drink for me is made up of romaine lettuce, celery (must be organic it is one of the dirty dozen) and cucumber is my base because they are the sweet greens rich in minerals and cucumber is cooling and they don’t taste too bitter.. Greener can be with supper foods like spirilina, chlorella and there are many more or kale etc. I often make my drinks based on what I have. I will put some fruit in my drink, which seems to work for me. I am a firm believer in high quality oil, my favorite is coconut so I make coconut milk a lot and use it also in the green drink. Fresh is not going to be convenient for every one so frozen coconut cream is my next choice.  I had a coconut milk, coconut water, lilikoi, greens with a large scoop of a raw protein powder that is made from mostly all sprouts, a scoop of dehydrated grass juice,  aloe vera and one frozen banana. I may not sound good but it was.

Oils, avocado, nuts and sees that are fresh (not worth eating if they are old and even slightly rancid), olive oil for drizzling or very low heat are my go to oils. Coconut oil has a smoke point of around 375 if it has a lot of milk solids it will burn easy; olive oil has a smoke point of about 175. Do your research so you don’t eat oils that use solvents in their making.

Minerals are so important and I don’t believe we can get enough in our food especially if we sweat. During the most intense years of my ashtanga practice I lost 5 to 10 pounds per session and that was six days a week as you know. By the time I was in my 40s, my bones had degenerated and all my teeth could be wiggled. Teeth are like the canary in the mine, the show a lot about the health of your bones and connective tissue. I had pariadontal disease which is just unhealthy connective tissue (gums) not adhering to denser connective tissue (bones). I smoked and that didn’t help (let’s not get into any judgment here, just telling it like it was) because smoking uses up a lot of vitamin C. If you remember, Vitamin C deficiency leads to scurvy and the first sign of scurvy to the sailors of old was bleeding gums. I fixed this within 6 months with minerals from, fulvic acid, marine liquid ionic trace minerals (high in chloride and other minerals that are depleted with sweating), minerals hydrosols, colloidal minerals ( these type of manmade minerals need to be very small, a lot of colloidal minerals are to large, molecularly speaking and can get into your cells but not out, Hemachromatosis (iron toxicity), argyria (silver toxicity), etc.; so no your source and the little colloidal machines with the two silver probes and the battery that you place in water are only good for making silver for external use.

Vitamins C needs to be from natural source like acerola cherries, camu camu berries, amla berries, citrus etc. , not ascorbic acid. The cofactors, the flavones etc. in the whole food C are very important.

I have been ‘almost’ completely vegetarian since 17 yo but not vegan so some of my suggestions will need to be veaganized for the vegans. I like lots of omega 3s for their anti inflammatory effect on the connective tissue which get a beating with intense ashtanga practice. Vegans can get it from hemp, flax, sachi ichi, chia, algae, etc. but this form needs to be converted to EPA and DHA to be utilize and some folks don’t have enough of the enzyme that does this job, especially as we age or have harmed our digestive system.

There is so much more but this is a good start for a blog on nutrition. Please use this as the area to continue this discussion.

HCL is very important especially for older people to supplement as it will insure proper digestion of the food and better bioavailability of the nutrition in that food. Quantum Labs make the bet that I am aware of. Bitters work well and Quantum Labs make an HCL activator as well.

Never hydrate with plain water after an intense session that leaves you dehydrated, at least put some lemon juice in the water. The is where coconut water is so great. Chlorophyll, coconut water and lemon or lime is a fantastic mineral drink. Add some drops of fulvic acid (the colostrums of mother earth)  and liquid ionic trace minerals to this drink and you have an amazing tonic that will restore your minerals and cleanse the body.

Protein is important for some more than others. Some will like raw milk and free range eggs and some will do well with fermented soy (controversial) and some will eat meat, fish and poultry (also controversial) while some will have access to the raw sprouted protein powders that are  very good. The amount needed is very individual. My feeling on this is that too much or an inability to digest the protein will cause sickness, even auto immune disease as the undigested protein or the partially digested protein will be seen as foreign antigens and the body’s immune system will react to kill it. Could be a major problem. Mysore horror story: I would be so famished after 3 hour class with GuruJi that I would go straight to the coconut man (no problem) and drink a couple of cocos, then to the milk stand and drink a bag of milk, I got tuberculosis in 1979 from the milk. This happened quick as Ama caught me doing this and said it wasn’t boiled. She , bless her soul, would boil the milk for me at first and do this pouring back and forth to cool it so I could drink it as she knew I was famished ( in Mysore at 5’8” I weight about 125# as GuruJi was kicking my ass on a daily basis and sometimes having me do demonstrations on the off day even on full moon which he apologized for. He said that he just couldn’t say no to his friends and community on holy days when they wanted to see a demonstration of the crazy American students in their speedos.

Carbohydrates are not all bad some folks do well with yams, potatoes, sweet potatoes and grains especially if they are sprouted, same with beans. If you always get gas with beans, try sprouting them before you cook them. I think that too much fruit is a bigger problem but I eat what is on my farm and it seems to work well as long as I am in gratitude, just not big bowls of fruit salad with pasteurized yogurt and granola that is not good food.

Assessing the safety of back bending.

Assessing the safety of back bending.

I came up with a simple test (no I didn't have to mention that I came up with this but as you will notice in this blog, I sometime lack humility. That comes from the residue of insecurities that this old guy still totes around) Back to the important stuff. What I have experienced and continue to see in practitioners of yoga and gymnastics is over extension of the spine in back bends. You might say that everyone who does a back bend especially a deep bend is over extending but that is not true. It really depends on a bodies particular anatomy which is very different even if subtle in each individual. One person does a back bend and the bend is distributed relatively evenly throughout the spine. Another does a back bend that may not even be as deep (looking) as the first I just mentioned and suffers from over extending in one general area or one specific area. This is not new info, so what is the big deal. If the person could find out before serious damage or degeneration to the spine was done, they could modify the back bend to avoid injury down the line. This type of injury from long time practice is very difficult to heal in its’ latter stages. This is the big deal! I know from experience! What I have seen that is most common and the biggest threat from over extending in one area are not only degeneration of the vertebrae and disc but the destabilization of that unit. This causes anterior movement of the vertebrae which is serious. There are nutritional components to the problem but this is not the time to write on that. Many practitioners do not have symptoms early on when noticing this problem would be the most helpful (after the damage is done it is way too late in my NSHO). So the test that I use is this.

 Test anterior muscles of the pelvis and the spine. Does the rectus femoris, psoas, abdominals work. If they don’t we go a different direction with yoga therapy. For this purpose we find that they work.

Now do a back bend, hold for 5 breaths. Then.

Lie on your back and have the three main muscles mentioned re-checked. If they no longer work, there is a problem with either the muscle, as in adhesions or scar tissue. (There are anatomists that no far more than I that might mention other factors but this is the basics for our purpose here. Look at that, humility, wow). Or, there is a nerve pinching, impingement that is affecting the anterior muscles. This affect could be to posterior muscles also so you could check for instance the gluteus maximus in the same way. Let’s keep it simple or simpler for now. How do we know whether it is the muscle that is causing the problem or the nerve from the unstable vertebrae? We don’t really but we can take an educated guess and choose the yoga therapy or other therapeutic approach that makes sense to repair the condition by finding out how long the rectus femoris, psoas, or abdominals take to turn back on. If the strength comes back in second or minutes it is probably the muscle that is the area of concern. If it take much longer it is most likely the instability and hyper extension of a specific area and resulting nerve pinching causing inflammation etc. that is causing the problem.

While waiting do some simple breathing in standing or lying on your mat. 

Then re-test until finding out how long it will take for the muscles to turn back on. It may take several times testing to find out how long if they actually turn back on during the practice or session. They may not.

Treatment or repair of either of the problems is another blog, probably a class would be more like it. Oh yeah, we need to learn how to do the tests.

Next blog if I see enough interest if not, get a book on simple muscle testing.

Blessings

Anthony