What is scoliosis?

Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine with vertebral (the small bones that form the spine) rotation, which is visible from the ribs moving. Most cases of scoliosis are idiopathic, which means that there is no definite cause.

The human body is intelligent and learns how to compensate for scoliosis by moving into the path of least resistance. That path will be into the scoliotic curve pattern and rotation, which will bring the body further out of balanced alignment.

Yoga isn't going to cure scoliosis or straighten the spine. However, keeping the back strong and moving while keeping your curve patterns in consideration may help the curves to not progress. Your back muscles may look and feel more balanced. Yoga also teaches us many approaches that are helpful in managing discomfort or pain.

There's so much more to mention and learn about, such as the importance of the breath and the nervous system. If you have scoliosis, and possibly a spinal fusion, I highly recommend coming to my upcoming 4-class series to learn more about caring for your back.

Love yourself

Some days it’s the little things that will get you through.

Hip-Hip…

It's (always) time for a good laugh, and for working our hips.

Don’t look down

We all know about tech neck, which is a forward head posture while looking at our phone or other devices. Spending so many hours in this forward head position can cause pain in the neck and shoulders.

A consequence of some long spinal fusions is a loss of spinal curves that are not fused. I saw my cervical X-ray a few years ago after looking into TOS (thoracic outlet syndrome), and I have lost my normal lordotic cervical curve.

What do I do? I try to not look down at screens, but lift them to eye level. I use voice to text when I can in order to not have to look at my phone. I support my neck when I'm resting on my back, and I've recently included more cervical support by using a blanketed pool noodle under my cervical spine. And, as pictured, I bring my book to eye level, instead of reading from a book in my lap.

Hello, beautiful!

What do you need to hear today?

What colors do you need in your life today?.

What do you need to feel today?

High heels

The heel is considered the other end of the hip, and if you don't believe this, wear high heels for a day to feel how connected you are.

Look what Santa left in my stocking!

It seems fairly obvious that our footwear affects the health of our back, and really so many more areas of the body. High heels and flimsy shoes are obviously not helpful, but neither are most shoes that squeeze the toe box.

However, socks can also squeeze those little piggies together. Our socks and footwear need to allow our feet to move naturally. Walking around with cinder blocks on our feet, basically feet and shoes that don't move, are only going to lead to weak feet, which can result in pain along many pathways up the body.

Vertebral discs

We all know that staying hydrated is important, but simply drinking water isn't enough for optimal hydration of our vertebral discs. These discs are important for cushioning, so our vertebrae don't rub against each other. Our spine needs movement to keep the discs healthy by encouraging an exchange of fluids that distribute nourishment.

Yoga is a great way to get back to exercise because you can take it at your own pace if you have stiffness, chronic pain, or poor postural habits.

Thank you for the support

I'm wishing all my friends and students a heartfelt thanks for their support this past year. I took some years off teaching yoga, because the types of classes I was asked to teach didn't resonate with me. When Yoga by the Bay - New Jersey was thinking of opening Align Yoga & Strength, she asked me to teach. She let me choose what and how I'd teach, and I truly appreciate the trust and confidence that she had in me.

This past year I have taught kids, teens, and adults up to their late 70's. I've worked more with one-on-one students privately, which provides a different challenge to tailor a practice that fits an individual’s needs. I truly love these challenges, and feel completely different about teaching yoga nowadays.

I look forward to the coming year, and the opportunities to learn more in order to serve myself and my students.

Some of you may have a break from your regular schedule next week, which may mean coming to class and saying hi! I'm sure I'll see some teachers who haven't been to my morning class since the summer, and maybe a new face or two.

Frederick

I was reminded of this book when my son wrote that one of the things he was grateful for was color. The story is about a family of field mice preparing for winter. The mice worked hard to gather food and supplies for winter, except one mouse, Frederick. Frederick chose to prepare for winter in another way: gathering sun rays for the cold dark winter days, gathering colors for the gray winter, gathering words for the long winter days.

Once winter hit, the mice happily went through all their supplies, but soon they were cold and without food. The mice asked Frederick about his supplies. He asked the mice to close their eyes while he talked of the golden glow of the warm sun, the vibrant colors of plants and flowers, and shared his words in poetry.

As we experience the Winter Solstice this week, let's remember that we can carry the warmth, vibrancy, and imagination of the other seasons with us. It's also a time to invite more relaxation into our lives.

Sleep

How have you been sleeping?

The quality of my sleep is usually a reflection of my movement that day. Incorporating walking, yoga, or some form of exercise is as fundamental to me as eating food, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Even if I’m relaxed that night, my sleep is disturbed from being sedentary, and I’ll wake up often with pain in my lower back.

Don't forget your practice this busy time of year. Maybe that's just ten minutes of a yoga practice, but it still matters.

Early scoliosis

This is a picture of me at 8 years old. Besides the obvious stage of growing into my adult teeth, I now notice my scoliosis from seeing my uneven shoulders.

School based scoliosis screening isn't as widespread as it once was, and I can't say that it made a difference for me. However, we all have access to much more information and resources, so it's not necessarily a 'wait and see' approach.

It's definitely nice to not travel this road on your own, and connect with someone else who's also living with scoliosis. It was more than 15 years after my spinal fusion when I went to a yoga class with other students who also had scoliosis or a spinal fusion. The experience was emotionally overwhelming, I cried on the ride home after class, but I also felt happy to have found a compassionate community.

I'm very happy to have found yoga on this journey and couldn't imagine my life without the practice.

Be grateful

Be grateful for what you have and resist the energy drain of dwelling on what you don't have.

Neck traction

My neck and upper trapezius muscles were incredibly sore on Sunday. I used a massage wand on these muscles a couple times, and gave a half attempt at using Yoga Tune Up massage balls. My favorite go-to would be an epsom salt bath, but I didn't want to crank my neck in the position necessary for it to be submerged.

After dinner I decided to try this neck traction while resting on the floor. It took a few minutes to fully relax the neck muscles, and ended up giving me the most relief. This prepared my neck to sleep well, and wake up a better neck.

Where would I be without my beloved yoga strap!

Scoliotic patterns

Your yoga practice shouldn't encourage your scoliotic patterns.

In elementary school I remember doing the Adam's Forward Bend Test in the nurse's office to detect scoliosis, and my form was marked as having mild scoliosis. This forward flexion shows the maximum vertebral rotation in order to see asymmetries in the trunk more clearly, such as rib rotation. If this forward bend brings out one's scoliotic patterns, is this a desirable exercise? *Don’t do this test if in pain or with hardware in your back.*

Uttanasana (forward bending pose pictured on the right) is a very common yoga pose that you'll find in most yoga classes. Depending upon the style of the class, this forward fold could easily be done a dozen times or more.

When practicing yoga with scoliosis &/or spinal fusion there are certain poses that aren't beneficial, but may be practiced differently based on your spine. Instead of falling into your scoliotic patterns, practice in a way to encourage spinal lengthening and opening in the torso.

Difference between scoliosis and spinal fusion

What’s the difference between scoliosis and a spinal fusion?

A friend asked me what’s the difference between scoliosis and a spinal fusion. She thought that the fusion was something present at birth. There is a bone disorder in which two or more bones of the cervical vertebrae have fused together. However, a spinal fusion due to severe scoliosis is a surgery that permanently connects two or more vertebrae and eliminates your motion between them. The goal of the surgery is to stop the progression of the sideways curvature of the spine, provide stability, and hopefully reduce pain in some cases. Besides scoliosis, there are numerous other conditions which may lead to a spinal fusion, and these tend to be shorter fusions.

Pictured here is my spine after spinal fusion, and Harrington rods were used to provide stability for my new spine as it fused.

Reflexology

A student gifted me this book recently. She said she had a new appreciation for working on her feet after what she has learned from me. What I love about the practice of yoga is not mastering some challenging pose, but having this new awareness and appreciation of ourselves as a whole being working in unison.

Reflexology is based on the concept of pressure maps, which resemble the shape of a human body and are found on the feet. Every part of the body has a corresponding relex location on the foot.

There are more than 7,000 nerve endings in each foot! Messages travel through these nerve pathways to corresponding parts of the body.

Working on the feet can break down blockages and congestion that occur around nerve endings in order to experience relief.

Guided meditation for children

On Monday night Dash was about to get ready for bed when I asked him if he'd do a guided meditation with me. I can't say how many times I've asked this, but it was the first time that he agreed to do it.

Since my eyes were closed, I didn't know what he was doing, or if he was even listening. At the end, I was pleasantly surprised that he did pay attention, and he started asking me questions. What color did I choose? How he changed his color to be a "happy" color...

Just like encouraging our children to make good food choices, we can keep offering, and one day we may be surprised by the response.

Let's see if he takes me up on my offer next time!

Yoga tune-up balls

What would you do with a yoga studio all to yourself for almost an hour? There's a lot to do, but my first choice was to do self massage on these Yoga Tune Up balls. I massaged my glutes, hips, and pecs. I wish I could say that I get regular massages, but I can work in self massage with these amazing balls!

Pelvic floor

Our pelvic floor is important for many functions and support of the body, but it's not an area that we tend to give much attention to. Strength is an important part of support, but equally important is relaxation.