What pain has taught me

In a freak accident on 15 december 2005, I slipped on a piece of paper while passing through the central station area in Stockholm, and dropped straight down on my right knee so that the hipbone banged into the hipjoint with a terrible jolt. While the knee was swollen and sore it healed quickly, but after the accident I developed sciatica in my right hip.

This caused a pain that has been more or less incapacitating since then. At times, I couldn't even walk! I've seen orthopedists, been x-rayed, worked over by a physiotherapist, and met with doctors, but no-one could do anything but prescribe anti-inflammatory medication.

The consequences were that I could not practice yoga any more - certainly not the quite taxing Ashtanga Yoga. I tried Anusara Yoga, but it just triggered a really bad attack instead.

You could say that I hated the pain - sincerely! However, last autumn I bought four sessions with a personal trainer, the hip behaving fairly well for a change, and eager to get ideas on how to exercise withouth triggering further pain. And lo! My super PT Conny Andersson somehow fixed the hip! The exercises and the super-stretches (where he added his full weight on the stretch!) somehow fixed what the physiotherapist could not!

Anyway, my point is, I realized I am after all grateful for the pain! It got me started experimenting with different types of yoga, and even though Anusara didn't work for me, I discovered variations of "gentle yoga" through a book by Louise Grime, and through YogaJournal's magazine and web site. I discovered the therapeutic side of yoga, with for instance the passive restorative yoga, where you lie down in specific positions and let gravity and breathing do the work, like "legs up the wall-pose", one of my favourites.

Even though the sciatica is gone, my back still hurts sometimes, mostly the lower back, but recently I have added other sources for help: Anusara teacher Desirée Rumbaugh's dvd "Yoga to the rescue for back pain", (a bit more vigourous) and Gary Kraftsow's "Viniyogatherapy for the low back, sacrum and hips" (more gentle, when the pain is more acute).

Conclusion: no matter what your condition is, there is a form of yoga that is right for you! Keep experimenting, while listening carefully to your own body!

Of course, I would prefer to be completely free of pain, but still, the pain opened up a whole new world of yoga that I don't think I would have discovered otherwise - thus making my life richer. I know now that I can practice yoga for the rest of my life!

Om mani padme hum -

KrisC