Post-Surgery 2

Went back to work this week and dealing with new challenges.  I had a sub cover my Monday evening GYROKINESIS® class, and took the class to see how it felt.  While the movements felt fine muscularly (challenging but safe), the biggest problem I faced was the friction of the healing scar on my abdominals against my clothes!  I only made it through part of the class, as the discomfort from this situation was overwhelming.  I went straight to the drugstore where I bought some castor oil.  It came highly recommended for healing scar tissue, and I've been massaging it onto the scar twice a day.  Today I taught GYROKINESIS for the first time since the surgery, and it went well.  Very soft sweatpants and shirt helped.

This was the first full hour of exercise I've had in a few weeks, and energetically it felt good.  I moved a little slower than usual, and had more time than usual to assess where I was moving from.  Especially when arching, because it's so challenging right now, I got a better feel for which muscles in the front and back body were engaging to make the motions happen.  As someone who tends to hold tension in my abdominals, exploring ways to keep my solar plexus connected without restricting the arch is always a challenge, so this was a good experience and I know I have a long way to go.

Speaking of holding tension in the abdominals, I've noticed that when I completely relax my low belly, I get a dull ache in my low back, as well as some discomfort in my pelvic floor.  I've been playing with gently engaging and trying to lengthen from a little higher up in the core (more like L2/3 instead of L5/S1), and I think it helps, but these muscles are still quite compromised.  Also, I suspect my organs (which are still confused by the prescription laxatives I've been on since surgery) need to adjust and settle into a home a little lower down than they're used to, and this move is rather uncomfortable.