| To study
postural Yoga in a class setting of Level One
and above presupposes
basic health and freedom from radical structural
injuries. While we will make every effort
to accommodate all persons who attend Level One
classes, the purpose of these classes is to
introduce the concepts of symmetry, visceral
release, and balance from the perspective of
postural improvement, rather than injury or
medical convalescence. This focus may make
these classes too difficult -- and therefore
inappropriate -- for certain students.
At the same time, we
believe firmly that the statements "Yoga is too
hard for me" or "Yoga can't work with my
condition" are never true. If you
are dealing with one or more of the issues
listed below, we suggest that you first attend
our
Restorative Yoga class, so that our
instructors may familiarize themselves with your
challenges in slow-paced fashion. Then,
when you feel as though you are beyond
convalescence, we advise both a
private
postural lesson, and our
Intro to Yoga course before you "graduate" into Level
One practice. This will insure that you
understand the benefits and potential
difficulties of applying Yogasana to your
situation. It will also give you the
opportunity to discover ways of modifying
difficult postures.
Not only will these
suggestions protect you from further injury,
they will also allow you to create your own
Yoga. This is truly the goal of all
postural instruction.
Our list of
medical/injury conditions is as follows:
- muscular pain,
tightness, or injury that results in not being
able to sit comfortably in any position on the
floor, in not being able to kneel, or in not
being able to stand upright comfortably
- any medical
condition that inhibits your cardiovascular
capacity, destabilizes your blood pressure, or
causes general weakness and fatigue (this is
relevant even though Hatha Yoga is not
cardio exercise)
- chronic headache or
migraine
- severe asthma
- chronic arthritis
- nervous system
difficulty, including MS and Parkinson's
- plantar fascitis
- recent surgery:
especially to the abdomen, spine, or joints
- hip or knee
replacements, ligament damage in knees or
ankles
- persistent nerve
inflammation: sciatica or nerve impingement in
the neck
It is important to
remember that none of these conditions render
the benefits of postural Yoga inaccessible.
At Renaissance Yoga and Ayurveda, we will help
you mold your Yoga to your challenges.
Finally, be aware that
sometimes it is inappropriate to attend class
when you are working through an acute short-term
condition such as a cold or the flu.
Restorative class might be helpful in relieving
the muscular pain that accompanies such
conditions. If, however, you have a
respiratory infection that doesn't allow you to
breathe quietly, but rather forces you to cough
excessively, it would be better to stay home and
rest.
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