Yoga & Vertigo

The physical aspects of human body like the, inner ear, skin, eyes and central nervous system regulate the body’s balance. For example, the fluid inside the inner ear helps an individual to maintain his/her direction, while eyes coordinate to send information to the brain regarding the spacing with other objects. Vertigo is the feeling that you or your world is spinning – often caused by an inner ear problem.- making you feel dizzy and unbalanced. It’s sometimes referred to as a hallucination of motion.

Vertigo may be associated with, head or neck injury, brain problems such as stroke or tumor, certain medications that cause ear damage, migraine headaches.

The symptoms of Vertigo arise when one’s central nervous system gets conflicting messages from the other 4 systems.

Yoga posture designed for vertigo helps to strengthen the central nervous system, improve the balance, enhance blood circulation and cultivate your concentration and focus.

Malasana or Garland Pose 

1.  Come to stand with the feet about mat’s width apart.
2. Bend the knees, coming into a squat.
3. Keep the feet as close to parallel as possible.
4. Take the upper arms inside your knees and bend the elbows. Bring the palms together into anjali mudra (prayer position).
5. Try to bring the hands to your heart center with the forearms parallel to the floor to open the knees slightly.
6. Keep the spine straight and shoulders relaxed.
7. Stay here for five breaths, then straighten the legs to come out.

Halasana or Plough Pose

1. Lie down with your back on a Mat.
2. Your shoulders should lie on the edge and your head rests on the mat. Your legs are drawn in and still stand on the mat.
3. Lift your hips off the floor and bring your legs up, over and beyond your head.
4. At this point, lift your back and move your legs further beyond your head.
5. Straighten your spine and keep your back straight. Move your hands toward your back.
6. Place your arms against your upper back and try to place your hands as near as possible to the shoulder blades. Try to place your elbows at shoulder-width. If you cannot do this, put them at a somewhat wider distance from each other.

Sirsasana or Head stand

1. Kneel down and grab your elbows with your hands.
2. Keep the elbows where they are and interlock the fingers in front of you. Elbows and hands now form an equilateral triangle.
3. Place the very top of your head on the floor with the back of your head resting against the fingers.
4. Straighten the knees, raise your hips, your body now resembling an inverted V. The weight should be about equally distributed between your head/arms and the feet.
5. Keeping your knees straight as much as possible, walk with little steps, bringing your feet as close as possible to your head. This will shift the weight from the feet onto the head/arms. Keep your back as straight as possible to prevent your neck from arching.
6. Bend the knees keeping them close to the chest and your feet close to your buttocks. Shift the hips to keep your balance.
7. Keep your knees bent and point them to sky.
8. Now and only now straighten your legs. Keep your feet relaxed. Make sure that the head is supporting no more than 10% of your body weight, the rest being applied on the elbows. At first hold it for 5 seconds. Increase gradually to 10 to 15 minutes.

Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half spinal twist)

1. Kneel down with your legs together, resting on your heels.
2. Then sit to the right of your feet.
3. Lift your left leg over your right, placing the foot against the outside of the right knee. Bring your right heel in close to your buttocks. Keep the spine erect.
4. Stretch your arms out to the sides at shoulder level, and twist around to the left.
5. Now bring the right arm down on the outside of the left knee and hold the left foot in the right hand, placing your left hand on the floor behind you. As you exhale, twist as far as possible to the left. Look over the left shoulder.

Shavansana or Corpse Pose

1. Spread the mat on the floor. Place a bolster on the mat, with its long sides parallel to the long sides of the mat. Sit in Dandasana (Staff pose) with the short end of the bolster against your buttocks, and place the folded blanket on the far end. If you have osteoarthritis of the knees or if your legs are feeling tired, place a bolster under your knees.
2. Wrap the bandage around your forehead, following the instructions for Ujjayi Pranayama. Now place your elbows and forearms on the mat. Lower your back, vertebra by vertebra, onto the bolster until your head rests comfortably on the folded blanket. Position your buttocks evenly on the centre of the mat. Spread out your arms to the sides, palms facing up, and rest them on the floor.
3. Straighten your legs and stretch them evenly away from each other, without disturbing the extension of your waist. Exhale, focusing on your breathing, then lift and stretch your diaphragm, keeping it free of tension. Keep your arms at a comfortable distance from your body. If they are placed too near or too far away, your shoulders will lift off the bolster.
4. Stretch your shoulders away from your neck. The centre of your back should be on the centre of the bolster, keep your abdomen soft and relaxed. Expand your chest and relax your throat. Until you feel a soothing sensation in the neck. Ensure that your head does not tilt back. Relax your facial muscles and your jaw. Do not clench your teeth.
5. Keep your breathing smooth and free of tension, but do not breathe deeply. Let your eyeballs relax into their sockets, and allow external surroundings to recede. Feel the energy flow from your brain to your body body as the physical, physiological, mental, intellectual, and spiritual lanes come together. Stay in the pose for 5 – 10 minutes.

Paschimottanasana

1. Sit on a mat with your legs stretched straight out in front of you.
2. Breathe OUT. Slowly bend forward, trying to touch your feet. Don’t bend your knees.
3. If you feel a constriction while bending, straighten up slightly and then try and bend further forward.
4. Don’t push yourself too hard. You may not be able to get very far if you are a beginner. Don’t get impatient and push yourself too hard. You will only injure your muscles. Just bend forward as far as you can go.
   It is important that you hold this pose. There is no point in just bouncing back and forth.
5. Exhale, while returning to normal position.

Pranayama (Breathing exercise)

1. Sit in asana. Breathe inside slowly, very slowly, allowing the smooth passage of prana to each molecule, fiber and cell of the body.
2. Expand diaphragm, so more air will come in lungs. Hold for 4/5 seconds.
3. Exhale slowly by contracting diaphragm giving the air cells sufficient time to re-absorb the residual prana to the maximum possible extent.
4. Again hold breath out for 4/5 seconds.
5. Repeat 3-4 times.

Note:

Some asanas can put risk for vertigo, especially those requiring bending over or hanging with your head low. Standing forward bends and downward facing dog pose are contraindicated in such cases.