The things yoga can do for scoliosis...

To bring the practice of yoga into the everyday life of a person with scoliosis (or indeed without scoliosis!) it is important to begin by re-aligning the body and breath. This is something that can come off the yoga mat and into day to day life. Whilst washing the dishes, for example, think about standing in Tadasana with the navel drawn in towards the spine and the shoulders, head and pelvis aligned. Whilst out walking, draw awareness to the breath. Ask yourself if you are breathing into the chest or the abdomen, if the breath is even or or uneven, smooth or ragged and begin to allow yourself to breath with more ease. With practice and positivity lifelong habits can be overcome.

Choosing the path of yoga to remediate scoliosis is a lifelong commitment. With guidance from a good teacher and by developing awareness of our own bodies; our movement, our muscles, our structure and our breath, we can use our pain and discomfort to guide us into an awareness adn understanding of the curvature of our spines.

The practice of yoga is a continuous journey where, whatever our experience, we constantly re-treading the same ground as we realise our own bodies, our capabilities, our limitations. Through my practice and my teaching I have come to realise that every person has a body as individual as their fingerprint - postures that work in an asana practice for one person may be painful and unbeneficial for another. A yoga practice helps each of us to learn and read our own breath and bodies from day to day, being to learn what we need and, as Desikachar says, "to attain what was previously unattainable" (The Heart of Yoga p. 5).

Whilst for some this may be attaining full Astanga Vinyasa Primary Series, for others it may be attaining the ability to sit in stillness with a straight spine for 10 minutes, overcoming discomfort. Neither of these attainments are more or less beneficial than the other in themselves, and yoga practitioners should not feel any pressure to attain what another person has attained – we should instead let go of our ego and be comfortable with our own achievements and our own bodies.

In many ways I look upon my scoliosis as a blessing. Rather than it being an obstacle to my yoga practice I have come to understand the curvature of my spine as a lesson in self-observation and self-acceptance. This is the body I have been given and I will work with it to attain what, to me, was previously unattainable. My scoliosis helps me, as I develop my yoga teaching, to understand to a greater degree the limitations and abilities of my students.

Yoga practice is not a “cure-all” for back problems of any kind, or scoliosis specifically, and should always be undertaken with a qualified (and sympathetic) teacher who understands the back problem and in conjunction with advice from a physical therapist. It is also important to find a style of yoga that is right for you. For me this has been predominantly the Viniyoga developed by TKV Desikachar in the 1960s, which is a gentle posture and breath practice, taught in small groups and catered to the individual. This said, yoga practice by its very nature will strengthen and stretch the back muscles and focus the mind on lengthening the spine.

For me, however the most important part of the yoga practice is its ability o lead the practitioner towards acceptance of themselves and their bodies, to be happy with the skin they are in and to love themselves just the way they are.