Cooling Yoga Postures for IC

In keeping with our theme from last week, I wanted to discuss with you this week the use of yoga postures for irritable bowel syndrome(IBS), fibromyalgia, vulvodynia, and chronic prostatitis  All of these matter science disease labels are associated in high percentages with IC

(Also for more information see the YouTube video at   http://goo.gl/0Fm5SI)

Yoga has been used as a discipline for healing at the Ayurvedic Institute since the 1980’s and has been trademarked as Ayuryoga  The uniqueness of the breathing techniques that I talked about last week and the poses this week is that paired with energy science healing techniques they can restore normal health without IC

The key is that certain yoga postures improve GI health and restore digestive power that has been lost over the years  You will not heal IC until you address the digestive health of your gut

Use of Yoga in IC: A Historical Perspective

Yoga as a discipline of healing using the Ayurvedic model has been around for 5000+years and has used yoga postures for healing  In the late 1990’s Dawn Mahowald, a certified yoga instructor began having symptoms of IC  She began using yoga postures for her problem and was pleasantly surprised that her symptoms improved to the point she wasn’t bothered any further  During that time she sought out the help of a urologist, Emmy Ripoll MD who was open minded enough to follow Dawn’s progress and see the improvemnts

This led to a collaborative effort and a book on the subject showing how IC can be helped with yoga  They currently practice in Boulder Colorado  They were interviewed by Jill Osborne of the ICN in 2002

The Energy Science Model of Qualitative Healing

As I have pointed out over the years the difference between the matter science and the energy science medical healing models is that one is based on molecules and the other on seeing the body as an energy field  You simultaneously coexist as these fields  If I put on my molecular glasses I see the body as an collection of molecules  If I put on a different pair of glasses I see the body as an energy field

When I have those energy glasses on I see the body as a collection of qualities, hot and cold, hard and soft, liquid and dense, slow/dull and sharp/penetrating, heavy and light, etc  So these qualities become my window of observation as to how the energy field is doing  If I feel sluggish and fatigued then I’m out of balance and should take measures to correct the problem

If you have IC you have an imbalance in the hot and mobile qualities that cause you go to the toilet frequently and when in a flare experience burning on urination

So yoga can be therapeutic but a sequence in a yoga studio may cause you a setback if you don’t know how the activity can affect you  So the ongoing discussion below is meant to be a reference for you for future questions that you may have  Therapeutic yoga when combined with Ayurvedic energy science techniques can be healing and transforming

So What Yoga Poses Are Good For IC?

Using yoga as a therapeutic tool is extremely valuable but you have to have some basic understanding of what yoga asana(postures, poses) do to the energy body  As a matter of fact, people report being made worse when they go to a yoga class  This would be particularly the case if you attended a “hot yoga” (Bikram) session and this would make complete sense from what I said above  Here are some suggestions

Chandra namaskar(moon salutation) is an excellent cooling dynamic flow sequence for IC

Doing all sequences and poses slowly(opposed to the mobile quality) is also therapeutic

Forward bends are heating and backbends and expansion poses are cooling in general

After these generalizations the building of a posture practice is based on the individual and their needs  but safe asanas to use are:  trikonasana, ardha chandrasana, and utthita parsvokonasana  Most standing poses are heating

Balancing poses are very grounding for Vata and therefore reduce the mobile quality:  vrksasna, natarajasana, and gaurudasana

Agni building poses are safe such as uttana padasana, naukasana, and mayurasana

Inversions are in general heating but these can be used safely: halasana, bhadharasana(downward facing dog), and short periods in headstand(sarvangasana) are OK but sirasana and variations should be avoided

Twists are cooling so ardha matsyendrasana and jathara parivattasana are great

Seated postures with backbending components are cooling:  setu bandhasana, dhanurasana, pawanmuktanasana, baddha konasana, gomuksasana, virasana, supta virasana, ustrasana, matsyasana, vajrasana, upward dog, and bhujangasana

This list is to give you and your yoga teacher some guidance as to what postures can be aggravating for IC  If you haven’t explored yoga, maybe it’s time to try it out with this guidance  It’s great exercise!

If you would like some personal guidance you and I could develop a personalized program that could be progressed and at the same time get some other help with treatment of your IC condition

Clearance of Toxicity

There are specific postures in yoga that can help improve your digestion which are called above agni building poses  These are amazing because they help restore digestive health which is foundational on your road back to recovering from IC

As always best in your healing journey  Love DB

PS  Don’t forget April 5 for the free webinar on the use of yoga in IC!