To get to the fitness level I wanted to achieve, I had sorted 2 of the 3 variables so far - first was intake, second was pain management but third one, that is, the spend was still not determined. While the pain was reduced, I was still unable to run or do physically demanding workouts as I was neither that fit nor did I want to risk increasing my pain. It was after almost 5 years that my pain had come down to reasonable levels thanks to Hussain and I wasn't ready to rock the boat just yet.
Then I learnt that trigger point therapy kind of weakens muscles and in turn weakened muscles develop trigger points easily. So more therapy I took, more I increased the probability of fresh trigger points. Only way out of this situation was muscle strengthening. Years of just walking, swimming and yoga combined with this therapy had left my muscles very weak. I couldn't even lift my purse/bag without wincing in pain - a fitness regime to build muscles sounded almost impossible.
As I was about to lose hope, yet again, I stumbled upon a book that reminded me of something I had kind of forgotten. Yoga. Yes I was doing yoga everyday but more as a stretching regime and not as a holistic approach to strengthen my mind, body and soul. From my previous experience with yoga (at the age of 15) I knew that yoga works in a different fashion - it speaks to the mind from inside and to the body from outside and while it takes time to get them, the results are no less than miraculous.
So I started the day with breathing exercises (pranayama) - mostly Kapalbhati, Agnisaar and Anulom Vilom. Then I proceeded to do Surya Namaskar (Sun salutation). I started with 2 on day one and decided to add one more every day. My body was too weak to lift its own weight and the first day when I completed 10 salutations, I felt I was going to die. I was out of breath, my arms and shoulders were paining and my quadriceps were screaming. But I kept at it, now adding two every day and 20 days later I had crossed 50. After I crossed 50, I started adding 4 every day and in about 45 days since I had started I reached the count of 100!
For me this was exhilarating. I had only heard stories of people doing 100 sun salutations in one sitting, I had never imagined that I would be able to the same. Next day when I started the salutations, I wasn't sure I would reach 100 - after all it could have been a fluke. But I managed 100 again and the next day and the day after...
In addition to yoga, I was still doing incline walking on weekdays, swimming on weekends and dedicated one day a week to yoga that started with pranayama and 100 sun salutations, included asanas for upper body, core & lower body and ended with meditation.
3 months into this new regimen, I started to look and feel better. Under the weight of my own body while doing sun salutations, my shoulders and arms had started to strengthen. Incline walking had started to work on quadriceps, glutes & calves and rest of the asanas had started to work on my core and smaller muscle groups all over. I had also lost 20 pounds and was able to workout for longer duration now that my knees and ankles were carrying that much lesser weight.
The pain during this period had definitely gone back up but I was able to manage it with therapy and meditation. The 3 pronged approach that Hussain had laid out - medication, meditation and muscle strengthening - I was following it religiously. Every day I would report out my workout, share where the pain had gone up and plan next day's workout under his guidance. If he told me to not do some specific exercise or asana, I wouldn't do it. And I must stay that listening to him helped. A few months later I figured out that I don't need his consult every day if I just listened better to my body but as of now I wasn't anywhere near that stage and relied on Hussain to guide me during this beginning phase. Looks like I had the last variable almost figured out!
Then I learnt that trigger point therapy kind of weakens muscles and in turn weakened muscles develop trigger points easily. So more therapy I took, more I increased the probability of fresh trigger points. Only way out of this situation was muscle strengthening. Years of just walking, swimming and yoga combined with this therapy had left my muscles very weak. I couldn't even lift my purse/bag without wincing in pain - a fitness regime to build muscles sounded almost impossible.
As I was about to lose hope, yet again, I stumbled upon a book that reminded me of something I had kind of forgotten. Yoga. Yes I was doing yoga everyday but more as a stretching regime and not as a holistic approach to strengthen my mind, body and soul. From my previous experience with yoga (at the age of 15) I knew that yoga works in a different fashion - it speaks to the mind from inside and to the body from outside and while it takes time to get them, the results are no less than miraculous.
So I started the day with breathing exercises (pranayama) - mostly Kapalbhati, Agnisaar and Anulom Vilom. Then I proceeded to do Surya Namaskar (Sun salutation). I started with 2 on day one and decided to add one more every day. My body was too weak to lift its own weight and the first day when I completed 10 salutations, I felt I was going to die. I was out of breath, my arms and shoulders were paining and my quadriceps were screaming. But I kept at it, now adding two every day and 20 days later I had crossed 50. After I crossed 50, I started adding 4 every day and in about 45 days since I had started I reached the count of 100!
For me this was exhilarating. I had only heard stories of people doing 100 sun salutations in one sitting, I had never imagined that I would be able to the same. Next day when I started the salutations, I wasn't sure I would reach 100 - after all it could have been a fluke. But I managed 100 again and the next day and the day after...
In addition to yoga, I was still doing incline walking on weekdays, swimming on weekends and dedicated one day a week to yoga that started with pranayama and 100 sun salutations, included asanas for upper body, core & lower body and ended with meditation.
3 months into this new regimen, I started to look and feel better. Under the weight of my own body while doing sun salutations, my shoulders and arms had started to strengthen. Incline walking had started to work on quadriceps, glutes & calves and rest of the asanas had started to work on my core and smaller muscle groups all over. I had also lost 20 pounds and was able to workout for longer duration now that my knees and ankles were carrying that much lesser weight.
The pain during this period had definitely gone back up but I was able to manage it with therapy and meditation. The 3 pronged approach that Hussain had laid out - medication, meditation and muscle strengthening - I was following it religiously. Every day I would report out my workout, share where the pain had gone up and plan next day's workout under his guidance. If he told me to not do some specific exercise or asana, I wouldn't do it. And I must stay that listening to him helped. A few months later I figured out that I don't need his consult every day if I just listened better to my body but as of now I wasn't anywhere near that stage and relied on Hussain to guide me during this beginning phase. Looks like I had the last variable almost figured out!
No comments:
Post a Comment