The King of Poses

"I don't know WHY it works..it just DOES!!"

I'm not one to ask "why" yoga helps me feel so great in all areas of my life. I tend to ride the wave, peaceful in the knowledge that I feel good after I hit the mat.

BUT, I discovered an article in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy that blew my mind. It is a study connecting Sirsasana (headstand) and Rotator Cuff injury (that area at the very front of your shoulder)....but not in the way you may first believe....

This study claims that headstand can relieve the pain of rotator cuff rips, and actually increase arm mobility!!! (Arm mobility increased 75%, and pain decreased from 4.8/10 to 1.2/10) In fact, the participants in this study were so affected by headstand that NONE went onto have surgery!! NONE!

What? Yoga can replace SURGERY???!!!

Here's what they speculate may happen: Through the practice of headstand, the central nervous system establishes a new, painless, and unconscious, sequence of muscle contractions to replace another, painful and still unconscious, set of muscle contractions. In other words, your mind/body LEARNS a new habit! BUT YOU'RE NOT AWARE OF IT!

whoa....

Without going into the technical terminology here (which I find difficult to muddle through anyway, unless I'm heavily sedated...), after headstand, your mind/body replaces the supraspinatus-deltoid contraction (rotator cuff PAIN!) with a rhomboid-subscapularis-deltoid contraction (NO PAIN!). And your mind/body adopts this new pain-free combination unconsciously and with stunning speed. Nuerologically, noone can explain it....but there it is.

Is there any wonder that this pose is called the "King Of Asana"?!

And it's not like these folks did full-sirsasana for hours every day....they in fact practiced a version with their legs supported by a chair, and for only 30 seconds daily! That's right! THIRTY SECONDS!

Apparently that's plenty of time for the ol' noggin to correct a bad habit. A kind of nuero-muscular training session...that may perhaps save you from painful and debilitating surgery.

What blows me away are the implications from this study...what else is happening on the mat subconsciously that monumentally affects different aspects of our lives? What else has changed? .....I don't know....

But I do know yoga works. Overtime.

Our time spent on the mat has far-reaching and astounding affects on our physical/mental/spiritual well-being, in ways we can't begin to quantify or explain. And precisely for this reason, it keeps us coming back....and makes it difficult to fully explain to non-yogi's why we love it so much!

Yoga's like chocolate...you've got to try it to fully get it. And once you do, you'll understand why it's been around for over 7000 years, never once needing a quantifying study to validate it.

But it's still awesome to see studies like this....it reaffirms what we all know. And re-ignites our passion for this amazing and humbling practice.

See you on the mat....I think I'll go do a headstand....!

Namaste,
Megan Sappington