I Have Scoliosis What Should I Take Pilates Yoga, Bikram Yoga or Dahn Yoga
Scoliosis is curvature of the spine. It usually starts in the early teens and pre-teens. Yoga helps to address the physical imbalance with breath awareness and yoga postures focusing on alignment and balance. With yoga you also gain weight or lose weight depending on body’s needs.
The Key to get maximum benefits from Yoga is to find out what works best for you. Actually every form of yoga has therapeutic benefits. You will have to pay careful attention to your body’s unique requirements and practice what is best for you in minimizing your body’s asymmetries.
Following are the Yoga poses that would help in the treatment of scoliosis.
Bikram Yoga is also known as Hot yoga. It has been scientifically designed to warm up and stretch every joint, muscle, ligament, tendon, vertebrae and organ of the body. It is practiced in a heated room for 90 minutes and comprises of 26 yoga poses. It includes standing poses, spine stretching poses, sitting and supine poses and ends with Kapalbhati Pranayama (The Cleansing Breath technique). Bikram Yoga helps to improve a person’s posture. It improves flexibility of spine, back coordination and misalignment.
In Pilates Yoga, one is told to work to the center line running through the spine and the inner thighs to the floor. Working towards the center line is to keep your body elongated and symmetrical. It concentrates on core body strength and lengthening of the spine. You practice either on a mat on the floor or with exercise equipment. It is good for one’s strength and posture.
Dahn Yoga is a Korean Yoga system. In Korean language, ‘Dahn’ means “primal vital energy’. This yoga practice gives emphasis on the brain with the belief that a person’s well-being – physical as well as mental – depends on one’s proper functioning of the brain. Dahn yoga comprises of stretching, lots of breathing exercises, meditation, martial arts and energy work. This is relatively a new yoga system, effectiveness of which especially in case of scoliosis is not well known.
Both Bikram Yoga and Pilates yoga have helped people with scoliosis. But there is one more form of yoga, known as Iyengar Yoga which lays stress on the body’s structural alignment with yoga postures. Emphasis is given on standing postures which help in elongating the spine, enhancing vitality and improving circulation, coordination and balance. It strengthens the legs, the abdominal muscles and muscles that run along the spine which help in preventing the lateral curve from increasing. Iyengar yoga is particularly good for alignment and especially for spinal imbalance as the focus of Iyengar yoga is on structural alignment of the physical body.
Prior to starting a Yoga regimen, it is advisable to take clearance from your medical practitioner. Always learn yoga from a certified yoga trainer.
