As a complement to my yoga practice, I often do a bit of self massage. Sometimes I teach this in class with tennis balls, but in my own practice, I use a bunch of other tools. I’m working on a workshop to teach these techniques because they’ve been so helpful for me.
Update on my hamstring tenderness: I use a lot of self massage to relax my hamstring and help it feel better. Also, it’s been going very well to just say a little something in class about how I’m protecting my hamstring. I’ve been using other people to demonstrate a lot, instead of demonstrating myself. Sometimes I will show something, but I definitely feel I’ve laid off of doing too much.
I’m also being a little more diligent in my own practice to strengthen the hamstring, and not overdo the stretching. I’ve been focusing on inversions and backbends now that it’s getting cold, so I can avoid overdoing the hamstring in both of those kinds of postures.
Mostly, I’m self massaging and using Yamuna Body Rolling to stimulate healing. Body rolling uses heavy duty plastic balls (about 8-10 inches in diameter) to help you roll from the origin to the insertion of a muscle. This is the proper way to lengthen and release a muscle – not rolling back and forth on it. So, I’ll start at the buttock of the hamstring, and slowly roll down to the back of my knee. It’s pretty cool to feel the congestion in a muscle – the knots, the tender spots, etc. My leg routine has been to do my hamstring, then my quadriceps (the opposing muscle), and then the side of the leg down the IT band (wowser! That’s intense!). You can use a foam roller for this leg work, but I like the balls because they’re more versatile for other parts of the body.
Even if you don’t know much about massage, if you have an injured area, just giving it some release by palpating it can be very helpful. And if it’s an area you can’t reach, like your low back, using a tennis ball or foam roller can really help relax clenched muscles around your back.
I find this work to be a new frontier for me to eventually teach people, because it’s so much a part of my self-care routine. Do any of you give yourself a massage regularly? Or use tennis balls (which I pass out in class frequently) for self-care? It’s interesting for me to know how intuitive and easy it is to practice this on your own.
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I think that’s a great complement to yoga practice, and if you had a little session on self massage it would go over well! I had never heard of Yamuna Body Rolling but see how that is such an important part of healing.
I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to show me an alternative way to practice the wheel. That is something I have been really wanting to be able to do for so long and I cannot seem to. Now knowing that the modified version (or bridge pose) is not the best way to get my back in to shape for wheel, I’ve tried the move you showed me at home. I definitely need more arm strength but now I see how much the back bend helps to get you up!
Anyone else have words to say about wheel pose?? Is it hard for anyone else or is it just me! 🙂
Wheel is almost impossible for me! It hurts my wrists so badly that I never want to practice it. What is this secret alternative way? I want to try it!
Great tips to follow. Being professional and showing them there’s more to come I think are the most important. You need to give them a great article, that makes them want to come back. And then make sure you don’t disappoint.
Thank you for this post Barrett! I am embarking on a intuitive rolling journey of sorts…..I get information from you tube, personal experience of other people with their physical therapy and also from the massages I have experienced. I have been practicing Yoga now more than ever and am enrolled in a certified 200 hour training. I am really finding out a lot about my own body and imbalances. And I tried some of the techniques with some balls I had around. I am finding this extremely helpful. I am finding tight muscles and trigger points that I didn’t know about and this is worth it’s weight in gold for me. Last night I purchased the Yamuna brand 3 body balls and the calf pair. What another wonderful way to honor my body. I am more confidant that I can take care of my body as it is going through it’s transformations. thank you again.