My left foot still hurts off and on. Even something as simple as standing at the kitchen counter to prepare meals is uncomfortable six times out of seven. Bikram does, however, provide some relief during and immediately after class. At present, it's hard to see the light at end of the tunnel, which has prompted me to send a copy of my latest MRI to Dr. Reach--who performed the spring ligament reconstruction on my foot in January 2008--as a second opinion. I know that he will give it an honest look. To be clear, I'm not interested in surgery until I give this rehab a good honest effort. This injury first reared its ugly head in May/June 2012, when Jessica and I were on the Camino in Northern Spain. I then had a solid period of training from July-ish 2012 through early this year. Since about February, things have only gotten worse. I never did take more than two weeks off to let it calm down, which is why I need to make a better effort at trying to heal this conservatively through Bikram, massage, etc.
Here's my take/progress on the 26 Bikram postures:
1 Standing Deep Breathing – love this posture; what a great
warm-up; posterior neck has become a lot less tense and arms up/elbows together has become a lot easier on the exhale
2 Half Moon Pose – still trying to get the arms straight
back by the ears, palms together, and shoulders and hips square; however, generally, it feels pretty good other than my tendency to over-bend and struggle with breath
3 Awkward Pose – love it; left fingers tremble sometimes so tend to make a fist or drop arm;
much better at second and third of three variations of posture because on toes;
dorsiflexion lacking, which is why I can’t sit all the way down and back on first
variation (and why my foot is chronically injured)
4 Eagle Pose – once I get that foot wrapped around calf, I’m
home free; I feel pretty strong in this posture despite my wobbly, floppy feet
5 Standing Head to Knee – probably my favorite of all the
postures; love the challenge of balancing on that solid leg for a minute and
progressing through extending the lifted leg; I imagine it’ll be some time
before I can get that leg fully extended
6 Standing Bow Pose – another good one; love the balancing
aspect, especially for the left foot, which I’m trying to rehab; can’t kick too
far back yet without straining the anterior aspect of the hip and hamstrings (particularly behind knees)
7 Balancing Stick – still another good balancing posture;
can’t quite achieve the T; I like the variation on this posture with the
praying hands at the chest instead of over the head (probably because it's easier)
8 Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose – good stretch for
the hammies; no where near grabbing the feet; can barely straighten the pegs
9 Triangle Pose – probably the strongest posture for
me (it feels that way, anyway); I can’t quite get the lower arm to
the floor between big and second biggest toes, but I feel super strong in it
10 Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee Pose – not close to
locking peg and can’t get trailing foot flat on mat
11 Tree Pose – much stronger on left side
12 Toe Stand – no where near this, especially on right side
13 Dead Body Pose – hard to screw this one up
14 Wind-Removing Pose – just love it; good for hip flexion;
certainly less flexible in right hip
15 Sit Up – easy in theory but can’t touch toes with legs
fully extended
16 Cobra Pose – not a huge fan of a lot of these floor
series postures, but as my back gets stronger, I’m learning to enjoy them more
17 Locust Pose – hard to not give an assist from
contralateral leg but good for glutes
18 Full Locust Pose – like a 747; other than never having
enough room to fully extend arms at right angles from body, it’s a decent
posture
19 Bow Pose – I suck at this one but the tip to soften
shoulders was a good one; I kicked those legs out a bit more even if only a
hair
20 Fixed Firm Pose – not really benefiting from this one yet,
as I can’t get my ass down onto the mat comfortably without straining my right
knee, where that medial plica was excised (I wonder if that’s scar tissue I feel
in there or stress on a meniscus?)
21 Half Tortoise Pose – man, this is fantastic, especially
when doubled up; having a hard time letting hips fall back on heels, though, because
right hip is super tight from all the favoring due to left foot (years of
standing on right peg in locked position)
22 Camel Pose – this one makes me dizzy but was feeling it last night!
23 Rabbit Pose – don’t quite get this one but I like the
circular energy analogy; it helped last night
24 Head to Knee Pose and Stretching Pose – got the head to
the knee but not with the knee fully extended; it’s pretty easy for me to
overdo it here; the wet towel is not conducive to getting the heel to slide to achieve deeper stretch
25 Spine Twisting Pose – definitely not upright but can
finally get hand on knee; i’ll get there in time
26 Blowing in Firm Pose – belly work out
