From Here We Go Forward

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      "So that red  hot burning sensation in your left leg is what is known as Sciatic Nerve pain," is what the neurosurgeon said to me. The grape sized cyst in my spinal canal, obscuring over half the canal and putting great pressure in my sciatic nerve as it branches off between L-4 and L-5, had to be surgically removed. The cause? A lifetime of over use, arthritic build up on the facet joints, and then perhaps a sudden blow to the back by a surfboard, 
        After the surgery, there was lot's of Physical Therapy with my good friend John Perdaems. What I noticed is that much of the treatment was yoga moves and the rest was all about strength, Not just core strength, but strong arms and legs, feet, wrists, hands, ankles and feet. My week spot may have been the lower back, but the whole body is connected. Healing came from a wholistic approach, strength and flexibility.
        The main tenant of Chi Running is to cooperate with the Force of Gravity and the force or the road coming at you. In this case we use gravity for propulsion .In Yoga we use muscle tone and strength to help the spine and body stay aligned and correctly stacked so as to minimize and reverse the effects of gravity .All the healing modalities were starting to coalesce for me. Add this, to my lifelong passion for Fencing, the graceful and efficient movements of a sword fighter,, and voila, Occupational Yoga!
       Occupational Yoga looks at moving through life with correct posture, strength throughout, flexibility and grace. Follow along as I now add Foundation Techniques created by Dr. Eric Goodman into the mix.