Practicing with a sit bone pain

I have been out of my mat for the last 4 days. This morning was "my come back". Ant it was painful. The pain is always here and getting worst if I am bending my knees while bending forward. The reason is very simple by bending the knee the hamstring is shortening therefore I am adding more force to the sit bone end of the hamstrings.

I noticed it already last week and then stop to bend the knees while bending forward except for few exception such as standing balancing poses.

Here is a good article about the sit bone pain : Dealing with sit bone pain.

Credit photo: Yoganatomy.com

When you are practicing the primary Series this kind of injury can really compromise the practice. Basically the Primary Series is all about forward fold so there are a lot of things that you can't really practice when you there is a sit bone pain.

Instead of it I try to focus more about my jump back and jump through as well the backbend but mentally speaking it is also really hard to deal with and quite challenging.

And even though I am jumping to the secondary series then I will be stuck to Krounchasana as I won't be able to lengthen the left leg. Then questions arise, should I just stop the practice? Should I continue following David Keil instructions such as keeping my leg lengthening instead of bending it.

The reason I am keeping the practice is if I stop it then I will become insane. I have taken 6 months off of no teaching, no working just to practice and go deeper into the Ashtanga Yoga, of course at that time when I took that decision my expectations were high and I had some beautiful moments, the day I was able to lift up my legs from the floor in Kurmasana, the day I was able to bind and cross my legs in Supta Kurmasana, the day I did Urdhva Dhanurasana with my hands on my chest, all of theses moments were priceless and highly satisfactory.

What about the here and now? All of theses asanas mentioned previously are now completely out of my reach, even a "simple" Prasaritta Padotanasana is not happening.

I feel I am moving backward instead of moving forward. And there is nothing I can do about it, the healing process will be long and will be longer if I push my body so there is only one thing to do for me is to step back and continue the practice with an open mind by accepting my new limitations.

However I should not erase from my memory that I am able to do all of theses postures, it will come back one day, maybe in 6 months or maybe in one year.

In the mean time I will manage the practice and will slightly change it when I won't be in a Mysore class.

And then Yoga is not ONLY ABOUT asanas so there are many things to be discovered. Maybe I never apply what I was preaching, Asanas are just part of the Yoga journey but do not define what Yoga is.

Instead of torturing myself and the self pity I should glorify my body and my practice. If this pain is here that is for a good reason, I just need to focus toward the others limbs of Yoga and not being stuck to the physical part of it.

- Namaste -