organic — Blog — Suraj Yoga

If you are reading this you are either researching the best ways to rehab, currently rehabbing or just plain curious.

An Anteriror Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction of the knee joint is one of the most common surgeries and the recovery time can be up to a year. That is a long time for anybody and even after the instructed rehab has finished for many the pain can still be a problem as surgery doesn’t always mean a pain free life.

This is where the Classic Hot Yoga (26&2 sequence) approach comes in as an aid for your ACL reconstruction rehab.

Before I go into more detail - I have had double ACL reconstruction, and one of my surgeries didn’t go to plan, and the Classic Hot Yoga (26&2 sequence) helped me walk again. And there have been many stories of this working for people.

Combining your physio and Classic Hot Yoga you will be back in action in no time, and you will be able to maintain the health of your knee.

This is a practice to aid your normal physio therapy rehab, or to practice after you have fully rehabbed but please be sure to check with your physiotherapist and doctor before starting.

The following factors explain why the yoga helps those going through rehab and even post rehab.

The heat allows the joint to relax giving it the stretch it needs.
The emphasis on straightening out the leg and activating the muscles around the knee joint helps to realign the knee and creates a strong muscular structure to support it.
The calm and relaxing environment that your mind goes into during practice will allow you work with the tightness of the knee; giving it the safe stretch it needs.
Yoga pumps fresh oxygenated blood around the body to the knees where they are needed the most and this really helps the healing process.
The repetition in the sequence balances out the body and builds muscles correctly, giving strength equally throughout the body.

During the practice please do not miss out: Fixed Firm - Supta Vajrasana, this is the knee healer, and even though 99% of "rehabbers" will not be able to do the full expression at the beginning, you must start this – the teacher will guide you and this right here is the knee healer regardless you have had surgery or not! Before you know it you will be in the full expression and happier than ever.

Before you start tell the teacher about your injury, listen to them and also listen to your body – do not strain yourself in any posture.

Using this approach to rehab both of my knees has been an absolute gift - I couldn’t walk after an infection in my left knee reconstruction and, I can say I have been very lucky to have this practice.

If you have any further questions about ACL rehab please email me at – surajyoga1@gmail.com and I will be more than happy to guide you through and give you some tips to get you back to what you love doing most.

Below is a picture of me 10 years on post infection, and you can see the wonders yoga has done for my knees by allowing me to hold this posture and also straighten out the knee joint as much as possible.

Yes, it’s true. Who you are today is what really matters..

Who we are is a complex conversation, but all in all, the way we think today is determined by many life situations:

Physically - we are from our biological parents, ancestors and the food we ingest.

Mentally - what we are is the data ingestion from many different situations in our lives. We have obtained and absorbed information through the environments we have been brought up in and surrounded ourselves in.

However, defining ourselves too much can be unhealthy as it leads to identification and we see daily that people who identify themselves deeply with something cause so many human disasters.

Having an understanding of identification is very powerful, and can teach us to leave a lot of things at the door.

An example

The film Lion (and a true story), where the actor Dev Patel plays Saroo Brierley who was separated from his biological mother at in his early years due an unfortunate circumstance, and then was adopted by an Australian family. His experience of life comes from his environmental challenges and changes. Even though his memory takes him back to his childhood and makes him want to go home, his lifestyle, friendships, accent and more were due to the life he lived being brought up in Australia. However if he was to remain in India his social life, hobbies and more would be that of India’s and the area he would of been brought up in.

The same man, but given an upbringing in a different world.

With that in mind, becoming attached to one way of life, or becoming too attached to the person you are in the moment (or were), and not giving yourself the room to grow, change and be the best human being you can be, is something you shouldn’t limit your life to. When you create limits to life, you end a cycle.

Who you are today comes from within, and you can change to be better and get rid of habits and ways that do not serve you.

But for the majority of humanity, who we are today internally is something that we haven’t taken much responsibility for and that is the largest barrier in this process; the way we think, what we consume, what we watch, what we listen to and more. Once we take that responsibility, together with a balanced attitude, we can give ourselves the clear sight to change things we may not like, things that make us unhappy and overall work towards and eventually become someone that is at peace and joyful inside. All this happens because we take responsibility for our feelings and lives, instead of waiting for external surroundings to change that are not in our control.

Yoga is the path, but it doesn’t happen over night

I, myself, am working on changing things on a daily basis. I still struggle with this and controlling the senses is where yoga and meditation comes in. With the sadhana of yoga you start to see within, and start to get to know the person that you are. Only once you start to understand yourself a bit better and who you may have become then you can start to change things that might not be so good and do not serve you.

Once I started to meditate and understand there is more than just the physical aspect of yoga, this changed changed my life for the better and enhanced me in ways I couldn’t imagine.

I really started to eliminate ways that I did not want to be any longer.

From when I started my physical yoga to the point of learning how significant the meditation aspect is, I learnt such a great deal and even though I could wish it happened earlier, I am happy the process was right. So don’t rush your process.

The importance of Sadhana

Sadhana can be defined as a regular and dedicated practice to something. In my life, that is yoga.

If you try the simple methods of yoga and meditation on a regular basis, you will start to obtain the skills and benefits that can help you change and better yourself for who you are today. It may not happen overnight. Just as it has taken a certain amount of time for you to be who you are now, why would you now suddenly change in 5 minutes?

But with patience, a dedicated Sadhana, and an attitude for change, your life has endless possibilities and I wish you the best in having the best life you can.

I look back at the way I was in many things and think if only I knew what I knew now, but I didn't. Digging in to the past will not serve this process, but understanding “who you are today is what really matters” allows you to move forward in this dimension of your life.

Changes start from within, not from the outside. Only once you are willing to do something, then something can actually happen. The same concept goes for attitude and mentality.

We only experience life within ourselves and once we all take responsibility for that, then we can all live in a wonderful environment which will be beautiful for all involved. The problem we face is that not everybody has taken responsibility for their own inner wellbeing and that has lead to so many forms of destruction in many parts of the world and societies today.

Enjoy the path of having the best life you can. I wish you nothing but love for this, and just remember it is what you are doing today that really matters. You can apologise and change much of your life if you take responsibility for yourself first.

Namaste.

Written by Suraj Ghumra