My Thumb...It Burns Me, Or, Why I Like My New Yoga Class

Several weeks ago I found a yoga class that suits me perfectly. A good mix of the lithe and lumbering, I fit somewhere in the middle of the participants. The instructor is a perky, young, aspiring physical therapist who kindly teaches us how to make slight adjustments to our poses which facilitate a deeper stretch or make the pose significantly easier to hold.

The class meets at midday on Saturdays; not too early, not too late. The facility has a whirlpool I can sit in before class. Most days I finish feeling incredibly loose, relaxed, and generally wishing I could stay on my yoga mat and sleep for a few hours.

I have done yoga in fits and starts in the past, but it never resulted in a strenuous workout that did not require that I push myself harder than my body is ready to go. This class, however, is different. My own PT insists that I do nothing that pushes my body beyond a comfortable workout. Slowly Dr. Jim has taught me if I let my body go where it is ready to go in yoga, it will naturally get there faster than if I try to push it. My perky young yoga instructor agrees and often suggests one of her students pull back a bit and let the body find its pose.

So as I balance on various parts of my body upon which I would previously have sworn it was impossible to balance, the sweat running in large drops down (or up, as the case may be) my face attests to the strenuousness of the workout.

Not only have I begun regaining the strength I lost during the 6+ months of sitting on the bench while my body decided it was time for everything to hurt all at once, I have also come to love yoga...most of the time.

There will always be times when I stick out like a sore thumb because FMS pain forces me to modify and/or not do certain poses, even ones I perfected the previous week. But frankly I do not care because sometimes my own thumb felt like it is on fire (nerve pain can make you feel some funky things).

So I think I will stick with this yoga class, its perky instructor, and whirlpool prelude. And when my thumb burns me or various other funky feelings come upon me, I will simply modify as necessary and choose not to care.