I’m wondering if there is a healthy food to eat to help with pulled muscles.

Anytime you strain or pull a muscle, you’ve got to be careful, of course, and you’ve got to back off and take it easy, but food of course plays a role, and what you want to focus on is just eating really healthy food, of course, but eating anti-inflammatory foods. Some really great anti-inflammatory foods are turmeric, which looks like ginger but it’s orange and it’s very, very potent. It’s what gives curry its orange color, if you’ve ever seen a curry powder. Another great thing is ginger. Another great fruit, which people don’t realize is anti-inflammatory, is pineapple. It contains papain, which is a very strong anti-inflammatory enzyme.

Take it easy and take some rest and come back very slowly and carefully, but like we always talk about, you need to use it or you’ll lose it. So make sure you heal strong by continuing to practice, but just very, very carefully.

I had my right ankle operated on with metal plate and screws to align the bone in place. I’ve also fractured my right knee and 2 major ligaments torn. Could you advise if there are yoga postures I can do and also any supplements to take for faster recovery?

If you’ve had a major surgery like that, you’ve got some structural limitations. You just need to be really careful, make sure you’re working with your doctor. In terms of supplements for recovery, things like YOGABODY Stretch, which has methylsulfonylmethane, you can also just take methylsulfonylmethane and other antioxidants and other anti-inflammatories are going to be really beneficial. But you’ve got to be really, really careful, especially with knees. People tend to want to get right back into things as quickly as possible, which I completely understand, but you just need to be really cautious because knee problems can turn into lifelong problems.

Are there any side effects to taking YOGABODY Stretch for a long time?

YOGABODY Stretch, if you don’t know, is one of our most popular yoga nutritional supplements. There’s no side effects, Margaret. Everyone’s a little bit different. Most people tend to cycle nutritional supplements. What that means is, it’s very rare that you’ll take something for the rest of your life. So usually you’ll start taking something and for 3 to 6 or 12 months usually, people will do a cycle, and then they’ll find that they need to focus on other things, and they often come back to it. So that includes things like YOGABODY Stretch, that includes antioxidants like Vitamin C or fat-soluble vitamins like Vitamin D or any other thing. Cycling vitamins is very, very common, because our bodies needs change over time.

And so just in the same way that if you’re ever craving a very, very healthy food, a whole plant or even healthy animal foods, if you’re ever craving those, that can often be a sign that your body’s looking for some nutrients, and those can be really healthy. And then after a time, you’ll find that same food which you got so excited about, suddenly the cravings will go away. The same is true with nutritional supplements, so you just need to find out what works with your body.

In terms of side effects, no. With all supplements, the only side effect that can happen is you can maybe start to stop feeling effects or you might have some digestive issues. That tends to happen when people are piling on too many supplements. So people get overzealous and they’re taking 15 pills a day of different things, and that can give you an upset stomach sometimes.

I have a client who is very healthy and has been very fit all her life. She had a hip replacement, and during the procedure her femur was broken. Would the Yoga Trapeze^® be helpful?

If somebody’s broken their femur, that’s really, really major, major, major break. I don’t think you should use the Yoga Trapeze^®. I don’t think it’s safe, and I don’t think it’s recommended. For sure, check with your doctor, but that’s going to put undue pressure on your femur when you’re in the Yoga Trapeze^®.

I have a problem with my right hamstring. I overstretched it in yoga class one year ago. It’s really easy to do everything with my left leg, but my right hamstring is so sore. I don’t know what to do. Do you have any tips?

Yeah, so the key thing is you’ve got to be really, really careful with that right hamstring, and I would say go to 80 percent of your maximum, instead of 100 percent, which is what we tend to practice at. And so you’re still practicing, but you’re not at your full potential.

The other thing I want you to do is make sure to engage your quadriceps every time you bend forward, whether that’s in a symmetrical forward bend, like with your feet together, or an asymmetrical forward bend, like one leg out, one leg in. Make sure to engage your quadriceps very strongly to support that hamstring, and just take it really slowly. The bad news about hamstrings is they take a while to heal, so you have to really force yourself to be patient.

I’m 50 years old. In April, I came down with bronchitis. If I do anything, my muscles want to cramp and really hurt. I thought I’d just try doing some gentle, passive stretches. Do you have any advice?

Yeah, so bronchitis, these things happen. Everybody gets sick. In the health food circles, people talk about never getting sick for 15 years, and it doesn’t really happen. If you’re not getting sick, one of a few things are happening. One, you’re either lying to yourself or your just leaving the house or your local neighborhood enough, because there are viruses and things. It’s totally normal to get sick, and sometimes you’ll even get something like a bronchitis. So I wouldn’t get too worked up about it. Of course we want to avoid these things.

If I do anything my muscles cramp and really hurt. When you do get sick, often our bodies get kind of achy. It’s a normal thing that happens. Doing gentle, passive stretches sounds like a great idea, Janette. I’d work on that. You might consider doing some breathing exercises, some meditation as well.

I pulled a few ligaments of my knee from stretching too hard and have been advised to cut back on yoga. Any idea what I can do and maybe still attend my classes every day, or should I really cut back, as hard as it is?

With your knees, again, everybody, myself included, tends to be overzealous and we want to do more, more, more. It’s really, really important to take it easy. And so do you need to stop altogether? I couldn’t really say. You said you pulled a few ligaments. I’m not really sure what that means. There’s a number of different knee injuries, and I’m not exactly sure what yours is, but for sure have a chat with your doctor and probably there’s just certain movements and certain movements with your knee that you need to avoid, so you could probably maintain your yoga practice, just with some care. But be sure your yoga teacher knows what’s going on, and be sure you’re being very, very cautious, because like I said, many, many knee problems turn into lifelong problems, and almost all injuries are actually re-injuries. The first injury was ignored or not taken seriously enough, and then we get hurt more and more. So do take it easy. Quit Coffee