I lay in the dark, kept awake by the throbbing yearn in my right hip. Exhausted from a long day, I begrudgingly got out of bed.
I rolled out my yoga mat in the living room and lay lanugo on myback. With a cotton strap looped under my right foot, I slowly moved my legthrough space, stretching and working to “open” and release my hip.
Middle-of-the-night stretching was rhadamanthine a ritual, as it seemedthis was the one thing that brought unbearable relief so maybe I could get when tosleep.
It wasn’t long surpassing I ripened a new, equally aggravatingproblem: sciatica, an scrutinizingly unvarying yearn in my right buttock that sometimestraveled all the way lanugo my leg and into my tingling foot.
My story is just one variation of uncountable scenarios wherephysical pain intrudes on our daily (and nightly) lives. Chronic pain is agrowing epidemic in our society, often described by doctors as stuff idiopathicor of “unknown cause,” leaving patients feeling abandoned, without thetherapeutic support they are seeking.
Hiding Behind aFacade of Perfection
I was only in my mid-40s, but once my soul seemed to bebreaking down. I was at a loss to understand why this was happening, whilefeeling increasingly than a little hypocritical.
I was a yoga teacher and massage therapist, without all. People cameto me seeking relief from the same sorts of aches and pains that I was nowexperiencing. That made it nonflexible for me to admit, except to my doctor, that I,too, was in pain.
So, instead, I soldiered on, maintaining the facade of perfectionI so often held in front of me like a shield. However, there came a point when pretendingI didn’t hurt became too difficult, and thus began a parade to a physicaltherapist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, and other massage therapists.
Unfortunately, what relief I did find, never lasted for long. I’dheard this same story many times before, realizing that every day that Istruggled with pain, I gained new insights into the lives and frustrations ofmy students and clients.
An Eye Opener
Eventually, I came wideness the work of Jean Couch, who taught anapproach to inhabiting the soul that explained why some people in the worldcould hands siphon heavy loads on their heads without strain. I was increasingly than alittle intrigued –not that I wanted to siphon heavy loads on my head.
I made an visit to meet with Jean and bought a plane ticketto California. Nothing could have prepared me for how much this first visitwould turn so many of my beliefs upside down.
Big Changes UpAhead
Jean began our session by pointing out the many ways that I held tension in mymuscles.
Although I had studied torso of the musculoskeletal system inmassage school and during my lengthy yoga training, I had never been taughtthat the structuring of our bones, in relationship to each other, determineswhether the muscles tying to those wreck (via tendons) are in a state ofcontraction or weakness, or if they are naturally elastic, as intendedby the human design.
By the time the first session came to an end, both the chronic hippain and sciatica had all but disappeared, simply by waffly the way I sat onmy pelvis.
I was both stunned and hugely relieved – and unswayable to protract learning everything else I could aboutthis wondrous tideway that Jean tabbed “balance.”
A “New” Tideway asOld as the Hills
So in my 50s, I spent as much time as I could studying with Jean. WhileI was self-ruling of pain and feeling much increasingly comfortable, I could sense my life wasbeing turned upside down.
For starters, scrutinizingly everything I was learning from Jean was atodds with what I – and our unshortened modern society – had been taught to believe about“good” posture. I wanted to help the people in my yoga classes to experiencethe same relief I had. Instead, my once-full classes were shrinking drastically.
The new instructions I was giving, such as releasing the chestdown, rather than “holding it up” with tension, were just too much of adeparture from what our culture-wide beliefs well-nigh posture required.
Note: Yoga is stuffed-up of wonderful benefits for scrutinizingly anyone – especially when it is practiced in conformance with thefoundational principles of the human body’s natural design. You may also read this: If You Experience Dating Frustration, Give Yourself a High Five
Rough Waters Ahead
By then I had discovered that many women my age were making their way through the transition from mid-life to increasingly mature white-haired while navigating the choppy waters of such events as menopause, divorce, and children leaving home. We were presented with a “SHEro’s journey.”
I was at a loss to know how to make my way through all theupheaval I was experiencing – the grief I felt to have my last child leaving home, my searchfor how to be a woman vacated in the world, and the fear I was facing that Iwould not be worldly-wise to alimony my merchantry working and thriving as I struggled to knowhow to successfully teach this “new” way of inhabiting a human body.
The irony, of course, was that this wasn’t new; it was as old as the hills. Without all, babies and toddlers throughout the world have unchangingly discovered, entirely on their own, how to sit and then stand and walk, guided by these same rules set out by Nature – and physics.
A New Purpose in MyLife
By the time I entered my 60s, the transformation in me wasdramatic. In the process of surviving what I had feared most, I had discoveredthat personal empowerment resided as much in my physical soul as in my mind.
I found that as long as I could sense myself welded within myabdominal core, while resting my mind on a quiet peaceful breath, I couldhandle scrutinizingly anything. This fueled a desire to want to share this informationwith others, which has shaped the undertow of my life overly since.
It’s been 28 years since I was first introduced to the concepts of natural alignment. I’m 77 years old now and vastitude grateful that the physical pain of older years gave me the opportunity to discover passion and purpose that would serve as a steer to guide me forward.
This steer has pushed me to travel solo to remote places in theworld, where I was worldly-wise to photograph and interview women who not only carryheavy loads on their heads with ease, but who age with elongated, supplespines, and enjoy easy flexibility and rememberable strength and vitality.
Living with Passion
Does this midpoint that natural structuring is a quick fix for painproblems and issues related to poor posture? No, because, of course, there isno such thing as a quick fix.
Some people may find firsthand relief of a particular problem, asI did, but for rememberable transpiration to protract to unfold, one has to learn a fewfundamental details, and then be willing to put them into practice withconscious, mindful intent.
I’ve made it my mission to spread my knowledge and wits toanyone who would listen. So, I’ve created a podcast.
Except for the joy we have in loving relationships with family andfriends (and grandbabies!), I can think of nothing increasingly gratifying than to havea passion for something – it can be scrutinizingly anything at all, aslong as it stirs genuine interest and excitement. It can be writing or paintingor gardening or volunteering – fill in the blank.
Even in our 60s and beyond, it’s not too late to take stock ofwhat makes our hearts soar and follow its flight in the direction to thediscovery of who we might still want to wilt – despite all the hardships wemay squatter on the way. As the saying goes, we don’t grow and evolve during thegood times.