Yoga/Pilates DVDs

[Alistair]

I got myself that Yoga DVD for people with scoliosis that you all know about (I’ve read that there’s also one about Pilates).
I’m 34yo, 30° rotating left low back and compensating 25° right thoracic, I’ve been going to the gym for nearly 20 years, I also regularly go swimming, and I’ve somehow won the psychological hurdle of taking off my T-shirt in public, no-one ever noticed about my back in many occasions, I’m of course more uncomfortable in intimate situations, I’m afraid…
Just wondered, I tried some of the positions in that DVD but some are very challenging even for a person who’s used to movements, and somehow I don’t understand what I should move and how I should move it, taking into account my curves. There’re no instructors who could help me in the vicinity (I live in Italy), do you think that probably a Yoga for Beginners DVD would be a solution and then once simple positions have been mastered I should pass onto this DVD specifically for people with scoliosis? Are you on the whole satisfied with your Yoga experience so far? Thanks

[BETall]

I got myself that Yoga DVD for people with scoliosis that you all know about (I’ve read that there’s also one about Pilates).
I’m 34yo, 30° rotating left low back and compensating 25° right thoracic, I’ve been going to the gym for nearly 20 years, I also regularly go swimming, and I’ve somehow won the psychological hurdle of taking off my T-shirt in public, no-one ever noticed about my back in many occasions, I’m of course more uncomfortable in intimate situations, I’m afraid…
Just wondered, I tried some of the positions in that DVD but some are very challenging even for a person who’s used to movements, and somehow I don’t understand what I should move and how I should move it, taking into account my curves. There’re no instructors who could help me in the vicinity (I live in Italy), do you think that probably a Yoga for Beginners DVD would be a solution and then once simple positions have been mastered I should pass onto this DVD specifically for people with scoliosis? Are you on the whole satisfied with your Yoga experience so far? Thanks
Please go to: www.Sosort.org and ckeck with Dr. Stefano Negrini in Italy -e-mail: stefano.negrini@isico.it .
You will benefit if someone will videotape you from the back and and beguin to de-rotate your torsions at the level of your apices of the concave areas.

[Writer]

I would be very suspicious of a "One-Size-Fits-All" yoga or Pilates tape for scoliosis. Physical exercises should be tailored to your particular scoliotic configuration.

Are you left or right lumbar -- or do you have a lumbar curve at all? Left or right thoracic? And so forth. It's more complicated than that, even. You could be doing completely wrong exercises and making your curves worse.

I agree with BETall, Dr Negrini's clinic is probably the best solution in Italy. He's affiliated with the Universita degli Studi di Milano.