He’s all answers with humor…

(from academysacredgeometry.com)

Asked the (burning lol) question – got the answer per Richard Rosen.
Wrist pain flareups – let’s review Adho Mukha Vrksasana, the down-dog (which I was avoiding due to that wrist pain…dolphin pose instead but feels awkward as my arms are shorter and thus my hairline touches the mat…does not feel good to me). Sensed that everyone had that AHhh-Hahh look. I must not have been alone on this issue.

He kindly did not make me do a dog in front of everyone as he said something like, you must be hurting …”so I’m not going to make you do it now” (phew – took pity on me:) but instead asked me to rise. Then, with me standing, he went over the most basic standing posture, tadasana, to expressly make a point about how we have “domes” aligned and stacked in our body… and that extends to our hands and the wrists…there’s a little dome to be cupped- within each palm of your hand – and a (carpals)tunnel running under our wrist. When your forearms are not strong enough and/or if you repeat too many times those key poses in flow classes, repetitive motion stress – pain can surface over time unless your approach is more mindful.

Visualize all this and it was …an “ahhh, haaa” moment – no wonder my wrists hurt – it’s inevitable – causes may be those Chaturanga Dandasanas (plank into push up) and down dogs and/or all the computer keyboard use. Solution?

Respecting the dome within the palm of your hand … rather than pushing with your hands, powering through the motions, rather, let’s LIFT – it’s a pull not a push while it’s common to hear instructors yell “PRESS DOWN & PUSH HARD!” “it’s a power pose; power through it! Press down!” “Push all fingers wide open – let your hands SHINE!” Guess that’s not how Richard gives his cues:) AND Vashistasana is a killer on the wrists too… but I know what to do:) In Vashi, unlike down dog, at least we can stack the joints. (or ice please:)

I really loved his explanation – that comes from so much logic and years of experience … total understanding over the body structure and architecture – now I see these domes and to make it more interesting, I visualize them as domes of temples:) TEMPLE DOMES to dream up – love it – These curves all over our body, integrity of which we must respect.

Then during his pranayama, I recalled and longed for the way Judith Lasater arranged our hands in such a way in our restorative poses… the placement of our hands… fingers stroked into this certain ease… it’s so easy but effective in harmonizing our frayed nervous system. As with so many cases – kindness and ease wins over force and power. We need both – tenderness and strength/power… but sometimes, we have to treat our body with more kindness.

We can melt away the … tightness, stiffness, compression, soreness, numbness, cramps, tension, constriction, the holds, the STRESS … rid of that tied up in knots feelings that we get sometimes, with each healing breath we take and intentional movements borne from kindness and understanding.

It all emanates from the … heart.