The Yoga of Physical Therapy
Why is it so hard to do so many of the things that are GOOD for us? Why is the fast-paced, adrenaline-laced life so much more fun than the slower-paced choices?
I recently had a string of body mechanical problems, resulting in 3 different sets of physical therapy exercises I was supposed to do twice daily. These are slow, boring moves. I don’t do them during a class, with music pumping and a teacher urging me onward, a setting that feels, to me, more “fun.”
In fact, one of the injuries happened during a class with the music pumping and a teacher urging me onward: I over-reached, lifted too much weight during a weight training class and injured a muscle or tendon in my upper arm. No big surprise.
But PT felt like a punishment, at least at first. I couldn’t go to class with the other boys and girls. I had to be home alone in my living room with therabands, counting 30-second intervals. Ida wanna hafta do this. Poor me.
But truly, as I learned the PT routines and began to see some results, I started doing the exercises the way I’m learning to do yoga with my excellent teacher, Victoria. Instead of counting or timing thirty seconds, I could now just breathe deeply into the exercise for the right amount of time, which I had internalized. And by just breathing into the moves, being in the moment, I entered a more meditative space, good for my head.
Victoria tells us, ”Don’t get greedy on the mat.” What she means is, don’t be overly focused on the external look of the yoga pose at the expense of your well-being. Don’t be so greedy that you don’t honor your body’s limits today. Instead, she teaches, at some point, go for the inner pose, be ok with what is, be willing to stop fixing, perfecting, trying to make it perfect.
It was greediness in my weight training class that got me injured. I was greedy for the achievement of lifting more weight than I was really capable of lifting without injury.
I’ve healed two of the three injuries. My challenge now is to stick with the exercises for the third one. And to resist greed.
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