The Best Kept Secret

So if it's so good, why haven't you heard of it already? Up until recently, Body Rolling was the best-kept secret of yoga aficionados primarily. I first learned about it from my own yoga instructor, Judy Weaver.

Weaver is what I call a "pretzel person." She is unbelievably flexible, but even the most flexible people still get injuries. A car accident nearly 2 years ago left her with severe shoulder injuries - so severe that an orthopedist told her she would not be able to regain full range of motion without surgery. Instead Weaver devised her own treatment plan, using therapy, yoga, homeopathic creams and Body Rolling. According to Weaver, Body Rolling was essential to her recovery, "I could not have gotten back into yoga without the balls."

One day, Weaver brought some of the smaller balls used just for feet into class, and we all tried them out. The foot routine takes about 15 minutes, and entails standing on the rubber hemispheres, moving up your feet from your heels to toes, from the outer edge to the inner arch. For me, the sensation was intense, and not all together pleasurable, but I gotta tell you, during the subsequent yoga class, I was amazed at how much better my balance was (I'm crap at balance) and how much better my hamstrings felt. And that was after just one "treatment." Apparently, I'm not an isolated case. Judy says without exception, every single person who has tried Body Rolling has seen or felt some effect.

Another convert, avid cyclist and surfer Bill Greenfield, says the foot balls allowed him to open up some parts of the body he was having trouble with - specifically his feet, ankles and toes. Greenfield, a frighteningly fit 45-year-old, says after using the balls just two to three times per week, his feet feel much more "active" and his balance has noticeably improved - both on the board and the bike.

The Yamuna Behind Yamuna

Yamuna Body Rolling is the eponymous brainchild of renowned yoga instructor and physical therapist, Yamuna Zake, and was developed out of a personal need. Twenty-five years ago during the birth of her daughter, Zake damaged muscles around her hip during delivery. None of the treatments doctors suggested worked.

"After going to a chiropractor for three months, three times a week, he said I would be better," Zake said. But when she left his office one day, her leg dislocated just as she stepped off the curb of the sidewalk.

"I went home, and I said, I'm gonna figure this out."

If anyone could, she could. Zake had been practicing yoga since she was 14 years old, and at the time, owned one of the first few yoga centers in New York City.

She began to practice specific postures with the goal of identifying the structural problem none of her doctors had been able to pinpoint precisely. Zake noticed "the only muscles that were holding me together were my outside (leg) muscles, so I decided if I stretch those, they would cause (my outside leg muscles) to have to work. So, that's what I did. And in two weeks, my leg was stable."

Her experience led her to begin working one-on-one with her yoga students to help them overcome their own individual restrictions. Soon other people began coming to her with more complicated physical problems and injuries, and out of necessity, Zake began a formal study of anatomy and physiology. She developed her own system of physical therapy called Body Logic, a combination of yoga and massage, and from there evolved Body Rolling. Over the years, she has treated people with herniated discs, shoulder, knee and ankle injuries, multiple sclerosis, strokes, migraines, arthritis and even paralysis.

The Whole Ball Of Wax...Er Rubber

Well, I certainly felt what it could do for my feet. What about the rest of me? Certified Yamuna instructor Robin Cahn took me through the paces at Yoga 1 www.yoga1.net studio in Hollywood, FL, where Body Rolling classes are offered regularly.

Cahn, a former dancer, is also a Pilates instructor, and has been teaching Body Rolling for the past two years, in group classes and one on one with clients. She says Body Rollling doesn't work only the body, but the mind and soul as well. I'm not sure how deeply I wanted to delve into my soul in the first session, but I was certainly up for a little body work.

We began with the firmest ball (they come in three levels of firmness, depending on your fitness level), simply sitting and balancing on "one cheek" and then leaning to one side, rolling over the ball, and eventually rolling down our hamstrings. We tried the smaller "calf balls" tucked in behind each knee as we knelt, and rolled them back towards our feet. I seemed to feel this more in my feet than my calves, but Cahn says you feel whatever needs to be loosened up the most. We used the relatively squishy green ball lying on our stomach and stretched arms and neck (quite excellent), and finally, used the calf balls again to massage the spine and back of the neck (superbly excellent). Throughout the practice, Cahn had me pause, breathe deeply, and lie on my back between each segment.

After an hour of all this rocking and rolling, I must say I had the most wonderful warm and relaxed sensation all over my body. My neck and back felt light and rubbery (I know that doesn't make any sense, but I don't know how else to explain it), and even my feet felt more "grounded" as I stood. It was cool, and was better than any massage I can remember.

Rolling Face Lift

But don't think your body is the only thing that needs a good roll. Zake is currently developing a program for "face rolling" using small balls on the face designed to work as a completely non-surgical facelift. Face rolling will stimulate the facial muscles where they attach to bone, and in theory slow the drooping associated with aging. (Hmm, I should have asked about "boob rolling").

The Yamuna Body Rolling products (balls, instructional books and videos) are available on the official Yamuna site or on Amazon, as well as from certified practitioners in your area.

I hate to admit I don't already have them (some of my friends would disagree), but I'll be getting my own set of balls soon.