Bharat Thakur - Title
     
      Top Lines for www.bharatthakur.com      
   
     
 
Press

YOGA FOR JOINT PAIN

Article 1: Ankle Loosening

Human being is a machine. But a machine with a brain and a heart which machines don’t have. The joints in our Body, we can see, but the mind and emotions we cannot see. Yet what we see and what we cannot see are so interlinked that when your emotion is stress your blood vessels constrict and you get a headache. Similarly your joints are being affected by your emotions. Meanwhile you can practice these exercises to give you some relief from your pain. Move very slowly and smoothly as you do not want to aggravate your pain.

CAUTION: Make sure that your movements are easy and smooth. Move slowly and at any time if you feel pain stop, take a deep breath and begin more slowly this time.

Exercise 1

  • Sit straight with your legs stretched out. Feet together.
  • Bring full awareness to all the muscles around the foot and ankle area getting relaxed.
  • Stretch the feet outwards and hold for few seconds.
  • Now stretch the feet inwards, hold it for few seconds.
  • Now move the ankle to one direction, side ways, as shown.
  • Repeat the same on the other side.

 

Article 2: Ankle Stretching

Stretching any muscle or joint removes all the stiffness which has been caused due to your negative and stressful thoughts. It could be that your constant worrying about some problem has caused your finger joints to get stiff and painful. Stretching increases blood circulation and removes pain and stiffness. Hold these ankle stretches and in no time they will make you feel much lighter on your feet.

CAUTION: Make sure that your movements are easy and smooth. Move slowly and at any time if you feel pain stop, take a deep breath and begin more slowly this time.

Exercise 1

  • Sit straight with your legs stretched out.
  • Bend left knee and rest the heel over the thigh of the right leg.
  • Hold the knee with left hand so that it is upright.
  • With the right hand stretch the foot down wards, upwards and side ways feeling the stretch on the ankle.
  • Repeat the same with the other leg.

Exercise – 2 Vajrasana

  • Sit back on your heels.
  • Place palms on knees.
  • Keep back straight, close your eyes.
  • Breathe slowly and gently relaxing your self.

 

Article 3: Knee Relaxation

The knee, unfortunately, is the most over used joint in the body but also the most painful when it starts giving trouble. Due to many other problems like obesity, the knee is usually the first joint to start giving trouble. These simple and straight forward movements practiced with a lot of awareness will gradually bring back pain free movement of your knee joint.

CAUTION: Make sure that your movements are easy and smooth. Move slowly and at any time if you feel pain stop, take a deep breath and begin more slowly this time.

Exercise 1

  • Sit straight with your legs stretched out.
  • Bend the knee of one leg, as shown.
  • Raise the leg to 60 degrees upward, as shown.
  • Repeat the movement for 5 – 10 times.
  • Change the leg and repeat the same.

 

Exercise 2

  • Sit straight with your legs stretched out.
  • Bend one knee keeping the heel off the ground.
  • Support by interlocking the arm under the thigh.
  • Rotate the leg from the knee joint in clock wise and anti clockwise direction.
  • Repeat the same with other leg.

 

Article 4: knee Stretch

As you grow old, your joints have done many years of service to your body and its movements. Like in a car, every nut needs oiling and basic movements to remain functional and strong. Similarly the knee joint needs to stretch everyday in some way or another to remain healthy and working smoothly. A stretch increases blood circulation which is the healer of all problems. Practice slowly with lot of care.

CAUTION: Make sure that your movements are easy and smooth. Move slowly and at any time if you feel pain stop, take a deep breath and begin more slowly this time.

Exercise 1

 

  • Sit with legs stretched out, back straight.
  • Bend one leg, place ankle on opposite thigh close to groin.
  • With one hand hold the toe for support and with other hand push the knee towards the ground.
  • Repeat the same for 10 – 15 times.
  • Do the same with other leg.

Exercise 2

  • Sit with legs stretched out, back straight.
  • Bend one leg, place ankle on opposite thigh close to groin.
  • With one hand hold the toe for support and with the other hand hold the knee and pull it towards the chest.

 

Article 5: Hip Relaxation

Your mental state and your lack of hip movement lead you to tremendous stiffness which is the root cause of joint pain. When you combine a state of high stress which stiffens your body and simultaneously limit your movements what results is a painful immovable state of your joints. Basic movements will relieve your pain and hopefully stop this vicious cycle from repeating itself and leading you to a severe case of arthritis.

CAUTION: Make sure that your movements are easy and smooth. Move slowly and at any time if you feel pain stop, take a deep breath and begin more slowly this time.

Exercise 1

  • Sit down bringing your heels together near the groin.
  • Interlock your hands and pull the feet inward, as shown.
  • Now gently move the knees down to the ground.
  • Repeat the cycle for 10 – 15 times.
  • Breathe normally.

Exercise 2

 

  • Sit down bringing your heels together near the groin.
  • Place your palms on the knee as shown.
  • Now gently move forward pushing your knees down.
  • Repeat the movement for 10 – 15 times.

 

Article 6: Hip Stretch

In yoga we refer to ‘Opening up the Body’ because when all the muscles are stretched out the mind feels open and gives you the feeling of your body also feeling relaxed and open. To change your mental state from stiff, stubborn and inflexible the same has to be done to your body by way of a stretch. Muscles being elastic they take time to settle into their new relaxed state and prefer to be tight. Yet with time they get used to being relaxed and hate to become tight. You will only start enjoying a stretch when this has happened to you. Take your time and give time to your muscles during your stretch to start adapting to a more relaxed state.

CAUTION: Make sure that your movements are easy and smooth. Move slowly and at any time if you feel pain stop, take a deep breath and begin more slowly this time.

Exercise 1

 
  • Sit straight with your legs stretched out and feet wide apart, as shown.
  • Interlock the palms and stretch your hands straight in front of you bending forward, as shown.
  • Now move from the hip from right to left forming a big circle.
  • Exhale as you bend forward and inhale as you bend backwards.
  • Repeat the movement for 5 times.
  • Now change the side and do the same.

Exercise 2

  • Sit down bringing your knees close to your chest.
  • Interlock your hands around the legs, as shown
  • Close your eyes.
  • Breathe slowly and relax.

 

Article 7: Shoulder Loosening

The mental burdens we carry not only tire our brain but ‘virtually’ tire our bodies. Any sort of burden is taken up by the shoulder as you may have noticed that when too many things are worrying you, you literally feel the weight on your shoulders. We need to understand life better or work on our body so that the negative effects of our excessive thoughts can be reduced. Yoga provides both solutions, through postures and through meditation. Together, they can give you fabulous results.

Exercise 1 (738 – 742)

  • Place both hands on shoulders. Bring both elbows together in front
  • Slowly rotate the elbows and shoulders clockwise raising elbows up over the head and down again.
  • Repeat the same movement anti-clockwise.
  • Repeat 5 times in each direction.

 

Article 8: Shoulder Stretch

Nature has gifted us a mind which is capable of healing the body or making the body diseased. A simple thing like your attention and awareness to a painful part of your body can give you instant pain relief. When you perform a stretch with your shoulder, apart from the physical benefits, the mind is forced to bring its attention to the joint and starts to heal it. Do these stretches with tremendous focus to get maximum results.

Exercise 1

  • Sit straight with your legs stretched out.
  • Make a tight fist.
  • Raise right hand straight up, next to your ears, as shown.
  • The left hand is down, the fist in level of your hip, as shown.
  • Now slowly move the right hand downwards keeping the elbow straight and simultaneously move the left hand upwards.
  • Repeat the cycle for 10 – 15 times.
  • Breath normally.

Exercise 2

  • Stand straight with your feet together.
  • Interlock your hands behind, keeping the elbow straight, as shown.
  • Inhale and bend foreword.
  • Hold for 5 seconds, breath normally.
  • Slowly come back to the starting position.
  • Repeat it 5 times.

 

Article 9: Neck Loosening

The muscles and joints in your body are all interconnected. Every muscle which is tight or injured or sore affects the muscles around it. Similarly, the condition of your neck affects your shoulders and your back. Loosening your neck can loosen up your whole body and make you feel relaxed and easy. Practicing this everyday will prevent worse problems from occurring.

Exercise 1

 

  • Sit with legs stretched out, back straight.
  • Bend one leg, place ankle on opposite thigh close to groin. Bend other leg and place ankle on thigh of bent leg, close to groin. Place your hands on your knees.
  • Gently turn the head left so chin is in line with the shoulders.
  • Now gently turn the head to the right as far as comfortable.
  • Repeat 10 times.

Exercise 2

 

  • Sit in for Exercise 1.
  • Slowly move the head as far back as comfortable.
  • Slowly bring head up and move it forward so chin touches chest.
  • Repeat 10 times.

Exercise 3

  • Sit in for Exercise 1.
  • Slowly rotate the head clockwise down to chest, to the right, backward, to left side in a relaxed, smooth, rhythmic, circular movement.
  • Now gently rotate anti-clockwise i.e. in opposite direction.

 

Article 10: Neck Stretch

The neck is a delicate area with many small muscles which are very sensitive to your mental state. Due to their sensitivity they get knotted up easily and once in this state, it takes some effort to bring them back to normal. After loosening your neck you need to hold these stretches for sometime in order to make your neck muscles return to their original condition which is relaxed and loose.

Exercise 1

  • Sit with legs stretched out, back straight.
  • Bend one leg, place ankle on opposite thigh close to groin. Bend other leg and place ankle on thigh of bent leg, close to groin.
  • Take arms behind back, catch hold of one wrist with other hand and pull down as you lift the chest and drop head back.
  • Hold 10-20 seconds.
  • Slowly resume start position.

Exercise 2

  • Sit in padmasana.
  • Interlock your fingers at chest level, palms facing towards you, elbows at same level.
  • Inhale deeply as you turn palms out and slowly stretch your arms, shoulders and chest upwards.
  • Exhale through the mouth as your turn palms in, and slowly bring palms back to start position.
  • Hold the stretch for few seconds.

 

Article 11: Wrist

The wrist joint can very easily get strained as most of our movements in a day involve our hands and sometimes due to repetitive movement of the fingers the wrist can get sore and painful. These simple and easy movements shunt blood to the region which then starts healing it. At first your pain may not disappear immediately but with time it will surely go away.

EXERCISE 1

  • Sit with legs stretched out, back straight. Bend one leg, place ankle on opposite thigh close to groin. Bend other leg and place ankle on thigh of bent leg, close to groin.
  • Interlock your fingers at chest level, palms facing towards you, elbows at same level.
  • Inhale deeply as you turn palms out and slowly stretch your arms out in front.
  • Exhale through the mouth as you turn palms in and slowly bring palms back to start position.
  • Repeat 5 times

Exercise 2

  • Sit with legs stretched out in front, feet together, body relaxed
  • Stretch both arms in front of you to shoulder level
  • Keeping arms straight, slowly stretch both hands down from wrist so that fingers point to floor. Simultaneously, move toes forward and stretch the feet.
  • Now, slowly stretch both hands up backward from wrist. Simultaneously stretch toes and feet up and towards the body.
  • Repeat 10 times

 

Article 12: Yoga Nidra

Yoga can be defined in a way as the science of relaxation because the end result of all stretching is that your body becomes pain free and so relaxed that you can hardly feel its presence. It is in relaxation that healing takes place and this is evident in your life as you cannot survive without sleep for a few days even though you could for many weeks without food. Yog Nidra or sleep with awareness gives your body the ultimate relaxation and allows your body to rejuvenate and heal its problem areas.

  • Lie on your back on a mat or on a hard mattress.
  • Concentrate on your breath. Breathe deeply from the abdomen and just be aware of yourself inhaling and exhaling.
  • There are sixteen vital points in your body which can relax you totally if you concentrate on them. Start concentrating on the forehead, move progressively to the nostrils, lips, chin, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingertips, chest, abdomen, thighs, knees, calves, ankles and toes. Repeat this cycle 2-3 times.
  • Now imagine your limbs are detached from your body. Only the head, chest and abdominal area exist now. As you breathe in, feel the air entering your spine and cleansing it.
  • Concentrate on the different vital nerve plexus or nerve junctions called chakras and breathe in and out 5-10 times while concentrating on each point.
  • Start with the root plexus or mooladhara in the space between your anus and your genitals.
  • Move to the solar plexus or swadhisthan, four fingers above the navel.
  • Then to the midpoint of the chest, anahat.
  • Move to the throat, to visudhi.
  • Move to the point between the eyebrows, ajna
  • Finally move to the crown, the suryachakra.
  • Imagine your limbs are once again attached to your body. Be aware of your whole body as one unit for about 2 minutes.
  • Slowly open your eyes, stretch and get up.