As mentioned in my blog profile, severe and chronic back pain was the single motivation that drove me to my knees every morning to pray and practice yoga. As a proclaimed and baptized Christian from the early age of ten, I had truly wanted to start every day in prayer. Yet the demands of life and then motherhood often managed to submerge any spiritual priorities in a sea of responsibility. I would find myself several hours into my day, trying to pray while driving, but my attention was clearly and necessarily divided. Then came that serendipitous morning when I first linked a pleading prayer with yoga postures. I had accidentally stumbled upon a powerful method to nurture and heal my physical body, while grounding my mental, emotional and spiritual issues in God's Word, The sciatic pain would disappear each morning after my time on the mat, if only temporarily. But I had at least started my day with the Lord so I was hooked! (A more detailed description of my personal journey to adapt a yoga practice to Christian teachings can be found in my yet-to-be-published, eight-chapter book entitled Yoga with a Christian Twist.)
Over the past ten years I've spent approximately an hour every morning in daily Christian yoga sessions, alone and yoking with my Creator. During this significant time He has revealed some amazingly helpful practices. I found myself using the foundations of Thai yoga massage before I ever knew they had names. A particularly effective component called the "rhythmic rock" can be incorporated into most of the yoga postures (asanas) and is particularly therapeutic while in the "Side-Lying Pose" called Anantasana. A gentle but modified version (using a strap to hold the extended leg) is even safe for prenatal students, but best learned from an experienced and qualified yoga instructor. If you suffer from chronic lower back pain, try a gentle forward and backward "rhythmic rock" in all of the phases of last week's posture.
- Physically---After rolling onto the left side of the body on a flat and level surface, use the rhythm of your slow breathing to determine the tempo of a slightly forward and then backward rocking motion. With the right hand on the floor in front of the waist, bring the breath in and lift the chin very slightly in a "third-eye" gaze (called naitrayoh ma dyai) on the forward roll. While rolling slightly backward, but not onto the back, begin the exhale as the chin lowers slightly into the chin/throat lock (jalandhara bandha). Be sure to root and ground down into the upper left wrist, arm, rib cage, hip, and outer left knee and ankle by engaging the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles (bandhas) for core support. The entire left side of the body, especially those tight muscles across the left hip, will be massaged in their stretched out state to soften and lengthen as this rhythmic rocking continues, much like rocking a baby into a relaxed state.
- Continue the Thai yoga massage using the "rhythmic rocking" technique during each phase of this "Side-Lying Pose" (Anantasana) as described in last week's blog. When the top leg is finally fully extended straight out above the hips, those with a limited range of motion may find it easier to hold the top leg with a strap or canvas belt. At this point switch hands from using the upper hand to holding the leg with the lower hand so that the knuckles of the upper hand may be used to massage knots of tension from the lower hip. On an inhalation and a slightly forward rock, slip the hand of the top arm just under the bottom hip with the palm facing downward, knuckles upward. Exhale to rock slightly back over the flattened knuckles, rocking back and forth several times before moving the hand to a slightly different spot as needed. Allow the slow and gentle rocking motion over the knuckles to massage all tense knots from the left hip before rolling onto the right side for a Thai yoga massage on the right. When finished, roll onto the back for a minimum of five minutes in the restorative "Corpse Pose" (Savasana) described in several earlier blogs.
- Mentally---The effectiveness of Thai yoga massage depends on the foundation of present-minded and rhythmic rocking back and forth from a grounded and stable center for a sustained period of time. Be sure to breathe deeply and evenly, with the exhalations lasting at least as long as the inhalations. Focus the attention on the discovery of tight knots of tension in the side body and allow them to soften with the rocking back and forth.
- Spiritually---Just as a rocking chair is grounded by and continually returns back to a stable place in the center of the arc, so we sustain a steady tempo in our rhythm of life by coming back to our source of strength and stability. For a Christian that center of support and strength is Jesus Christ and God's law. Remember your Rock, your grounded center, as you move back and forth in the flow of your Thai yoga massage or life itself. Find strength and grounding at the center as God delivers you from your pain, albeit temporary deliverance. Maybe He simply wants you to keep coming back to Him on a daily basis.
Resort often to your Rock for He is your true center.... plf
