Fear creates blockages, and getting out of your comfort zone to face your fears is not easy. It takes faith, determination, and a strong will. You've heard the mantra: Life starts outside of your comfort zone. Challenging yourself beyond your everyday expectations opens up your world and creates possibilities.
When you get injured, you need time to heal. The healing process isn't a straight line. It typically involves working around an injury (limping, switching hands, and more), allowing for time, and building back your strength. When you change our habits to avoid pain and to work around weak muscles, you become limited. Further, you begin to fear returning to old habits and abilities.
Fear of pain and reinjury creates blockages. It limits your abilities. The key part of injury recovery is rebuilding strength. Don't limit yourself in what you can rebuild and achieve. Take it slow but explore all available paths to recovery: physiotherapy, osteopaths, chiropractors, acupuncture, yoga, Pilates, massage, and more. Your recovery path will be unique to your neighbor's. If you hit a block on one avenue, switch tactics.
Not all injuries are equal, and sometimes adaptation is required beyond rebuilding lost abilities. Focus on your personal goals. What ability do you want to regain? What is currently lacking from your life that you want to restore? This could be the ability to run, play a particular sport, dance, and more. Find the path that works for you to achieve this. Rebuild, adapt, rebuild, adapt, and don't give up.
My personal journey was a path to recovery from sciatica (low back herniated disc). I lost the ability to run, play soccer, back squat, and dance salsa. My goal for recovery was to dance salsa and squat again. Running and playing soccer were less important so I didn't focus on them. I am able to dance salsa again thanks to my slow and steady rebuilding of strength and ability. I could play soccer again too, but it's not a priority for me at this point in my life. I have adapted my gym routine so that I do front squats now instead of back squats, and I continue to focus heavily on form over heavy weights.
In terms of yoga, I was unable to forward fold for many months and only slowly worked that back into my practice. I modified a lot in the beginning, and still, I protect myself with slightly bent knees in many asanas. However, my flexibility and asana ability have improved beyond what they once were. I never gave up on forward folds, I modified and kept testing myself while building strength.
Don't limit yourself. Find your goal, find your motivation, and aim for the stars. If you're like me, and have been limiting yourself in forward folding, I've released a Getting Back into Forward Folds practice on my YouTube this month. Please check it out when you're ready to move past your limits. A world of possibility awaits.
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