How isolating movements in yoga therapy can change how you feel for the better
If you’ve been with me before, we’ve probably worked on isolating movements in yoga therapy. For example, can you move your leg in the hip without also moving other body parts, such as your knee, pelvis, or head? These additional movements that can happen, or using muscles to do things that aren’t their job, are sometimes known as compensations.
Isolating movements can sometimes lead to the misunderstanding that compensations are bad and need to be eradicated. Truth be told, I had this same idea when I started doing yoga therapy work. Especially if you’re already a perfectionist (and how common is that?), it’s easy to get obsessed with perfect movement. You might even get the idea that you shouldn’t be moving parts of your body in concert with other parts (which actually just isn’t practical or functional – it’s going to happen!)
You actually don’t need perfect movement to feel better – and perfect movement isn’t even the reason why we’re isolating movements in yoga therapy. Working on isolating movements does a few things:
1. Isolating movements in yoga therapy builds better control and coordination of small muscle groups in the area.This means better, more functional stability. (In fact, the definition of stability is the ability to control and coordinate movement.)
2. It changes the way your body absorbs and responds to forces as you move. It can help your body become more efficient and reduce strain.
3. Both of the above help your nervous system – your brain – trust that movements aren’t dangerous. This work tells your brain, “I’ve got this!” It reduces the extra sensitivity that can develop in cases of chronic pain, and raises the threshold at which you perceive sensory input as pain.
4. And all of this gives you more choices for how to move at any given time, so that you can do as much work as you need to to accomplish a task – and no more.
The truth is, your body is doing an awesome job, compensations included. Combining the movements available in all our joints is a very sensible way to get things done. And – when persistent pain, tension, and other symptoms are present – working on isolating movements in yoga therapy and noticing your unique compensation patterns can make a big difference to how you feel. The more you can be kind and curious as you approach movement, (even towards those compensations) the more you can learn about what changes will help your body feel better.
If you want to explore, here’s a video about isolating wrist movements. If you have wrist issues, make sure you’re medically cleared to work on movement and that you’re moving in a range where pain and other symptoms don’t increase.
