Yamuna Body Rolling

[Olga]

Has anyone tried it, and what is your experience?

 

Reference: https://www.easycalculation.com/medical/astrand-test-calculator.php

The best source, with lots of fresh videos, is her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/YamunaBody

 

From my own experience, it is very, very interesting self-treatment and the effects are: elongation of muscles, release of tension. I started about 6 months ago, then attended a few workshops, practiced with a book (http://www.amazon.com/Body-Rolling-Experiential-Approach-Complete/dp/0892817305 ) and I am going to three more workshops (by Yamuna herself) this week.

 

I'd be curious to exchange views if anyone here tried YBR on him/herself or clients. I do both, and very successfully. Less painful than stretching, too ))))

[Kit_L]

I love the Yamuna ball itself; it is exactly the right shape and texture (and they are strong, too). I have not found the method effective in my body—that is, no effect on available ROM (this is my litmus test for any method: what effect does it produce).

 

For me, it is like any rolling; it does relax the body, and sore spots can be targeted in a nice way—but this activity produces no improvement in ROM, as tested before and after. And a piece of water pipe, or a hockey ball can do the same job, in this respect. The texture of the Yamuna ball is excellent (it rolls on the floor on the part you are working on) but so do many other objects.

 

You mention that is is very successful for you. Knowing how flexible you are, how are you assessing this?

[Olga]

Kit, thank you for replying! I agree - the Yamuna balls (I have three types) are probably what is the best from the method, and they are what i love most. What I like the least is the verbiage around it and the ways Yamuna (Zake) is explaining how it works (and why only her method works...)

 

I will be very brief today, and will post more about it after three workshops that I am attending this week. 

 

1. I found ball rolling releases tension in my muscles - those that pull on the tendons - therefore (theoretically at least) helping to improve ROM. Example: hip flexor (!!) After using the ball I feel that my front of the hip lies flat on the floor on the side that has been treated; vs the other side. I stand taller - equivalent of a very painful ST hip flexor partner stretch. Difference: it does not do anything for the quads (need to work on them separately) and it does not last as long.

 

Interestingly, after I roll on the hip flexors, and go to some combine HF/quads stretch (in lunch position, bend knee and get hold of the foot), I can feel hip flexors and quads differently, with quards more 'tense' and pulling, and HF less. Before the ball, they are one big lump of stuff needing stretch.

 

2. I use it on the body parts where stretching would not reach so well: neck (my fav after hip flexors), middle back, chest, small hip muscles like rotators etc. Side body, especially around the rib cage.

 

3. On my clients: see #1 - for ROM challenged people ball rolling is a more pleasant way to relax and work on the muscle and let it elongate. More generally, as I am a Pilates teacher, I use the balls to get the client to release tension in certain body parts before exercising them - as exercising with tension IMHO is not beneficial. Chest, shoulder, neck are the ones I work most on, as working the upper body with a tense structure is not good for anyone.

 

4. I use Yamuna balls as props for some yoga/ST 'poses' eg sitting in pancake with both legs on balls; moving balls up and down the leg to reach different areas. Another example, I do the ST 'piriformis stretch' or pigeon pose with the front leg on the ball rather than on a block or a bolster. The ball works on the lateral thigh while lifting up the body to create good alignment for the piriformis stretch.

 

Finally, ROM is good but after you achieved the standard (or slightly higher) ROMs, and it is no longer restricting what you want to do with your body, it needs other things. I find I can get more of those from the ball. I realise I need to explain what I mean here, but I am short of time and I am going to come back after I got some input from Yamuna this week and I have time to think it over. Perhaps something along the lines of the question  'muscle tension vs flexibility', discussed elsewhere on this forum.

 

Best,

Olga

[Kit_L]

Thanks Olga; I appreciate your detailed reply. For me (and Miss O might add something; we were discussing this post last night), the second part of point 4 is the key one. We might sum this up by pointing to 'what's next?' once any needed ROM has been achieved, where to?

 

I am sure you are right—this relates to muscle tension vs, flexibility. We all start at different places, and have different needs—I do need more ROM, but the muscle tonus dimension is more or less covered; Olivia has the ROM, etc. "Grace and ease in the body, and more efficient movement."

[Olga]

With regards to 'what's next after achieving target ROM" here is my shopping list:

 

- balance - body sides, front/back, small vs big muscles, stabilisers vs movers

- structural alignment (bones)

- body-mind connection (call it awareness or mindfulness if you wish)

- understanding of own anatomy - enough to be able to give self corrective exercise/therapy to heal without surgeons or doctors

- fascia health (circulation!!)

- release of tension and reversing habits of holding tension in body

 

All these are interconnected, yet I see that each one can be talked about as a objective on its own.

 

Back to body rolling, I am not advocating the use of Yamuna Body Rolling for everything, but Yamuna talks about all of these all the time. Also she talks a lot about bone stimulation. And, strangely, she never talks about ROM :-)

 

BTW These are objectives beyond ROM that are nevertheless related to the ST work.

 

The list above of course does not include the famous 'strength vs flexibility' discussion which I prefer to view as 'stability vs mobility'.

[Matt Chung]

On 10/21/2015 at 1:56 PM, Olga said:

Has anyone tried it, and what is your experience?

hey @Olga, I met up with a Stretch Therapy instructor in person last week in London and during our chat, she had brought up her love for the Yamuna Body Rolling. Following that conversation with her, I searched through this forum for Yamuna Body Rolling and stumbled on this thread and just wanted to say that tomorrow I have a 1:1 private training (I prefer group training but currently group workshops here are unavailable at this time) with a Yamuna Body Rolling instructor in London (referred by a fellow Stretch Therapy member) and very interested to see how it may complement my stretching routines. Though this thread here is almost 10 years old, going to leave feedback following that 1:1.

[Matt Chung]

Just got out of my first ever 1:1 Yamuna Body Rolling with Sharon Dow over at English Wren Pilates.

In short, Yamuna Body rolling feels like a self-controlled method for myofascia release and I will both experiment with it moving forward and incorporate it as part of my stretching routines. I found the session to be productive — focused almost exclusively on the rectus femoris — and more or less met my expectations. And though I'll consider future 1:1 private (or group trainings), I feel adequately equipped in the short term to tinker and self experiment as a form of releasing tension. Finally, at the end, I purchased a single gold ball (32.00 GBP).

Session Recap

• Two routines: first focusing on rectus femoris, second on the TFL (and areas between quads and between hamstrings) - example screenshots below
• At the tail end of the routine, while the ball was pressed against my rectus femoris, the instructor assisted and increased the intensity by her pressing down on the back of my hamstrings (though I don't consider myself a religious man, I recall praying for the gods above to send help due to the strong, tolerable sensations)
• After completing the first routine on my right leg, and then laying on my back, I could feel asymmetry between my two sides, the right side of my body feeling more relaxed, more "melted"
• LOVED how I could control how much pressure was applied: the more I relaxed, the more I could lean my weight into the ball
• Feels more approachable, more granular, and less intense then foam roaming (or use of Lacross balls)

[Nathan]

18 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

though I don't consider myself a religious man, I recall praying for the gods above to send help due to the strong, tolerable sensations

😂

That's the kind of fun we enjoy here