Coming Back from Injury Through Ashtanga

Ten years ago, I became the yoga instructor for the Grateful Dead. Of all of them, Phil, the bass player, was the most challenged and the most rewarded by ashtanga. I have not worked with him for awhile but recently he had to have a liver transplant and decided that Ashtanga was going to be a central part of his recovery.

When he first started practicing Ashtanga, Phil could not touch his knees. As a bass player he was used to arching his back to a near back bend to play his instrument. His legs became so hyper-extended that when I asked him to touch his toes he bent over and found he could not touch his knees. But Ashtanga eventually took Phil quite far. After practicing consistently, he not only reached beyond his knees, he began to hear his music better and to have more breath to sing. He told me Ashtanga made him move with more consciousness which in turn, allowed him to play music less mechanically. Ashtanga slowed him down enough to listen to music better and to connect with others around him - with his fellow musicians and audience. Most of all, it allowed him to play with more feeling.

And so now his question is, how can Ashtanga help him come back from his internal injury? Yoga is often referred to as internal massage and in this respect it is great help for those who must heal from injuries to organs. Since Ashtanga nourishes our glands and internal organs and cleanses and purifies our nervous system, it is always a way of bringing vitality to the body. And, since this vitality is exactly what we lack when we are sick, it is then that we need Ashtanga more than ever.

Now that we are working at getting him back from surgery through Ashtanga, we have to move slower and with more consciousness than ever. But as we all know, there is much to be gained from doing so.

What essentially happens as we practice Ashtanga, is that we come to understand the limits and possibilities of our bodies. We gain awareness so that we can move with intelligence through our limitations (as so to avoid injury and in the case of an already injured body, further pain). Ultimately, we can gain consciousness of how physical pain is connected to all other areas of our being.

When we practice Ashtanga during sickness or pain then we can gain insight into our selves when we feel most vulnerable. Who are we when our bodies are not at their strongest? What kind of fears come up? Through our practice we can face these questions without alarm. Ashtanga promotes the kinds of meditative states that allow us to calmly witness our body without judgement and to gain practical and spiritual knowledge about it.

When we hurt our joints and muscles most doctors recommend we stay away from physical exercise for a short while. A friend of mine dislocated her shoulder and her doctors prescribed strict avoidance of any physical activity having to do with her hurt joint. Beyond the initial recuperative weeks, she was supposed to avoid activities that would use her shoulder. They even went as far as telling her that, for the rest of her life, she had to watch the way she reached for things or put clothing over her head. My friend of course felt condemned. Her doctors were telling her to move her joint with awareness - which is what Ashtanga teaches us about the body as a whole - but they were delivering their message with a sense of doom that is completely unnecessary. I am happy to say that after her initial recovery my friend came back to Ashtanga and feels great. Her shoulder gives her no pain as long as she is moving with awareness.

As you may already know from your own practice, moving with awareness brings much that is positive. As we slow down, we can discover our bodies, hear our heart beat, gain knowledge of our body - of its areas of tightness, its vulnerabilities, as well as to its degrees of looseness, strength and flexibility. As we practice, we become aware of how the state of our body is connected to our mind and interior selves.

What often happens to those who practice Ashtanga for the first time is that, after a month or so of regular practice, they begin to feel bodily pains they had never previously felt. Often, they believe they have hurt themselves through yoga and will either quit or practice less frequently. What is actually happening, nine times out of ten, is that the practitioner has begun to awaken or to hurt s/he had always had, but to which s/he was not attuned.

Pain has such negative connotations that when we begin to feel it as we practice, we shy away from it. But what we can learn about pain through yoga may not be as negative as it appears. Our practices may reveal to us aspects about our bodies that have to do with slight injuries - slightly pulled muscles, tight tendons etc. Once we gain this knowledge, we can work towards healing ourselves. We can breathe life into the pained paces and release the stress we feel there.

What yoga can teach us about more serious injuries is an even larger terrain. The type of Ashtanga Phil Lesh practices with me after his liver transplant is full of insight to him. He has only been able to do sun salutes and a few standing poses since he has re-taken the practice, but he can feel that even this is a comfort to his whole being. Gradually, we will move him towards more poses and longer periods of deep breathing but for now he will have to practice patience and exercise his sense of humor. At some level, we all need to do this with our bodies. As Pattabhi Jois used to say, "all is coming." It is when we are injured or recuperating, as Phil is now, that we most need to remember these words.

Larry Schultz