Don’t mess with knees. You know I’m always ‘banging on about knees’ in class 🙂 . At YM we promote ‘HONOUR YOUR KNEES’. They do so much for us, we expect so much from them. It is fact, some don’t listen to what their knees have to say enough! Maybe ‘tis a Bikram thing but if you’re to believe Bikram the man the whole Bikram sequence was devised around his own body building knee injury {maybe/maybe not}.
I have knees too you know and they have history! They effectively ‘shut down’ after 2 marathons that I ran one month 2010 (probably didn’t train properly) the minute I hung up my running shoes I couldn’t kneel for six months. I stress strongly THAT is my story and very much not all runners’ truth. EVERYBODIES joints are different, SOME more suited activity like running than others. {I probably ran my marathons with the least possible training and that came back to haunt me when my knees jammed shut the minute I stopped! No regrets ‘tho! I AM GRATEFUL for my learning opportunities; I sooooooo get why people run and I confess am envious of the runners but I cannot risk my knees. I strongly/ HIGHLY recommend running ‘tho to everyone; GO FOR IT! you absolutely MUST try it on for size for you, it might just be your thing.
Another time I tore meniscus doing something stupid in garage one November (so cold); ‘twas classic tear scenario: foot ‘plant’ leg got left behind/didn’t move whilst I was shifting heavy boxes one side of garage to the other, expecting the knee to accommodate anything I asked of it, heard the pop, knew I was going to pay; took 18 months to heal that one. I was lucky it was the kind of tear to heal without surgical intervention: right attention, patience, had some acupuncture as a treat and simply mindful Bikram Yoga practice.
My knee healed and I had happy knees again until Feb this year something happened to other knee (it involved another person so I won’t tell all!) but it means I won’t be doing the posture in the picture for a while. But do you know what! at nearly 50 and I really DON’T MIND! There are so many other things I CAN do AND I can certainly Lock the Knee {read my blog on that}! That is part of my therapy at the moment. That and patience and time. I’ve NEVER practiced with a primary focus on aesthetics. For me priority MENTAL HYGIENE and normal function. I know my target areas in the postures and how they should feel.
Still every now and then I get someone in class who is overly focused in aesthetics and maybe their ‘gonna be on the cover of Yoga Journal’ one day. Ok. But when you give yourSelf a break from that kind of aspiration and always be clear that in class your intention is optimizing health you’re gonna have a long happy SUSTAINABLE YOGA PRACTICE that can be THERAPEUTIC when you need it to be. Right now I’m practicing WITHIN my Bikram Yoga class ‘Yoga Therapy for the knees’. And all my Yoga practice life that has how it has panned out. WHY? Because I have a life outside the Yoga room too. Just like you. Veering between practicing for optimal wellness, pure joy of practice and then suddenly ‘life outside the Yoga room kicks in’ and there I am practicing Yoga therapy for a target area, getting back to neutral and optimal wellness AND {of course} PURE JOY OF PRACTICE.
Sept20