Category — yoga

Wednesday, April 23rd – I meant to write about this on Monday, but LIFE intervened, as it so often does.  My regular therapeutic yoga session was on Monday morning.  Kelli, my physical therapist/yoga instructor, comes to my house now twice a week rather than my going to a studio.  I have a massage table set up in the front hall on the days she comes, and over the weekend so I can do the exercises by myself.  A huge red Swiss ball also sits in the front foyer, with a bolster, a strap, and a yoga brick.  When anyone comes to the front door, I usher them in with “Welcome to Betsy’s Gym: our rates are excellent!”  Might as well make a joke out of necessity; the front foyer was the only place in the house where there was room for a table!

Anyway, one of the yoga exercises I do in a modified form is the Tree Pose. You see pictures of this one in its original standing form — a person standing on one leg, the other one bent at the knee and the sole of the foot resting on the standing calf, arms usually extended over the head and palms together. No way in the world I could do that one; but Kelli is a genius at modifying useful poses for my particular body problems.  So there I was, getting into Tree Pose: on my back on the table (can’t ever lie on the floor again in my life, alas!), my left sole flat up against the wall, and my right leg bent with the sole touching the left calf.  Suddenly Kelli said, “Hey, you did that yourself! I didn’t have to arrange your foot for you!” And yes indeed, I had, without even thinking about it.  Moreover, I could feel the sole of my foot against my other leg.  Now, that was completely new, since my toes and feet on both sides have been somewhat numb for, oh, at least a year.

I did a little trial run of wiggling my toes, which is also something I haven’t been able to do for ages.  They are not exactly nimble enough to play the piano with, but hey, they’re moving a little bit! This change really snuck up on me.  I didn’t even realize it was happening till there it was.  This has got to be a result of Dr. Klein’s work on my feet, and maybe of the spinal adjustments as well.  My guess is that some of the nerves running to the feet and toes have been blocked in subluxations, and now have been at least partially released by the adjustments. (If you’ve read the cartoon books on the Seaside Chiropractic website, you know what a subluxation is. There will be a short quiz… — better study up!)

So once again, woo-hoo! and thank you, David, for giving me back my toes and my left sole.  Onward and upward! — Betsy