“From the yogic perspective, illness is thought to be the result of blocked energy. The postures and breathing practices release blockages so that the vital energy can flow freely and healthy function can be restored”

Use props to support students in postures to benefit from the practice without exerting effort.
-TY Manual, Clampett/Peal

To remove any stress blockages and awareness of pain/limited ROM in the shoulder, I will introduce awareness of breath (3-part breath) -5 min., 2 calming, stress-reducing forward-bending poses -5 min. each that allow floor strain-free support for the shoulders, and conclude with a brief meditation -5 min. We will use a before/after stress scale.

The client is a busy female professional Yoga instructor in her 50s, married, no children, a foreigner living away from her family, whose mother has on-and-off health issues. The client suffers from shoulder pain when reaching behind her, and also from demonstrating repetitive Yoga postures without having sufficient time to rest and recover before having to teach again. She compensates for this pain by engaging her core to alleviate the tension in her shoulders. She also meditates regularly.

To remove any stress blockages due to pain from limited ROM in the client’s right shoulder resulting from reaching behind her, and from demonstrating repetitive Yoga postures without having sufficient time to rest and recover before having to teach again, I will:

1. Determine Pain scale level at beginning of the session

1. Seated on the mat, seek a lengthened, aligned back alignment 1 minute

2. Seated on the mat, Do a 3-part Breath 5 minutes

3. Forward Resting Butterfly¬ using assorted props 5 minutes
(Strain-free floor support for the shoulders)

4. Resting Dragonfly using assorted props 5 minutes
(Strain-free floor support for the shoulders)

5. Guided Meditation 5 minutes

7. Determine Pain scale level at the end of the session

The goal of these branches of yoga is to remove blockages, allowing blocked energy in the client’s shoulder to move freely and restore health to it.

Hatha Yoga - Back alignment gives the client good posture, 3-Part Breath calms, centers and balances her, the Supported Child’s Pose and Forward Resting Butterfly poses calm her nervous system, and Yoga Nidra allows her to enter into a very physically relaxing yogic sleep while her alert mind can meditate on my suggested visualizations which will hopefully relax her shoulder.

Raja Yoga – Guided Meditation and Concentration on the client’s right shoulder during meditation can be spiritual in the right context and can put her in a space where grace can heal.

Japa Yoga – I suggested she use short phrases such as “May my shoulder be well” or any other phrase of her choosing while asking wherever she gets her strength to help heal her shoulder

I asked the client do a 3-Part Breath, Pranamayakosha (energetic body), to receive and distribute prana throughout the subtle anatomy and to allow a free flow of that prana to nourish the physical systems, then two calming, stress-reducing forward-bending poses, Annamayakosha (physical), Manomayakosha (psycho-emotional), and Vijnanamayakosha (wisdom) bodies, that would allow strain-free floor support for the shoulders for five minutes each. We ended the session with a brief meditation for five minutes where I asked the client to place her hand on her heart, place herself beside a bubbling brook, an ocean, a meadow, or a field, and then to concentrate on her shoulder, to give her shoulder a name, a color, to calculate if it was warm or cool, to see if there was a blockage, if there was any anxiety, fear, sadness, or anger present, then concluded with a minute of silence, then discussion.

Between sessions, I asked the client to practice the three-part breath on her own at least once a day as often as she was able, to do the Supported Child’s Pose and Forward Resting Butterfly poses, and to visualize her shoulder going from her present, unhealthy condition to a shoulder that was completely healed and that we would revisit this session in a few days to evaluate any progress.

Yes. The client did her homework before coming to our second session and I believe our goal was achieved since the client said her shoulder felt more relaxed when doing her breathing exercise and going into the poses and, as a result, felt a bit less pain in her shoulder.

I did not have to adapt anything in my plan as the client, after having taught Therapeutic/Restorative Yoga for several years, had all the props needed, spoke the same language as I, and was able to comfortably get into poses and follow all of my suggestions with dexterity and ease. The client said that she liked some of my suggestions such as “Place one hand on your heart, and with your inner eye, look at your shoulder, give your shoulder a name, a color, ask if it was warm or cool, imagine the blockage breaking away from your shoulder like glass shattering away” and would be using some of them in her own sessions with clients. I would not change anything in the future if the exact same situation occurred again, but I would also make myself aware of any future client’s very unique history to make sure that my method here with this client would also suit them.

I attempted to reduce any stress blockages and pain from limited ROM in the client’s right shoulder resulting from reaching behind her, and from demonstrating repetitive Yoga postures without having sufficient time to rest and recover before having to teach again. I asked the client to give me a reading on the pain scale of 1-5 before the session started, to which she stated a 3. I introduced a 3-Part Breath, two calming, stress-reducing forward-bending poses that allowed strain-free floor support for her shoulders for five minutes each, ending with a brief meditation for five minutes. After bringing her out of Guided Meditation, I ended the session by asking for a second reading of her pain at the end of the session, which was a 2. Similar results were found in our second session and I felt that in both sessions, we were able to release blockages, allow prana to flow freely, and gain some relief in the client’s shoulder.

Shoulders on the bolster or props with hands resting in prayer position with thumbs pressing into the brow where it meets the nose might be a painless alternative or beginning position, and the Supported Child’s Pose might be a good alternate pose.