Yogamergency

A little over two weeks ago, I attempted to do a split with my right leg forward. In yoga, this asana is called Hanumanasana or Monkey Pose. It was named after Hanuman or the Monkey God, who simply took a leap and landed in a full split. Easy enough, right? Wrong. I remember being able to a split before in gymnastics class when I was younger, so I thought, of course I can still do it! No problem. So, with my mom and sister as my audience, I attempted it or rather, did what Hanuman did and slid right into it without warming up and heard a horrendous popping sound all the way down my right hip. Then my vision got fuzzy for a few seconds and I thought, I am never going to be able to practice yoga again. There goes my passion, my future, my everything. I'll have to find something else to do. Then I said, ok...I just had a yogamergency, I need to go to the hospital. My mom, still chuckling about my silly mistake said, no no you're ok, just fill up the bathtub and sit in there for a while. So I did and talked on the phone with some yoga friends who said I should be ok...that as long as I could still bend over, I'd be fine. Phew, that was a relief. I went about my normal routine, both teaching and taking yoga classes. I noticed a tightness and stiffness all the way down my hamstring and pain in my Piriformis (pictured above). I did nothing to care for the injury and was shy to let my teachers know...lesson learned! I will always tell teachers now at the beginning of classes if I'm injured. Otherwise, you never know what could happen.

I gave in the other day and visited a Sport's Medicine Doctor at UT who told me that it was most likely just a pulled muscle and that I should try to avoid forward folding if I could. I've learned the beauty of props, especially blocks since my injury. Never thought that I would have to work with an inflexible leg before---I was born pretty flexible, which got in the way of my yoga practice at first...so now that I can't do everything to the same extent as before, I am really struggling. But it has been humbling. I've learned to appreciate different parts of my practice and have turned inward a bit more, noticing new things. For example, I had no idea how much I relied on my thumbs in practice...but yes, I do! Also, taking more time to transition from one asana to the next has helped me use my core a bit more. So, looking on the bright side of this pesky yogamergency, which I'm kind of grateful for these days.

patience and love,

Brooke.