Dana Podell Physiotherapy & Yoga

Summertime in Chicago means outdoor yoga!!! 😎🧘‍♀️☀️

Come celebrate this city and enjoy the sun together
🌅 Sunset Yoga Outdoors 6-7pm with

Classes happen 2x a month at the Sheridan Lot in Lakeview & the first class is this Friday!

✨Save the dates✨
June 14 & 28th
July 12 & 26th
August 9 & 16
September 6 & 20
October 4 & 18

➡️ Bring your mat, water bottle, and your self!
Send me a message with any questions 🤍

When your body changes, so should your movement practice 🤰🧘‍♀️

Movement considerations pre/postpartum •••
✅ Lying flat on your back is OK if you can maintain a normal heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate
❌ Avoid exercises on your stomach as early as possible
✅Twists are ok as long as you maintain spinal length and don’t push yourself past the place of comfort
❌Any cardio exercise when your pregnant where you can’t talk while doing the exercise is too intense and should be avoided
✅Movements should focus on functional strength training, hip mobility, and pelvic floor strength
❌Don’t avoid movement in the first 6 weeks postpartum. Gentle mobility is ok!!

Want to learn more or have a specific question?
➡️ I’m now accepting new pelvic health physical therapy patients
➡️ Join me for a NEW pre/postnatal yoga class on Thursdays at 5:30pm

And always feel free to reach out with any questions 😌

Long summer days are here which means plenty of time to read new books🌞🌅📚

Here are the books I’m going to be reading this summer 😌 they cover a mix of western & eastern approaches to health & wellness (with of course a focus on yoga, meditation, and women’s health)

One of the most important aspects of both my yoga & professional practice is constant study. I’m always eager to learn new information, discover different treatment approaches, and step outside my knowledge comfort zone🤸🏼‍♀️

And if your healthcare provider isn’t interested in learning new information - think again - maybe they’re not the best fit for you 🧐

So far I’ve finished 1 book… only 4 more to go 🤓🙃
Swipe to get the full list of books➡️➡️

🌟 New class starting March 12th! 🌟

A healthy body is both flexible and strong 💪🏻🤸‍♀️ while the image of yoga often highlights flexibility, the yoga repertoire is also an excellent way to build strength in a wide range of positions.

🙏🏻 If you’re interested in adding more strength training to your weekly routine but don’t care for the monotonous routine of the gym, join me every Tuesday 7-8pm 🙏🏻

Class will be a fusion of yoga asana with resistance bands. And of course, will always finish with a much needed guided relaxation 😌✨

Sign up link in bio or send me a message with any questions 🤍

Notes like these help me build resilience. Working in healthcare & wellness can sometimes be exhausting and compassion fatigue is real. But when I see and hear the outcome of how compassionate care can truly shift someone’s health, my eyes & heart light up once again 🤩💫

I’m filled with gratitude to be able to help you on your healing journey. Thank you for these kind words 🙏🏻
• • •
Want to learn more about how you can work with me to resolve pain, take care of your pelvic health, rehabilitate from an injury, or improve your quality of life with yoga? ➡️ Check the link in my bio ⬅️ that’s a great place to start 😊 and of course reach out with any questions!
• • •

Hi everyone 🩵

For the month of November I’m offering a special discount on all private therapeutic yoga sessions. 150nis for 60 minutes.

Sessions are great for:
• Pain management
• Stress reduction
• Injury rehabilitation
• Insomnia
• Pelvic health/women’s health concerns
• Pre/post-natal care

If you’d like to learn more feel free to check out my website ➡️ https://www.danaptyoga.com/private-classes

Or send me a message

Peace to everyone 🕊️🕊️

Today I bow to you 🌎🌍🌏 on
Thank you for all of your beauty and support 😊 trying to not take you for granted and practice gratitude every single day 🩵

If you’re in pelvic floor physical therapy and not addressing the abdomen … think again 🙈

The connection between the abdomen ↔️ pelvic floor is powerful & so important!! Not only do these two areas of the body mirror one another, but you can actually improve pelvic pain symptoms and dysfunction by working with the abdominal wall (and vise versa)✨

Here’s why …
🫶🏻The muscles of the abdominal wall mirror the pelvic floor in terms of muscle tension and sensitivity to touch/pressure
🫶🏻If the abdomen can move when you breathe, then so can your pelvic floor
🫶🏻Manual therapy to the abdomen brings movement to area which helps improve gut motility and blood flow to the small intestines & colon

If you feel like pelvic floor physical therapy is right for you or if you have any questions feel free to send me a message and reach out 😌

“Inhale I am breathing in ~ Exhale I am breathing out” - Thich Nhat Hanh

This is one of my favorite mantras to practice and teach as an introduction to meditation🪷

Noticing the breath helps improve interoception - our own brains ability to understand the internal state of the body 🧠 When we understand what’s going on inside, we’re able to make better informed choices when it comes to our health 🙏🏻

Join me for one on one private therapeutic yoga lessons to help you better understand your body 💚 message me for more information

🌊 New Blog Post ~ “Not So Scary Yoga For First Time Students” 🌊

Remember the day you walked into your very first yoga class? Maybe feelings of imposter syndrome or thoughts like “I’m not good enough at yoga to be here” entered your head😕

Well … you’re definitely not alone! That’s for sure. So many people around the globe are just starting to explore and try yoga for the first time ever. And I really believe it’s our job as yoga educators and/or therapists to create an environment that is welcoming & safe for first time students to explore yoga postures, meditation, and breathing practices💛

In the blog I list a few tips for yoga teachers to use when working with first time students in a group setting - I incorporate these all the time during my classes and find them to be very helpful✨ Enjoy😊

BALANCE • • •

What does it take to balance?
🪷Physically balance is achieved through our brains knowledge of where the body exists in space. This is also known as proprioception and can often be effected by physical injury (like a sprained ankle) or even nerve damage (like neuropathy). Typically sensory cues like vision and tactile support can help stabilize our balance.
🪷In the subtle body, balance is achieved through deep awareness practices like pranayama (breathing) and meditation. Generally, if we spend too much energy doing, we end up feeling burnt out and exhausted. On the other hand, spending too much time avoiding action we end up missing out on our purpose and participation in life. Yoga brings awareness of our energetic tank so we can live on a balanced level, without taking too much or giving too little.

How do you maintain balance in your life? 😊🙏🏻
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All content is for educational purposes only and is not healthcare advice.

When pain shows up like a giant wave, extend kindness and support to yourself 🌊🫶🏻

In yoga philosophy, the theme of compassion is present in the concept of Ahimsa or non-harming. You can prevent harm to both yourself and others by first becoming aware of your harmful behaviors, and then consciously choose to make kinder more compassionate actions.

🙏🏻So instead of pushing yourself to be the best and ignore pain, show yourself compassion through self-massage, gentle movement, adequate rest, mindfulness practices, and kindness affirmations🙏🏻

✨This post was inspired by the book Yoga and Science in Pain Care. I highly highly recommend this book if you are a healthcare professional, yoga educator, or living with pain! ❤️

Sometimes power shows up through strong movements filled with strength and determination ~ others times the most powerful choice is laying flat on your back, surrendering to much needed relaxation and rest 😌

🪷

Remember to take extra good care of yourself as we transition out of winter and into spring. This is a really special time to invest in your physical well-being by drinking plenty of water, spending time in nature, and balancing activity with rest.

🌊

Ways I can help support your wellness goals this spring season…
• 1:1 Pelvic floor physical therapy consultations and treatments 🫶🏻
• 1:1 therapeutic yoga sessions 🙏🏻
• Mondays 18:30 yoga for pain management group 😌
• Friday March 31st 14:00-16:00 Yoga for Better Backbends for a Healthy Back and Open Heart Workshop 💚

Message me with any questions

Spiritual wellness can deeply influence the quality and duration of physical rehabilitation and pain management✨

🙏🏻Whether you are healing from chronic low back pain, a broken wrist, a history of cancer, or even a c-section surgery, it is important to cultivate a spiritual practice into your rehab program
🙏🏻Pain research shows that the best approach to healing pain is through a biopsychosocial lens. If we just focus on the “broken” part of the physical body, we are only addressing a very small part of the problem.

⭐️Pain happens to complex people who have both a physical and emotional/spiritual body. Pain does not just happen to body parts.⭐️

🧘🏼‍♀️One of the best ways to link the body mind and soul is through the practice of yoga. Yoga is an excellent bridge between physical rehabilitation (ie Physical Therapy) and spiritual wellness.

Join me on Mondays from 18:30-19:30 for a physioyoga class for pain management and long term recovery. Feel free to message me with any questions💛

✨Can you pause right now and feel into the heart space? ✨
The heart center is both a physical and subtle location in the body
🫀Physically the heart is a very powerful muscle that works around the clock to keep us alive and well. 🫶🏻In the subtle body, the heart center is connected to the anahata chakra, our place of unconditional love and support for our selves and others.

Since today is Valentines Day - a day of love which to be honest I believe should be practiced every day - take a moment to feel into the heart space. You might …
💃🏼Increase your heart rate by running, walking, dancing, or even taking a really cold shower
🧘🏻‍♀️Practice extension based asanas like camel, wheel, or cobra to open the chest wall
💚Dive deep into a loving kindness (Metta meditation) or heart chakra meditation by envisioning the color green envelope your heart while chanting the bija mantra YAM
🤗Or simply hug yourself, friend, parent, child, partner etc to feel the warmth of your heart extending out to someone else.

The heart space is an incredibly powerful area of the body. Take time to really pay attention to this part of yourself today with a little bit more care and gentle awareness 💖

New on the blog!! ✨ Is Your Pain Coming From Your Fascia?

🔗 Fascia is the connective tissue that surrounds our muscles, nerves, and blood vessels to keep everything in place. Sometimes, this body suit of collagen fibers can become tight and restricted causing pain and dysfunction.
🔗Fascial dysfunction is a common cause of pain and can definitely be managed with physical therapy through myofascial release techniques and exercise.

⭐️Even though research shows that active exercise is the best way to relieve chronic and acute pain, a healthy combination of both active treatments with passive manual therapy techniques long term can significantly reduce pain and support healthy fascial function ⭐️

Suffering from pain? I’m here to help you through your healing journey 🫶🏻 DM with any questions and read more on my blog. Link in bio🤍

This is my happy place. On the beach, near water, using my body to open up and release💚 However, not every moment can be filled with ease. Stress is a part of life (unfortunately 🫣). So, instead of avoiding stress to be healthy, turn towards the resiliency of your nervous system to shape your health & wellness.

✨The ability to bounce back after an injury, relax a muscle after a contraction, or let go of a bad day at work are all important to maintain long term health. It’s what you do after the stress to come back to neutral that is so important in recovery.✨

🙏🏻Yoga is an incredible tool that can train the nervous system to transition from short periods stress (ie balancing on the hands in crow pose) to deep relaxation (savasana) in a relatively short period of time. It’s in this daily practice that the body learns how to squeeze and then release. This skill set is so important to maintain healthy muscle function, especially in the pelvic floor.

🪷Turn to yoga when stress is present in your life and it will remind the body how to let go and ultimately feel a lot better 😌

Photo by the best

It’s not just about kegels and dilators - pelvic healing can also happen with the breath 🪷

✨When we breathe, the pelvic floor, lower abdomen, and low back naturally move to distribute pressure evenly throughout the abdominal cavity
✨Controlled breathing practices like Pranayama have a direct and significant impact on the pelvic bowl and floor
✨Dynamic breath practices actually put more load on the pelvis requiring it to work hard and work out! This can help improve pelvic floor tone, reduce pain, and even impact pelvic floor function.

If ultrasounds, exams, and kegel exercises sound like too much - start with your breath. It’s already there, waiting for you to use💙

New on the blog!!!🫶🏻 Rehabilitation Post Cesarean Birth: Things You Should Know

Did you know that in 2020 31.8% of live births in the US were c-sections? However, most women will never see a physical therapist for proper post-surgical rehabilitation😱

⭐️Just like following a knee replacement or rotator cuff repair surgery, cesarean sections also require optimal post-surgical care and rehab!⭐️

Read more about what to expect during physical therapy rehab post c-section so you can get the proper rehab care you deserve💙

Link in bio to read the post ⬆️

Happening the next 2 Saturdays online!

All of our favorite yoga teachers are back this year! Next Saturday, we have the incredibly knowledgeable Dana Podell tuning in from Israel to lead a Yoga for Pelvic Floor and Core class. Dana is not only a kind and gentle practitioner, but she truly is a wealth of knowledge. Obtaining her certification in teaching yoga wasn't enough for her, so she returned to school and received her doctorate in Physical Therapy where she completed an intensive clinical internship in the treatment of pelvic health. If you've been curious about how pelvic floor function relates to the rest of the body, if you experience any sort of pelvic discomfort, if you are a pre or post-natal woman, or if you are a yoga practitioner yourself seeking continuing education, learning from Dana is a wonderful opportunity. 🤗

On Saturday 1/14 and 1/21 at 10am CT, join Dana for a class designed to restore pelvic floor and core stability/flexibility, with a focus on anatomy education and unique sequencing. Head to givingheartsyoga.org to sign-up, and tune in later this week to see which nonprofit Dana has chosen to support! ✨

I'm teaming up with this month and offering a two part online workshop series dedicated to the health and wellness of your pelvic floor and core🫶🏻💪🏻

For this workshop series, all of the donations are in support of - a non profit organization centered around global women's empowerment✨

Join me on Saturday January 14th & 21st 10am Central Time & 6pm Israel Time. Each workshop is 75 minuts and completely donation based❤️

More info with link in bio ⬆️

The lotus mudra of compassion - for yourself and others🪷

January is a month full of many transitions and new beginnings and I practice yoga every day to feel grounded and supported through all of this change🙏🏻 so this month I’m offering a few FREE/donation based yoga practices as a way to share and spread what I love and stay grounded with my community.

Things to look out for…
🧡Yoga for the Pelvic Floor & Core workshop series is happening online with this January 14th & 21st at 10am central time/6pm Israel time. Each workshop is 75 minutes and completely donation based in support of

🧡Join me for a Monday Mediation series on IG live, a completely free way to check in with your body. Catch me live on Monday January 9, 16, and 23 at 10am central time/6pm Israel time for 10-15 minutes of sweet sweet bliss.

📷 by the best

New year blessings 💛✨
~
May you be happy
May you be healthy
May you be free from suffering
May you be at peace
~
The sweet words from this Metta Meditation are used to strengthen the power of the heart🪷🤍

Wishing all of you a strong and peaceful heart space for this new cycle ahead! Let the journey begin…. 💫

✨Inhale I receive, exhale I pause✨

Just like a pause at the end of a breath cycle, it’s also important to pause at the end of any other life cycle. So now I pause 😌

❄️Over the next few weeks I’m taking a winter holiday in the US and going offline from social media!! This pause is much needed and I’m hoping to use the time to be more present with family and rest.❄️

I’ll be back online early January. See you next year 💜

Today was my last day of group yoga lessons and physio appointments in Haifa 🌅 what a journey it has been! Incredibly grateful for the lessons and opportunities in this city.

Amongst all the change with my upcoming move to Tel Aviv…
✨I am still offering home visits for both private yoga and physio through the end of January
✨I plan to return to Haifa every few months to offer workshops so feel free to reach out for more information.

Change is beautiful 🫶🏻 scroll to see some of my favorite pictures from my time in this city ➡️

⬆️ This is a picture of your nerve cells!!!

It kind of looks like a plant doesn’t it? 🌱The coolest thing about your nervous system is that it can grow and expand outward just like living grass or flowers 🌸 This process is called neuroregeneration and all it means is that your nervous system has the capacity to change and grow over time. It is an incredibly resilient system.

🧠 If you are going through a period of chronic pain, injury, or just had a surgery, you are not stuck. You have the ability to retrain your nervous system to help improve muscle function & down regulate the pain response so that you can move pain free. Some of the best ways to do this is through the healing modalities of & 🧠

I work with people every week to heal from pain and regain movement. If you’re interested to learn more or are suffering from pain feel free to reach out🫶🏻

Anjali Mudra 🙏🏻 a symbol of deep gratitude and appreciation for all of the awesome things you already have in your life💙

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share the practice of yoga with a great community here in Haifa the past year and a half! Now it’s time for change and I’m definitely feeling ready for this new chapter in Tel Aviv 😌

⭐️My last group class in Haifa is on December 11th at 9:10am⭐️

I plan to come back to Haifa every few months to host a workshop 🫶🏻 so let me know if you want to be added to my monthly newsletter for updates.

In the meantime… what are you grateful for? What do you already have that’s amazing in your life? Know what you have now, don’t wait for it to be gone in order to appreciate whatever it might be.

Namaste!✨

Moving your body every single day is incredibly powerful preventative medicine ✨

The hardest part about it? Actually doing it! 😅 Science shows us that moving in some capacity every day can help prevent muscle atrophy, osteoporosis, chronic pain, and so much more. Through a little bit of discipline and habit retraining, daily movement is possible and can significantly help you feel better in many aspects of your life.🧡

Your body craves movement. So give it what it wants and needs! 🤸‍♀️

Read it here https://www.danapodell.com/blog

Breathing is truly both an art and science that we can use to heal the body 💚

🌿From a physical therapy perspective, when we breathe slow, long, and deep there is more time for adequate oxygen & carbon dioxide exchange between the lungs and capillary blood vessels. This helps maintain chemical balance in the blood which can prevent chronic pain, fatigue, stress, anxiety etc
🌿From a yogic perspective, the practice of pranayama can shift prana (or life force) through energy channels called nadis, leaving you feeling more deeply connected to your true essence or self.

✨At this moment, notice your breath, can you slow it down and send it deep down into your abdomen. As you do this you might start to feel more calm and at ease both physically and emotionally✨

For more breathing techniques and support you can always send me a message 🫶🏻

Cooler weather calls for a good book about yoga, science, and healthcare 🌧📚🫁🧠🙏🏻☁️

Even though moving to a new country meant I couldn’t take alllll of my books, these ones are definitely my favorites (as you can see from the wear and tear😂❤️)

Recommended readings this fall🍂
1. Breath by James Nestor
2. Nourishing the Teacher by Danny Arguetty
3. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
4. Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff &
Amy Matthews
5. Yoga and Science in Pain Care forwarded by Timothy McCall

Comment below with your book recommendations ⬇️🫶🏻