Inevitably, every time yoga session nears the ends, I hear:
"How long does it take before I get better at this?
When will it start getting better???"
often complemented by,
"Should I stay in the class I am in or move to a different one?"
I hear you. I get you.
I have been to that exact place more times than I care to remember.
The problem is that there's no real good working model yet of how to make our way from living with pain to living with less pain, from living with less pain to growing stronger and becoming more active, and from becoming more active to becoming an athlete (an athlete of age if you'd like!).
I have tripped and stumbled my way along this path, and got frustrated enough times that I have started to build my own working model - the working title, as you may have guessed is "From Pain To Performance."
Pain To Performance Foundations:
1. For folk with persistent pain, the goal - at least in initial stages of training - has to be less about "getting stronger, fitter, better," and more about awareness + acceptance.
Without those to A's we chronically and consistently cross the boundaries of our tissues and nervous system tolerance, resulting in flare ups, set backs and frustration.
"Find the baseline of activity" has to be a priority at first, and working thread as you continue to increase the loads.
2. General fitness programs are built around 21-day adaptation cycle - which means the load (weight, number of repetitions, etc) is increased every 3 weeks.
Active* nervous system adaptation cycle is very individual, and it hovers right around 8-10 week cycle. It helps to focus less on progress + increased loading, and focus more on process + form + execution mastery + enjoying the practice (there's brain science behind enjoyment.)
When we exercise, our bodies are flooded with endorphins - the feel good chemicals - so it is really difficult to recognize when you have crossed the tissue tolerance boundary and ventured into the "triggery" territory.
The insurance policy here is to pay attention to the "feels" and be aware of your form - when you loose your good form, you have arrived to your finish line. The trick, of course, is to know what the good form feels like... We have been working on that:)
*I've lately replaced the words "sensitive nervous system" with "active nervous system" because "sensitive" often is correlated with "weak."
Folk who live with persistent pain are some of the STRONGEST people I know. To have the strength to carry on with your day when you haven't slept and are hurting takes INCREDIBLE strength.
3. Break down LARGE GOALS (as in: upper body strength, for example) into their smaller components. For example, bicep curl requires wrist stability, bicep strength, and awareness of how the shoulder stabilizes itself. Each one of these components can be a worthy goal to focus on.
4. Buy-in comes in stages.
If you've felt like your body have betrayed you before - and that's how chronic pain often feels like - it is sooooo! difficult to trust yourself to get the moves right. Honestly, I still struggle with this!
So we first begin by working with a teacher whom we trust.
Once we've become aware of our strengths and our limitations, we then begin to test our ability to do some of the things on our own.
This process of re-building your body trust is grueling, but necessary.
And it takes time and perseverance.
So if your home practice is not happening, there's a reason for that... and it often is a deeper reason than "not having the time," or "not having the space."
5. Finally, fatigue and exhaustion are the first two signs of over-training.
If you don't heed the warning, the onset of pain usually follows.
So back to classes....
It takes a while for the new body learning to sink in.
Remember, you are learning your body's "feels" as a second language - how long would it take you to learn Russian and be fluent in it?
At first, the learning is purely intellectual: we can make sense of what it is that we are trying to achieve, but lack body awareness to isolate the movements and pin point whether we are getting them right or wrong.
At some point (from what I've seen, usually about 3 - 6 month mark) the light bulbs start to go on - not for all of the movements and not all at once, but rather gradually, slowly flickering in.
Once you have that flickering on, it is time for a new challenge!
