LYT

Category: Wednesday Q&A

  • 585. Wednesday Q&A: Shoulder Discoordination, When to Stop Doing Something That Causes You Pain, & Work/Exercise Balance

    585. Wednesday Q&A: Shoulder Discoordination, When to Stop Doing Something That Causes You Pain, & Work/Exercise Balance

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about shoulder discoordination when lifting the arms, whether pain indicates that you should stop doing something, and work/exercise balance in life. 

     

    Your questions:

    • For about 1.5 weeks, I can’t lift my arms up sideways. It gets stuck pretty soon, even before reaching shoulder height. I then can only lift them in a forward angle or when grabbing one shoulder with my hand and guiding the arm. It seems my shoulders, especially my left one, move forward in space and something on both shoulders blocks and a muscle connecting my neck to the shoulder area pops up. This muscle is super tight since having this trouble. It also leads to headaches on the very tight side. The shoulders themselves do not hurt, but my range of motion is limited and sometimes the front of my upper arm tightens up when trying to lift them. This problem occurred soon after I was doing a funky dolphin on both sides very eagerly and was swimming in very lively waters. My regular physical therapist is on holiday and maybe you have an idea how to get this area unstuck as the upper back, upper body, and back/shoulder/neck/scapula area are very tight and I can almost feel the chain reaction of things pulling on each other. I’m also sitting a lot (computer work) and lots of traveling and try to be aware of posture and mobilize my body. But these days, due to this issue, my upper body and thoracic mobility, that per se is poor, are very limited. I try to mobilize my shoulders with specific LYT classes and roll the area between the shoulder blades with a ball, yet no improvement. Any suggestion how to get the range back? 
    • Is pain an indication of when we should stop doing something? My SI joint will sometimes hurt after going to the gym. 
    • How do you balance your work life and your exercise life? 

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor:

  • 583. Wednesday Q&A: Frozen Shoulder, Moving Better, & Favorite Thing About Teaching LYT Yoga

    583. Wednesday Q&A: Frozen Shoulder, Moving Better, & Favorite Thing About Teaching LYT Yoga

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about what to do to help a frozen shoulder, tips for moving better, and what is your favorite thing about teaching LYT Yoga. 

     

    Your questions:

    • I have a very painful frozen shoulder. I wonder if there are any tips and/or exercises in LYT that can help me.
    • Any tips for helping me move better? I have old injuries, have tried pilates, running, cycling, and I just started LYT Daily two months ago. I am obsessed, but wondering if I will ever move as gracefully as you do. 
    • What is your favorite thing about what you do?

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor:

     

  • 581. Wednesday Q&A: Passive Stretching, Foot, Hamstring, & Diaphragm Cramps, & Rib Cage Placement for Breathing

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about passive stretching after a gym workout, foot cramps, hamstring spasms, and diaphragm cramps, and proper rib cage placement for breathing well.

     

    Your questions:

    • What should you do after a gym workout instead of passive stretching, if you’re already doing LYT yoga every day? 
    • I have a question about a student. She’s almost 70 but super fit. She weight trains regularly with a personal trainer, and has been practicing yoga for 20 years. She has arthritic knees, has had two children, and is diabetic. But overall, she’s very mobile, eats, grows a lot of veggies, and enjoys exercise. She’s been coming to my classes for over two years, mostly recently in-person versus Zoom. I found out that she’s been having foot cramps, hamstring spasms, and diaphragm cramps for a few years now, usually when she’s active. In my class yesterday she experienced hamstring spasms during bridge and in reverse table. She took some breaks and they went away. But I felt sad to see her in pain during class. She says her toes will curl towards the plantar side of her foot. Sometimes the anterior aspect of her diaphragm cramps, she pointed to the left side, sometimes when she does forward bends. Her hamstring cramps when she does bridge and hip thrusts in reverse table. I did notice that she does tend to have an anterior pelvic tilt when in bridge and in reverse table. She’s been to massage therapists, chiropractors, PTs, and nutritionists who, by the way, recommended potassium and magnesium, none of which has really helped. She thinks it’s just part of getting older. I recommended that she see a pelvic floor physio. I know that the arches of the feet, pelvic floor and diaphragm are related. And the hamstrings originate from the SIT bones. So I think the pelvic floor might be the connection between them all. When I mentioned the pelvic floor, she said that’s the only part of her that’s working well and that she’s been doing kegels for years, which makes me think her pelvic floor may be hypertonic. Any thoughts on this? Any other physical connections, recommendations for moves in my classes that may help, or other health practitioners that could be recommended to her would be awesome. 
    • How do you feel about rib cage positioning, breathing, etc.?

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor:

     

     

  • 579. Wednesday Q&A: Nerve Pain with Myofascial Release Balls, Pilates vs. Yoga, & Fun Postural Exercises for Kids

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about nerve pain with myofascial release balls, pilates vs. yoga, and fun postural exercises for kids. 

     

    Your questions:

    • I use a collection of balls for myofascial release. I use them everywhere for general conditioning. Several weeks ago, I noticed when I take one of the hardest, densest balls on the QL (quadratus lumborum), on the right side, which I’ve always done, I feel a nervy kind of pain into the gluteus medius. I don’t feel any pain during my yoga practice or with any activity, not with yoga or walking or running or dance. Any thoughts?
    • Can you tell us your thoughts on pilates versus yoga?
    • My daughter is five and super active. She loves climbing, jumping, and running. Nevertheless, she has quite rounded shoulders. Are there any fun moves you would recommend for kids to prevent rounded shoulders and slouching?, I see more and more kids already sticking out their belly and butt, which might lead to anterior pelvic tilt in the long run. What are fun ways to strengthen the deep core musculature and help their posture from such a young age?

     

    ** Joseph Pilates did not earn a degree or certification in physical therapy. However, he was self-educated in anatomy, bodybuilding, boxing, wrestling, yoga, gymnastics, and martial arts. And at the outbreak of World War I, he was in England and became a nurse-physiotherapist to his fellow interns who were sick or injured. 

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor:

  • 576. Wednesday Q&A: Breathing Patterns & Weightlifting

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about breathing patterns and weightlifting. 

     

    Your questions:

    • My dad died last week. I sat with him the three days before he passed. As he lost responsivenes halfway through the first day, he began a labored breathing. The hospice nurse called it breath starvation. He was gurgling on inhaling like a wet snore. He worked steadily with each breath, as you can imagine, someone bailing a sinking boat. He had no choice but to keep at it. Whereas for a healthy person, the diaphragm descends on inhale, pushing the belly out, and rises on exhale and the belly collapses. Dad’s reversed its action. His chest rose with each struggle to inhale and his belly expanded with the exhale. The next morning, they gave him a medicine to dry him up and his breathing became less labored. And the movement of his diaphragm was less obvious. Do you know why the diaphragm reverses its movement when someone struggles to breathe? 
    • When doing abdominals work, why breathe out as you lift up?
    • Is weightlifting still important to do, even if you do LYT? 

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor:

  • 574. Wednesday Q&A: Knee Pain from Cycling, LYT Love, & Dowager’s Hump

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about knee pain from cycling, LYT love, and dowager’s hump.

     

    Your questions:

    • I took up cycling in February of this year and LOVED IT, so had cycled most days since then as I use it to commute across London to my classes. This was up until about a month ago when I started to experience tenderness in what I believe to be my quadriceps tendon. Initially, the pain wasn’t so bad and I noticed that my bike seat had slipped down slightly. So assuming this was the problem, I shifted it back into place and continued to cycle. However, following that, the pain suddenly worsened in my right knee and I’m now taking time away from the bike to let the tendon heal; at one point, I couldn’t bend the knee more than 90 degrees. It felt like a tight pressure right above the knee being squashed. The pain seems to be easing now, although definitely doesn’t feel linear. I’m working on strengthening the muscles around the knee, the glutes, the hip flexors, the hamstrings, and trying to work out why this happened. I know it could be my bike positioning, so that is something I’m going to take a look at once it feels safe to get back on the bike just to see how I’m riding. But I’m wondering if there are mechanics elsewhere in the chain that I should be looking at. I have pretty good ankle dorsiflexion and hip flexion, but maybe I’m lacking strength in one of these areas. Any help on how to rehab the knee as well as how to tell where the imbalance is coming from would be massively appreciated. 
    • LYT has changed my life. How do you all keep giving so much?
    • What are the best poses for dowagers hump?

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor:

     

  • 572. Wednesday Q&A: Hand Width in Down Dog, Splitting Classes Up, & Anatomy Knowledge

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about how wide to place your hands in down dog, splitting classes up, and anatomy knowledge.

     

    Your questions:

    • I’m five-seven, but my arms are really long. I’m not kidding, from fingertip to fingertip I have a six-foot wingspan. When I’m in downward dog, it feels better for me to open my arms wider than shoulder-width apart by a few inches. Is this bad for my shoulders or is it okay to do? I saw Kristin in a recent class saying that she sometimes opens her arms wider in down dog to give her more space. But I don’t know if it that’s something that you can do just a little bit from time to time or is it okay to do all the time?
    • I love the classes that are longer on LYT Daily, but I sometimes don’t have time to do the whole thing in one go, so I’ll do 35 minutes or so in the morning and then pause and do the rest of the class in the evening. I know that there wouldn’t be as much of a warm-up for the second half, but are there any reasons not to do this? And do I still get the benefit of the full class if I split it up into two parts? 
    • How did you learn and retain so much knowledge about the human body?

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor:

  • 570. Wednesday Q&A: Carrying Angles, Kneeling, & Nerve Pain in Yoga

     

    Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

     

    In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about carrying angles, kneeling, and nerve pain in yoga. 

     

    Your questions:

    • There is a popular yoga teacher who preaches about how the carrying angle of the forearm means that most people need to place their hands wider on the mat, thus wider than their shoulders in poses like down dog and plank. My logic is telling me this… yes, when the arm is in anatomical neutral, the carrying angle makes the hands wider than the shoulders. But when the forearm pronates like it does when you put the palms on the mat, does that mostly erase the carrying angle so that we should still align wrists under shoulders generally? What are your thoughts?
    • My students really struggle with the transition from quadruped to half kneel and can’t spend much time in any kneeling posture. Any tips or transitions through quadruped or to help them spend more time in a healthy and supported way on their knees? We use double mats and blankets under the knees as much as possible, but the limitations remain.
    • I’ve been a yoga teacher since 2017 and an athlete my entire life. I had a tubing injury in 2012, and I do think that’s impacted my SI joint. I always had issues as a hockey player, but the nerve issues only got bad with yoga. I took time off during COVID and my nerve issues improved, so I knew yoga made it worse. Getting back in, I practice now. I was more mindful in twists and bends, etc. But last week I had a severe episode and my osteopath told me my sacrum was rotated left. She did some work on it and my pain is now one out of ten, instead of ten out of ten. I couldn’t sit, stand, or lie down without pain through my left lower back and glutes. I listened to some of your podcast episode episodes on anatomy. I’m curious how I can better protect myself from this happening again and often. I think backbends are the main trigger, but also deep forward folds and poses like half pigeon, extended slight angle with a bind, and even single leg airplane pose, and half moon on that side. In the warrior series, should I keep a wider stance and turn the back toe more toward the front and in warrior two, etc.? I appreciate your insight.

     

    To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

     

    Do you have a question?

     

    Sponsor: