By Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Yogaratna

Arthur had been diagnosed with a condition called Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), an inflammatory rheumatoid disease.

He was in constant pain. Gurudevi said that because medicine can cite no cause, at least 80% was tailbone tightening. He would really benefit from the daily release a five-session series provides.

Arthur, an otherwise dynamo of an octogenarian, was definitively not feeling like himself. We took it very slowly in the beginning, as is the protocol for a high-risk client.

In the first session, even the slightest tailbone release would flare up his shoulder pain. So I improvised with extra pillows and higher blankets for his head. We went step by step and the unraveling began.

By the second session, Arthur was breathing easier, and letting his body relax more into the process. When he got up to stand, he said he felt two inches taller. His skin and eyes were brighter. There was more of a spring to his step as he walked out my door.

After our first five sessions, his wife was amazed! Arthur started feeling more like his energetic self. It only got better as the series progressed.

He already had a daily Shavasana and Ujjayi Pranayama practice. Now he could get up and down from the floor more easily. He was climbing stairs with greater ease. His sinuses were draining and even his sleep improved.

With his lower spine decompressing, his spirits lifted. He felt happier. It wasn’t long before the shoulder pillows were gone, and his head needed only one blanket. The best was, he could ease deeper into Consciousness, no longer interrupted with painful flare-ups.

Never underestimate the power of the tailbone!