Yoga has been a part of my life since elementary school when I would watch the PBS show in the mornings and follow along. Since then I have had an on again off again practice spanning 30 years and have gained two certifications, one in Kundalini yoga and one in Hatha yoga. When I became a massage therapist, as I began to understand the relationship between bad posture, destructive movement habits and pain I looked for ways to teach my clients how to move in a way that was more supportive of their health. It was a natural fit to begin teaching yoga to my clients to support the structurally oriented work we were doing together.
In October of 2000 I was to have an opportunity to experience the healing benefits of yoga in a way I had never anticipated. A car accident left me with whiplash and a herniated disc in my already vulnerable lumbar spine. I was in great pain and had lost strength in my hands and legs. Numbness and tingling accompanied by sharp, shooting pain severely limited my activity. I couldn't stand, walk, sit or even sleep for long without demoralizing pain. Chiropractic and massage therapy helped relieve my symptoms temporarily but it always came back. I began doing research into MacKenzie exercises that physical therapists sometimes prescribe to their patients. I was shocked to find that they were essentially yoga postures that I had been doing for much of my life. I began a daily practice of these particular postures and reached a point that when the pain and tingling became distracting, wherever I was I got down on the floor and did my yoga. Fortunately, when you work in a massage school no one thinks anything of the teacher spontaneously moving into asanas! As time went on, the pain centralized so I no longer felt it down my leg and eventually it left me completely.
This was a powerful lesson. First, to viscerally understand the psychological as well as physical impact of chronic pain really deepened my compassion for my clients who live with their pain day in and day out, in some cases for years. Second, it was exciting and humbling to discover that while bodywork was indeed helpful, the most powerful healing tool I had at my disposal was a daily practice of yoga. I began to think of yoga as much more than a way to exercise, relax or even as a moving meditation. It dawned on me that it was also powerful medicine.
