Yesterday two women who work at several refugee camps in the area joined my Saturday amputee yoga class. They are psychologists who wanted to see how we adapt yoga for amputees at the clinic. They enjoyed the class — a simple mat class using seated and prone postures chosen with amputees in mind. Like in the patient classes, we also incorporate progressive relaxation. Actually, the class overall is similar to the patient classes. I just leave out postures that are impossible with one leg.
They have invited me to lead some classes at the nearest camp, Mae La, in the next couple of weeks and conduct a training for their counselors in March. The group that I will meet first is comprised of about 30 young men who live and work together in Mae La camp. Ninety five percent of them are blind and many/most have lost both arms and legs. Landmines.
I am researching more about yoga for amputees and have found some interesting stuff so far. From www.amputee-online.com I learned that there are some ways that we can relieve phantom pain (pain in the missing limb) in a yoga class. For example, tense and release (progressive) relaxation might be helpful for the phantom pain. We can also do some self massage: from face and neck to stump. Click here for more medicinal things to do for phantom pain.
I will begin with breath of course, then a series of seated postures (will need to adapt for upper body amputation), some prone postures, and then relaxation.
I need to remember that they need to move their limbs and that there is no shame for them to do so — it is their body. It’s my own discomfort/worry that needs to be kept in check.
