Pablo’s Yoga

Daily

Drishti (the gaze)
Lay back on your bed or mat. Put pillows behind your knees and under your head. Close your eyes and focus on feeling your neck in a position that feels straight. Open your eyes and focus on the patch of ceiling you see. Keep your eyes open and blink and focus on this patch of ceiling. Allow your legs to roll open, allow your belly to soften, allow your arms to roll open, and let your shoulders sink down. Keep your eyes open and your gaze focused on the ceiling as you allow yourself to sink. Focus and alertly deliberately relax.

Knees up
Lay back on your mat (the bed is too soft for this). Put a pillow under your head. Bring your knees up while keeping your feet flat on the mat. Pause and rest in this position. Then smoothly bring knees up more and hold the top of your shins with your fingers. Let your arms be long and the weight of your legs pull your shoulders away from your head. Look at the ceiling and use drishti and allow your belly and everything else to relax.

Face up extend
Lay back on your mat with your knees up and your feet flat on the mat. Pause in this position. Extend your right arm along the mat beyond your head and rest it on a pillow. Slide your right foot along the mat away from your butt. Pause. Press your right foot firmly away from your butt while keeping it in contact with the floor and reach your right arm firmly away in the opposite direction. Hold this then smoothly relax. Repeat. Then bring your right arm back to your side and bring your right knee up while keeping your foot on the mat. Now do the same with your left side. Then do both right and left once again.

Side extend
Roll onto your left side on your mat and have a pillow under your head. Bend your left knee and straighten your right leg. Extend your right arm inline with your torso beyond your head and rest it on a pillow. Keeping your right foot on the floor, press it away from your butt and press your right arm away in the opposite direction. Hold the press then smoothly relax it. Repeat. Now roll onto your right side and do the same with your left leg and arm. Then do both again.

Table (on all fours)
Get down on your mat on your knees and elbows. Have your upper arms vertical and your elbows directly under your shoulders. Have your shoulders toward your butt. Have your butt, your hip joints, a little toward your feet instead of directly above your knees. Look straight down between your arms in such a way that your neck feels straight (drishti). Let your belly sag. Let everything relax. Rest in the pose for a while.

Background

What’s going on:
When you used the lever machine at the gym for your abs you over developed your rectus abdominis muscle and also tightened your deep hip flexor muscles, the iliacus and psoas. Though you cannot see and cannot easily touch these muscles, they are notorious for contributing to discomfort, and do so for you.

Gym

You give yourself lots of exercise which is very good for your health and longevity. Now we want to reshape how you move and how you feel yourself to increase your comfort and vigor. We push smarter rather than harder or longer.

Some exercises at the gym contribute to the tightness, asymmetry, and reactivity that give you so much discomfort.

Do all your exercises at the gym seated with firm back support. To reduce your discomfort, increase stability, walk more easily, and increase your lower body strength, we need to reduce the reactivity of your pelvic muscles, especially your hip flexors, groin, and glutes. Once you begin to decrease the reactivity, we can better use poses to soften compensations and ease asymmetries.

• No loaded flexion or held tension at your hip joints
  No core work
  No planks
  No leg raises
  Think and feel into how you use your joints and muscles in exercises. To reduce your discomforts and your muscles’ reactivity you need to reduce the tensions of your muscles.
• Even exercise of arms and upper torso
  Curls get balanced by triceps extensions – arms to full extension
  Chest work gets balanced by upper back work, front pull downs, seated row, etc
  Think about all the exercises you do and balance them.

• One-sided seated knee extension – light & smooth – 12 reps – 3 sets – 2 x per week
  One leg at a time, your left leg first, seated firmly against a backrest. 30 pounds or less. Do a dozen reps, smooth up for a count of 3, hold for 2, smooth down for a count of 3, and pause for 2. Then do your right leg. Then get up and go do something else. Then do another set of a dozen reps of these for each leg. Then get up go do something else. Then try to do a third set. Do not push hard; do not use more weight than you can easily do 12 reps; do not do more than 3 sets; do not push into a third set if it does not come easily. Please do not over do these.

Plan

You have neurological damage. You have injuries from surgeries. You have tightened yourself at the gym. You hurt and have lost function and quality of life.

Moving well with comfort needs suppleness. Surgeries have limited your back and your muscles have tightened. And you have tightened your muscles through your pelvis.

We are going to go in. I will guide you to feel yourself move. We will change how you use your muscles and change your muscles. And change how you feel and move.

We will increase your suppleness through your pelvis to improve how you move. Focus and discipline will help get the most done with the fewest errors in the time available.

You will feel better, and you will feel good.

Future

• Aided pyramid rest reclined spiral
• Seated outward spiral
  You have some spinal fusions. Your ribs and shoulder blades and other areas can still move a lot. Increasing your suppleness and control in your back will increase your comfort and ability.

• Seated hip flexed unilateral thigh abduction (gym)
  Guide you to feel and use your glute medius muscles to change your pattern of muscle use for stability away from discomforts.