What was I doing all weekend?

Rita Lewis-Manos, a senior Iyengar Yoga teacher who developed scoliosis as a child, and who has been a long-time student of BKS Iyengar, gave a 3-day workshop on scoliosis using props and the physio ball, which I attended. Being a certified Iyengar yoga teacher comes with a responsibility of having some therapy knowledge because many students who come to us have medical problems.

Although the workshop focused on scoliosis, these therapeutic applications can be used for other medical conditions – neck, low back, shoulder, etc. Hmmm. Let’s see… I have all of those problem areas (osteoarthritis in my neck, three herniated discs in my sacral/lumbar, post-rotator cuff surgery in one shoulder and chronic pain in the “other” shoulder). So I not only learned about how to treat someone with scoliosis, but I also learned some tricks for my own practice.

This workshop was not only for teachers. There were several students with scoliosis. One was a young girl (probably 14-15), and ages went up from there to a man who may be in his late 70s. One lady who I believe to be in her 70s is also one of my regular students at the La Mesa Institute. I got a lot of hands-on experience working with these students.

Here are a couple pictures of me. Of course, you may not understand the purposes of these poses, but at least you’ll get an idea of what I’ve been up to. These are only three of the poses we worked on, and there were many more.

The first pose, being strapped to the tressler, is meant to help even out & distribute the weight more evenly in the legs, and then to extend the torso up from there from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, adjusting the spine from there. The second view you can see my lordosis (curvature of the sacral/lumbar spine where the low back “dips”)

Below is a modification of Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (a form of back extension/chest opening) using a “heart bench.”

In the photo below, I’m in a forward bend sitting on the ball using the tressler for extension. The upper arms are in line with the shoulders extending to the elbows while the elbows lift away from the floor, and at the same time, I’m lengthening both sides of the torso evenly.

Although the above photos are those poses that appear to be more “restorative,” many of them (not shown in photos) required more strength and balance.

This was my forth scoliosis workshop – time well spent.

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