ACL Reconstruction & Hot 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.

The Importance of practising discipline in Yoga

Discipline

Yoga and discipline go hand in hand, and this has been the case since the Indus-Sarasvati civilization started this wonderful yoga practise.

Throughout the evolution of Yoga, and its increased popularity in the western world the practise has lost a lot of its discipline, not to the fault of the practitioners but due to the watered-down teaching methods and teachers that do not take this part of the practise seriously enough.

Discipline by no means is something that should be acted upon as controlling, or “dictating”.  It is something that should be taught with empathy, kindness and firmness. When discipline is kept within a class you can see the vast difference between how the Yoga itself is practised.

Not only does it allow students to learn the yoga properly, it also pushes the students in the right way. Whether it is the Classic 26 & 2 method, vinyasa or any form of yoga, the student learns the practise correctly and with the correct mentality to take them on the life journey of the practise.

On a positive note, there are some fantastic teachers within London, that really teach the importance of discipline and hold that aspect strong throughout their classes.

First Timers

For somebody new to yoga (this goes more so for students that practise in urban cities such as my hometown – London), you get a wide range of different yoga teachers, studios, methods etc. And sometimes a new teacher or class can seem very strict and this can really put off a new practitioner, but I assure you for anybody that is new to yoga reading this – the intention is not to be controlling, it is to teach you (the student) the proper way, which may be harder, but it is the right way.

Discipline in the room = discipline outside the room

Once you start to get into your practise more and start to really enjoy the benefits of yoga; and one does start to naturally become more disciplined with their practise, which has a knock-on effect off the matt.

Having balance is something that can be difficult in this day and age. With the continuous onset of social media, digital media and continuous disappointment from changes and cancellations due to the easy accessibility of getting hold of someone; having the discipline of switching off and protecting your energy is something that I have learnt to do on and off the matt. And that discipline I have learnt on primarily on the matt helped me with these types of realisations.

When I started practising back in 2012, the discipline was much more apparent, and with teachers such as Paul Spencer Dobson who is one of my early yoga teachers that holds the discipline of his teaching practices from the start, right to the end of class.

Paul has been teaching yoga for almost …. years now, and even though some new practitioners may feel slightly scared and sometimes deterred from his methods, he is a teacher that ensures you learn the yoga the correct way and has not allowed times to water down the essence of his teachings, something that I have a lot of respect for and have teachers like this around still allow the essence of mainstream yoga types such as the hot yoga a method that still holds the core value of why it is such a powerful healing form of yoga.

You can learn more about Paul here.

Wax on | wax off

The need for discipline in our daily lives is a requirement, not just from ourselves, but from out bosses, our friends, our relationships and more. The discipline you learn in yoga with your practise can really help you in your life off the matt and find a way to create that discipline in all the different social and personal situations we find ourselves in this new age.

Once we understand the importance of staying still, not playing with our hair or outfit; focusing on our poses, postures and inner self; then we can start to use that practise to help protect our personal lives and help provide discipline and guidance for those that may not be as lucky as you to have found that yoga matt.

Written by Suraj Ghumra.