The most important thing is practice in daily life. That is how we can gradually get to know the true value of what ever teaching we follow. B.K.S. Iyengar
Time for an update! Sorry for the impasse… However, I now find myself with some lovely breathing space and can reflect on the training thus far and my foot’s healing. It has been three months since I was out of plaster and I am a month and a half into yoga teacher training.
The training thus far has been amazing… Initially I was adrenaline-filled and finding it difficult to go to sleep after each challenging weekly workshop in a fit of giddiness. I had to consult another expert yoga teacher on how to chill out pre-bed following the energising and excitement of those first few sessions… indeed, a full day of teaching teenagers after four hours’ broken and hyperactive sleep is. no. fun.
I have now calmed my giddy old self down yet am still loving it.. we were straight in on the first session, teaching a posture (mine was Virabhadrasana Two), expected to know Sanskrit names and being observed, corrected and aligned to oblivion. Brilliant. I can feel my practice coming along exponentially, have completed my first written piece on the Yamas and Niyamas (want to read it? Let me know) and am beginning to incorporate the most important element more thoroughly in my life: HOME PRACTICE. And a lot of it. We WILL be noticed if we’re not doing it. I do personally struggle a little with the time and self-discipline… Although it is not hard (in theory). Then I think how miserable I was immobile, sofa-bound and hoof-less… get a grip and get on the mat (pardon the awful pun)!
Now my hamstrings are not great when I glimpse across at others and how casually and comfortably far they bend down in forward bends… and I can’t blame that on my injury because they weren’t that stretchy to begin with! It’s just my ‘thing’. We’re all different; I don’t think I will ever gracefully sweep into Uttanasana and place my forehead tranquilly on my knees in a perfect classical pose, my hands palm down in line with my heels. I will be happy with my own regular, straining endurance test as I (very quietly) huff and puff myself into an intense forward bend, grab my toes in Padangusthasana or (breathe in, exhale…) slip those hands under the soles of my feet for Padahastasana. Mainly I am happy that the hideous faces that I am pulling are not very visible down there. I also struggle to get my heels down in head down dog. Badly. Eeek.
However, I have to keep working on this and the wheels of progress keep on revolving. One extremely positive side effect of all this practising is my super strong pair of legs; I used to be able to lift my left leg and literally ‘bat’ my floppy calf about for comic effect and to fish for sympathy. It was totally flaccid, like a semi-filled water balloon. Now it’s all tight and wirey and snapped back to stronger than ever in no time.
The previously broken foot is still noticeable, in that I can feel a bit of an ache when it is raining and the bone slightly protrudes under the foot when I am barefoot (which is a lot more now as Summer looms). My little toe is also not super-mobile (but that- again- is progressing) so I can’t do the exemplary toe spreading that I witness in others. But it will come (that reminds me, I need to put my toe separators in). I’m also pretty nervous, despite the fact that I can do all these fancy standing up postures… I just get the occasional flash of worry about going over on it again… but I reckon that is totally normal; I believe we hold a lot of trauma in our bodies from fairly major events like, I guess, breaking a bone.
I am grateful to have managed to get where I am now… I know it’s going to be tricky, and I am going to have to keep on pulling my ribs/ belly/ head down, down, down towards my knees but I am, of course, going to have just ‘suck it up’ and do it. Daily.
So it is about time that I did an update. As you may infer from the time gap I have been busy and this is, of course, great news. Unfortunately I do not have a ‘money shot’ x-ray of a perfectly healed bone, but the Orthaopaedic Surgeon’s justification of not wishing to expose me to more radiation was more than valid!
Since my last posting Broken but Unbowed regarding the healing of my fifth metatarsal I have been using the foot for that which it was originally intended as much as possible (with the exception on full on tip toes and actual running): lots of dog-walking!
Armed with some amazing new shoes, offering the equivalent protection of Lady Brienne of Tarth’s armour, I used two crutches for about a week then graduated onto just one crutch by week two out of plaster and was feeling increasingly confident. On the school corridors, where there is always an extremely narrow possibility of a small(ish) unit of human flesh haring around a corner and whacking into you at speed, I carried on using a crutch in week three but that was more of a visible emblem to KEEP AWAY rather than a necessity!
Thus, my confidence has grown. It still feels a bit lumpy around the break and the ankle is a little stiff. I have also got limited mobility in my little toe. As I am starting the Iyengar yoga teacher training in two weeks I got a few exercises from my physio, which are:
Scrunching up the toes as if you are trying to pick up a napkin on the floor and then spreading it out again, therefore splaying the toes.
Standing on tip toes and balancing.
Massaging the foot, seeking to kind of ‘dig in’ to the tendon area between the fourth and fifth metatarsal.
Lying on the back and bending up the right knee, raising the left leg (of the broken foot) and placing it, almost supine cross-legged style, on the bent right knee. Extending into the left heel.
Hopefully with persistence, it will return to normal or better. It is stiff and it does ache during rainy spring dog walks. There is a weird poking when I stand on hard floors but I am assured the edges of the break will ‘round off’.
As regards yoga, I have had a few tentative initial sessions, hiding at the back seeking the protection of a wall to the back and side of me… however, flexibility and strength and confidence have returned; I can now pull off a passable Warrior One with the broken foot at the back (but not with my heel to the floor), am persisting with plenty of Head Down Dog, which is excellent rehabilitation for tightness in the Achilles Tendon… and had an exhilaratingly confidence building session where I was proudly able to pull off Chaturanga http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/469 (aided by those two months on crutches!), Pinchamayurasana http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/1711 finishing with a Setubandha Sirsasana http://www.yogacards.com/yoga-postures-2/bridge-head.html with one leg raised which I have never pulled off before.
Teacher training is soon to commence. I feel ready now. Phew.
A passive headstand in my yoga swing has been great for easing my sore shoulders. Inversions can help boost your circulation and speed healing.
So. It has been nearly nine weeks.
I have managed a full week of teaching in an inner-city secondary school, broken foot in tow. I have made cakes, started blogs, caught trains independently and practised yoga on a very nearly daily basis. I have felt, in turn, elated at my newfound independent mobility… then stifled by stiffness and an awkwardly uncomfortable dependence on others.
All the while I have been healing. I hope.
In order to fix this foot and liberate my now revered extremity from its cast, a daily regimen of wheatgrass juice and supplement guzzling has continued. This diet has recently been pimped with Gingko Biloba, Ginger Tea and some extra time hanging out upside-down in my yoga swing. Here are some further top finds on how to boost your circulation, retain a positive head and fix dem bones:
Follow your doctor’s advice, first and foremost!
Be patient!
Demand attention and amusement from your loved ones.
Eat plenty of protein (especially green leafy vegetables).
Consume Calcium (I have been taking Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc- which conveniently also keeps the sniffles away).
Use a thermos flask to make yourself a day’s worth of your favourite brew, but…
Avoid caffeine.
Massage the bits that you can reach near to the break to stimulate the blood supply.
Get a pampering massage of the bits you can’t reach, especially your back, neck and shoulders if you are on crutches.
Guzzle vitamins D3 and K, which are supposedly excellent for bone fixin’.
Rest. Rest properly in the early stages and whilst it feels painful.
Walk as much as is possible, when you are able, to accelerate the promotion of callus formation and encourage equal strength in the re-growth (Wolff’s Law- like diamonds, strong things in nature are formed under pressure).
Exercise the rest of your body to prevent stiffness, keep you sane and avoid putting on weight (if you’re interested in trying some yoga, check out my Pegleg Yoga post on the 7th February).
Get your heart going as much as possible; press ups with your feet on a cushion or sofa are properly knackering, … or a yoga posture called Chaturanga Dandasana http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/469 has been great for me and I needed to practise it anyway. Put blocks under your feet equally to support them if necessary, even under your ‘well’ limb.
Don’t drink, don’t smoke (what do you do?).
Use the money you save in not going anywhere much to pay a cleaner to sort your house out… you spend a lot more time aware of what is going on at floor level when you are (literally and metaphorically) on your arse!
Ignore other peoples’ timelines for repair and take each x-ray as it comes. It seems that there are so many variables in this process that you can have your expectations confounded or, indeed, exceeded (thus constructing a lovely surprise for yourself!).
Don’t take too many anti-inflammatories as they can slow down healing.
Sleep as much as you can.
Use this time of enforced stillness to take a mental break from your regular existence and learn something new, and…
Do the restful hobbies you love but never get around to doing because they are really passive.
Keep the bits of your limb that you can access pampered with posh cream, clipping, filing, exfoliating and grooming.
Use some yoga inversions to flush your blood around your body: Viparita Karani is lovely and easy: http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/690 I used my yoga swing to do passive head stands and generally hang upside down (it also feels nice)…
This really passive pose feels like it allows your spine to fully stretch after too much sitting.
24. Do not feel guilty about missing work!
Swing selfie…
25. Finally, buy yourself an incredibly sensible pair of shoes.
I have been good and done all the right stuff… haven’t I?
As part of my freshly evolving involvement in the online world, I subscribe to some yoga blogs and ‘like’ a number of respected yogis and bloggers. Daily, I am bombarded with those ‘Ever felt bad after a yoga class? Duh! NO.’ memes which, practice-affirming though they are, can slide off your consciousness in their context of mass message spreading like yesterday’s ‘amazing lunch’ Instagram snaps. Especially when you’re in a rut. I am now, however, about to perpetuate that cliché. Because it is true.
Feeling pretty fed-up over the last week, I struggled to keep up my home yoga practice. I’d got bored of my own broken-foot sequence about which I had been so previously excited. I was getting increasingly frustrated and internally grumbling and tutting at my clumsy and arduous hobbling about. I forgot to be grateful for my newly discovered two-footed weight-bearing. I forgot my earlier proselytising on being grateful for the small things in pure self-pitying hypocrisy. Aggrieved, I got a bit institutionalised and mollycoddled and found myself expecting too much of others. Bored of the same four walls and irritable, I no longer relished my freshly independent travelling capabilities and registered my regular stiffness and percussive joint clicks with exponentially magnifying self-pity.
Having returned to work as a secondary school teacher, I am fortunate enough to have a resident Iyengar trained teaching colleague and pal. She is full of the spark and enthusiasm that I felt I had lost of late. We have weekly lunchtime yoga classes and I approached this class with some trepidation: would I physically cope with a proper class again? Or, even worse, get ‘all emotional’ following a two-month absence?
However, today yoga really worked for me. Loads of lovely hip-openers and the comfort and guidance of a led class sorted me out. It smacked me round the chops and I instantly got back on the mat at home for another hour of home practice in which I pushed my self and my (hopefully now healing) broken foot.
Now I know that, to a person more ill than I, the suggestion of yoga ‘sorting you out’ when you are in a rut can seem a ridiculous, far-reaching impossibility. But this reminds me that even a small dose of this gift can blow some fresh wind back into your sagging sails.
If you are wallowing in a self-pitying funk.
If your body feels like it is betraying you.
If you a struggling to remember what makes you feel good.
Just thought I’d share this inspiring article by a young woman who suffered a similar break to mine who is now working en pointe in ballet. It has loads of sound advice on healing. A great blog, really inspiring.
So it has been quite a while since I have posted anything, due in part to how busy I have been! I spent four weeks away at a summer intensive and had the most amazing experience. By the end, I felt like I had learned so much more and was really at the top of my game to go into this fall as a new dancer.
So it was kind of heartbreaking to break my foot the first day back at my home studio. It’s now been a week since I found out that I have a spiral fracture in my fifth metatarsal. I made it all through class feeling really great until grand allegro, when I landed on the outside part of my foot and heard a loud CRACK. I’m pretty sure that everyone else in the room heard it too.
Since last Tuesday my foot’s recovery feels like it has been exponential. Eight days ago I was afraid to put my left foot down flat on the floor. Eight days ago I was only putting weight on my heel. Eight days ago I felt like I could not do a great deal for myself; I was tentative, a bit sad and lacking confidence in my mobility.
Now I am walking flat-footed, aided by my (free!) standard issue NHS boot and (free!) NHS crutches. I can walk up hills and today walked the dog for the first time. Although my fifth metatarsal is still officially broken, my foot is no longer bruised, swollen or particularly painful. I am trying not to get giddily over-excited and do too much. However, this is what I have learnt to be grateful for since Snap-gate on the second day of 2014:
Waking up in the morning without the niggling prospect of absolutely needing to sleepily lean full-weight on my crutches to empty my bladder or generally function in the physical world.
My amazing friends and family who have wheeled, driven, phoned, messaged and played scrabble with me most admirably.
Knitting.
Being able to carry my own brew from kitchen to lounge.
Ditto the above with food (I hate letting my food get cold).
All the other bits of my body that have not frozen into too stone-like stasis despite their abuse (especially my poor right leg which I solely stood on, stork-like, for at least three weeks).
It takes six weeks for a bone to fix. That has always seemed to be the Gospel. Right? Right.
So it was with my many bone growth stimulating supplements and tinctures still rattling in my stomach that I set off to the fracture clinic; an NHS (the UK’s most proud institution) facility that it is rapidly coming to feel like a second home. At the last minute I optimistically packed a suede left shoe to accompany the right one I was wearing.
Armed with a good book and my ever-present crutches I awaited my name. Sat amongst my fellow fracture clinic attendees, consisting of ‘ard blokes with fractured hands from punching ‘things’ as well as the heart-rendingly frail in wheelchairs, expectant intakes of breath were heard as soon as a nurse emerged to call the next patient. And then mine.
The first step in the day’s proceedings was apparently the removal of my neon-yellow cast (which I had become somewhat attached to). This was performed using what looked like a ‘Henry’ hoover with a novel attachment resembling some kind of ‘Saw’ movie prop; a gleaming, sharp, rapidly rotating implement, its bite vibrated and sort of tickled as the plaster was cloven, revealing my foot. This was bizarrely emotional and I welled up a bit (I am a tad embarrassed to note).
It was fascinating to see my foot again, if somewhat surreal… as if my appendage was intellectually detached from the rest of me; I had not been doing any of the flexing or widening that I had got into the habit of in yoga. It was very still. Frozen and static it was, especially along the outer side location of the break that I hadn’t engaged for some time.
Thus, clad in a charming blue slipper, which could only be described as thin polystyrene, I awaited my x-ray. This gave me a bit of time to make friends with my foot again and be revolted by it in turn. That outer side was freakily immobile and stiff; a stiffness which ran along the outside and underneath along the ball of my foot and felt incredibly rigid. I did not feel confident enough to try and stand on it. Swelling was still present, kind of, but it was as if it had only mildly puffed out its cheeks. There was only a little bruising still, under the ankle-bone.
Following the x-ray I was ushered in to see the best orthopaedic surgeon so far. She was appropriately detailed, attentive and indulgent. She needed to be.
On entry to the examination room I saw an x-ray.
“Is that mine?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the x-ray that you took at the start, isn’t it?” I smiled. At this point I was holding my breath.
“No… that’s today’s.”
Needless to say I was pretty horrified… I had ‘rested’… Six-weeks-HARDCORE ‘rested’! I had swallowed horrible herbal stuff, eaten loads of dairy products and done lots of visualisation of feet healing. But none had happened. There was no callus formation or anything.
Feeling detached again, I was taken through a pretty thorough examination which made me yelp, one in which a classic line was uttered:
“I struggled to distract the fracture sections (!?), which is good news.”
Ouch.
I was then reliably informed that despite the lack of evidence in the x-ray, and some guidance through the other monochrome stills of my poor foot, she was ‘clinically satisfied’ that it was ready to start healing. I would have three more weeks en cast and was encouraged to do as much heel-walking as I could, moving onto the rest of the foot when it felt right (ie: didn’t hurt too much).
So it was that I found myself in the plastering room again. When presented with baby wipes and allowed to clean my neglected hoof I had feelings tantamount to actual true love for the plastering technician welling up within me. Oh… and when I was allowed to lavish it with Diprobase cream, I was pondering bigamy… Aaah… bliss!
Gratefully (and I was grateful for it, despite my earlier misguided hopes) I was slippered in a warming cast again. Ensconced in a protective layer that was as necessary psychologically as it was physically and issued with a stylish ‘boot’ that would allow weight bearing, I hobbled on my merry way. And inside my rucksack, a neglected left suede shoe.
So, with my broken foot in tow, initially in a rather cumbersome plaster cast from A and E and finally in a lightweight and fetchingly neon slipper cast, I was good and ready to begin my convalescence. I was signed off work and feeling fairly guilt-free and ready for some intense rest and healing. So… how to stay occupied? Knitting, reading, online scrabble and intense TV watching have cropped up as stalwart and faithful staples to me in the past four weeks.
However, I have a mission. I couldn’t just waste my precious hours blissfully immersed in trash TV and ‘Youtube’ episodes of ‘Intervention’. I was going to be a yoga teacher! Having established a fairly robust regular practice at home I was determined to continue. I also had to prepare for the looming assessment I would have to undergo prior to my Iyengar yoga teacher training to see if I was good enough for their reputedly rigorous training.
My own application for teacher training had been smugly submitted back in October 2013, with applications due in at the end of March 2014. This is uncharacteristically ahead of the game and a clear sign that this mission was for me; I was (and still am) chomping at the bit to get started. Applying for Iyengar training is pretty demanding and I needed to prove I had been regularly attending for at least three years via a reference letter from a respected certified teacher, as well as pass a practical assessment. My first term will be probationary and, I am led to believe by friends who have also done it, will fully stretch my ego, character and physical prowess. Oh yes- and probably make me cry at least once.
Some of the first people that I contacted following Snap-gate (after family and friends, of course) were my yoga teachers. I wanted to find out from them how I could maintain a practice with this foot, which was still fragile. If I was planning on training, how could I keep up my strength, fitness and flexibility for the possible eight weeks that I may be in plaster?
Both my teachers are incredible. One of them is a nationally reputed teacher trainer has been teaching Iyengar for over 30 years, training innumerable times in India with B.K.S. Iyengar and family. My other teacher is a Professor of Medicine who survived a number of broken vertebrae following a fall whilst hill-walking and can now perform full headstand in the middle of the room aged 60.
Therefore I had a rich well of wisdom to draw from, which I will be eternally grateful for. This is the programme that I put together, along with some input from another friend and recently qualified Iyengar teacher. Please feel free to use aspects of it- it is intermediate in level- but if you don’t feel confident with some of the harder poses, miss them out (one of my teachers recommended ardha chandrasana (half moon pose) http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/784 on a wall as well as warrior III http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/941 using a chair and I haven’t had the confidence to tackle them yet, four weeks into the break.
So, here’s my programme. A lot of this is dictated by the contents of the level 1 teacher training syllabus for Iyengar yoga, as that is what I needed to prepare for, but a few others are thrown in (numbers 11 and 12) just because they felt really great on the parts of my body that needed to be limbered up following excessive leg elevation, sitting in chairs and use of crutches. Feel free to use this or ask me any questions.
During a break or fracture, however, you MUST not extend too much; certainly do not try and extend any further in the pose than the stage you were at prior to the break. Be very careful, listen to your body and don’t be a hero- your body won’t thank you for it! That said, it will thank you for the unlocking of stiffness and maintenance of strength and flexibility that a bit of movement affords.
So I initially limber in with adhomukha virasana (downward facing hero) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Y-L1ch0Uo I am careful with the foot and would not be able to do this with an ankle cast. It is a useful back stretch which can ease neck and shoulder pain caused by too much crutching. I am also not too anxious not to push my bum down too hard into the pose and put pressure on the foot.
Then move into head down dog (adho mukha svanasana)- see how it is done in the sun salutations below. If you don’t feel confident doing this- don’t! I would also recommend making sure there is plenty of space on the mat behind the blanket you have placed for your knees, to ensure there is plenty of room for your foot to find purchase. Also- try to keep your hips level, don’t wear socks or moisturize your standing foot before practice and make sure your mat is very sticky!
During my teacher training assessment my reputable and supposedly super dour and serious teacher trainers giggled at my neon cast that was elevated in this posture. I try to go for elegant but I’m not quite sure…
3. Perform Uttanasana (Intense forward stretch) sat down… so therefore Paschimottasanahttp://www.yogajournal.com/poses/477 . Take your time, don’t be in a hurry to extend and use a belt. This pose has been really useful for me as it has prevented the hamstring on my injured side from contracting too much. That is why it is peppered throughout the sequence.
This sequence is great for your core strength (10-13) and very safe for broken feet, as well as good for getting your tummy a bit firmer
11. I lie on my back and lift my legs up to 90 degrees, extending into the heel of my good foot as I can’t extend into the left without pain.
12. I then lower my legs to 60 degrees and hold. Breathe! Then lower them to 30 degrees. Breathe! I do this a couple of times and then move into…
12. Supta padanghustasanahttp://www.liveyoga.nl/yoga-library/yoga-postures/yoga-pose-supta-padangusthasana-i-ii/ This is a great one for releasing tension in the hips- one of the areas I found most clamped up- if you can move into the II variation of this, it doesn’t matter how far you take the leg out, it feels great! Also- in the II version, this is pretty much a supine triangle pose, so it is like doing that lovely familiar asana!
15. Shoulder stand (Salamba sarvangasana) http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/480 but not if you are female and on your period! Place a chair just above your head or do this near the sofa for security. I also place a big cushion on the spot where my feet will be landing when I come out of the pose- again for security!
19. Then end with a nice savasana, filled with lovely thoughts about bones knitting together or ligaments repairing themselves; whatever you need.
20. Sit in cross-legged pose and take a brief time to meditate on all the things and wonderful, helpful people you are grateful for.
Now- I must emphasise that I am not a teacher- however, this sequence is mish-mash of insights from some amazing teachers and my own experimentation. Hopefully this could come in handy for anyone suffering from similar. It has really kept my spirits up during a long imposed sedentary period. I am not patient and am not sedentary in general.
I teach maths in a high school in the North West of England. As a socialist teacher I am striving for an education system worthy of the young people in our care.
padyoga 