5 hours ago
12
Thank you for publishing Natasha Livingstone’s article (A moment that changed me: I started yoga – and saw my scoliosis in a surprising new light, 15 July). I have been ashamed of my scoliosis my entire life. It wasn’t diagnosed until my early 20s, and by that time I had begun a career as a dancer and choreographer. My dance teachers were always criticising my off-kilter posture and I constantly felt that I didn’t deserve to pursue a career in dance due to my disfigured spine. My curvature is both thoracic and lumbar, and runs both sideways and forward-backward. I, too, have an uneven waistline, a hip curve on one side and straight rib-to-hip line on the other. Pants fit unevenly on me, and for years I would never wear an open-backed top.
Reading this piece made me recognise how hard I’ve worked to cope with the chronic pain, through ashtanga yoga, which I taught for over 10 years, and now through lap swimming. But I haven’t come to terms with the shame. This piece gave me the sense that I am not alone – that there are others of us who have scoliosis and deal with it in a myriad of ways. As the author of this article shows, there should be no shame in having the strength to cope with it and do whatever we want to do in our lives.
Louise Zamparutti
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, US
Natasha Livingstone’s story is also mine. I had a crooked body and lower back pain where scoliosis caused a pinched nerve. By my 50s, the pain was so bad I sometimes walked with an ice pack tucked into my jeans. Sitting was the worst. And I’m a writer. Then, while we were hiking, a yoga-teaching and licensed physical therapist friend asked politely: “Can I tell you something about your back?” She said: “If you don’t do something now, you’ll be twisted into the shape of a pretzel before too long.”
She taught me basic yoga poses, and I cried because they were so hard. But I persisted. Later, when I went to another physical therapist, I asked her to incorporate the exercises into my daily yoga routine. As Livingstone says, physical therapy routines are boring as hell, which is why most people don’t continue and then say it doesn’t work.
At 75, I’ve now been pain-free for years. I practice my yoga/physical therapy routine six out of seven days. It works for my scoliosis – and for my heart and mind as well.
Kirie Pedersen
Brinnon, Washington, US
How wonderful that Natasha Livingstone discovered yoga for her scoliosis! I had the same diagnosis at age 14. That was 1969, and there were two choices: a cement cast from my hips to my neck until I turned 19, or expect to be in a wheelchair by 19. I rejected both, and found my way to yoga because my best friend was doing it and I wanted to be like her.
Fifty-six years later, I’m still doing it – no pain, normal life, and shockingly flexible for a 70-year-old woman. Some days I’ve done it for hours, other days not at all – totally by whim. But consistency over the years will keep you in the best possible shape. Keep it up.
Alice Devon
Metairie, Louisiana, US
