| I'm a Yoga teacher but I really had no idea what a piriformus was until I went to research for a client. Seems it's part of the muscle group I call External Hip Rotator. If it's inflamed, use ice and gentle massage touching the area then stroking down the outside of your thigh while visualizing the heat dissipate . Also, if you've a partner willing to help my students love which I call "gatti-piedi" (I teach in Italy.) You know how a cat kneads your stomach when they're sitting on your lap? Someone sits behind you massaging your back with their feet and toes. Delicious! Most of what I read about piriformus and relief from sciatica involves stretching to relieve the pressure on the nerve but I've found that an ineffective solution without strengthening. These poses will bring some awareness to the area through gentle elongation, passive stretching with breath awareness. The bottom part of Gokumasana (Cow's Head Pose) where you bend one leg knee pointing forward and foot under opposite hip then cross the other leg over the same way like stacking 'V's can help or leave you feeling hopeless as your top knee threatens to touch your nose and you can't quite sort out your parts. |
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| Meow...Prhhh |
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| Yoga is union? |
| Gokumasana, knees-crossed hip opener when your legs settle down. You may still feel like a cow's head. |
| Matsyendrasana, (Lord of the fish), a familiar twist in yoga may be a bit easier: same bottom leg 'V' under but this time the top crosses over with your foot on the floor outside the thigh. If you've got sciatic pain, just hugging the knee by wrapping the opposite arm round it may be quite enough thank you. If your right leg is crossed over, put you right hand on the floor behind you and wrap your left arm round. So far so good? Okay, lift the left arm, put your elbow outside and twist using the left arm as leverage to turn your upper torso on the exhale. Keep your hips stable and don't torque your lower back! |
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| You know how angry you get when you're not allowed to do your job? Well, muscles have feelings too so the tight, angry ones are probably also weak so stretching may not be the whole solution. It's certainly a good start bringing awareness and space into an area which calls out in pain but if that's all you do, you may exacerbate the problem. go on |
| Lord of the fish? |
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