hold positions for a number of minutes. It’s perfect for people going through treatment, recovery, or simply needing a healing session to induce calm and peace. It can also include chanting or gongs if you attend a class, but in your own practice, it’s simply relaxing.
BIKRAM: This is “hot” yoga, where the studio is heated to 105 degrees F, with 40% humidity. The heat loosens your muscles and increases your ability to stretch. It’s comprised of a series of 26 poses completed twice, sandwiched in between breath work. Check with your doctor or rehab therapist first – those with lymphedema should avoid this, as heat exacerbates the associated swelling.
KUNDALINI: A gentler form of yoga, Kundalini yoga is 50 percent exercise, 20 percent breath work, 20 percent meditation, and 10 percent relaxation. It typically includes chanting, so if you are uncomfortable with this, you might want to choose a different type of yoga, but it’s a great one for those going through or recovery from treatment.
HATHA: Ideal for beginners, Hatha yoga refers to any practice that combines poses with breathing techniques. Do it at your own pace to increase flexibility and balance and to induce calm.
VINYASA: This is a fairly fast-paced yoga, often called “power yoga,” that requires constant movement through a flowing series of lunging, stretching and bending. You can work up to this type of yoga, but it is not recommended for those who have recently had surgery or treatment.
ASHTANGA: Ashtanga is a physically challenging yoga for seasoned practitioners, using up to 70 poses including back bends, inversion poses and sun salutations. This will most likely not be recommended initially, but it is definitely a type of yoga that you can work up to over a longer period of time.
My advice is to always check with your doctor or rehab therapist first (are you getting tired of hearing me say that yet?), start slow even though you may be experienced, and drop your expectation of doing a perfect Crane pose. Don’t even make me laugh – I am so far away from Crane that it’s kind of ridiculous. I may never do the Crane pose because it’s a lot of weight on your arms, but it’s possible I can work my way up to it. In the beginning, experiment with the standing and sitting poses as well as the ones that are performed lying down, as your balance may be a bit off for a while.
If you have an iPad or similar tablet, look up some apps for yoga to help you with your practice. I use one called “Daily Yoga” that has been my guide for about two years now. It offers different levels and lengths of sessions, and I started using it specifically because it included sessions using only seated or standing poses.
When I finished treatment, I was just shy of my 50th birthday. My fiancé is a “doer” and really wanted to give me something that would be useful to me as I healed. I had balance issues created by nerve damage in my feet from chemotherapy, I had scar tissue that continually wanted to pull my left arm down, my left side was weaker than my right, and I was fighting the Mood Rollercoaster. I also love to practice yoga. So, while I was gone for a week at a flower and garden show, Brett got to work with our carpenter friend, Jim, and built me a yoga deck.
I’d showed him pictures of similar decks before, but always followed with, “Wouldn’t that be cool if…” What a lucky woman I am that I have a mate who took my words to heart! I returned from the trip to find a newly built yoga deck adjacent to our chicken coop.
Many things have changed in the backyard since that deck was built – we built a huge chicken run around the coop, and created a tropical garden around the yoga deck. Now, it’s still a very young garden, so the plants aren’t yet as mature as I envision them to be, but what a gift to go out to that deck in the mornings with my coffee to practice yoga as the sun is just rising! And I may or may not practice at the end of the day with a beer; I will never tell.
It’s a 12' × 12' square, so just large enough for about 4 people to practice yoga together, but perfect for solo practice as well. If you want to build a deck similar to this one, here are my recommendations:
Use a composite decking material such as Trex. It has a natural wood grain and comes in a variety of colors or “stains,” and it can cost twice as much as real wood but you never have to maintain it. I like it because there is zero risk of getting splinters in your feet or hands – very important if you have lymphedema in your leg or arm and are susceptible to infections like I am!
Make it just a little larger than you think you’ll need, 10' × 10' minimum. Some yoga poses are challenging, and combined with my balance issues, I fall over frequently. Better to fall on a deck than off of one.
Have some kind of lighting at or around your deck. I sometimes like to go out very early in the morning or even late at night when the light is dim, and the last thing I want to do is trip because I can’t see where I’m going. If lighting doesn’t fit within your budget, bring a flashlight.
Install a waist-high bar for balance poses – we’ve talked about doing this with my yoga deck but haven’t gotten around to it yet. It’s nice to know that you can quickly hold onto something if you feel yourself going down.
Plant choices for a yoga deck garden
As I created the garden around my deck, I really wanted to have a sense of calm, peace and tranquility, so I chose plants that are tropical in nature, lush, soft and colorful. While I love agaves (and they make sense in my Texas garden) I wouldn’t dream of planting anything spiky or pokey here. Consider some of these plants:
Ornamental Grasses:
Miscanthus spp.
Pennisetum spp.
Festuca spp.
Big-leafed tropicals:
Colocasia spp.
Canna spp.
Philodendron spp.
Exotic foliage:
Coleus spp.
Calathea spp.
Anthurium spp.
Croton spp.
The ferns:
Adiantum spp.
Nephrolepis spp.
Platycerium spp.
Asplenium spp.
Bamboo is also a great choice as it’s a very “zen”
