HOW CAN YOGA HELP WITH SCOLIOSIS?
Scoliosis is a condition that we live with, and there is no one-stop-shop or action that can reverse the curve of scoliosis.
Yoga for scoliosis is an ongoing learning process. It’s a journey.
Some days you may feel down and discouraged and some other days you may feel motivated to push yourself harder. No matter where you are in your journey, you must know that it's a process that takes effort. Along this journey you will explore new things about yourself and your body, but regardless of what you notice or explore don't let it get you down, keep moving towards your goal. Never give up and know that it's never too late to do something about it.
Living with Scoliosis doesn’t mean that you should stop doing any of your daily activities or live differently.
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Yoga is not only about physical exercise, but also has a spiritual aspect and helps align the mind and soul.
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Yoga can help with Scoliosis in so many ways:
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Psychologically :
Yoga will help you to feel empowered when you start to take responsibility for your wellbeing without depending on someone else like your chiropractor or Osteopath to manage your scoliosis.
You can manage your pain without depending on medication.
You develop a sense of balance, mentally and physically.
Yoga helps in self acceptance, self confidence and feeling comfort in your own body.
Physically:
Yoga practice is usually asymmetrical practice which allows you to explore the differences you feel between the left and right side.
In Yoga with Scoliosis, you learn to adjust your body so you feel balanced and aligned on both sides.
Usually with Scoliosis, there are weak muscles in the back and short ones which develop due to Scoliosis. With Yoga, you will learn to strengthen the weak muscles and lengthen the short ones; which will help with the pain that is usually associated with the condition.
Depending on the level of pain you feel, you will become self aware of the body needs; meaning, do you want to release and mobilize or do you want to strengthen and de-rotate.
Develop breath awareness. By focusing on the breath throughout the yoga practice you will become aware to continuously breathe and especially through the sides of the lungs and the ribs where the breath does not flow easily.
In yoga, you will learn how to de-rotate the rotated vertebrae that are caused due to Scoliosis in all poses and especially during the twists.