So one new future version of my big non-existent life direction is to become a physical therapist after the yoga stuff, and then use yoga and, you know, science, to make people feel good in their bodies. One of the things I already like about practicing the yoga classes on my friends is trying to attend to their particular quirks. It takes some serious actual knowledge (which I don't yet have) to really "prescribe" yoga to someone in a way that helps them heal. I know that for my back problem, I have been incredibly reluctant to give up or adjust certain yoga postures that were not helping me. In particular, I love getting into wheel pose (big ol' back bend), and doing pigeon pose (really big hip stretch). Especially with respect to the hip stretches - which I thought must be really good for me since I have hip problems - I need to cut way back. With my hips and back, extending my hip flexibility is the opposite of what I should do; I need to stabilize and strengthen my hips. Again, it has taken me about ten years, two orthopedists, three chiropractors, at least one physical therapist, an acupuncturist, and an extra astute yoga teacher to convince me that this is the right thing for me. That is ridiculous. My intuition with respect to my hips was just wrong - stretching is always good, right!? Do all the poses the yoga teacher says to do! DO THEM ALL OR YOUR EXPERIENCE IS SUB-PAR.
That's the weirdest thing to think about - physical yoga is really supposed to be about tailoring movement to your body, not just trying to do things regardless of how they react with you. But it takes so long to be able to tell what is happening and what is helping and what is hurting. I still can't totally "feel" the hip/back stuff in a way that leads me to the same conclusion as all the other people who told me the useful hip/back information, but I am getting better, so the dots are starting to connect (ah direct experience is frequently the precursor to crediting authoritative advice or knowledge - but what happens when your direct experience is a misconception? well, in my case, you keep doing pigeon and wheel even though it is a bad idea). And then there's the feeling that by attending a class, you are submitting yourself to an experience that it would, at the very least, be rude to disregard in favor of just doing your own thing for some of the poses. And the trust and respect I think I should be expressing for the yoga teacher and the class structure s/he has designed makes me hesitant to skip things that I shouldn't do. And I might think that I'm shortchanging myself in a cosmic full-body yoga kind of way if I skip stuff because all the poses have magical yogic hocus-pocus that I need to experience or something.
So anyway yoga anatomy weekend is this weekend and I sent the guest speaker a bunch of questions and she wrote me back some interesting and illuminating anatomical responses, and it made me day dream about being someone who really knows the functions of the body and who can use yoga to really help people move in a way that is healing and helpful and challenging, and empower people to tailor their yoga practices to their own bodies. And of course the way that I thought I could do this in a highly credible and career-oriented way was to become a licensed physical therapist with a happy/spiritual holistic yoga-physical-therapy practice.
And here's the real point of this post! School is expensive!! I looked at the program closest to me in Troy, NY, and it was listed as a three year program for a doctor of physical therapy degree (no info about just a masters so far), and it was $790 per credit hour, and a 120 credit program. That's over $94,000 dollars. That's absurd, right? It should definitely not cost that much money. I am really bummed out by that information. I feel like the strangle-hold on information and education is pretty evil. Yeah I know I have a library card and everything, but really, people need a syllabus, and opportunity for discussion and to ask questions, and clarification and help and all that stuff. Feels unfair to put such a high price tag on access to these things. It's classist, too, which bothers me. You have to be able to afford to know and learn and grow. And then the government gets involved and needs to touch your education with a magic wand for you to be able to legally use and make a living off of your knowledge (yes there is an up and a downside to this). So there goes that little fantasy, at least in that form.
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