Message for 2024

My message for these first days of 2024 is – wait for it, wait for it – Keep On Keeping On!
As some of you know, I endured a pair of impact injuries during 2023 (broken wrist July, bruised knee September) and my body’s response led to some medical research and a bit of personal introspection as well.
First, an update on my wrist: It is feeling good, but I still don’t have full range of motion, and it’s pretty weak compared to my left… which happens to be my nondominant side.
As I’ve shared in my fascia workshop, when an area of the body is immobilized (as when in a cast to help heal a broken bone), the fascia begins to tighten into a kind of internal cast as well. This internal cast tends to persist after the external cast is taken off, and restoring the fascia’s natural flexibility can take as much as two or three times as long as you were in the external cast.
A study I found in the National Library of Medicine reported that restoring range of motion after two weeks of immobility can take a bit of work but doing so after four weeks becomes more challenging. It turns out that not only does the fascia stiffen into that internal cast, but the chemical makeup of muscles that help the joints move also change to limit motion. That’s probably intended to protect the break as it heals. But it just becomes another factor impeding a swift return to full range of motion.
The same study reported that joints that were regularly exercised prior to being immobilized were quicker to regain their range of motion than joints that hadn’t been exercised regularly prior to the injury. Umm. Think couch potato joints.
But wait, there’s more. At my annual physical my doctor mentioned that the immobilization of a joint also contributes to bone loss. Ugh. That had me looking up something the medical community terms Disuse Osteoporosis. Sure enough, it turns out that when a joint is immobilized, bone density begins to decline – and almost immediately! The good news is, the same phenomenon provides a pathway to repair: “Indeed,” claimed the researchers, “the most natural treatment for disuse osteoporosis is physical exercise or remobilization (loading) of the affected bones…”
All this research supports something most of us learn as we age: Just a little time away from your practice makes a big difference. That’s become abundantly clear to me as I sprint toward my 60s. And if I didn’t already know it, the recent injury to my left knee helped remind me. Believe me, it didn’t take long before I could really feel a difference in strength between my left and right leg.  Bad enough, but add in a bout of Covid (relatively mild, but still set me back), and I can really feel the effect of being a couch potato. 
Here’s the thing. We are all going to get injured, and while the inclination is to bring your practice to a halt while you heal, it turns out that’s probably the wrong response. Most injuries should not keep you from your practice because when they do, your whole body will suffer – and it may not actually help your injury heal any faster.
With patience, intelligence, and a little bit of professional guidance (that’s my role!), you can maintain a practice that will serve you well, even if it’s not what you “usually do.”
Keeping my doctor’s caveats in mind, I maintained as much of my regular practice as I could when my cast was on, relying on my one good wrist, trying to keep my shoulder mobile, my upper arm muscles strong and my fingers moving.  I’m using a similar approach to my current knee injury. Once I figured out the movements that were not possible for me right now (flexion and external hip rotation, for example), I modified or found alternatives for those movements.  I am keeping my glutes, quads and lower leg muscles strong, and I maintain external hip rotation in a way that does not compromise my knee.
Nothing’s perfect. I will admit my “flow” has gotten a bit awkward, and the yoga class I took up in the Berkshires last week challenged me right out of the gate (“Let’s all come into child’s pose”- noooooo!).  During COVID I practiced the Joint Freeing Series and TRE (both felt awesome!  A little bit of movement in a very lethargic state goes a heck of a long way.)
So, my message for 2024? Don’t let an injury bring your practice to a standstill.  It may be challenging and frustrating, but don’t stop, because it won’t get any easier if you do. (It may get harder! – see above.) And if you did stop, it’s ok, just know that it’s time to start up again. Whatever range of motion, suppleness and bone density you recapture is going to serve you. The instructors at Yoga Loka are here to help you find the right substitute pose for whatever the limitation.  For every pose you can’t do, there are probably 10 or more that can take its place. Just ask. That’s what we’re here for.
We all have important work to do in this world.  You may already be doing it, you may not yet know what it is, but know for sure you have something etched into your karmic stream that is needing to be fulfilled.  We all have something we are here to do.  And to do it we need a healthy, mobile body, a clear mind, and a contented soul.  We are not here to satisfy our monkey minds, especially when it says “Nah, never mind, I’ll just sit here in the dark.”  
If your New Year’s resolution is to do more yoga for your body and your mind, please take advantage of this month’s sale on class blocks and workshops to get you going. That’s what they’re there for, literally.

Click here to go to the workshop page: 
​Use discount code 2024workshops for a 10% discount when checking out

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