A Color Burst and Grist for the Contemplative Mill in Everyday Ramblings

Isn’t this burst of azalea color lovely? We are having below average rainfall and so even though it still gets moderately cold and is most often cloudy out there we have these periods where it is dry and one is able to see the detail of this rapidly unfolding spring. I saw the first full-fledged leaves on the trees this week.

Yesterday I had my physical therapy evaluation about the return of pain in my back and it was fruitful and good.

This is a combined physical therapy office and yoga studio so after we did the getting to know each other part and she evaluated my body and some obvious movement patterns we went into the studio.

The first thing that was quite helpful was that she confirmed without a doubt that I have a structural issue in the middle of my back. It isn’t just a slight curve, it is a curve with a crisscross and for a person experiencing pain it is so useful to know that there is a visible reason for said pain.

We talked about what I did in the 8 weeks of PT I had in a medical setting with a young physical therapist last year and her insight about that was interesting. Everything he gave me worked on strengthening and stretching the muscles and connective tissue of the affected tissue, which is why I got relief when I did the exercises consistently but they didn’t address the underlying structural issue in my spine.

The short daily practice she designed for me that incorporates (with minor modifications) things I already do, is about actually changing as much as possible the way the bones sit.

How cool is that?

She also told me that it is an incredibly good thing that I have been practicing yoga these last 19 years and to try to imagine the shape my spine (and arthritic SI joints) would be in if I hadn’t done all this work.

As we were saying goodbye she mentioned that it was also a good thing I was doing serving the community of students I do serve with the kind of yoga I teach.

And, she had this idea about why I might have the disconnect with my inner pony, who wants to run, and the 10 year old girl that wants to ride her blue bike with the big white tires as fast as she can around the neighborhood.

Most of you know I have this genetic anomaly that affects my apocrine glands, which are what most people call sweat glands and when I was in my mid 20’s I had them all removed. I do sweat but it is not the same as say a person without this mutation.

Her idea makes so much sense when she said it (and it baffles me that it never occurred to me before) especially because when I do try running and often in the past just going for long walks my feet get super hot.

She thinks it may be because I, umm, overheat and my body tries to employ it’s built in cooling system and goes, oh wait a minute, this is not happening the way it should, stop, stop, shut down. Homeostasis in action.

All this time I thought it was my heart or my lungs or some other weird thing but it totally is understandable that all my operating systems would shut down if I overheat.

My hair person is always telling me my hair is too clean when he does highlights, the color slips and I am like no wait, I am clean but not neurotically or obsessively so…

We think it might be because I don’t secrete oil the same way other people do.

I know I wondered when I was first diagnosed (which took about six miserable years) how having a chronic incurable condition was going to affect me as I aged. I seem to be finding out.

The good news is that now I have a new perspective on how I might adapt to see if I can run a little or ride more so I can hang out with Most Honorable. Some ideas already are super breathable fabrics and the right amount of clothing and yogic breathing practices that cool the body down.

I am excited to begin to experiment.

One of the things this wonderful physical therapist asked me point blank was about why, that at 63, getting on a bit there in years, I drive myself so hard.

That is something to seriously take under consideration.

I did tell her I was having a massage tomorrow.

Last updated March 18, 2018