I’ve been fighting the temptation to write post titles that are song inspired… I’m giving in to that temptation and today’s post title is meant to be read to the tune of “We’re Off to See the Wizard” from the musical “The Wizard of Oz”. Sad, I know. Lame, I know. Tacky, I know. But it’s too late, it’s now typed up and I’m not hitting the delete button!

This is meant to be a quick post before I go to see the physio again. I was contemplating this move all weekend. Should I just live with the discomfort of the lower back on the right side and the inability to bind in marichyasana C and D because of the pinching sensation in the hip when the left leg is fully flexed and adducted? I thought that with time and patience, yoga will correct my imbalance and I’ll be back to feeling “normal”, which is probably possible. Only thing is, I’m concerned that if I leave it untreated and unattended to by a professional who actually knows what they’re talking about (as opposed to my hypochondriacal research and musings), I could be doing some permanent damage.

So, with the fear of permanent damage, I made an appoint with my physiotherapist for this afternoon. He’s probably not going to be happy to see that I haven’t improved much in the month since I’ve last seen him.

I can feel the hypertonic butt muscles as I sit and type, not a comfortable feeling. It gives me the urge to stretch the muscles, so I do a sitting piriformis and gluteus stretch where I bend up my right leg and put my right ankle on my left knee (forming an up-side-down number 4) then bend forward with a straight back. What an effective stretch… oh it feels good.

There’s a holistic center right next to the shala. They offer sports massage including trigger point release and myofascial release. I learnt the difference is that trigger point release is when pressure is applied to the trigger points to get them to release their tension and myofascial release is when pressure is applied to the belly of the muscle to get the muscle to release, both seem to be ischaemic compression techniques. Maybe I’ll go to the center for a 30 minute massage at lunch time.

In terms of practice, there hasn’t been much. I did a quickie practice Friday night after shopping with my sister. I had come home at about 9pm, so it was already really freaking late for a practice. No practice on Saturday and Sunday was moon day. I don’t know if I’ll practice today. Every fibre in my body says “DO IT” but I’ll see what the physio says.

Speaking of which… better get going.