After choos­ing well-being as my yogic focus for 2014, it’s ironic that my prac­tice has been inter­rupted since May by health issues. Well-being sym­bol­ized my intent to build core strength, endurance and flex­i­bil­ity before an intense, week­long yoga retreat in April.

Bud­dha med­i­ta­tion gar­den in Mex­ico

Thanks to an unlim­ited yoga pass, 2014 got off to a great start.

I attended lots of classes, prac­ticed at home when not in class, and began to med­i­tate. Each week my body got stronger and more flex­i­ble; my over­all con­di­tion­ing improved. I could enjoy a 75-minute flow prac­tice with­out sweat­ing like a pig or col­laps­ing on the mat — a huge improve­ment from where I started 5 years ago!

Thanks to this prepa­ra­tion the yoga retreat was a peak life expe­ri­ence, one I was delighted to share with a dear friend from Cal­i­for­nia.

Since then I’ve con­fronted some painful lessons about soft tis­sue health, the body’s deep struc­tures, and what’s required to keep shoul­ders and foun­da­tional ele­ments in good health. Who knows what trig­gered it, but my left shoul­der became frozen in May.

Per­haps it was too many long flights, unwieldy lug­gage, over­loaded brief­cases, or inat­ten­tion when lift­ing heavy items over­head. Or too many vinyasas with repet­i­tive plank, down­ward dog and chat­u­ranga sequences.

Rebuilding

Hand­made roof, Mex­i­can yoga pavil­ion

What­ever the cause, rota­tor cuff issues have kept me off the mat since May.

Inflamed or dam­aged ten­dons can take a long time to heal — 6–9 months or more. It’s hard to remain patient in the face of such a slow recov­ery period, espe­cially when most of the yoga asanas are beyond my reach.

Four months of PT and rehab exer­cises have helped me regain some mobil­ity and reduce the pain, but they weren’t enough for full recov­ery. I hit a plateau and then began a slow decline. No mat­ter how much I worked on strength build­ing, my shoul­der remained weak. Nerve sig­nal­ing is com­pro­mised in my left arm.

I’ve had to invest in X‑rays, MRI and ultra­sound imag­ing pro­ce­dures. I now have a deep under­stand­ing of why my shoul­der has been suf­fer­ing and unable to func­tion nor­mally. Over-use, the insults of aging, per­haps some arthri­tis. Com­mon chal­lenges for older ath­letes (and yoga prac­ti­tion­ers!)

I’ve switched to a doc­tor who spe­cial­izes in tendinopa­thy and the soft tis­sue chal­lenges fac­ing ath­letes and sports enthu­si­asts. His pre­cise cor­ti­sone injec­tion last week has stopped the pain, and hope­fully trig­gered a more effec­tive heal­ing process.

A Deeper Kind of Practice

Now it’s time to resume the care­ful, method­i­cal work of shoul­der mobi­liza­tion, core strength­en­ing, and shoulder+arm strength­en­ing, espe­cially for “over­head activ­i­ties.”

These con­di­tion­ing and rehab exer­cises are not the yoga asanas I’m eager to do, but they’re a prac­tice in their own right. (I have to remind myself of that.)

Before it’s safe to resume a daily yoga prac­tice, my shoul­der must be ready for the phys­i­cal chal­lenges of many foun­da­tional poses. Think: plank, down­ward fac­ing dog, the war­rior poses…

It’s not just a ques­tion of rebuild­ing strength or mobil­ity. It also takes a more care­ful approach to the process of “recruit­ing” the right mus­cles at the right time, to stay safe and healthy.

And that means I need to attend to the inner foun­da­tions of well-being — learn­ing to be more mind­ful of every breath and every move my shoul­ders make.

Sting’s lyrics should be my inspi­ra­tion for 2015:

Every breath you take
And every move you make…

Mind­ful­ness in motion. A daily dis­ci­pline, what it takes to restore and then sus­tain well-being and bal­ance in life.