When I was 24, I was hit in a car by a drunk driver. The car hit me square on the driver's side. This accident herniated a total of 4 discs in my spine. (2 in the lumbar area and 2 in the cervical area) The ones that I have the most problems with are the 2 in the lumbar area. They are the ones that give me problems going to the bathroom, walking, sitting up, sleeping, etc. As a result, I live with chronic pain almost everyday.
The bright side is that through my accident experience, a doctor introduced me to yoga. Not only did yoga help me through the physical trauma of injuring my back, it also helped me through the mental and emotional ones.
When I was in a wheelchair for 9 months and going through physical therapy each day, I developed my own yoga routines at home which helped me stay focused and positive about my healing. At first I did routines in my wheelchair and then eventually moved to routines in my bed and finally to routines on the floor. Along with my treadmill experience, I was able to heal my back and function again.
The yoga routines that I did were specifically designed for what I could do and were modified based on my injuries. For instance, since I had nerve pain down the right side of my leg, I couldn't do many exercises that involved twisting or bending my leg.
Fast forward to 30 years later...I don't do a yoga routine everyday but actually enjoy its benefits in my life. Over the years, I've learned to control my pain and "relapses" with my back by staying active and using yoga as a way of meditating and gentle stretching for my body. Oddly enough, I've never been to a yoga studio! I've always enjoyed practicing it at home.
I learned basic Hatha yoga from a really good book (shown at the left) when it yoga was not as popular. It suites me just fine all these years later. It has pictures of all of the exercises in addition to simple routines to follow that help you increase in difficulty if you like.
When I have relapses with my back, I rest, heal the inflammation and then slowly get back to my exercises in my yoga book. I've given a list of other yoga books that I really like at the bottom of the this post.
I have subsequently added weight lifting and pilates to my yoga routine to further strengthen my core, arms and legs. These areas support my back and give my body extra strength. I also find that my back recovers faster from relapses when the other areas are kept strong.
Take a look at these yoga books I recommend below. They stress simple, Hatha style yoga that is geared at optimizing health. I'm no doctor but I've been practicing yoga for 30 years now and use it to manage a chronic back injury. Yoga has kept me off of the surgeon's table, helped me manage stress and maintain my weight. So, based on my personal experience, I have recommended these books on yoga to my family, friends and colleagues at work.
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| my first book on Yoga |
I learned basic Hatha yoga from a really good book (shown at the left) when it yoga was not as popular. It suites me just fine all these years later. It has pictures of all of the exercises in addition to simple routines to follow that help you increase in difficulty if you like.
When I have relapses with my back, I rest, heal the inflammation and then slowly get back to my exercises in my yoga book. I've given a list of other yoga books that I really like at the bottom of the this post.
I have subsequently added weight lifting and pilates to my yoga routine to further strengthen my core, arms and legs. These areas support my back and give my body extra strength. I also find that my back recovers faster from relapses when the other areas are kept strong.
Take a look at these yoga books I recommend below. They stress simple, Hatha style yoga that is geared at optimizing health. I'm no doctor but I've been practicing yoga for 30 years now and use it to manage a chronic back injury. Yoga has kept me off of the surgeon's table, helped me manage stress and maintain my weight. So, based on my personal experience, I have recommended these books on yoga to my family, friends and colleagues at work.
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