Happy Baby Shakes

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sam
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:21 am

Happy Baby Shakes

Post by sam »

Hello,

I'm loving the Yin Yoga, especially since it has doubled my endurance for running.

Just had a quick question about happy baby. When I come out of this pose I get very chilled, body tremors and chattering teeth. Someone mentioned this is a symptom of shock and that I pushed too hard, but it didn't feel like I pushed through it more than the others.

Any idea what might be happening?
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

More details?

Post by Bernie »

Can you give us more insight into what happens?
  • How long do you stay in the pose?
    How deep do you go?
    Are you pulling on your feet the whole time or are you relaxed?
    What do you feel while you in the pose? (Physically as well as emotionally0
    How is your breath while you are in the pose?
    What poses did you do before this one?
    Does this always happen or was it just one time?
    How often do you do Yin Yoga?
    How long have you been doing yoga for?
    What else significant is going on in your life these days (any other drama?)
    How warm/cold is the room? Do you feel cold even before practicing yoga?
The more details you can provide the easier it is to try to understand why you may have had this experience.

Cheers
Bernie
sam
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:21 am

Post by sam »

Hi Bernie,

Thanks for the reply.

I've been following your youtube videos for about 3 months and do about 40-60 min 2-3 times a week and been active in other yogas for about 4 years. I follow the full video and hod the happy baby for about 5 min. I dont feel any stress at all ( just a slight pull in my hamstrings) and only near the 4th min feel a bit of stretching near my tailbone.
I can manage a good stretch and can hold my feet or grab my ankles to gently pull back as suggested.
I dont pull the whole time, instead using my weight
I tend not to get strong emotional releases during the poses. Many are just meditative unless they are stressful but the happy baby is comfortable for me.
The effects I'm asking about were very strong the first time and now I dont have them very much, but occasionally feel a slight chill, shake and tooth chatter if I come out of a deep hip opener. Nothing as bad as the first happy baby though. That was full on body tremors and my teeth would not stop chattering for a good minute or so. The symptoms are similar to shock, so I was wondering if I just opened more than my body was ready for.
Again, my breath is fine since I do not feel a lot of stress in the poses.
Generally, I will do a couple hip and leg openers first before the baby pose. Happy baby is usually last. I like to start with butterfly and caterpillar at the minimum before heading into deeper stretches
You asked about drama in my life and I would say the drama is minimal but this quiet time has opened a whole can of worms for healing, which can be just as taxing. That said, I tend not to be stressed when going into the postures
The room is usually set at 70-75F and fairly warm. I wear warm clothing but still get very chilled during the practice and sometimes use a light blanket to keep me warm.

Thanks again for taking the time to be so thorough with this. I've become a huge fan of yin yoga and can't believe how much it has helped me with my endurance for running and biking. No pain either!!
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Shake the Baby

Post by Bernie »

Hi Sam

I cannot detect any specific reason for why you have this occasional experience when you come out of Happy Baby, so I will be more generic. Yoga does work the body in many ways: physically, mentally and energetically. It may be possible that your reactions is an energetic response to the practice: Happy Baby can strongly stimulate the Gall Bladder, Liver, Urinary Bladder and Kidney meridians (depending upon the student and what exactly you are feeling.) Often we feel a rush of energy just after coming out of a pose in Yin Yoga, as if the flood gates just opened up. If such a rush is happening along the Kidney meridian, it could explain the energetic reaction you were experiencing.

I seriously doubt that a Yin Yoga pose can create the condition of shock: that is usually caused by severely reduced blood flow (ie: internal bleeding) and this low blood pressure leads to symptoms that include shallow breathing, mental confusion, sweating, chest pain, bluish fingernails, dizziness/lightheadedness, and anxiety, which can lead to restlessness. You don't describe these symptoms so I doubt you are going through shock.

None-the-less, the symptoms you do experience are not desirable. I am glad to hear that they are rare and less now than before. You also mentioned that these symptoms are not related just to Happy Baby but to many hip-openers. Again, I would suspect the energetic response is coming from too much stress on the meridians or perhaps some other somatic system. Your reaction sounds a bit like the Vagus nerve was stimulated, however, it does not travel as far as the hips.

I would suggest that during your hip openers pay extra internal attention and see if you can pin point the time when you have gone to far. See if you can sense the precursor signals and stop the pose just before you get to that point.

Good luck
Bernie
sam
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:21 am

Post by sam »

Thank you Bernie, that makes a lot of sense.

I do have some issues with the spleen and such so maybe its related to some other organs in the area.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer.

Regards,

s
inspiriert
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 8:51 pm

Post by inspiriert »

Hi Sam,

my bet would be that you have experienced so called kriyas,
unvoluntary movements they are e.g. part of Kriya or Kundalini Yoga,
unloading and releasing old compressed energy most likely
having been stored in the big psoas muscles.

I would recommend researching Peter Levines book Waking the Tiger,
which is beautifully describing the whole body systematic ...

I am myself a practitioner of TRE, Trauma Release Exercises by David Berceli,
who provokes these kind of unvoluntary bioenergetic trembling and shaking movements.
It feels great to me to just let the whole process be just watching it,
trusting that everything is ok.
I always experience a deep relaxation afterwards. The body wisdom is sometimes greater
than we want to admit. This video might be interesting to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZH8jVA_2OY

Your teeth clapping also do not sound unusual to me.
Only the chill I have never experienced myself.

Maybe another perspective ...

Karin
sam
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:21 am

Post by sam »

Thank you Karin,

I will definitely look into the links you sent and appreciate the feedback.

I still get the chills and shakes from time to time during the big stretches, but it's become less frequent or severe.

It make sense that the body holds on to trauma and recently discovered just how much during a ROLFing massage session.

If you have any more links about releasing stored trauma/energy, please let me know, I'd love to learn more about this.
inspiriert
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 8:51 pm

Post by inspiriert »

Hi Sam,

... depends what you are up to.
After all Yin Yoga with its body awareness and deep allowance and its deep opening of the hips seems to be one of the better ways to cope with trauma. But dont take me as an expert on that, I am only doing it regularly for a few weeks ...
When the shaking comes I would recommend to allow the movements to do what ever they are up to, just being aware of and deeply interested in it, you might even be able to enjoy them. After a few times you might want to let yourself completely be taken by your body. There might also be feelings coming up, ... just deeply allow them, also the resisting ones. Rest afterwards.

Make sure that your environment is safe so you cannot hurt yourself. You might also feel safer when somebody is arround.
Let your breath flow freely best with an open mouth. Watch, but dont control it, when it becomes faster, but make sure that you are breething and not holding it.

You also might find a TRE group in your town or a bioenergetic professionel who will accompany you through the process.
David Berceli has written good books about TRE and its mechanisms and there are also DVDs to show how to do it.

Here is another video just to encourage to trust your body:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m3mwARgVho

Peter Levine created another body method which is well accepted called Somatic Experiencing. I read books about it but have not done it myself
Here is a link, where he greatly explaines the mechanism of contraction and decontraction with a slinky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByalBx85iC8

Hope that helps, and let us know how it goes

Karin
inspiriert
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 8:51 pm

Post by inspiriert »

Just want to add a very interesting explanation and some suggestions about what to do with it by Shinzen Young who is taking the perspective from meditation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... pp=desktop

Karin
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