new member & question

[Guest guest]

I have been practicing ashtanga style yoga for

under a year now & not only has it improved my body but

also my perception of life. Before yoga, I felt as if

I was a walking zombie prowling the earth. I would

eat, sleep, go to work w/ no spark of life whatsoever.

With yoga, I was able to live in the present & love

being in it as well. I go to Power Yoga classes twice a

week & I practice twice a day on my own or w/ a

partner. <br><br>However, my home practice has made me

over zealous. Once I found that I was able to do some

difficult poses so I did them all the time just to push

myself to my limit....sort of an endurance test, I

gather. I guess I wasn't listening to my body & so now my

legs, arms, back & butt feel like they have been

stomped on & punched. Not only that, I feel somewhat

weak, lethargic, cold & feverish at the same time. I

tried doing some asanas today but my body just said NO.

What is going on? Why am I resisting? It seriously

worries me if I've even missed a practice even for just

one day but I just can't do the poses correctly even

if I tried. It just hurts too much. Not just my body

but my head! Can anything be done about this lethargy

that I have?<br><br>Namaste,<br>Isis

[Guest guest]

there is a flue or whatever-kind-of-bug going

around in southern cali. And by the way it drags on for

long, can start with headache, attacks your vulnerable

part whether, chest/throat etc. Do not practice during

fever. And it dehydrates. (water, veg juice)

[Guest guest]

Hello there. Wow, that's quite a story. I

definitely think it is possible to overdo yoga asana

practice, especially the more aggressive forms such as

Ashtanga and "power" yoga. That is one reason to study

with a good teacher. Why do "Ashtanga-based" yoga

instead of Ashtanga? One of the theories in Ashanga is

that certain postures are done in a certain order for

certain reasons. And another theory is that one posture

should be mastered before moving on to the next. (this

can be taken to any extreme)<br><br>You may just need

to rest a bit, or, as Chamoya suggests, you may have

gotten a flue or something, which can cause aches and

pains. In fact, from the symptoms you describe, it does

sound like some kind of a flue. Could take a couple of

weeks to get over.<br><br>But you may need to

reevaluate your practice and take a more gentle approach for

awhile. The gentler the approach, the more likely you can

get away with practicing several hours a day. Most

Ashtangis probably limit it to one session a day, which may

be up to 2 hours. The body needs to rest and

rebuild.<br><br>I would suggest checking out Sam Dworkis. His

website is <a href=http://www.extensionyoga.com

target=new>http://www.extensionyoga.com</a> He talks a lot

about the dangers of overdoing yoga. He talks about

"appropriate yoga", which is different for everyone. And he

explains a lot of the science behind it. The magic word is

"fascia".<br><br>If you don't seem to be getting better, you may want

to look into some bodywork. Living in California,

you have access to lots of Hellerworkers. See

<a href=http://www.hellerwork.com

target=new>http://www.hellerwork.com</a><br><br>I think it is possible to be

totally obsessed by

yoga and spend many hours a day practicing and

studying and still not overdo it. You just have to pay a

lot of attention to yourself. I suggest broadening

and deepening your knowledge by surrounding yourself

with good books (see

<a href=http://www.ionet.net/~tslade/yogabook.htm

target=new>http://www.ionet.net/~tslade/yogabook.htm</a> for some ideas) and by

checking out some of the

many teachers that you have access to.<br><br>Good

luck, and let us know how you are doing.