YogaNerd

Folding yourself into more

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:06:00 +0000

I was recently inspired by the movie "Between the Folds", a documentary on the art of paper-folding (aka origami). Paper-folding is a unique art form in that it there is nothing added, and nothing taken away in the process of making the art. Every single origami work begins with a square sheet of paper. And by merely folding, unfolding, enfolding, that single piece of paper can take infinite forms and expressions, from sad-eyed gorillas to a man playing a violin, to abstract sculpture and creatures as varied as the folder can imagine. One of the folders in the film even explored what you could do even with a single fold in a sheet of paper. Even with that limitation, the possibilities were endless.

It seemed to me a perfect parallel to the art of yoga, another art form in which nothing is added or taken away in the process, and yet we emerge transformed.

In the Tantric vision of yoga, each of us is inherently purnatva, which is to say complete, whole, perfect. There is nothing outside of ourselves that we need, and there is nothing inside of ourselves that we need to get rid of. What's given is just what's given, like a blank piece of paper. And yet, the possibilities of a creative life of yoga are infinite, simply by folding, unfolding and enfolding the self we've been given.

Of course, there's no obligation to take the self we're given and make something more out of it. There's no obligation to step into the creative process of self. To take the analogy one step further, you could stay a square piece of paper your whole life, and maybe get a little creased and rumpled over time. Or you could step into the process of folding, engaging, and transforming your self into the form of your desire. This is to step into yoga.

I've loved playing with the image of folding in my practice, creasing my consciousness mindfully toward a vision of what I want to create. I've loved exploring how much I can create with a single fold, and when more complex folding techniques will give me a different result.

One way I've felt this is in working with the spirals of the arms: on the one hand, I think there's so much you can create with just the powerful ONE-FOLD of Muscle Energy in the arms, which evenly roots the head of the armbone back into the shoulder socket. In fact, you can create every pose, an infinity of poses, with that single fold. And yet, the spirals of the arms, two extra folds, add a depth of expression that is rich and wondrous.

Let's look at it:

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Start with the assumption that you are inherently whole, complete, perfect. There is nothing you need to get or get rid of. Everything you need for your own fulfillment is already present in who you are. This attitude is reflected in the physical body by a posture of fullness, of inner expansion, and of length through the sides of the torso.
Muscle Energy: The single-fold. I think of Muscle Energy as the initial creative act. In the upper body, it draws energy from the fingertips toward the active focal point, setting the head of the humerus directly back into the shoulder socket. When the shoulder is aligned in this way, it will have the greatest range of motion and the possibilities of what you could create in your body are infinite!
Expanding Spiral: The spirals of the arms add another layer of folding to the process. They are truly refinements, and although you can do a lot with the single fold of Muscle Energy, these spirals add nuance, depth, richness. The expanding spiral always comes first, and in most planes this is created by spiraling the arms inward (toward the midline), so that the forearms roll inward. This widens the upper back. When the arms are in the overhead plane, the arms spiraling outward (away from the midline), so that the inner upper arms flow back, creates this expansion.
Contracting Spiral: The contracting spiral creates a deepening engagement of the arm bones in the shoulder sockets and the shoulder blades onto the back. In most planes, it is created by the upper arms spinning externally; when the arms are in the overhead plane, it is created by the forearms spinning internally. In all poses, the forearms spin internally and the upper arms spin externally; always create the expanding spiral first.
Organic Energy: This last principle is the final unfolding of your creation. Extend and stretch from the active focal point in all directions. At the end of the process, you find yourself transformed: the same self has become something MORE.

PRACTICE:

Prasarita padottanasana (with hands clasped for a shoulder stretch): In all of the poses where the hands are clasped behind the back, a balanced flow of Muscular Energy will have the wrist joints straight (not flexed or extended). To create this, begin with an expansion on the inside, and then bend your elbows. With the elbows bent, hug the heels of the hands toward each other until the wrists are straight, and then draw energy from the hands up through the arms into the core of the pelvis. When this single fold is true, the upper arm bones will set back and the shoulder blades will lift toward the pelvis. To add the spirals of the arms, turn the forearms inward (so the index knuckles move closer together), and then spin the upper arms outward into that resistance. Then stretch the arms fully straight and extend from the pelvis in all directions.
Surya namaskar: I practice surya namaskar with my elbows slightly wide in order to gain greater access to the alignment of the shoulders. Widening the elbows slightly helps make space in the side bodies, and as such will give room for the arm bones to set back. In addition, with the elbows slightly wide from the wrists, you can create more of an expanding spiral of the forearms, which means that you'll have greater access to the contracting spiral (and hence deeper integration). With the elbows wide, roll the forearms in to get more weight on the index finger knuckle. Then keep that knuckle pressing down as you spin the upper arms out. Play with this in caturanga and bhujangasana. In adho mukha svanasana, note that it's an overhead plane pose, so the upper arms must spin out first to create the expansion, and then keeping that re-anchor through the index knuckles by spinning the forearms in.
Virabhadrasana 2, trikonasana: In the side plane, you'll know the spirals of the arms are balanced if the eye of the elbow is facing in the same direction as the crown of your head. This requires a huge external rotation in the upper arms, but it must be anchored into the strong resistance of the forearms spinning in.
Vasistasana: This is also a side plane pose, but as it's weight-bearing in the arms, it's a little more challenging to get the spirals aligned. When you come into the pose, first check to make sure the wrist crease is parallel to the front of the mat. I often find that in the transition to the side plane, the hand rotates inward. Then expand into the fullness of yourself, and draw the upper arm back. You can rock this pose with that single fold. To add depth, spin the forearm in to anchor more powerfully through the index knuckle, and then externally rotate the upper arm (without losing the anchoring through the index knuckle!) until the eye of the elbow is pointing straight toward the top of your mat. Yes that far.
Pinca mayurasana: In pinca mayurasana, a common tendency is for the upper arms to roll in too much, which can tweak the anterior deltoid. So a good practice is to work with a focus on the external rotation of the upper arms. In setting up for the pose, place your palms face up on either side of a block, so that the middle of the wrists are pressing up into the middle of the block. Starting with the palms face up emphasizes external rotation in the arms, and once you're in the pose (arms overhead), this will create a widening of the upper back. If you have a friend to practice with, have them stand so that they can press your thumb pads toward the floor with their big toe mounds. If you're practicing on your own, establish the external rotation in your arms, and then either stay with the palms face up or, (my favorite), flip the forearms in, so that you're holding the edges of the blocks. When the forearms spin in, it reconnects the shoulder blades flat on the back in a yummy way.
Parsvakonasana: This is an overhead plane pose, but start with the arm extended at 90 degrees from your body (front plane), as it's easier to establish good alignment here. Lengthen the sides of your waist, then anchor the armbone back. Again, this single fold is powerful, and infinite possibilites arise from just this action. To add the spirals, spin the palm to face down (forearm in) and then externally rotate the upper arm so that it locks back into the shoulder socket (the palm will face toward the front of your mat if you exaggerate). Then keeping the armbone plugged evenly back into the shoulder socket, take the arm overhead. Lastly, spin the palm face down one more time.
Parsvakonasana (bound form): The spirals of the arms are really important folds to do when binding, as they help make space for the bind (expanding spiral) as well as anchor the arm bone back in this more challenging position of the back plane (contracting spiral). Start with your top arm behind your back and the back of the palm in the small of your back. Inhale and expand on the inside into your fullness, then draw the upper arm back. To create an expanding spiral, spin the forearm in so that the pinky presses more into your back. That will help you create more length and space. Then keeping that, turn the whole upper arm out until the arm bone locks back into the shoulder socket. Then take the bind.
Padangusta arm variations (eka pada rajakaptosana, dhanurasana, natarajasana): Do some thigh stretches before these backbends, and then we'll use the spirals to learn the padangusta grip for the overhead plane in backbends. In any of these poses, start by holding your foot from the outside (pinky toe side) with the palm face up. In this way, you'll begin with more of an external rotation in the arm. Expand and lift on the inside, and draw the armbone straight back into the shoulder socket. Oftentimes, students feel stuck in the shoulder when trying to rotate the arm from here to overhead, and this is an indication that there's not enough space for good integration. Creating an expanding spiral (forearm in) will help make more space, then reset the upper arm spinning externally, then swing the arm overhead.

There's As Much World There as You Create

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Last week I woke up with a crick in my neck, and as the day wore on it got worse and worse until I couldn't turn my head and my whole right arm was throbbing. I thought to myself, "No big deal. I know Anusara Yoga therapeutics. I can deal with this." And so when I got home I spent a couple of hours doing every therapeutic exercise for the shoulders and neck that I could think of, but nothing seemed to help. Finally I just had to sleep, and when I woke up the next day, I was ready for a fresh perspective.

When I looked in the mirror and took a step back to see my whole self, rather than focusing on the source of the pain, it became clear that the major misalignment wasn't in my neck or shoulders it all: it was in my right side waistline, which was squished to the midline. Within a few minutes of opening up the side waistline with the principles below, my neck cleared. The area of the waistline, which includes the psoas and quadratus lumborum, is a critical connecting point in the body, as it yokes upper/lower and front/back bodies and supports the vital organs when it's in healthy alignment.

This was such an important lesson for me, to be reminded that nothing ever exists or happens in isolation. Every event, every particular experience, every individual, is always connected to something greater than itself. But if we don't take a step back to see the connections that are there beyond what's right in front of us, we may not have the most informed view, and we may miss what's really important.

Yoga is all about making those connections (literally "yoking" yourself) in the remembrance that everything happens in the context of something more than just itself. The connections are vast and infinite (this is what we mean by karma), but in a certain sense there's as much connection and meaning there as you choose to make. The capacity to see beyond more than what's just right in front of you opens the gateway to an empowered and rich experience of the world. You only experience as much world as you are capable of creating.

PRINCIPLES:
All of the principles of alignment used in Anusara Yoga are part of a system (just like the body) that is most effective when treated as a system, as connected principles rather than in isolation. That's why it's so importnat to always begin with Opening to Grace (where you can see the connections) and then build through each principle.

Open to Grace: This first principle invites us to the remembrance that you are never in isolation, that you are always connected to something greater than yourself, even if you don't see the connections at first. In the physical body, there's an inner expansion and an outer softness. Opening to Grace also implies taking a step back (i.e., backing out of a pose) so you can get a broader perspective to see what more is there.
Muscle Energy is how we connect all of the parts of our physical form. It helps us to feel the self as an integrated whole, rather than isolated body parts. In particular for opening up the psoas and quadratus lumborum (QL), we'll focus on engaging Muscle Energy to the vertical midline of the body.
Inner Spiral: When you step into the process of yoga by making the connections of Muscle Energy, it will open a gateway into an expanded vision and experience through Inner Spiral. This principle draws the inseams of the legs and pelvis in, back and wide as it moves up the legs from the feet all the way to the waistline. The widening effect of Inner Spiral is greatest at the top, at the waistline area, where it broadens the psoas muscle (which connects to all of the lumbar vertebrae) and the QL (which rans from the top of the pelvis to the 12th rib, connecting to all of the lumbar vertebrae along the way). When these two muscles are aligned, they support a healthy lower back, diaphragm, and shoulders and neck.
Outer Spiral: The broad, expanded vision of Inner Spiral creates room for the lengthening of the tailbone and grounding of the outer hips that comes with Outer Spiral.
Organic Energy reconnects all of the parts of the body after the more focused refinements of the spirals. It roots us into the earth (always a good reminder of how we are held in something greater than just ourselves) while extending the body. When the pelvis is the focal point (as it is in most of the poses in this practice), Organic Energy anchors the pelvic bones and leg bones down into the earth, while creating a lift up out of the pelvis through the torso. This split of energy creates length in the psoas and the QL (one part of the muscle moves down while the other part of the muscle moves up).

PRACTICE:

Tadasana (side stretch): because the QL is a side-bending muscle, in can be effectively stretched and opened by side-stretching, or crescenting the side body. In tadasana, bring both arms overhead and hold your right wrist with your left hand. Engage the legs and press the inner upper thighs in, back and wide. Then root through the tailbone and pelvis as you stretch up through your torso, extending to the left side. As you stretch, keep the musclular engagement to the midline in particular, and then widen from the midline (spine) laterally through the inner thigh, the inner pelvis, and waistline, all the way up through the lower ribs. Do both sides
Adho mukha svanasana twist: In downward-facing dog, you can get a nice side stretch by swivelling your feet (without picking them up off the floor) to the right so that the left knee bends and crosses in front of the right leg, as both heels ground to the floor. As you do this, the right hip will lift up to the sky. Once you have the feet turned and planted into the earth, engage the legs to the midline again and then widen the right side of your body, from the inner thigh all the way up through the hip and waistline. Then swivel the feet to the other side.
Lunge (with side stretch): Come to a high lunge, with both hands a the hips and the back knee off the floor. Start by expanding the inner body with your breath, lifting the sides, front and back of your torso together. Then engage the legs. The back leg, in all asymmetrical poses, will generally need more Muscle Energy and more Inner Spiral than the front to create balance, so pay particular attention to spreading the little toes on the back leg side and straightening the leg fully. Keeping the legs strong, press down through the mound of the back big toe and draw up through the inner heel to initiate Inner Spiral up through the leg into the waistline. Lift your back arm to the sky, and then take a side stretch over the front leg, focusing on the widening of the back leg side.
Surya namaskar (with twisted cobra): Move through surya namaskar a few rounds. In cobra pose, anchor the pelvis to the floor and sweep your legs to the midline, espeically by spreading the pinky toes to the floor and hugging the outer ankles in. Then twist and look over your right shoulder to the right leg: keep the legs hugging the midline and then widen the whole left side of your body (now the back leg) to the left. Keeping that space, come back to the center and twist the other way.
Parsvakonasana, trikonasana, ardha chandrasana: In these lateral standing poses, you can get a nice opening through the psoas and QL in the back leg side. Start parsvakonasana in the prep form of the pose, with the front arm resting on the knee. Just backing out of the pose like this will give you a greater perspective. Then engage the legs, especially focusing on the connection of the outer back shin hugging to the midline. This will also tone the inner back thigh. When you add Inner Spiral, widen the thigh, hip and waistline (all the way up to the lower ribs) to the sky. Then anchor the tailbone and pelvic bones down as you stretch through your spine. Notice how the alignment of the back leg directly effects the alignment of the front. It's a pretty good rule of thumb that whenever you feel stuck in the front hip, it's connected to a collapse or misalignment in the back leg, which doesn't allow space for the front hip to open.
Parighasana: This is one of the few classical yoga poses that provides a specific stretch for the QL.
Parsvottanasana: Come high up on fingertips or on blocks here to make space and open to a wider vision. The lift your toes and power up the legs. To feel more Inner Spiral on the back leg side, as you spin the leg in, back and wide, lean to the back leg side (so you're heavier on that foot and that hand). This will really help you get the width up through the waistline. Now keep your weight more to the back leg side as you spin your lower belly square over the front leg.Reconnect all the parts through Organic Energy, pushing down through the pelvis and legs into the earth, and lengthening the spine.
Virabhadrasana 1: In the front plane poses, it's easy to feel how the back hip narrows to the midline, and this both reflects and will cause a misalignment in the psoas and QL complex. Start with both hands on the front thigh and bow forward, lifting the waistline up; backing off like this is part of Opening to Grace, and it allows you to see the bigger connections. Now lift the toes and spread the pinky toes, with a focus on the back leg, until you feel the outer upper shin hug to the midline and the inner up thigh fire. Now use the strength of the inner back thigh to lift and widen the leg, hip and waistline over to the back leg side. With that, turn your belly square toward the front leg side. Keeping the width on the back leg and waistline, root down through the tailbone and legs to rise fully up into the pose.
Brigid's Cross: A key focus in all twisting poses is to hug the midline, connecting all of the parts of the body into the experience of the whole. This will help stabilize the sacro-iliac joints, which can otherwise get knocked out of alignment in the twist. Because the twists have such a powerful connection to the midline, they will also open the gateway to widening through the lower body. Try Brigid's Cross (it's like parivrtta trikonasana on the floor, with the front hip down and the fingertips supporting the upper body as it twists) with the back foot off the floor in line with the pelvis. Spread the little toes and hug the leg energetically toward the midline (that's down toward the floor) and then with your breath broaden the inner back thigh and the waistline to the sky to deepen the twist.
Pigeon pose (with thigh stretch): The actions are the same here, although because of the backbend I think it's harder to get the hips and lower belly square to the front and the lift out of the back body. From the inner back thigh lifting, broaden the back thigh and waistline so much that your hip literally moves to the side to meet your outer foot. And then keep that relationship as you turn your belly over the front leg and extend.
Runner's stretch (with twist): In this runner's stretch, bring your back hand across to the outer front shin, where it can serve as a reminder of a deeper connection in the legs to the midline. The twist will help you to feel a widening in the pelvis and waistline, and it also serves to align the fibers of the hamstrings on the front leg.
Anjaneyasana (with thigh stretch): Same actions as pigion thigh stretch. Make sure the waistline isn't collapsing forward, but rather is moving back, toward that wider vision.
Hanumanasana: It seems like I've been working on this pose for years (I have), and for the longest time I thought it was my tight hamstrings that were in the way. Sure enough, I wasn't seeing the important connection that the alignment of the back leg has to the opening of the front leg. The more you can hold the midline and widen the back leg side, the more the front leg will descent. Try bringing both hands to the inside of the front leg, so that you can lean your weight to the back leg side and thereby create more of the widening of Inner Spiral. Make sure that the back shin stays toned to the midline (Inner Spiral isn't really effective if it's not connected to Muscle Energy), and then widen, all the way up through the waistline. Keep your weight to the back leg side as you turn your belly over the front leg, and see if it opens up a little more

The following sequence is just for fun, if you want to continue to play with these principles in more advanced asanas:

Parsvakonasana (with bind)
Visvamittrasana
Triangmukhapadapascimottanasana, krounchasana:
Surya yantrasana
Janu sirsasana
Parivrtta janu sirsasana

The Throat Cakra: Clearing pathways of communication

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Preparing for the Advanced Intensive with John Friend this year was such fun, as it gave me the impetus to read Anodea Judith's brilliant book on the cakra system called Wheels of Life.

Cakras are energetic centers in the body for receiving and transmitting information. I had personally been intrigued by the power of the throat cakra (the vishuddha), which is the center for creative expression and communication. As such, it has to do both with how we offer ourselves to the world, as well as how we listen to and receive what the world is offering. It is the conduit by which we take what's outside and draw it into our hearts and minds and bodies, and by which we take what's inside and make it an expression that can be shared. It holds the power of articulation (matrka shakti), the way in which giving voice to our experience gives us our experience back.

Whether or not you relate to the cakras as specific points or spinning wheels in your body, all of us have to sort through the way in which we share ourselves and receive the world. Ask yourself, do you find it hard to speak up, to say what you mean or to express yourself clearly? Do you find that you speak inappropriately at times without respecting the gates of speech (is it truthful? is it kind? is it necessary? is it the right time?). Do you listen well, even when what's being said is not what you'd like to hear? All of these experiences relate to the power of clear communication, and in the yogic body, that is represented by the throat cakra.

During the Advanced Intensive, John gave an instruction to melt the cervical vertebrae into the throat that somehow I had never heard before (I'm sure he had said it, but I hadn't heard it because I wasn't really listening at that level). It completely revolutionized my practice and experience of power in the throat cakra. It was the missing link for me in the way the principles of the neck work, whereas without it the throat and neck would either harden (blocking transmission) or be too weak (not being able to stand tall and make your voice heard). It's amazing how just aligning the neck in this way will actually open up the power of speech and communication; I've even found that my voice has become more resonant.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: This first principle really has two components. The first is to expand on the inside (we often call it "inner body bright"), and this expansion happens from a deep remembrance of our truest nature as one of light. In the neck, the sides of the neck lengthen, including the front and the back of the neck, all the way up through the dome of the palate. The second component -- and this was the key piece I hadn't been practicing in the neck -- is that the outer form softens and settles. In the upper back, we refer to this as "melting the heart." In the neck, the cervical vertebrae melt into the body as well. To feel this, John had us do a simple exercise. Stand in tadasana and bring one hand to the front of your throat. Then expand with light inside, opening and lengthening the torso all the way through the neck. The natural curve of the neck is lordotic, which means that from the perspective of the back body, the spine moves in, while from the perspective of the front body, the throat will bulge out. So when the outer body softens, release the cervical vertebrae forward into the throat, filling out the front of the neck where you palm is. This is a neutral starting place for the neck.
Muscle Energy: In the upper body, Muscle Energy draws the upper arm bones back into the shoulder sockets and hugs the shoulder blades flat on the back. It also has an effect on the neck. To tone Muscle Energy in the neck, slide the top of the throat back, without tucking the chin, so that the front and back of the neck stay long. The top of the throat is home to the hyoid bone, a floating bone that is connected via various muscles through the core and especially into the digestive system. When the hyoid bone slides back, it draws the neck and head in line over the spine, gently toning the muscles. If you find that the scaline muscles and/or the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) in the front of the neck tighten or bulge out when you do this, go back to the first principle, getting the cervical vertebrae to move into the throat before engaging Muscle Energy. It makes all the difference.
Shoulder Loop: The Shoulder Loop initiates in the soft palate, and tips the head back, drawing the upper back muscles and shoulder blades down and pressing the bottom tips of the shoulder blades forward, thus lifting the front of the chest. Its action creates more of a lordotic curve in the neck. But if the neck/throat aren't first expanded and toned, trying to engage the Shoulder Loop could result in a shortening of the back of the neck. To feel the Shoulder Loop, work through the first two principles, and then keeping your chin lifted, press back through the back of your skull as if you had a wall behind you. The back of the neck won't shorten, but you will get a new kind of power in the upper back that draws the muscles of the neck and upper back down and into the heart.
Skull Loop: counterbalances the Shoulder Loop. It, too, initiaties in the upper palate and flows back to the base of the occiput, where it then lifts up the back of the skull, thus lengthening the neck. Together with the Shoulder Loop, it ensures that the neck has even curve and extension.
Organic Energy: extends from the active focal point out through the core lines of the body, including through the neck and out the top of the head. It creates space between each of the vertebrae in the neck.

PRACTICE:

Tadasana: Stand with your back (and head) to a wall to help feel the place of alignment for your head and neck. Start by expanding from inside out with the breath, lengthening evenly through all sides of the neck. Notice if you tend to have your chin tucked (flat neck) or head tipped back (too much curve) and find the place in the middle (Goldilocks!). Then, keeping the length, allow the cervical vertebrae to melt forward, toward the front of your throat. Take the top of the thorat back and lift your chin to press the tops of your ears back. You'll feel the back of the neck and upper trapezius muscles engage and draw down. Keeping that, lengthen the back of your skull up the wall.
Hands and knees: In all of the positions where the head and neck are horizontal to the floor, you'll be able to release with gravity into the natural curve of your neck. Extend through the side of the torso and through the sides of the neck, and then as you melt your heart (upper back) into your body, also melt the vertebrae of your neck into your body at the same rate. Notice how the integration that's created is different than if you just let your head hang, or if you only melt your upper back. This is a place of balance in the throat that will serve an opening of energy through your whole body.
Surya namaskar: The sequence of surya namaskar moves the head and neck through upright, forward bend and backbend positions; keeping the head and neck in line in each one, and particularly in transitions, will help to build strength and alignment in this area. In uttanasana, watch that the head doesn't just hang; rather, keep the neck in line with the spine and when you melt the upper back, melt the cervical vertebrae as well. In plank pose and caturanga, the head and neck will tend to push forward (it's gravity), so make sure you create length in the back of the neck as well as the front, then melt the whole spine into the body, then move through to plank. In the transition to cobra, the head and neck often trail behind (notice if you tucked your chin, looking down rather than straight ahead in the transition), flattening the cervical spine and diminishing the flow of energy through the throat. Go all the way to your belly after caturanga, and then re-establish good alignment in the neck; keeping that, lead into the pose from the palate moving back. Once you're in cobra, create length through the torso and neck again, and then melt the spine (including the neck) into the body. Then when you engage Muscle Energy and curl the head back toward a deeper backbend, the back of the neck won't flatten. In downward-facing dog, keep your ears in line with your spine, and when you melt the heart, melt the neck too. Then work through the principles of engagement to find a clear opening in the throat.
High lunge: This is just one of any number of upright poses (Warrior 1, standing balances) where the head and neck line up vertically like in tadasana. When you come into the pose, notice the position of your neck before you do anything else. When I pay attention to this, I almost invariably find that I'm looking down (at my feet, at my legs, at my belly, etc.) and every time I do this it flattens the neck, closing off the energy of the throat cakra. So in particular, watch the transitions, and if you find that you're tucking your chin, just touch to the floor and come into the pose again, keeping the throat open. Then work through the principles.
Adho mukha vrksasana/Pinca mayurasana: In the inversions, it's natural to want to let the head and neck hang with gravity, but in doing so you will lose a lot of the power of the upper back. Remember, the Shoulder Loop initiates from the palate curling back, and so it requires a good alignment of the neck first. Play in these poses with different ways of engaging (or disengaging) the neck. What does it feel like if you just let the head hang? What happens if you look up toward your belly? What happens if you look past your finger tips. Then try this with your feet supported by the wall: start with your head and neck in a neutral position with the spine. Gravity will lengthen the neck, and then melt the back of the neck toward the front. Now take the top of the throat back, until you feel the tone and engagement all the way into your belly. Then press your head back in line with the tops of the ears to curl into the Shoulder Loop; watch that the back of the neck doesn't shorten in this action but rather stays long and engaged.
Pigeon/thigh stretch: Because no practice is complete without one.
Rajakapotasana prep/Dhanurasana/Rajakapotasana: This sequence of poses opens tremendously as the throat opens. Work through these poses as you did for cobra pose (in rajakapotasana prep, it's the same as cobra except with the knees bent, shins vertical). Lift up into each pose on the inside, and then keeping that brightness melt your whole spine (especially the upper back and neck) into the body. That will establish a neutral curve in the neck and keep the throat open. Then draw energy from your hands to get the upper arm bones back as you slide the top of your throat back. In dhanurasana especially, the head and neck tend to jut forward, so be mindful to keep them in line with the rest of the spine. To move toward rajakapotasana, keep everything the same, and then tip the tops of your ears back more deeply. As your head goes back, keep the arms steady, and melt the upper back and neck forward into the pose.
Ustrasana: This is one of the trickiest poses for the neck, because gravity pulls all 8 pounds of the head very powerfuly toward the floor, and the back of the neck tends to shorten too much, causing discomfort. Start with a clear alignment on your knees (even bring one hand to the front of your throat again, and breathe into it, moving the cervical spine forward into your hand). As you go back, keep the neck long on all sides. Create an even curve in the whole spine. Then slide the top of the throat back and curl your ears back. You'll be able to bring your head further into the backbend without restricting your breath if you keep length and tone. Lastly extend through the back of the skull, and out through the crown of the head. When you come up out of the pose, keep the head and neck in line with your spine, rather than leading with the head lifting.
Setubandha: Because this pose is weightbearing on the head, it's a potent place to stimulate and open the vishuddha cakra. As you set up, create length through all sides of the neck, and again move the cervical vertebrae in, so you start with a natural lordotic curve. Press your upper arms into the floor and tone the back of your neck by sliding the top of the throat back, without losing the curve or tucking your chin. Then actively lift your chin away from your chest and press down through the back of the head in order to curl more in the upper back. Come up into the pose, keeping the throat open in the transition.
Urdhva dhanurasana: You know the drill. Work with the alignment in the head and neck just as you did in handstand and forearm stand. The more curvy you can make the back of the neck, the deeper the backbend will open.
Sirsasana 1: Like setubandha and sarvangasana, sirsasana is one of the few poses where you're weight-bearing on the head (and the palate is the active focal point), and this provides a powerful opening through the throat. Start with your hands clasped for headstand, on forearms and knees. Before you place your head, expand the inside, all the way up through the sides of the throat, and then melt your spine (including the neck) into the body. Then place your head without losing that. (You'll have to experiment to find the appropriate placement of your head, but the key is to have a natural curve in the neck. If you tend to have a flat neck, you'll need to be closer toward your forehead. If you have good curve in your neck, you can be more at the center of the crown.) Keep the curve as you go up into the pose. By pressing your head actively back into your hands, you'll get more of the action of Shoulder Loop, which will tone the back of the neck and lift the shoulder blades up, allowing space for your neck. Then anchor from the palate straight down into the earth (100% weightbearing on your head) to create a lift back up through your spine and feet. As you come out of the pose, be just as mindful to keep a natural curve and engagement.
Sarvangasana: This is probably the most challenging pose for the neck, because the form of the pose has the chin to the chest. Still, you can create strong actions as we've been doing to keep a natural curve in your neck and breath into the throat. When the pose is aligned, none of your vertebrae will be touching the floor or any props that you're using.
Janu Sirsasana, Pascimottanasana: I've been having major revelations using these principles of the neck in seated forward bends. If the head hangs in these poses, then the lower back will get stuck, but keeping the throat open clears a channel through the whole spine.
Jalandhara bandha: Seated for pranayama, create huge space in the inner body, lifting the sides of the torso and the sides of the neck. As you settle into your seat, allow the cervical vertebrae to melt in. Then draw the upper arms and upper throat back, tip the ears back and engage the shoulder blades down the back as the front of the chest lifts. Keep the chest lifting powerfully, then lengthen the back of your skull up and over so that your chin comes to your chest. When done in alignment, the front of the throat will still have breath, and you'll be able to talk normally.

The Ground Beneath You

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:43:00 +0000

I got a request to do a Nerd on the feet (for all of you Nerds out there, you should know that you can always make a request for a class focus), and it seemed like the perfect time for this.

So many of us are living in a climate of uncertainty, either personally or with those around us, and sometimes it can feel as if the ground were being pulled out from underneath us. The feet are our connection to the earth, and getting more in tune with that connection is a great way to feel more grounded.

I've been reading Anodea Judith's book Wheels of Life in preparation for the Advanced Intensive with John Friend this year, and it has been a revelation to learn about the cakra system (the spinning "wheels" that receive and transmit energy) and map it onto the physical practice of Anusara Yoga. She emphasizes the importance of grounding as a practice tha enables us to live in the world.

Our sense of groundedness is related to the muladhara cakra, the root cakra located at the base of the spine that is our energetic center for security, safety, survival. When any of these things feel threatened -- like when our home lives are disrupted, or a job is insecure -- then we tend to get pulled up in this area and unplugged from the earth. That can manifest as tightness in the hips and psoas, but also it can manifest in a hardening at the upper cakras, for example in the heart. A practice of grounding through the pelvis, legs and feet allows us to live more easily in the heart even when things are challenging and uncertain around us.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: This first principle invites us to pay attention to our foundation on the earth, and release into the support that the earth gives. Parallel feet, anatomically, is defined as lining up the middle of the ankle through the 2nd toe mound straight ahead and parallel to each other. The feet, like any part of the body that is part of the foundation, have four corners that when evenly rooted create a stable foundation. (The square is the shape associated with the muladhara cakra because it is considered to be the most stable foundation.) They four corners of the feet are at the big toe mound (1st metatarsal), the inner heel, the pinky toe mound (5th metatarsal) and the outer heel. To feel these four points more clearly, gently lift your toes off the floor and then allow energy to flow downward through the foundation.
Muscle Energy: This flow of energy draws on the support of the earth to stabilize us in our core, creating a sense of security. All of the muscles embrace the bones, the limbs hug toward the vertical midline, and we draw energy from the peripheral parts (including from all four corners of the feet) toward the focal point (for today's practice, it will mostly be the pelvis). In the feet, the power of the pinky toes spreading laterally and drawing back through the outer heel creates a strong action of the shins to the midline by firing the peroneal muscles of the outer shins. This action is critical for maintaining stability and earth energy as we open the pelvis.
Inner Spiral: The action of Inner Spiral, which turns the legs and pelvis in, back and wide, begins in the feet. Inner Spiral starts at the big toe mound and draws back through the inner heel, and that spiraling energy moves all the way up the legs to the waistline. Beginning Inner Spiral at this initiation point, rather than just at the inner thighs, will empower the action. Notice how the inner feet drawing back and wide creates a dynamic tension with the outer edges of the feet, which draw back and in with Muscle Energy. You'll know the two energy flows are in balance when both the inner and outer feet draw back evenly. If the heels widen at all when you do Inner Spiral, the earth energy created by the feet is compromised, and Inner Spiral will lose its power and even be a destabilizing force (the knees knock in, the hamstrings over-widen). Focus on the outer heels drawing to the midline as the inner feet draw back, and notice how it creates both stability and space through the legs and pelvis and lower back.
Outer Spiral: While Inner Spiral initiates in the feet, Outer Spiral ends in the feet. It moves from the waistline back and creates a narrowing spiral all the way down the legs, ending at the outer edges of the feet, from the pinky toe mound through the outer heel, drawing back. In this way, Outer Spiral reconnects the legs toward the midline and re-establishes the power of the outer shins and outer feet stabilizing.
Organic Energy: This principle re-connects us into the earth in a powerful way, as opposed to the passive release into the earth of Opening to Grace. It always moves from the focal point downward first, and then from the focal point back to the sky. This creates a physical grounding that allows us grow and expand. When the pelvis is the focal point, the pelvic bones and the tailbone move down with the legs and feet, while the sacrum and the upper body rise. It moves evenly down through all four corners of the feet.

PRACTICE:

Tadasana: Feel the weight of your body into the earth. Notice if one leg is more energetically grounded into the earth or if the energy in one leg is more pulled up into the pelvis rather than rooting. A healthy alignment will have the energy from the pelvis through the legs and into the feet rooting evenly downward through both legs. Align the feet parallel, and lift your toes to feel all four corners of the feet, placing them evenly on the earth. Then engage the legs fully, spreading your little toes to stabilize toward the midline and drawing energy from the feet into the pelvis. From the inner feet drawing back, turn the inseams of the legs in, back and wide. Notice if your heels widen or push out when you do this, and if so, re-establish the Muscle Energy to the midline by spreading your pinky toes and drawing the outer heels in. Then bring your hands to your hips, anchor your tailbone down and push energy down from your pelvis through your legs and feet into the earth. As you get grounded in this way, you'll be able to lift up out of your sacrum and through your spine.
Tadasana-Uttanasana sequence: Set up in tadasana as above, and then bow forward to uttanasana, keeping the pelvis and legs rooting into the earth through the feet. In uttanasna, you can see your feet more clearly, so recreate the alignment, especially focusing on getting the inner edges of the feet to sweep back into the resistance of the outer feet drawing back and in. Then anchor again through the pelvis and legs into the earth. As you come standing to tadasana, notice if your energy gets unplugged from the earth in one or both legs. Keep rooting down through both feet as you rise. Do this 2-3 times, and then just stand passively in tadasana and notice the energy flow through the legs. Do you feel more rooted? How does that affect your breath?
Lunge: Do a lunge with your fingertips on the floor, and as you turn to your breath, allow yourself to settle with gravity into the earth. Now engage the legs, spreading your pinky toes and drawing energy from both feet up into the core of the pelvis. Look at your back foot and notice if the heel is behind the ball of the foot. If so, that means that the back of the leg isn't drawing in toward the core as much as the front of the leg. Balance the foot so all four corners are vertical, and then draw energy from all four points toward the pelvis. When you add the rooting of Organic Energy, extend out as much through the ball of the foot as you do through the heel.
Parsvakonasana (and other side plane standing poses): We'll focus on the back leg for this one. Line up the back foot parallel to the back edge of the mat. This alignment will give you more power to the midline, more earth energy on the back leg. Lift your toes and feel all four corners of the foot evenly standing into the earth. Spread the pinky toes and then draw energy up the leg into the pelvis. Keeping that, add the action of Inner Spiral, initiating from the big toe mound drawing back through the inner heel. Notice if the inner heel widens when you do this, and if it does, stabilize the outer edge of the foot more powerfully. Once you have the Inner and Outer Spirals balanced, use your hand on your pelvic bone and anchor energy down through the pelvis and legs into the feet and earth, and from that grounding, extend through the spine.
Virabhadrasana 1 (and other front plane standing poses): In the front plane poses, the back foot will need to turn more forward in order to align the pelvis to the front, and that means the action of the back foot needs to be even more clearly lined up. Start with your hands on your front leg, and bow forward so you can see your back foot. Lift and spread the toes, drawing energy from the pink toe back through the outer heel. Keep that action as you engage Inner Spiral, pressing the big toe mound down and sweeping back through the inner heel. Bring that energy all the way up through the waistline without the back heel widening. Then add Outer Spiral and push energy down through the legs into the earth as you rise up.
Handstand and other inversions: In these poses, the feet aren't part of the foundation, but they plug us in to the sky above. I've noticed a tendency to extend more up through the fronts of the legs and the balls of the feet rather than the heels, and this can make it hard to balance and create a sway-back. Play with standing through the feet in your inversions as if you were standing on the earth, with all 4 corners evenly drawing in and extending up, and see how that effects your balance.
Uttanasana on a blanket roll: One way that the grounding energy in the legs can get short-circuited is through the hyperextension of the knees (when the top of the shin moves back at a faster rate than the base of the shin or the tops of the thighs). Try uttanasana again with the balls of the feet up on a blanket roll, and start with your knees bent. The base of the shins will flow back and down because of the form of the pose, which will help you to create the tone in the back of the calf that prevents hyperextension (Shin Loop). Lift your toes and feel all four corners of the feet into the earth. Spread your pinky toes wide to hug the legs (and outer heels) to the midline, and then press more powerfully down through the big toe mound to engage the calf muscle and initiate Inner Spiral. Once you have the inner edges of the feet flowing back into the resistance of the outer feet, move your legs straight from the tops of the thigh bones, not the knees. Go all the way to straight legs (micro-bending the knee will also create a short-circuit in the rooting energy) and then anchor energy from the pelvis through the bones of the legs into the earth and pour your spine forward. After a few breaths, come off the blanket roll and feel uttanasana and then tadasana, noticing the energy flow in the legs. Is it more clearly rooted?
Utthita hasta padangustasana variation (and standing balances): In all of the standing balances, I find that the energy naturally tends to get unplugged (pulled up) in the effort to balance, and if I'm not mindful of actively rooting through the feet, my legs will actually feel more unplugged after the pose than before. This one is a good one to feel how to root down more. Balancing on one leg, draw your other leg in and hold the outer edge of the foot (arm inside the leg) with the sole of the foot pointing straight down and the knee slightly wide to the side. Feel the weight in your standing leg, and then lift your toes and engage the legs fully. As you spread the pinky toes, press into the big toe mounds and draw back so the inner thighs root back, and then stand down through all four corners of both feet as you rise up through the spine. The anchoring of the pelvic bones downward and into the earth through the standing leg creates a grounding energy in the leg that you'll still feel even after you release the pose.
Thigh stretches: The feet have four corners, even with they're not on the ground, and in the thigh stretches they should all be evenly drawing in and extending out. Take your favorite thigh stretch (in pigeon, lunge, standing...) and hold the foot below your toes on the metatarsals, so that you can line up the foot straight ahead. As you press your back knee into the floor and draw it forward, press down with your hand into your foot and spread your toes back (i.e. "lifting") and wide. Then ground through the pelvis and legs as you rise through the low back and low belly.
Virasana and Supta Virasana: This is one of the most grounding poses in the yoga repertoire, as it roots the femurs and stimulates the downward-moving breath (apana vayu). The alignment of the feet in virasana is crucial for protecting the knees and making space for the lower back, allowing apana vayu to flow. The feet align to the shin bones, which are slightly angled to the side, so when you set up, stretch the feet back so that the middle of the ankles through the 2nd toe mounds are straight with the shins (not parallel to each other). Sit up on a prop if you can't create this alignment on the floor, or if your pelvis is not resting heavily to the earth. (If the pelvis is uplifted or just skimming the earth, the energy will get pulled up.) Then spread the little toes wide and draw back through the outer heels (manually, if necessary); as you do, draw the outer heel and outer ankle in toward the midline until the heel is touching your outer hip. Keeping the outer feet drawing to the midline, now extend and draw back through the inner edge of the foot, widening the inner heel away from the pelvis. All four corners of the feet will be evenly pointing up when the feet are lined up. Take it back to supta virasana if you are able to hold the feet in this alignment. If you're using a prop, move it so it is supporting your upper back rather than your pelvis when you go into the pose.
Seated baby cradle: Seated hip openers can help to create a very grounded sense in the pelvis, but if the feet are misaligned, the hips can actually get bound up. Look at the foot in baby cradle, and align the four corners of the feet so that they are evenly drawing in and extending out. Most commonly, in this position the outer edge of the foot will need to draw in more, and the inner edge of the foot will need to extend out more. Then spread the pinky toe and draw energy back through the outer heel. When you create this action, the foot will tip forward more, with the toes pointing forward. Then hold that steady and with your free hand hold the backs of the hamstrings and turn them in back and wide, and then anchor the pelvic bone under. Lastly, stretch through the entire foot into your arm.
Agni Stambasana: Set up the legs so that the shin bones are stacked and both feet are set with the ankle bones and knees aligned vertically. Flex through the feet, and create an even engagement and extension through all four corners. When the feet are aligned, you will not be able to see any part of the soles of your feet. Yes, that much. Then spread your pinky toes toward the floor, so the heels get light (you can even support under your shins and gently lift them up to help feel this action). Keeping the feet strong, now manually create Inner Spiral in both legs. Notice if the feet turn when you turn the thighs. If so, you're losing some of the grounding energy. The feet have to stay clearly aligned while you add Inner Spiral. If the knees are released below the crest of the pelvis, bow forward. Hold the soles of your feet to give resistance for the Organic Extension out.
Baddha Konasana: With the soles of the feet together, start by pressing all four corners of the feet into each other, then spread the pinky toes toward the floor so that the ankle bones and heels get light. (A deep variation of baddha konasana that moves toward mulabandhasana is to start with both feet on a block.) Then create a deep Inner Spiral with the legs, keeping the pinky toes rooted into the earth. Once the inner thighs are flowing down, now open the feet at the big toe mounds to accommodate the strong Outer Spiral in the hips. Keep the pinky toes spreading into the floor and the inner heels pressing together to balance these energies. If you're working toward mulabandhasana, keep all four corners of the feet pressing into each other, and as you spread the pinky toes down into the block, tip your feet forward so that the block tips toward vertical. Then send the inner thighs back and down toward the floor. Keep pulsing these actions until you have the feet vertical in mulabandhasana.

Grace Holds Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:59:00 +0000

As the winter chill set in in New York, I decided to do everything in my life that felt nourishing and nurturing, and that included in my yoga practice. Rather than pushing myself toward my outer limits, I turned inward and just met with the breath in a very simple practice. What could be more nourishing than prana, the very life force that is breathing me?

I discovered that all of the principles of our practice are contained in the way the natural breath flows. And then I thought, how could it be otherwise? If we start from the premise (as we do in the Tantric worldview) that we are born perfect, with everything we need inside, how could the principles of alignment come from anywhere outside our very natural experience? And so the first principle in Anusara Yoga, what we call Opening to Grace, is the way in which we turn to the grace that is present as our very self, as our very life, and as our very breath.

PRINCIPLES:
On a physical level, Opening to Grace involves an expansion of the inner/energetic body, and a release of the outer form (often shorthanded as "inner body bright, outer body soft"). When we start from a place and perspective of fullness, then we will naturally soften rather than grasp. What's amazing is that this is what the breath is already doing, as us, anyway. When we do yoga, we align to the yoga that is already doing us.

Try this: Take a nice seat and tune in to your natural breath. You'll feel that with each inhale, the inner body naturally expands, and that with each exhale, the other body naturally softens and releases. Now begin ujjayi pranayama by toning the back of the throat. With ujjayi, you can create a deeper engagement and alignment with what is already your ordinary, everyday experience. With each inhale, actively expand the inner body from the pelvic floor all the way up to the dome of the palate. This expansion includes a fullness to the back and sides as much as a lift in the front. With each exhale, keep the fullness of the inside and let the outer form melt, as the pelvis and legs release downward.

So the breath holds inner body bright and outer body soft, the physical way that Opening to Grace manifests in the body. But the natural breath also holds all of the seeds of the other principles as well.

Muscle and Organic Energy:
Go back to your seat, and again focus on the natural breath. See how with each inhale, as the inner body expand, the outer body hugs in to meet it. You'll feel this especially around the rib cage because of the expansion of the lungs, but it is true for the whole body. The inhales already create a Muscle Energy to the core. Now watch the exhales and notice how with each exhale, the outer body extends outward. In this way, the exhales hold the expansive freedom of Organic Energy.

It gets better. When we align to what grace is already doing as us, in the form of our breath, bringing our awareness there and magnifying the experience, we'll also find the seeds of the spirals of the legs.

Inner and Outer Spiral
In your seat, bring your hands to your waistline so that your index fingers wrap around your lower ribs and the thumbs are on your back ribs. With each inhale, as you hug gently in with your hands (outer body contracts), expand the inner body so that the sides of the waistline widen laterally, all the way up through the ribs. This is similar to the widening component of Inner Spiral, and so you can align with the way the natural breath flows to use inhales to create more Inner Spiral. With each exhale, the pelvic floor naturally contracts, and hence the exhales will support Outer Spiral.

PRACTICE:
As you put this into practice, it's easiest to feel the breath with one principle at a time, so try going through some basic poses with several breaths in each pose, as follows:

Inhale: expand and lengthen inner body
Exhale: allow the outer body to release with gravity, without losing the lift on the inside
Inhale: engage the muscles to the bones, toward the midline, and toward the core
Exhale: extend from the core (focal point) in all directions
Inhale: as the muscles hug in, widen your waistline all the way up through the ribs
Exhale: keeping the width, extend down through the tailbone
Inhale: engage the muscles in
Exhale: extend from the core

Try this in the following sequence:

Uttanasana
Parsvottanasana
High lunge
Anjaneyasana
Downward-facing dog
Surya namaskar

Once you have a sense of how the breath connects to action, try working the principles simultaneously, with each inhale and each exhale, as follows in a few standing poses:

Inhale: lift up into the pose
Exhale: allow the pelvis and legs to release down with gravity
Inhale: as you expand the inner body, embrace the outer form concentrically around your core and simultaneously widen back into that embrace through the lower back
Exhale: scoop your tailbone under as you extend down and out through the pelvis and legs and up through the spine

Play with the simultaneity in these poses, as we move toward backbends:

Anjaneyasana
Virabhadrasana 1
Parsvottanasana
Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
Parivrtta Trikonasana
Pigeon pose with a thigh stretch
Anjaneyasana with a thigh stretch
Setubandha
Urdhva dhanurasana: in these backbends, focus on simultaneously hugging the outer form to the midline as you widen from the spine laterally, especially around the lower back.

A note on hip openers: if you follow the way the breath unfolds in your body, it will naturally create space and release in the hip flexors. Pay attention to this in pigeon pose as a starting place. Get as much extension and brightness on the inside as you can, taking several rounds of breath. With each inhale, create that length and fullness, especially into the back body, and with each exhale, allow the pelvis to descend with gravity WITHOUT collapsing the inner body. In this way, the upper part of the psoas muscle (which goes all the way up to T12, the lowest thoracic vertebra) will extend one way, while the lower part of the psoas (at the lesser trochanter of the thighbone) will extend the other way. It's a way of giving traction to the muscle: by fixing the upper part, the lower part can descend with gravity.

Work with this idea in a few seated poses. In the seated poses, start with the fingertips behind your pelvis and use them to support the inner expansion that comes with the inhale (so much that the pelvis lifts off the floor). Then with your exhale, allow the pelvis and legs to settle again with gravity, without compromising the extension through the upper body.

Pigeon poses
Baddha konasana
Upavista konasana

Week of Wonder: An Anusara Yoga Retreat in St. John, USVI

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:33:00 +0000

with Certified Anusara Teachers Zhenja La Rosa and Vanessa Spina
January 31-February 7, 2009

Join Zhenja and Vanessa for a week of bathing in the wonder of yoga in the Caribbean paradise of St. John. We will begin each day with an intense and playful yoga practice, and close the evening with a quiet, meditative practice to guide you to the vastness inside. In the afternoons, take your boxed lunch to the beaches for underwater exploration in St. John's astounding coral reefs, hiking, or any activity that nourishes your soul!

We'll be staying in "eco-tents" (high-tech tent structures with modern conveniences) at the Estate Concordia, a secluded eco-resort on the southeastern part of the island that is powered by the sun. St. John is a place of incredible beauty, and extraordinary beaches. More than half of the island is protected national parkland, so the development has stayed to a minimum. There are 39 unique beaches, each with its own ecosystem, from white sand to rocky bays, from mangroves to salt ponds. You can dive right in with snorkel gear and see every color of fish, and, depending on the beach, turtles rays, octopuses, lobsters, and pretty much everything imaginable (including that which you've not-yet imagined) under the sea.

Cost:*
Triples: $1500
Doubles: $1750
Singles: $2400

*includes yoga, room, and all meals; does not include transportation to Concordia Estates in St. John

A nonrefundable deposit of $350 is required to secure your spot. Email zhenjalarosa@gmail.com with questions or to sign up.

Debt and Happiness

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:03:00 +0000

Years ago, someone had commented to me that "independence isn't the same thing as non-dependence," and recently it settled in my heart. For as much as we may want to do things and take care of things ourselves, for as much as we prize our independence, if we don't let others do for us sometimes, we end up shutting out the world.

We have to allow ourselves to be held sometimes, to be carried in their embrace. We have to allow ourselves to be indebted to others, in order to be happy.

In the yogic lore, this is a concept known as rna (it's the "r" with a dot under it). It means debt or obligation, but it's the idea that you don't live in the absence of the gifts you're given. When you're given a gift, you're left with a feeling of gratitude, and in a certain sense responsibility. Of course, none of us wants to accumulate debt (certainly not in this economic environment). But if we don't allow ourselves to feel indebted to others by accepting the gifts they have to offer, we isolate ourselves from the world.

In Anusara Yoga, our first principle of Opening to Grace is the opening to receive the gifts that you've been given. In this principle, we open from the inside and then allow ourselves to be held. It's the way in which we allow rna to be our experience. If we don't allow for the rna, the rest of the principles and practice can end up disconnected, isolated, hardened.

Learning to release yourself into alignment is certainly a practice, and one that requires our openness to receive the gifts of those around us, to take on, as it were, that debt, and allow ourselves to be held in their embrace.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: This first principle really has two actions associated with it. First, there's the opening to receive the gift that's being offered. It may be the gift of your breath, a recognition of the gift of your own life, or something more specific, like the support you've received from someone. Physically, there's an expansion of the inner/energetic body, as torso grows circumferentially and from the sides of the waist all the way up through the sides of the throat and the dome of the palate. The second component of Opening to Grace is a natural release into the embrace of gravity. The outer body (skin, muscles, bones) softens toward the earth. It's a recognition of the debt and allowing yourself to be held, taking the form of your own gratitude.
Muscle Energy: There are two kinds of Muscle Energy: active, which uses the action of the muscles to create integration; and passive, which uses the release into gravity to create integration. So in a certain sense, the second component of Opening to Grace can create passive Muscle Energy. As we work through the principles in our practice, we have to learn to allow ourselves to be held in the passive embrace of gravity first, and then add active Muscle Energy to that release.
Organic Energy: Organic Energy also has both passive and active forms, and as with Muscle Energy, the passive form is when the release into gravity is what creates the extension.

PRACTICE

Hands and knees: Place yourself mindfully, and then turn to your breath. The inhales will naturally create an expansion on the inside. The exhales will naturally soften your outer form. When you release with gravity, notice how the heart center (between the bottom tips of the shoulder blades) melts down, and the arm bones integrate more deeply into the shoulder sockets. (If the upper back is stiff and doesn't melt, you probably need to create more space, going back to the opening that allows others in.) This is the softening of the first principle, and it creates passive Muscle Energy. Now add active Muscle Energy, drawing from the fingertips to up through the arms into the pelvis. When you do active M.E. on the support of passive M.E., there's a softness and a sweetness to the hugging of the muscles.
Downward-Facing Dog: The difference between active and passive M.E. here is significant. With the first principle, as you expand on the inside, the uper body will back out of the pose, with the upper arms rising toward the sky. Keep that expansion, and then soften the place of the heart, in line iwth the bottom tips of the shoulder blades. That's all first principle, but it creates a deeper integration in the shoulder girdle. Once you find that place of being held in the upper back, now engage active Muscle Energy by pressing your fingertips into the floor and drawing the energy up the arms and into the heart. Notice the difference between active and passive integration. Notice, too, what the active integration would feel like if you didn't first create that first softening. We need both. We need to let others in. Once you're integrated, now extend Organically from the heart down through the arms, and out through the spine and legs.
Surya namaskar: As you move through these poses, pay attention to how much you're holding and how much you're allowing yourself to be held, particularly in caturanga and cobra pose. First create the opening, then the release, and then the active engagement, and see how that opens things up.
Virabhadrasana 2, trikonasana, parsvakonasana: Working in these side plane poses, bring your focus more to the lower body. When your upper inner body expands, the ouer form can release with gravity, especially in the pelvis and legs, integrating the thigh bones more deeply into the hip sockets. Find this opening and release with the breath first, and then engage more actively. Notice how when you release first, when you allow the rna to settle, the poses become softer, and more integrated. Once you find the release, then add your own effort through active Muscle and Organic Energies.
Vasistasana: When you come into the general form of the pose, make sure your stance is long enough to allow for a lengthening of the side bodies. Then direct your breath toward that expansion, especially lengthening the underside body from the waistline up through the armpit. When you open in this way, it creates the possibility of a passive release with gravity that slides the armbone more deeply into the shoulder socket, and the shoulder blade more toward the midline. Keeping that, now actively engage the muscles of the arms (and legs), and then extend Organically out from the pelvis through the legs and arms.
Handstand and Forearm Stand: In inversions, when you soften with gravity, the heart melts toward the floor, which in turn plugs the arm bones more deeply into the shoulder sockets. Once you're upside down, try this, and feel how you can release into a greater alignment. Then again, add your effort to this through active Muscle Energy from the fingertips up to the heart center, and active Organic Energy, from the heart down through arms and back up through the legs.
Anjaneyasana, Pigeon Pose (with thigh stretches)
Dhanurasana, Makarasana, Rajakapotasana: With the first principle in all of these poses, the sides of the torso lengthen, and the heart melts with gravity. To me, moving toward rajakapotasana, the most advanced of these backbends, is all about riding the current of the breath in this way, allowing yourself to be held as you go deeper into the pose. It's counter-intuitive, because you'd think that you'd have to push back to get your head to your feet. Instead, you have to soften the heart forward as part of Opening to Grace, creating a passive integration, while you darw the upper arms back through active Muscle Energy.
Baddha Konasana, Upavista Konasana: In both of these poses, as with most seated forward bends, the thigh bones tend to get pulled up, and the more we activate the muscles of the legs, the more this tendency can get aggravated, if we don't first strat with Opening to Grace. As you set up for these poses, start with your hands on fingertips behind your pelvis, and use your hands to lift your pelvis up off the floor. Create a huge expansion on the inside, lifting up through the sides of the torso, and then without letting the inner body collapse, allow the pelvis to release back down to the floor with gravity. This may take a few breaths. Once the pelvis is back on the floor, you'll feel the hips more open and integrated. Then add your effort to grow the pose.

Maya and the Financial Crisis: What does this have to do with your sacrum?

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:57:00 +0000

I've been struggling to understand the origins of this financial crisis, and for as many times as my sweetie explains it to me, it still seems obscure. But the other day I finally understood, at least, why it's so obscure: the financial system was built on bad maya, the power of concealment (also called illusion, delusion, deception).

My teacher Douglas Brooks always says "you don't experience the world, you experience your experience of the world." That's maya. It's the representational experience of reality, because we can have no direct experience of reality. For many yoga traditions, this is a problem: maya stands between you and the world. From the perspective of the Rajanaka Tantra, this is your empowerment: maya is what allows you to negotiate and navigate your experience. In this way, language is a great example of maya. We use words to gain access to reality (things, thoughts, emotions), but no one would say that they are identical with the thing you're trying to express. They are representations. They point to a reality that is not the same thing as the words you're using.

We are constantly constructing the maya of our own experience. The thing is, we can create maya that is useful and empowering, in that it brings our experience into alignment with reality, or we can create maya that is delusional and disconnected from reality. To my understanding, this is what happened with the financial markets: the maya of the markets was not aligned to reality.

In Anusara Yoga, we use the Universal Principles of Alignment as a kind of maya that gives us access to a deeper reality, a deeper experience of ourselves. And this is the best kind of maya, because the principles are empowering. Quite simply, they work. Sometimes, however, we create ineffective maya around the principles.

I've noticed this in particular with Inner Spiral. This principle takes the thighbones back into the hip sockets and draws the top of the sacrum and lumbar spine in and up, creating a more lordotic curve in the lower back. It's easy to shortcut and just stick the butt out, or just arch the lower back, creating a form that looks like Inner Spiral. But that's a maya, like the one created in the financial system, that will not be empowering over time. The actions of Inner Spiral must be powered by the legs to create alignment; the curve in the low back is a result of this action.

Today we'll use the principles of alignment as an effective maya to open the lower back and create stability around the sacro-iliac joints. In a healhty S.I. joint, the sacrum should be able to slide between the ilia (pelvic bones) in movement. For example, in walking, when one knee lifts in front, the top of the sacrum will tip into the body but the pelvic bone should anchor downward. If the S.I. joint is stuck, you'll feel the hip lift with the leg/sacrum, or you'll feel the sacrum tuck under with the pelvis. Here's the cool thing: to re-align the sacro-iliac joint, all you have to do is "mimic" good alignment, and it will slide right back into place. (See the "walking in place" bullet to learn how to reset your own SI joint.)

Let's go through it:

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Set up a good foundation, with the feet parallel and the pelvis squared off to the front.
Muscle Energy: The component of Muscle Energy that hugs the legs and outer hips to the midline is the critical aspect of this principle that stabilizes the sacro-iliac joint.
Inner Spiral: With Inner Spiral, the top of the sacrum and the lumbar spine draw in to the body and up. Knowing this, when I first started practicing with this principle I substituted arching the lower back for the action of Inner Spiral. This is the kind of maya that is like a house of cards, and it will collapse over time. The action of Inner Sprial must be initiated by the legs in order to be effective. Specifically, it's the inner upper thighs drawing back and widening into the resistance of Muscle Energy that moves the lower back.
Outer Spiral: For the purposes of aligning the sacro-iliac joints, the important part of Outer Spiral is that it wraps the outer hips back and under without compromising the curve in the lower back established by Inner Spiral. This creates a dynamic alignment around the sacro-iliac joints, with the sacrum moving in and up while the pelvic bones move down.
Organic Energy: When the pelvis is the focal point (standing, seated, supine poses), the expansion of Organic Energy splits at the bottom of the sacrum. This means that while the pelvic bones (most of which are below the bottom of the sacrum) move down, the sacrum moves up, again creating a dynamic alignment at the sacro-iliac joints.

PRACTICE:

Sukhasana: Sitting cross-legged, place your hands on your inner knees. As you engage Muscle Energy in the legs and hug to the midline, your knees will lift up into your hands. Use your hands as resistance to magnify that action. As you do, you'll feel the muscles around the sacrum area tone. This is a crucial action that you'll create throughout practice to help stabilize around the SI joints.
Tadasana: Start with a block between your upper inner thighs, so that you can feel Muscle Energy to the midline and how the action of Inner Spiral is powered by the legs. Hug into the block, and feel that embrace all the way up through the pelvis, so the muscles around the sacrum tone. Keeping the legs strong, turn the inner thighs back (block back) until the lower back arches and the top of the sacrum draws in and up. Make sure the upper body isn't tipping forward to achieve this (that would be ineffective maya). Keep that action going, and then add Outer Spiral, wrapping the pelvic bones around and down. Note that the sacrum draws up and the pelvic bones go down. This is good alignment.
Walking in place: This is the best maya I have yet found to re-align the sacro-iliac joints. Standing in tadasana, engage the legs and add Inner Spiral, turning the inner thighs back. Then lift one knee to just above 90 degrees (the side where the SI is out, if you know which one; otherwise, alternate between sides). As the knee bends in toward your chest, it will help you to get more Inner Spiral on that leg. Accentuate that, turning both inner upper thighs in, back and wide, until you feel the top of the sacrum tip in and up into your body. Keeping that, draw the pelvic bones firmly down (this is Outer Spiral, and Organic Energy), using your hand on your hip as needed. Then release the leg. Do this 2-3 times on the side.
Ardha Utkatasana (Downhill skier): In utkatasana, rest your hands on your thighs, right above the knees. Use your hands to help hug the legs to the midline, without letting the knees knock in. Hold the midline until you feel the muscles around the lower back/sacrum tone. Then add Inner Spiral by turning the legs in and back and wide. (Watch that the knees don't turn in, and watch that it's not the upper back that's opening.) This will create a curve deep in the lower back. Keep that, and then draw the pelvic bones down and under as you lift and extend up out of the belly.
Parsvakonasana (and other standing poses): I originally learned to get the thighs back in the hip sockets by leaning forward in the chest and sticking the butt out. But this stopped being effective over time. Try this instead: bring your front forearm to the front knee, and use your other hand to feel the engagement of the sacrum/lower back. Notice when you come into the pose, before adding any actions, what the shape of the lower back is. For many of us, it will be flat, espeically if the back thigh is poking forward. Now engage the legs by lifting and spreading the toes, and sweeping the feet energetically toward each other. This will create a muscle tone all the way up the legs and through the pelvis. Now add Inner Spiral. As the inner thighs turn in and back and wide, the chest won't need to push forward. Fell how the action of the legs affects your lower back. When you get Inner Spiral, the top of the sacrum and the lumbar vertebrae will draw up into the body. Then add the Outer Spiral and Organic Energy without losing the curve in the lumbar.
Parivrtta parsvakonasana (and parivrtta trikonasana, ardha chandrasana and utkatasana): Twists are among the most challenging poses to stabilize the SI joint, because in the effort to deepen the twist, the pelvic bones and sacrum can move at different rates and get knocked out of alignment. Try this pose first from lunge position (with the back heel lifted). Starting in the straight ahead lunge, take your arms to the sides and squeeze the midline, as if giving someone a hug, until you feel a tone in the lower back. That will create an engagement that stabilizes the pelvic bones and sacrum in alignment. As you move into the twist, the foundation of the twist (pevlis/sacrum) should remain stabile (note that the back leg side will tend to drop). Keep the legs strong and hugging in to the midline, and then lift powerfully through the back thigh and widen the inseam of the leg, pelvis and waistline more to the back leg side. Now twist from that place, without letting the pelvis or back leg drop. Once you're deeper in the twist, draw the outer hips back and extend.
Ardha makarasana: Start on your belly, with the hands placed for cobra pose, and then bend one knee in so that the shin is vertical and the foot flexed. Notice if the pelvis turns to the back leg side when you do, and if so, square it off again so that both hip points are facing straight down toward the floor. Then engage the legs and press the knees into the floor; notice how when the knees go down, the tops of the thighs lift and this will tip the top of the sacrum into the body. Keep that, but now anchor the pelvic bones back and down until you can get the pelvis more flush to the floor. Then use your arms to come up into a cobra pose in the upper body. As you move, keep both knees pressing down firmly, and both hip points facing straight ahead. Then extend organically, rooting the pelvis and legs back as you draw the sacrum and lower belly forward and out of the pelvis. This pose, too, can be good for setting the SI joints back into alignment.
Ardha bekhasana: Try this thigh stretch with all of the same alignment points as is ardha makarasana. You may find that the knee on the leg you're stretching wants to lift off the floor. If it does, that means that the top of the thigh is pushing forward, flattening the lower back. You want the stretch to be more in the belly of the muscles, not near the groin area, for the safest stretch.
Supta virasana: This is always a good pose for working on the SI joints, because you can see the alignment in the pelvis very clearly. When you set up in virasana, make sure that the inner thighs are flowing down and that this creates a natural curve in the lower back. You may find that one thigh is more pushed up than the other. If so, manually Inner Spiral the opposite leg to make more room for that thigh to rest back. This will also help level out the pelvis and sacrum for resting back into supta virasana. As you lie back,
Janu sirsasana: As a twist, this pose can be challenging to find the optimal alignment around the sacrum. Start facing between the legs, rather than twisted over the front leg, and create a strong muscular action to the midline that you feel all the way up through the pelvis. The back leg (bent leg) side will need more Inner Spiral, to get the top of the sacrum to draw in and up as you twist to the front. The front leg side will need more Outer Spiral, rooting the pelvic bones back and into the earth. Together, the sacrum will be held in a dynamic alignment.
Ardha matsyendrasana: Again, create good alignment for this pose even before going into the twist. To stabilize the sacrum, hug the legs and hips to the midline, using one arm crossed around the front knee to help create that action. Then turn the inner thighs in and down, until the top of the sacrum lifts in and up and the lumbar has its natural curve. Then anchor the pelvic bones down, especially on the front leg side, without flattening the lower back. Keeping all of that, twist from the back side toward the front. The pelvic bones should not move at all (although the front hip will try to draw back, keep it anchored).
Upavista konasana: In seated forward bends, like upavista konasana, the spine will be in a rounded form but the top of the sacrum still draws in and up. Start in a stage 1 forward bend, with the spine vertical and your hands supporting you behind the hips. Engage the legs toward the midline, and then turn the inner upper thighs in and down and wide, until you feel the lift at the top of the sacrum and lower back. You must be able to keep this lift in the upright position before moving into stage 2, the forward bend. As you bring your hands in front and take the forward bend, keep the upper inner thighs pressing strongly into the floor to create good action in the sacrum even while grounding the pelvic bones down.

How to Live with What the World is Offering

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:31:00 +0000

I came back from vacation all fired up, with a to-do list a mile long and more than two weeks of stored up creative energy to make it happen. And somehow, within hours of getting home, all of my plans were turned upside-down by a serious bout of food poisoning.

This may be a very mundane example, but as I spent the next few days in bed, it struck home that we have to learn to live with what the world is offering us, even if it's not what you would wish for. We have to create an alignment between our desires and aspirations, and what's really possible for us, in this moment. If the two are out of alignment, we're bound for struggle and frustration. The world will feel like it's against us, when really we are the ones fighting against what the world is offering.

My tendency, as an optimist, is to look for the silver lining when what's coming my way isn't what I want. But I've come to see a different perspective as well: sure, you can always look for and create an opportunity from bad things that happen. But in a certain sense, you still have to learn to live with hurt, and disappointment. Finding that silver lining doesn't make the pain go away.

It's an interesting paradox for a yogi to explore: to be able to hold and release into what the world is offering, while simultaneously seeking to turn even the bad times into opportunities for your own empowered experience.

In the body, I've been holding this paradox in the crucial juncture point of the waistline, where the Pelvic and Kidney Loops originate. Both of them draw the sides of the waistline back, but then the energy flows split. The Pelvic Loop draws the waistline back and down, flowing down the sacrum and forward through the bottom of the sacrum and then lifting the lower belly up. The Kidney Loop takes the waistline back, but then flows upward, lifting the back ribs and kidney area, piercing the heart focal point, and then softening the front ribs down.

Together, these two loops hold a paradox. The Pelvic Loop feels like receiving the offering of the world and turning it toward empowerment. The Kidney Loop feels like receiving the world, and learning to hold it in your embrace, no matter what is being offered.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: The first opening is to receive the world, the very gift of life, just as it is, just as you are. When you start with this, there will be a natural expansion of the inner body (including into the back waistline) and a natural softening of the outer form.
Muscle Energy creates a strong steady embrace of all the muscles to the core. It's a radical affirmation of everything.
Thigh Loop: Even though the focus for this practice will be on the Pelvic and Kidney Loops, you have to build the loops from the foundation up. So it's crucial to get the thigh bones rooted back in the hip sockets before activating the Pelvic Loop.
Pelvic Loop: Both Pelvic and Kidney Loop start in the core of the body, at a point in line with the middle of the lumbar, below the navel, and they both flow initially to the back plane of the body. I think of moving into the back plane as a kind of receiving, like drawing something into your embrace. Pelvic Loop flows down the lower back, drawing the bottom of the sacrum forward into the body and toning the lower belly so that the energy flows upward from the pubic bone toward the navel. This is the turn toward empowerment, of taking whatever comes your way and making it an opportunity. Except that I find this part tends to be pretty lazy in my own practice. How often do we forget to take the path of empowerment, and end up feeling like the world is happening to us?
Kidney Loop starts at the same place as the Pelvic Loop, but as it goes back it lifts up the back ribs, then moves through the Heart Focal Point (in line with the bottom tips of the shoulder blades and base of the sternum) and softens the front ribs down. In the back body, it feels like you can hold anything in your embrace, even the stuff that's hurtful. And in the front body, there's a sweet release.
Organic Energy: Hold these principles as a paradox, and then extend fully from the focal point in all directions.

PRACTICE:

Tadasana: Stand in tadasana and bring one hand to your lower belly. Feel the energy flow. Does it go down or up? Does it create empowerment, or does it feel subject to the world. Now engage the legs, lining up the tops of the thighs over your knees and ankles. Now add the Pelvic Loop, drawing the waistline back and down, so the bottom of the sacrum moves in to the body. Feel how the energy flow of the low belly lifts from the pubic bone up toward the navel. That's the path of empowerment. (Believe it or not, the energy flow of the lower belly should lift like this in every pose.) Keeping that, draw the waistline back again, but this time turn the energy upward, so the back ribs lift. As the Kidney Loop moves through the heart, allow the front ribs to soften.
Surya Namaskar: You'll feel the effects of these two loops in all poses in surya namaskar, but I particularly got an opening in cobra pose. Start in a low cobra, with the pelvis anchored to the floor. Create a good alignment in the upper body by lifting the inner body, softening the heart, and drawing the upper arm bones back into the shoulder sockets. Keeping all of that, now add the two focus loops. Sweep the waistline back and then split the energy in the lower back, down through the bottom of the sacrum (yes, the lower belly lifts here too!) and up through the back ribs (and the front ribs will flow down). Then extend the pose on top of this.
Anjaneyasana/High Lunge: In both of these poses, the pelvis tends to tip forward so that the lower belly distends. Fire up the legs and get the thigh bones rooted back, and then add the energy flows of Pelvic and Kidney Loops. You'll have to work the Pelvic Loop really strongly into the resistance of the Thigh Loop to get the front of the pelvis and the lower belly to lift up off the front thigh (especially in Anjaneyasana). Adding Kidney Loop will create a spaciousness in the lower back that allows for an ecstatic backbend.
Pigeon pose: Notice if your pelvis is resting on your front thigh, and what direction the energy flows in your lower belly. Draw the knees energetically toward each other to activate Thigh Loop, and keeping that, lift your waistline to the sky. From that initiation point, again split the energy, down and up. Your lower belly should still tone here, creating space in the front hip.
Uttanasana: In all of the forward bends, it's important to keep the action of the low belly lifting through the Pelvic Loop to avoid overstretching the hamstring attachments and crimping the hip flexors. Come up onto fingertips to allow more space, charge the legs, and press the tops of the thighs (not the knees) back, to straight. Then as you push your fingertips more actively into the floor, lift the waistline, and anchor the bottom or the sacrum to tone the lower belly, while also engaging the Kidney Loop. Keep the space between the tops of your thighs and lower belly as you bow all the way forward into the pose.
Parsvakonasana, Trikonasana, Ardha Chandrasana: In all poses (need I say this again?), including all of the standing poses, the lower belly needs to tone. Get the thigh bones back, and then activate these middle loops without the thighs pushing forward. You should be able to see the energy flow in the lower belly moving up. You can also bring one hand to your belly to feel that tone. Because the hamstrings are extended in Trikonasana and Ardha Chandrasana, getting the lower belly to lift is particularly important in protecting the hamstring attachments.
Vrksasana, Garudasana, Virabhadrasana 3: I love the standing balances for playing with these actions. Start in Vrksasana, where you can use your bent leg foot pressing up against the opposite thigh to create tone on the inner thighs and set the standing thigh back in the hip socket. Then hold that as you ad the Pelvic and Kidney Loops. It's so gratifying (this is the path of empowerment, after all) to see and feel that tone. This will help tremendously to keep space in the hip flexors in Garudasana, and it will also help keep the front hip from cramping in Vira 3.
Virabhadrasana 1: I always find that the back body shortens in this pose, and activating these two loops creates more support there. Draw both sides of the waistline back (the front leg side will need more Pelvic and Kidney Loops, in general), and then create space in the low back as you split that energy down and up. Together, these loops provide a strong support for the upper back to open.
Handstand, Pinca Mayurasana: Now that you've felt it in so many right-side-up poses, try going upside-down. Keeping the waistline back, even while you're kicking up, is one of the key places to work if you're trying to learn to balance in these poses (they help to counter the infamous "banana back"). Note that that the energy flow of the lower belly is now downward (toward the floor) even though it still moves from pubic bone toward the navel.
Sirsasana and variations: Pressing up into headstand with both legs requires moving deeply into the back body, so try working these loops as you press. Once you're balancing comfortably in the pose, try these variations with a focus on the split of energy in the back body that comes from the Pelvic Loop and Kidney Loop: virasana legs, with a twist; bringing one foot down toward the floor in front of you while the other stays vertical; hovering with both legs together as they lower toward the floor.
Anjaneyasana and Pigeon thigh stretches: We already found that in both of these poses, because the front hip is flexed, the pelvis and low belly can easily rest on the front thigh. But that can jam the front hip. To create space there, you have to start from the back body. Set up the pose, then bend the back knee in for the thigh stretch. Keep drawing the back knee energetically forward on the mat to ignite the Thigh Loop (and those quads). Then use your free hand pressing into the front leg to help you move both sides of the waistline back (as if you could get your waistline to meet your back foot). Keep the waistline full, and then draw down through the bottom of the sacrum so much that you feel the shift toward empowerment in the front, in the lower belly lifting. Keep that, and then also lift the back ribs.
Ustrasana, Laghu vajrasana, Kapotasana: In all backbends, you want to create space in the lower back so that there's not too much "bend" but rather more extension. In the set up for ustrasana, focus on pressing the thigh bones back, and notice how that creates more lumbar curve. That's a good start, but if you were to backbend over such a deep lumbar curve, your lower back will feel jammed. So keep your thighs back, and then move to the waistline flowing back. Draw the bottom of your sacrum down and forward as powerfully as you can without the thigh bones pushing forward. Then lift up the back ribs for the Kidney Loop, softening this energy down the front ribs. Note that backbends should not jut your rib cage forward. It's too much pushing in the world, and not enough receiving. Also, these two loops create a deep support for the upper back to curl and open into the pose.
Supta Virasana: The back can easily over-arch in this pose, especially if the hip flexors are tight. So try this: Allow the inner thighs to release down, and then walk back just so you are on your elbows. Press down into your elbows to lift your hips off the floor, to allow more mobility in the lower body. Allow the waistline to release down with gravity, and then create space in the back by splitting the energy toward your knees and toward your head. Then release the pelvis back to the floor and come all the way into the pose.
Upavista Konasana (and forward bends): Depending on the general openness of your hamstrings, you will either find that your low back tends to round (that would be tight) when you sit for upavista, or that your pelvis sits easily upright (that would be open), with the sitting bones energetically moving back behind you. If your back rounds, focus on getting the thigh bones rooted to the floor and the top of your sacrum drawing in and up (this is all from Inner Spiral) before moving further into the forward bend. If your thigh bones are already rooted and your pelvis is in a neutral position, it's important to work with the Pelvic and Kidney Loops as you do the forward bend to protect the hamstring attachments. One of the best landmarks to know that you've created enough Pelvic Loop is the energy flow in the lower belly -- it should be drawing up. Another key landmark is the relationship between the crest of your hips and your thigh bones: if the hips are resting forward on the thigh bones, draw your waistline back even more (you can use your fingertips pressing into the floor to help create this action), and then find these two loops.

The Power of Intention

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:23:00 +0000

Just a few days ago, I was sitting on the beach with my beloved, and we were dreaming about our lives. (What better thing is there to do on a beach?) It brought us back to a memory of the last time we had sat on a beach dreaming together, and that was about three summers ago. We mapped out our lives then, each of us with our own vision of who we wanted to become and what we wanted to do. We wrote it all down diligently. We got home and set to work on our goals. And we probably forgot what we were working on within six months. The amazing thing is that, three years down the line, when we look back, we find that we have accomplished most of what we had set out to do.

To me, this is a reminder of how powerful a force intention can be in our lives. When we set our hearts to something, it doesn't mean that we're going to get it, but it definitely sets us along a trajectory. I like the Sanskrit word "vrata" for intention or commitment, because it implies taking a turn, pointing yourself in a certain direction. (Vrata is related to such words as vrtti and parivrtta.) The idea is that in making a commitment, you turn (a la Robert Frost) down a particular path, and the path you choose makes all the difference. Not that one is right or the other wrong, but that when you set out in a certain direction, it creates a trajectory. And that trajectory can hold you and carry you, even when you don't remember how you turned onto this path in the first place.

I've been working on creating a stronger vrata in my own body through the action of the shins hugging to the midline. The shins build a pathway in the lower body that helps to line up the knees, hamstrings, and psoas muscles, as well as open space in the hips and the lower back.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: involves placing yourself and pointing yourself in a certain direction. To create the optimal starting point for the pathways you'll build in the lower body, line up the feet so that they are straight ahead, from the middle of the ankles to to the 2nd toe mound.
Muscle Energy: Drawing toward the midline is one of the three aspects of Muscle Energy, and to me it most clearly reflects the act of drawing your path, of creating a trajectory for yourself, and thus holds a strong power of intention. In the lower body, a key point of focus for creating that path is hugging the outer shins to the midline. What's interesting is that, hugging the midline itself involves a bit of a circuitous path. The muscles on the outer shins (called the peroneals) are activated by spreading the pinky toe to the side, and that creates an energetic flow from the outer pinky toe back toward the outer heel. The peroneal muscles themselves have a spiraling quality (all of our muscles are formed in spirals) and so when you engage them, the outer shin doesn't just draw to the midline, it also flows back, toward the back plane of the body. Holding the energy of the outer shin to the midline and back can become a marker of how powerful you are holding the vrata of your intention.
Inner Spiral: The action of the shins creates a trajectory, and Inner Spiral, which takes the inner thighs in, back and wide, opens up the pathways of the lower body. In particular, the widening aspect of Inner Spiral works into the resistance of the outer shins to broaden the hamstrings, track the knees and psoas, and open space in the hips and lower back. What I've found is that we often forget about the vrata created in the outer shins when we start to access Inner Spiral. (Notice when you do Inner Spiral if the heels widen, or if your knees knock in...) The paradox, of course, is that you can't actually do Inner Spiral without the strong, steady resistance of the shins hugging to the midline, because they create the trajectory for the flow of energy in Inner Spiral.
Outer Spiral: Once the lower body is lined up through these actions, Outer Spiral reinforces the commitment of the legs. As it flows from the waistline down to the outer edges of the feet, Outer Spiral takes the outer seams of the legs (including the outer shins) back and toward the midline. To me it's a reminder that we have to keep renewing our intention, again and again, to make sure we're still on the path we want to be on.
Organic Energy: From the focal point, extend energy down to the earth and back up through the extremities.

PRACTICE:

Modified Utkatasana: Try this pose with your hands on your knees, so you can focus on the alignment of your legs. Make sure the feet are lined up parallel, and that the knees are lined up straight ahead with your feet. Set yourself on the path you want to be on from the very start. Then lift and spread your toes (especially those pinky toes) to get the legs energized and the outer shins to fire. Hug the legs to the midline, and support this action with your hands on your outer upper shins, pressing in to the midline, without letting the knees knock in. Keep that commitment strong as you now turn the inner thighs in and back, moving wide into the strong resistance of the outer shins. You'll probably feel some space open up in the lower back. Now anchor the tailbone down and stretch into the full pose.
Uttanasana: Here you can really feel how the shins spin energetically to the back plane of the body, rather than just to the midline. With parallel feet in uttanasana, bend both knees (it's easier to track the legs with the knees bent) and lift and spread your toes. Spread the pinky toes to the sides and see how that fires up the outer shin muscles. As you draw the pinky toes wide, notice how the outer edge of your foot energetically draws from the pinky toe mound to the outer heel. This creates a steady action in the foot and lower leg. Now keep that (focus on the energy flow of the outer shins) as you turn the inner thighs back and press them wide into the resistance of the shins. Notice if the heels widening or the knees knocked in as you added the Inner Spiral. If so, reconnect in the actions of the outer foot and outer shin, and keep that vrata strong as you open through the inner thighs. Now stretch the legs all the way straight, without wavering from the pathways you created.
Runner's Stretch/Parsvottanasana/Trikonasana: In all of these poses, you can use your front forearm pressing up against the outer shin to build a stronger trajectory in the lower leg. Once that is established, to open the hamstrings optimally on the front leg, turn the inner thigh in and back and then widen the back of the leg off to the side. Notice if your foot turned in as you did that. Keep the 2nd toe mound vertical, the kneecap vertical, and the outer shin flowing to the floor even as you widen the underside of the leg. This will help track the hamstrings without over-stretching the attachment, for a good juicy opening.
Parsvakonasana: Start in the prep form of the pose, with your front forearm on the front thigh. Power up the legs, especially by spreading the pinky toes and drawing to the midline, and then spin the inner thighs in and back and wide. Look at the back leg first. What is the energy flow on the outer shin? Did it turn forward when you added inner spiral, or is it still moving back? Look at your front leg, and notice if the knee knocked in. And then re-set. Keep the energy flow on both shins strong, so the pathway is clear, as you add Inner Spiral, and the opening in the pelvis will be powerful.
Pigeon (and variations): All of the pigeon variations are great places to work on these actions. I like to even hold underneath the shin on the front leg with one hand, and keeping steady action in the toes, manually lift the shin (that's to the midline) and spin the outer upper shin back (toward the pelvis). The inner thighs will naturally descend and open more easily. Try this in the narrow-angled pigeon, as well as variations with the front shin parallel to the front edge of the mat (including twisting to both sides)
Standing baby cradle: This pose is nice because you can hold the outer shin with your hands to ensure that the commitment is honored as you go into deeper hip openers. I like to hold under the shin with one hand, and set the inner upper thigh back with the other.
Eka pada galavasana/Dragonfly: Begin in a prep pose, like utkatasana with one ankle crossed over the opposite knee. Flex the foot and extend evenly through all four corners of the foot (especially the inner foot). Spread the pinky toes wide (in this case, that's toward the floor) to create a steady action in the outer leg. Then manually turn the inner thigh in, back and wide, without letting your foot waver (that's the point of origin for the pathways in your legs and hips, so keep the intention there strong!). Stay in the prep pose, or take it into the arm balance. For dragonfly, twist toward your top foot and wedge your upper arm into the arch, pressing your inner foot strongly into the arm. Then lean to the side to place both hands, stand down through your foot into your arm, and fly.
Virasana/Supta Virasana: You can often trace knee pain in virasana to its source in the feet, the point of origin for aligning the pathways of the legs. In virasana, the feet should line up with the shin bones (which, you'll note, are not parallel but rather slightly flared to the sides), with all four corners of the feet pointing straight up. Sit on some padding if this alignment is hard to create. Spread your toes (manually, if they need a little extra boost), especially the pinky toes, and then draw energetically from the pinky toe mound up through the outer heels to fire up the outer shins. Use your hands to hold the shins to the midline, and create a firm commitment in the lower body. Then allow the inner thighs to settle and press them wide into the resistance of your hands. That will hep line up the knees and make space in the lower back. Add Outer Spiral and Organic Energy as you lay back for supta virasana.
Sucirandrasana (Eye of the Needle Pose)
Baddha Konasana
Upavista Konasana: This is the pose I go to if I ever have a tweaky hamstring, and I've had great success focusing on the action of the outer shins to help heal hamstring pain in this pose. Line up the feet vertical (through the second toe mounds) and fire up the legs. As you hug the legs toward each other, keep the energy flow of the outer shins moving down, toward the floor. Then bend your knees enough to reach your hands under the thighs and grab hold of the fibers of all three hamstrings. Watch that your toes don't knock in. The outer shins should stay steady in their action to the midline and flowing down, and then use your hands to widen the fibers of the hamstrings into that resistance. Once you've got them tracked, anchor the thighs straight down the floor, sliding your hands out from underneath.
Building on these principles you can go into any number of hip openers and forward bends. Try: TMP, Baby Cradle, Bharadvajasana 2, and lotus variations!

Everday Abdominals

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:51:00 +0000

I know how it is. I used to dread doing abdominals, too. They always felt like a weak point for me, and so I avoided abdominal exercises at all costs.

But then to my own joy I discovered that abdominal exercises are built right into the Universal Principles of Alignment, which is to say, if you're doing the principles, you're engaging and strengthening and stretching your abs in every pose.

This is the cool thing. Abdominal exercises need not be something that you only do in isolation, in the same way that a practice of yoga need not be something that you do only on a yoga mat. Instead of isolating the abs, or our yoga practice, from our everyday experience, how can we see that they are embedded in everything we do?

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Begin with a passive release with gravity from the pelvis into the earth
Muscle Energy: When you engage muscle energy, everything tones, and that includes the abdominal core.
Thigh Loop and Inner Spiral: These principles sets the thigh bones back into the hip sockets, and keep the hip flexors soft when you engage your abs. The hip flexors tend to be strong, and they'll easily overwork. It's interesting how your body will try anything to avoid actually working those abs.
Pelvic Loop and Outer Spiral: Both of these principles help create more tone in the abdominal muscles. I find that Outer Spiral, which initiates with the waistline flowing back and the tailbone tucking under, creates more of a lift in the lower belly, while the Pelvic Loop, which also draws the waistline back but goes only down to the bottom of the sacrum and forward, engages more the lowest part of the abdominal core. Both principles together will give you an even tone through the abs. Note that the engagement of the abs initiates from the action of the back body (waistline back, tailbone and bottom of the sacrum down and in) rather than a contraction of the front. Of course, the front body does contract, but it's more the fluid result of the engagement through the back body.
Organic Energy: Especially when the pelvis is the focal point, the stretch of Organic Energy through the bones of the body will give you tone and length in the abdominals.

PRACTICE:

Tadasana: Believe it or not, even tadasana is an opportunity to work your abs. In fact, if you're truly standing upright, your abs will be engaged to support your stance. Try the tried-and-tested exercise of tadasana with a block between your inner thighs to feel the difference between Outer Spiral and Pelvic Loop. Engage the legs, activate Inner Spiral, turning the inseams of the legs back and wide. The block will move back as the tops of your thighs line up over your knees over your ankles. Notice how the belly might tend to distend with the action of Inner Spiral. Now add Outer Spiral, drawing the waistline back and scooping under through the tailbone. (To feel the lengthening of the tailbone, bring one finger to the tailbone and press the tailbone down into your finger.) Notice how the belly lifts with this action. Now do tadasana again, setting up in the same way, but instead of Outer Spiral, add the Pelvic Loop, which initiates by the waistline flowing back and then draws the bottom of the sacrum down and in. (To feel the action of the sacrum, bring one finger to the bottom of the sacrum/AKA top of the butt crack and draw that part down and forward into the body.) This will also tone the abs, but notice how it feels different from the action of Outer Spiral. To me, the tone is much lower from Pelvic Loop, and much more deeply integrated. Now root through the pelvis and legs and stretch your arms overhead, and you'll get a stretch to those abs while they're toned. Yes, this is how tadasana will always be performed in alignment. Everyday abs.
High lunge: When you come into the pose, notice the relationship between your back thigh and your belly. If you lift the back thigh to line it up in the hip socket, does the belly collapse forward? And if you try to lift your belly, does the back thigh pop forward? A healthy engagement will have both the back thigh rooting back (into the hip socket) without the belly distending, so keep the power in your back leg and then sweep the waistline back and draw down through the bottom of your sacrum to get the low belly to lift. If the front hip is resting on the front thigh, this signifies a lack of tone through the Outer Spiral or Pelvic Loop.
Parsvakonasana: Similarly, the low belly should be toned and lifting in this pose. Work through the principles in order. Getting Inner Spiral established is key to getting the tone in the lower belly without it pulling on your hip flexors or low back. Then once you have the thighs anchored back, draw back through the waistline and scoop under through the bottom of the tailbone/sacrum, especially on the front leg side, until the lower belly lifts up.
Thigh stretch (in pigeon pose or anjaneyasana): It's always nice to do a thigh stretch (or more) before doing targeted abdominals, because that allows the hip flexors to soften and release rather than trying to pull you up. So do either of these thigh stretches. Watch in these poses how the belly and pelvis will tend to tip forward as you bring the back leg in. So keep good action in the legs (and especially the top of the back thigh BACK), and then add the Outer Spiral or Pelvic Loop to draw the waistline back and get the length in the lower back with a lift in the lower belly. The front hip should be lifting off the front thigh.
Supine abdominal exercises: Doing abdominal exercises in a supine position gives the thighs something to press against (i.e. the floor), and this feedback helps us know when the hip flexors are overriding the abs. I recommend using a block between the inner thighs or knees for all of these, because it helps to de-activate the hip flexors. Between each set do a bride pose (setubandha) to lengthen the front body.

Use a block between your knees, and then bend them in so the thighs are vertical (knees right about your hips). Let the thigh bones release down into the hip sockets. Squeeze the block and then turn the inner thighs in and down until you feel the lower back arch lightly. Then lengthen the bottom of your sacrum long and in to the body. From this action, you'll feel the lower belly tone. Now bring your hands behind your head and begin doing little crunches. Yes, little crunches. In fact, you can do them in your head, and it will probably have a strong effect. The key is to keep the thighs released (curve in lower back) and the action of the bottom of the sacrum drawing into the body. The best part (to me) is on the way back down from the crunch. If you keep the tone, as you lengthen down (with Organic Energy, rather than dropping back to the floor), you get engagement and length in the abs simultaneously, and this is what I find really supports posture. Once you've done a few crunches up and down, try twisties (aiming toward one knee and then the other).
Take the block between your inner thighs, and bring the legs straight on the floor. Now the floor gives the feedback as to whether the tops of the thighs are indeed anchored down (with Inner Spiral/Thigh Loop). You should have a nice, lordotic curve in the lower back. Then add the Pelvic Loop, lengthening the bottom of the sacrum and drawing it into the body, without flattening the spine. Hands behind your head, and lift up! You can do little crunches, and also twisties (turning from side to side, bringing one elbow to the floor at a time), as long as the thighs stay anchored, the low back keeps its curve, and the bottom of the sacrum draws in. The twists will help you strengthen the obliques, while the straight-ahead crunches will help work out the rectus abdominus. All of them help tone the transverse abdominal muscle.
Jathara Parivartanasana: Take the block between your knees again, and bend the knees in to 90 degrees. Stretch both arms out to the sides, palms up. Work through the principles so you have a curve and length in the lower back, then begin twisting by bringing the knees to one side and then the other. Keep both shoulders on the ground (you'll notice that, on the side that you're twisting away from, the arm bone will want to lift off the floor) so that you really are working your abs to do this. To intensify the exercise, try first straightening one leg as you take the knees to the opposite side, and then straightening both legs on both sides.
Last one! With the block between your inner thighs and the legs straight up to the sky, bring both palms flat under your butt. Hug in to the block and turn the inner thighs in and down, so you have a curve in your lower back, and then let the pressure of your hands on your buttocks help to lengthen the spine. Then slowly bring the legs down to hover above the floor. Keep the inner thighs released, and the length in your lower back. You can do presses like this, or just release all the way down (one of these is often enough to fire up that rectus abdominus).

Parsvakonasana, Trikonasana, Ardha Chandrasana, Parivrtta Parsvakonasana: Go through some standing poses with this heightened awareness of the tone in the lower belly. REMEMBER that the low belly lifts as a result of the action in the back body, so focus your attention on the tailbone/sacrum action of Outer Spiral and Pelvic Loop.
Virabhadrasana 3, Standing Splits: These two poses require a strong lift in the lower belly to keep the front hip from binding -- and this lift must come from the back body
Handstand: Hopefully handstand will feel a little more easeful after all the work you've been doing. Note that the actions of Outer Spiral/Pelvic Loop are super important for finding balance here. Practice at the wall (set up as close as you can), getting the thighs back and then adding that length through the lower back. See if this new tone helps you to balance.
Anjaneyasana/Thigh Stretch: Especially in anjaneyasana and the thigh stretch variation, I find that the pelvis and belly like to hang out on the front thigh. So this is a good place to build a remembrance of engagement through Outer Spiral and Pelvic Loop.
Ustrasana: I love all of the backbends for finding tone and length in the abs, but ustrasana is particularly good to feel the length in the belly. Try doing it with a block between your inner thighs, to remind the thighs to stay back while you add Outer Spiral/Pelvic Loop. You'll feel the abs tone even before you curl back into the pose. Use Organic Energy to keep the pelvis rooted while you lift up and out of the lower back/lower belly into the backbend, and you'll get a deep stretch in the abs while they're toned.
Cool down anyway you like.

In Defense of Complexity

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:09:00 +0000

I just read Michael Pollan's latest book, In Defense of Food, which describes how American society turned away from "food" in the mid 1970's in favor of "nutrition." This shift meant that, as a society, we began seeing food more in terms of its component parts (how many calories, how much fat, how much protein, how many vitamins) instead of as a whole that is a richly woven complexity of relationships that are more than we really understand.

The result? America's health problems have only worsened. Because what nutritionism fails to recognize is that the whole is always more than the sum of its component parts; that when two things come together in relationship, they make a THIRD thing (the relationship) which is valuable in itself. Interestingly enough, one study Pollan quotes follows two groups of people: one group eats food, and the other group eats whatever equals the same nutritional value as the first group, using supplements to get the nutrients. They found that the group that ate food were consistently healthier than the group that was fed nutrients.

When you extract substances from their context, they lose their power.

It got me thinking that the Universal Principles of Alignment work like this. Taken as a whole, under the umbrella principle of Opening to Grace, the they form a rich and complex web of relationships that supports health. Taken individually, they lose their power.

More than any other principle, I think that the Shoulder Loop gets taken out of the context of the universal principles, as some kind of magic supplement that will heal. Indeed, it's a powerful tool for creating both stability and opening in the shoulder girdle and neck. But taken on its own, it can actually be detrimental. Without the larger context of Opening to Grace -- that way that we step into the fullness and wonderment at the complexity of ourselves -- Shoulder Loop can flatten the thoracic spine, and even lead to the subluxation of ribs. (I learned this from experience.)

John Friend, in articulating the Universal Principles of Alignment, put them together as a system, where the relationships matter. Opening to Grace is the overarching principle, the reminder of the whole; and it stays present even as we access all of the component parts through the actions and loops and spirals.

Here's how Shoulder Loop works in the greater context of the whole:

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Expand with fullness, in recognition of the self as whole. As part of this principle, the back body, including the back waistline and the back lungs, fills with breath. It reinforces the thoracic curve (which is naturally kyphotic) and brings the pranic body to meet the outer body. So when the outer body softens (ie, the heart melts with gravity) it doesn't diminish the inner light, but release onto the greater context of the self as whole.
Muscle Energy: The action of Muscle Energy in the upper body will draw the upper arms back and the shoulder blades flat on the back. Again, this is all in a bigger context. The inner body maintains its fullness and breadth.
Kidney Loop: This principle reinforces an expansion into the back body. It reminds us to keep the bigger context present, even as we work through specific actions. The sides of the waistline draw back, the back ribs lift, and the front body below the sternum softens downward.
Shoulder Loop: The first time I felt Shoulder Loop, it was a revelation. The opening was so big in my heart, that I sought that ecstatic experience again and again in my practice. But the Shoulder Loop must work in synergy with the other principles. As you curl the head back and draw the bottom tips of the shoulder blades down the back and into the heart, keep the fullness in the upper back. The inner body fullness provides a kind of cushion for this deep action. If you lose it, the rib cage moves in too fast, and the shoulder blades chase the rib cage, and the thoracic spine just gets flatter. Even in backbend back, the energy body of the upper back has to meet the powerful action of the shoulder loop.
Organic Energy: To me, this principle brings us back into a remembrance of the whole, as it connects all of the component parts back together in their complex relationships.

PRACTICE:

Cat/Cow: It's a good place to feel the expansion of the back body. Try it on fingertips and you'll have even greater access to the "cat" motion.
Lunge with cactus arms: This is a simple pose to feel what it's like to hold a remembrance of the whole even as you add other actions. One way to really get it is by contrast (think of the experiments between eating food and eating nutrients). First just pull your upper arms back an squeeze the shoulder blades into the heart. See what that feels like (probably not too good); there will be a flattening of the upper back, the shoulder blades may actually come together and touch, and the sensitivity in the upper back will dull. OK, erase that. Now try it again starting with an inflation inside, and then work through the actions without losing that sense of fullness. Notice how you have more space, and a greater sensitivity. This is what it's like to eat FOOD that's nourishing, rather than nutrients.
Adho mukha svanasana: This was the pose that got me thinking about this, recently. There's a form of the pose that creates a deep backbend by stabilizing the arms (with Muscle Energy) and pumping the heart deeper toward the floor (with Shoulder Loop). However, if I forget the greater context of the whole while going into this deep pose, I get a sharp stabbing pain somewhere in the ribs. Basically, it's the outer from moving without a harmonious relationship to the inner form, and this is exactly the kind of overuse of Shoulder Loop that can cause problems. So remember to start with a fullness, even as you soften the heart. And then while you draw the shoulder blades into the heart to deepen the backbend, keep the inner body pressing back up against the shoulder blades. They should meet and be in relationship, rather than the outer form chasing the inner.
Cobra pose: Similarly, cobra pose holds the same peril and similar delights. When you expand the inner body, remember that it's not just lengthening, but it's also a circumferential growth. Then draw the armbones back and curl back onto that fullness. When you feel the inner form meet the action of the shoulder blades, it will actually deepen the backbend from a place of holistic integration.
L-Shaped handstand: You need a partner for this one, someone whom you're willing to let place their feet on your shoulder blades. Starting on hands and knees with your feet at the wall, hands a leg's distance from the wall, walk your feet up so that they're as high as your hips, and then straighten the legs. The partner will create active shoulder loop by pressing feet into the shoulder blades (gently!) and lifting up and in. As much as the shoulder loop activates, you'll have to keep the inner body full as resistance.
Prasarita padottanasana (with shoulder stretch): When the arms are in the back plane, it's very easy to overdo the actions of Muscle Energy and Shoulder Loop, jamming the upper back. Start with a remembrance of the whole, and then keep that as you add the other actions.
Virabhadrasana 1/Anjaneyasana: Go for it!
Urdhva dhanurasana: It's harder to feel the fullness to the back body in backbends, because the form of the pose is with the upper back drawing into the body. So even before you go up to the top of your head, establish yourself in the first principle. Feel yourself as a whole, and step into the wonderful, complex enjoyment of that. Now engage Muscle Energy, drawing the upper arms back only as far as you can go without losing the fullness on the inside. Then curl your head back to go up. As you pump the heart more open, keep breathing into the back body, so it moves to meet the strong action of the shoulder blades.
Upavista konasana and cool downs: Here's the cool thing: When you do backbends this way, with a remembrance of the bigger picture, the bigger context of yourself and your practice, it'll keep you from getting too blown out (giddy, restless), as can happen when we go to open the upper back.

Shiva Manasa Puja: Bringing the Head in Service of the Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:06:00 +0000

Students have been requesting a Nerd on the Skull Loop, but I put it off for the longest time while I investigated more what it means to me.

I like how the relationship between the Skull Loop and the Shoulder Loop are such a great symbolic way to practice creating a balanced relationship between the head and the heart. If the head always leads the way, we can end up disconnected. But if the heart always leads the way, without the counsel of the mind, we can easily get into trouble.

The concept of Shiva Manasa Puja gives us a way of framing this dynamic relationship.

A puja is a ritual, or an offering, and in this case it links together the power of the mind (manas) in the worship of Shiva, the auspiciousness that is your very nature.

It's the idea that the mind is not something we have to get out of, nor is it something we have to empty out, nor is it something inferior to any other aspect of ourselves. The mind is a powerful expression of your own essence, and you get the hit of that when you connect it in the way of ritual offering (puja) in the service of your highest self.

This is why, in Anusara Yoga, you'll find that you're always being invited into thinking, and reflecting, and using the power of your mind to deepen your experience. Whenever we use our minds to deepen the inquiry into the nature of ourselves, we are doing this powerful puja.

In the context of a yoga practice, Shiva manasa puja involves using your mind to understand and negotiate the alignment relationships in your body. But it is also about bringing a sharp, interested, inquisitive mind to what you're doing. It's asking taking the time to reflect on your experience and ask yourself to articulate what are the effects of your actions.

Notice how the key in all of this is the power of articulation (matrika shakti), the power to express what it is that you're experiencing. And matrika resides in the throat, the perfect bridge between the physical heart and the head.

Here's how the puja plays out in the Universal Principles of Alignment:

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Stand fully in the light of yourself, for you are none other than Shiva, the auspiciousness that is the essence of being. When you take this perspective, the inner body will naturally swell, from the waistline all the way up through the dome of the palate. This means that the sides of the neck also lengthen, bring the head more in line with the rest of the spine.
Muscle Energy: This principle invokes the full engagement and participation of all parts of yourself in the puja. In the upper body, the upper arm bones will plug back into the shoulder sockets, but another key action is that the top of the throat (ie, where the hyoid bone sits) slides back. In this way, you make an active connection through the neck between the heart and the head, symbolically yoking them to each other. When you take the throat back, the muscles on the back of the neck tone, and will be ready to support the deeper opening of the heart (in shoulder loop) and the deeper engagement into the head (in skull loop).
Shoulder Loop: The Shoulder and Skull Loop both have the same initiation point, in the center of the soft palate (in line with the base of the occiput). The Shoulder Loop flows back and down, drawing the bottom tips of the shoulder blades into the heart. If you try to activate Shoulder Loop without first creating Muscle Energy in the back of the neck, the head will drop back under its own weight, shortening the back of the neck and blocking off prana (a primary cause of dizziness and headaches in backbending). So tone the back of the neck first, and then press actively back through the skull and draw down through the muscles of the upper trapezius, creating an active lordotic curve in the neck.
Skull Loop: As mentioned above, the Skull Loop also starts in the soft palate, but it flows back and up, so the back of the skull lifts, lengthening the neck. It crests the top of the head and softens the front of the face down. To me, Skull Loop has a sense of drawing everything into focus, and thus holds a mental acuity. But it also inspires a dignity of spirit.
Organic Energy: Once everything is lined up, extend organically from the focal point through the bones. Activating Skull Loop can help you to feel the extension of Organic Energy, since the back side of the loop moves out of the focal point.

PRACTICE:

Tadasana: Stand with your heels and back up against a wall, and then bring your head into alignment over the pelvis and heart, so that the back of the skull is against the wall, too. Then go through the puja of the 5 principles to line up through the upper body. Notice what happens when you add the Skull Loop, sliding the back of the skull gently up the wall. How does it change the tone in your low belly? The feeling of expansion in your back body? Your vision? To ask yourself these kinds of questions as you practice is to do Shiva Manasa Puja, to use the power of your mind to cultivate a deeper awareness of your heart.
High Lunge: Start with your hands on your hips, and just expand with light all the way up through the side of the throat. Notice if your head tends to come forward of your heart. If so, this first expansion will bring you back from that forward carriage. Then as you engage Muscle Energy and draw the upper arms back, also slide the top of your throat back. You'll feel the back of your neck engage. Now press back through your skull, as if into some resistance (remember what it felt like to have the wall there) and curl down through the back of the neck (without the head dropping!). Then lengthen up through the back of your skull and NOTICE how that changes your experience. Lastly stretch your arms up and overhead. As you bring the upper arms back behind your head, keep pressing the back of your head back in line with your upper arms.
Adho mukha svanasana: In dog pose, as in any pose when the head is below the heart, the head and neck should be engaged in alignment with the spine rather than just hanging out. Feel what it's like in dog pose to just let your head hang. What does it do to the alignment of your shoulders? What about the rest of your body? Now expand with light, all the way through the sides of the throat (including the back of the throat), so that the head and neck are in line with the spine. Activate the muscles of the arms, drawing from the fingertips all the way up into the heart focal point. As the armbones lift alongside your ears, press the top of the throat back so that the head moves back alongside your arms. (I know, this sounds repetitive, but the feeling of the two actions is different, and when you do them together it really works.) From here you can engage the Shoulder Loop and then the Skull Loop. I surveyed the Nerds on what they felt change with Skull Loop, and it ranged from: back body expanded, increased length in the spine, breath opened up, low belly toned, etc... See what it does for you
Parsvakonasana: Do this pose in the prep form, with your front arm resting on the knee, and take your top hand behind your head to the base of the occiput (on your skull, just above the neck). Here your hand can provide the resistance for the initiation of the two loops. It's great to learn how to do the loops into resistance, because without, the head can just flop back. When you add the Skull Loop, use your hand to lift up the back of the skull, and feel what happens.
Handstand: Go to the wall for this one, with your fingertips very close to the wall. Kick up and rest your heels on the wall so you can focus on the upper body. Start by letting your head hang (it lengthens the neck with gravity), then engage by drawing energy up from your fingertips to take the upper arms back toward the wall. As you do, press the top of your throat back toward the wall too. Now curl back through your head for Shoulder Loop, and you'll feel the upper back engage. Keep that, and lengthen the back of your skull back down toward the floor (do this as an active extension, rather than letting the head drop again) and notice how this will help you to feel more in the back body, and more extension. Organic Energy happens almost naturally when you line up in this way.
Sirsasana: The puja is the same in headstand. Just make sure you place your head in a spot that will allow you to create an optimal curve in the neck (not flat, not too curvy, but just right). Notice how the extension through the back of your skull helps to stabilize the pose. After headstand, go straight to downward-facing dog, where you can bring the neck into a neutral alignment with engagement (work it just as we did earlier) after the strong weight-bearing.
Salabhasana variations: Because the head and neck lift away from the floor against gravity in these poses, they are a good place to build strength in the back of the neck. Start off laying on your belly with hands on fingertips to the sides (gecko arms). Expand on the inside and then bring your head up in line with your spine. Lift your upper arms, engaging the shoulder blades flat on the back, and then add the loops, and as you extend organically lift your hands up off the floor in line with your elbows. It probably won't be a very high salabhasana, but that's ok. The main thing is to keep the connection between your head and heart through the important bridge of the neck. Notice if the back of the neck shortens (too much curve) or flattens (not enough curve) and balance the loops accordingly. Then extend from the pelvis into the legs and back out of the crown of your head. You can do this pose with gecko arms, or arms alongside the body (hands off the floor) or even hands clasped behind your head. All variations are great to get tone in the back of the neck.
Anjaneyasana: This is one pose where, as you go back into a deeper backbend (similar to dropbacks into urdhva dhanurasana) the head can disconnect from the heart. It's heavy, and so it tends to fall back with gravity, so building up the muscles on the back of the neck in those salabhasana variations is a good way to prepare for the deeper backbends. Go through the puja. As you curl deeper back by pressing actively through the back of the skull, keep the length up and out of the back of the skull, which will help you to expand the back body and not crunch in the low back.
Ustrasana: I'm always asked by students what to do with the neck in ustrasana. They tend to either try to protect it, by holding the head up (which creates a kind of reverse shoulder loop), or to release fully into the pose, which shortens the back of the neck and, although it may feel OK while in the pose, it makes it nearly impossible to come up in alignment (dizziness, head-rush, seeing stars, and blackouts may follow). Find the place where the head serves the heart, going through the puja. In particular, focus on keeping the back of the neck strong and long.
Setubandha: When weight-bearing on the head, you'll often have a greater access to the actions of shoulder and skull loop. Start in the prep pose, and set up the puja here: lengthen and release back. To feel the Shoulder Loop, curl the tops of your ears back and down toward the floor as you press the back of the skull down. This will help to lift the shoulder blades up and into the heart. Keep that and now lengthen the back of your skull toward the crown of your head, so that the weight on your head is more balanced in line with the middle of your ears. Then go up. Feel the place where your head presses into the earth -- it's going to be the same place of balance when we go to sarvangasana.
Sarvangasana: The key to sarvangasana is to balance the actions of Shoulder and Skull Loop so that NONE (really, NONE) of the vertebrae are touching the floor. Because of the form of the pose, Shoulder Loop will need the greater emphasis. Find it by tipping the tops of the ears down and pressing back through that part of the skull; this will help lift the shoulder blades up and into the heart (as well as lift the cervical vertebrae off the floor). Keep that, and then balance the weight on your head to a place in line with the middle of your ears (that'll be a good marker for alignment between Shoulder and Skull Loops).
Jalandhara bandha: The form of this bandha, with the chin resting on the notch between the collar bones, has an exaggerated length in the back of the neck. But it can feel clear and spacious when aligned with the 5 principles of this puja. Take a seat for meditation, resting your hands on your thighs. Sit tall in the light of yourself, especially lifting through the front of your chest and the sides of your throat. Keep the lift, and slide the top of the throat back. Curl the tops of the ears back just enough so that you feel the gentle flow of the Shoulder Loop down the back of the neck. Now add the Skull Loop. Lengthen the back of the skull, taking the energy up and over the crown of your head and softening the front of the face. Your chin will release down, but there's no need to pull it down or tuck it in; it will just be a natural extension. The skin on the back of the neck should still flow down, even as the skin on the back of your head lifts up. Breathe here with ujjayi breath.

Ganesha and the Grantas

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:01:00 +0000

That pain in my right wrist came back again recently, and as always it led me to slow down, deepen my understanding, and learn something new in order to deal with it.

Obstacles have a way of doing that. Anytime we come up against an obstacle, in our practice or in our lives, it can be an invitation to a deeper engagement. That's not to say that the obstacles we encounter are "blessings" (a wrist injury, or any hardship, is hard to see as a blessing), but they are always opportunities. When we're stopped in our tracks by something, we have to pause, slow down, look more carefully, and find a way to engage that is going to advance our practice and our lives.

This is the gift of Ganapti (aka Ganesha, or the one with the head of an elephant). He's often called the Remover of Obstacles, but I don't see him that way. He's an elephant. (Ever hear of the elephant in the room?) He's that thing that's in your way, that threatens to crowd everything else out. In my mind, it's not like Ganesha swoops down and removes obstacles in your path; rather, his story (which is our story) reminds us that when we choose to engage that which lies in our path, we will see it not just as an obstacle but as an opportunity.

His story (at least one of them) goes like this:

One day, Ganesha asks his friend Vyasa, a great sage, to tell him the story of the Mahabharata. Vyasa agrees, but says that if he's going to tell it Ganesha must write it down. Ganesha agrees, but then raises the challenge by saying that he'll write it down only if Vyasa can keep him interested. And Vyasa again raises the challenge, agreeing but saying that Ganesha must understand every word. And so Ganesha breaks off his tusk and uses it to write out the great epic of the Mahabharata.

To slow down Ganesha's process of comprehension, Vyasa throws in a host of grammatical tangles and plot twists and digressions. These are the grantas ("knots"), and if you've ever heard the Mahabharata told or attempted to read it, you know that it is indeed a knotted story. But each of these knots invites you to slow down, to look more carefully, to ask what more this might mean. They invite us to savor the story, and chewing on each teaching to reveal the sweetness that's there (it's not for nothing that Ganapati's trunk always reaches for the sweets in his hand).

In dealing with my wrist pain, I had to slow down and chew on some teachings in order to get a new revelation. My practice led me to work on the spirals of the arms, which I have often forgotten to engage because they can be so confusing and besides, I told myself, they are really refinements that aren't so important if you engage even Muscle and Organic Energy. Of course, I discovered that this was not the case. OK, understanding the spirals of the arms can seem as difficult as untangling the story of the Mahabharata, but they make all the difference.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Have the courage to see that whatever obstacle presents itself to you in your path, it can be an opportunity for you to create a deeper engagement. That kind of openness translates into the body as an inner expansion, including through the sides of the torso from the waistline all the way up through the sides of the throat. There's also a natural softening and release when you realize you don't have to remove the obstacle, you can only engage it.
Muscle Energy: When you engage muscle energy in the arms, drawing from the tips of the fingers to the focal point, the upper arm bones will plug back (to the back plane) in the shoulder sockets. Remember that Muscle and Organic Energy are primary energy flows in the body, and so this engagement will stay constant even as you add the refinements of the spirals of the arms.
Expanding Spiral: Here's where things get a little knotted, and it will require a deeper engagement and understanding to work with the spirals of the arms. The expanding spiral of the arms and shoulders creates a widening of the upper back, and so it always comes first (always make space before you contract). Most of the time this is created by rotating the arms internally. You'll feel this primarily by turning the forearms in, so that the palms face backward (the inner rotation of the upper arms would compromise the muscle energy of the arm bones into the shoulder socket). The exception to all of this is when the arms are in the overhead plane, where the expanding spiral is created by spinning the arms externally. Try it out just standing in tadasana, first with the arms by your sides, and then with the arms overhead, to feel the effects on the upper back of spiraling the arms. If this is confusing, don't worry. Stay with me; it's worth slowing down and taking the time to get this.
Contracting Spiral: The contracting spiral of the arms and shoulders narrows the upper back, hugging the shoulder blades (in particular the bottom tips of the shoulder blades) more toward the midline, and driving the head of the humerus more deeply into the shoulder socket. In most of the planes of the arms, the contracting spiral is created by rotating the arms outward (this is particularly activated in the upper arms, as the forearms must stabilize in their inner rotation to maintain the expanding spiral). Again, there's an exception: when the arms are in the overhead plane, the forearms rotating in toward the midline will create the re-engagement through the upper back of a contracting spiral. All this is to say that, in all cases, the forearms rotate inward and the upper arms rotate outward. However, the order in which you engage these rotations depends on the plane of the arms. When the arms are overhead (like in downward-facing dog, handstand, forearm-stand, urdhva dhanurasana, etc.), the upper arms must spin out first in order to make space for the contracting spiral of the forearms spinning in. In all other planes (neutral, front, side, back), the forearms must turn in first in order to expand the upper back to make room for the contracting spiral of the upper arms spinning out. Are you with me?
Organic Energy: Thankfully, return this basic energy flow of extending out from your core. You've done the work, and transmuted what may have seemed like a knotted process into a deepening engagement of the shoulder girdle. Now just stretch from the active focal point out through the limbs.

PRACTICE:

Tadasana: Experiment with the spirals of the arms in their five planes (neutral, side, front, back, and overhead). Notice how when the forearms rotate in, the upper back expands in all planes except in the overhead plane, where this pattern is reversed. Similarly, you'll feel how when the upper arms spin out, the upper back contracts in all planes except in the overhead plane. Remember that in all of this, the spirals of the arms are refinements that come within the larger context of Opening to Grace, and Muscle and Organic Energy, so as you play with them, keep the lift in the side bodies and the engagement of the humerus back into the shoulder socket.
Surya namaskar: Add the spirals of the arms as refinements in surya namaskar. Pay close attention in the transition from plank pose to caturanga: once you've engaged through the arms, bend your elbows slightly wide to the side as you rotate your forearms in. Your index knuckles will get heavier from this action. Keep them rooted into the floor as you externally rotate the upper arms and move into caturanga. In cobra pose, start with a fullness on the inside and a softness on the outside, then engage through the arms. As in caturanga, bend the elbows slightly out to the sides (without losing the engagement of the upper arms to the back plane!) to initiate the expanding spiral through the forearms, then keeping the index knuckles rooted, spin the upper arms out and stretch the pose.
Test the spirals of your arms: To see which arm tends to spin more externally and which tends to spin more internally, try this: Bring your arms out in front of you palms face up, as if carrying a tray. Turn your right palm down keeping your left palm up. Then turn both hands the other way, left palm down and right palm up. Do this several times and notice if there's resistance in the muscles of the forearm when you move toward the external rotation (toward palm up). If so, that arm is more internally rotated. In an informal survey of Nerds, it was unanimously the case that the side where the forearm was more rotated inward (ie, resisted turning the palm face up) was the one that had more trouble in the wrist, elbow and shoulder.
Prasarita padottanasana with shoulder stretch: When the hands are clasped behind the back, it's more natural to place the hand on top that corresponds to the forearm that is more internally rotated. Let me say that another way: the hand that's on top will naturally spiral in more because of the form of the pose, and so it will be more natural to place that hand on top. Notice if that's what you do when you clasp hands. Now bring the opposite hand on top. I've found that if you practice these clasps with the more externally rotated arm on top, it will help balance out the musculature through the arms and shoulders over time. Do the shoulder stretch this way. When you activate the spirals of the arms, to get the forearms to turn in more bend your elbows and widen them, pressing the index knuckles toward each other, then spin the upper arms out.
Virabhadrasana 2, Trikonasana, Vasistasana: Both of these poses have the arms in the side plane. In this plane, you'll know the spirals of the arms are balanced when the eye of the elbow (the soft, inner part) is pointing in the same direction as the crown of your head (i.e. straight up in Vira 2). I find it hard to get that degree of spin without some resistance so try holding your forearm in with one hand while you externally rotate the upper arm.
Parsvakonasana: This is an overhead plane pose, so it's a little trickier. One way to feel the spirals is to back out of the top arm so that the arm is pointing straight ahead (front plane) instead of overhead. Here, lengthen the side of the torso and draw in so that the upper arm moves back. Keeping that spiral the forearm in by pressing the index finger toward the floor, as if into some resistance; then rotate the upper arm out to get it more deeply integrated into the shoulder socket. With this action, now stretch the arm overhead. When the arm is in the overhead plane, you can re-activate the spirals, spinning the upper arm out first (so the palm faces back behind you) to widen the upper back, and then spinning the forearm in (so the palm faces the floor).
Adho mukha svanasana: Again, we have the arms in the overhead plane, so the outer spiral of the upper arm must come first. But remember, before you engage the spirals, first soften and open, and then engage the arms to the back plane. For the expanding spiral, lift the inner upper arms toward the sky, and then re-anchor through the index knuckles into the earth to feel the shoulders connect more deeply on the back. Keeping those two spirals going, extend the pose.
Adho mukha vrksasana: I found that working the spirals of the arms in handstand helped to keep my wrist clear. When you're up, just like in dog pose take the inner upper arms back, and keeping that action strong, press again through the index knuckles.
Pinca mayurasana: This one is a great pose to play with the spirals, because you can change the foundation to emphasize one or the other. Try the pose with the palms face up (with your wrists pressing up into a block for extra stability). This emphasizes a strong external rotation of the upper arms. (If you have a practice buddy, have them press your thumb pads to the floor while you're in the pose to really feel this). If you start with your arms in this position, the external rotation of the upper arms will give a widening in the upper back once you're up (overhead plane). With that established, try flipping the palms back down or to hold the edges of the block to re-engage the shoulder girdle.
Parsvakonasana bound: The bound poses can certainly feel tangled, but if you use the spirals of the arms you can get more space for the bind. Try it first in a prep pose, with the top hand just to the small of your back (back of your hand pressing up against your back). Here, lift through the side of the torso and then draw the upper arm back in the shoulder socket. Keep that as you work with the spirals. To get more of the expanding spiral, rotate the forearm in so that the pinky presses up against your back. Notice how you can get more length and space this way. Now spin the upper arm out to open the shoulder girdle back. Once you feel it in the prep pose, try the full bind.
Eka pada rajakapotasana thigh stretch: If you do this pose with the back hand pressing down into the foot (fingertips forward and elbow to the sky), the spirals of the arms will help open the shoulder stretch even here. Press your index knuckle down into your foot, widening your elbow slightly to the side, then lift and open the upper arm out.
Dhanurasana: I wasn't sure I'd ever like this pose again, as it would always pull on my wrist in an uncomfortable way. But it works! Hold your ankles with your feet flexed, and when you're up, press your index knuckles up against your ankles (that's expanding spiral) and then spin the upper arms out.
Purvottanasana: You can try this pose with the fingertips pointing forward, to the sides, or back. My favorite is forward, because it gives me the greatest access to the expanding spiral (turning the forearms in toward the midline), which in turn gives me greatest access to the contracting spiral (lifting the inner upper arms and spinning them out), which just feels great.
Setubandha: I figured out a new way to do this while playing with the spirals. Before going up, bend your elbows to the floor (fingertips point up, palms face in). Lift through your inner body and soften into the floor. Now root the upper arms down. Keeping that, turn the palms to face forward, as if pressing up against some resistance. The upper back will widen and you'll have greater access to opening the upper arms in external rotation. Now go up, keeping the palms face forward.
Urdhva Dhanurasana: This was the pose that was the pose that was always hardest with the wrist injury, and it was where I really healed my wrist. Start by pressing to the top of your head and pause there to engage all of the principles. Plug the arm bones back through muscle energy before working on the spirals. When on top of your head, the arms are in the front plane, so spin the forearms in first, bringing the elbows slightly wide to access this more. Then keeping heavy through the index knuckles, rotate the upper arms out and go up. Once in the pose, the spirals are reversed. So to re-engage, draw the inner upper arms back, then keeping them moving back, re-anchor through the index knuckles. Oh this feels good.
Sarvangasana: This pose requires a lot of power and opening in the upper back to get all of the vertebrae off the floor, and the spirals of the arms really help. Go to plow pose first, then clasp hands behind your back (place the hand on top that tends to outer spiral more, as we did in the earlier shoulder stretches). Bend your elbows into the floor, bringing your clasped hands up away from the floor. Once you have strong muscle energy, with the upper arms down, turn the forearms in (index knuckles toward each other) and the open the upper arms out. Notice how that helps to draw the bottom tips of the shoulder blades more to the midline. Curl your head back and then placing your hands on your back stretch up into the pose. If you find that any of your vertebrae are on the floor, go back to the clasped hand variation to re-engage the spirals and lift off.

An Upsurge of Understanding About Serratus Anterior

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:36:00 +0000

At the Anusara Yoga Teachers' Gathering in Denver, I had a little epiphany, an upsurge, if you will, of consciousness, while practicing a long forearm stand.

It hit me all at once: The serratus anterior is the gluteus medius of the upper body!!

Now, you have to have been at (or read about) the Nerd on the butt to understand that exclamation at first glance. But basically, I had figured out how the gluteus medius helps to create Organic Energy from the pelvic focal point. In forearm stand, I saw how serratus anterior performed the same function of creating Organic Energy from the heart focal point or anytime the arms are in the overhead plane.

Then the next couple of weeks became an investigation into what that might mean. I had the insight (you might call it "udyamo bhairavah" as it is called in the 5th verse of the Shiva Sutras, which we happened to be studying that week in Denver), but that didn't mean that I understood it. I had to go back to the anatomy books and figure out how this might actually work.

How wonderful that knowledge and insight always push back toward the unknown and doubt! When you get something, you have to question it and ply it and then see where else it might lead you; if you don't (and of course, there is no necessity), knowledge stagnates, and fails to keep up with possibility.

So here it is:

According to Blandine Calais-Germain (Anatomy of Movement), the serratus anterior helps to stabilize the shoulder blade on the ribcage when the arms pushing up against some resistance (i.e. like in Organic Energy). It works in conjunction with the middle fibers of the trapezius, which adduct the shoulder blades (draw them toward the midlline). On its own, serratus is an abductor (pulls the shoulder blade away from the midline), and it also contributes to the upward rotation of the shoulder blade. When the arm is in the overhead plane, in Anusara terms, that means that serratus functions as one of the primary muscles creating the expanding spiral of the arms, creating a broadening of the upper back, as well as Organic Energy through the shoulder girdle. We're talking downward-facing dog, handstand and forearm stand, and urdhva dhanurasana. We're also talking uttanasana and seated forward bends like janu sirsasana where the arms are in the overhead plane in the full form of the pose.

OK. Spirals of the arms. This is a whole other class, and we'll do it sometime in the Nerd (I promise). But for now, let's just focus on arms in the overhead plane. When the arms are overhead, the external rotation of the arm bone in the shoulder socket creates what we call an expanding spiral, because from the perspective of the back body there is a widening and broadening of the upper back. Serratus contributes to this widening, but it needs the participation of the middle trapezius and the rhomboids to keep the shoulder blades flat on the back even with the expansion.

But then what I'm really interested in is how serratus participates in Organic Energy. When the pelvis or the heart center is the focal point, the entire shoulder girdle (yes, including the shoulder blades) will extend out of the focal point with Organic Energy. This is important for creating space AND stabilizing the pose, especially when you're balancing on just the arms (Take note if you're trying to learn to balance in inversions!)

PRINCIPLES

Open to Grace: In this yoga, we always start and end with expansion. Opening to grace is like that great upsurge of possibility, and in the upper body it will include an expansion of the inner body.
Muscle Energy: When Muscle Energy is activated in the upper body, the upper arm bones will move to the back plane, and the shoulder blades will hug firmly on the back (toward the midline). The action of the rhomboids and of the middle fibers of the trapezius are key to keeping the shoulder blades flat on the back. There's a sense of safety and deep knowing in this.

[OK, I'VE PUT THE SPIRALS IN HERE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED, BUT PRACTICE WILL FOCUS ON SIMPLE MUSCLE AND ORGANIC ENERGY]

Expanding Spiral: Expanding spirals always come before contracting spirals (just think about the legs; Inner Spiral comes first to make room for Outer Spiral), so when the arms are in the overhead plane, the external rotation of the upper arms comes first to widen the upper back. I should note that this is an exception. In all other planes, the action of the forearms rotating inward will creating the expanding spiral.
Contracting Spiral: In the overhead plane, rotating the forearms externally will create the contracting spiral of the upper body, re-engaging the arm bones back and the shoulder blades flat on the back.
Organic Energy: This is the crucial part for today. What I realized is that we can work so hard on creating the safety of integration that Muscle Energy affords that we forget that this engagement can always lead us back into expansion. Knowledge should always touch the unknown, and that's what Organic Energy offers: a movement to the boundary where the known meets the unknown. Serratus anterior is one of the key muscles for getting Organic Extension through the shoulder girdle, especially when the heart is the focal point (and especially, I feel, in inversions). The heart focal point, incidentally, is in line with the bottom tips of the shoulder blades, so when we extend out from that place, the shoulder blades will actually move organically in the direction of the crown of the head. As long as you keep balanced action with Muscle Energy (and the counter balance for the serratus is provided by the adductors of the shoulder blades) then you can really push the boundary here.

PRACTICE

Surya namaskar: Warm up those shoulders. Calais-Germain notes that push-ups (i.e. caturanga) work the serratus and medial traps together to keep the shoulder blades flat on the back.
High lunge with cactus arms: Start with cactus arms to feel the engagement of Muscle Energy, particularly the shoulder blades hugging toward the midline. Then keep that engagement as you extend the arms overhead organically.
Prasarita padottanasana with shoulder stretch
Shoulder flossing: This invention for good shoulder hygiene is one of my favorites for feeling Organic Energy from the heart focal point (alas, I don't know who to attribute it to, but I'm going to guess Sianna Sherman). Basically, you do a 1-armed dog pose (the "free" hand can be on fingertips off to the side to help you balance) and then pulsate between Muscular and Organic Energy. Start, of course, with a full expanse of the inner body and soft heart, then engage the arms so that the arm bones go back and the shoulder blades hug flat on the back. Now the flossing begins. Keep the integration in the shoulder girdle, and then extend organically from the heart down through the arm and back up through the hips and down the legs. When you do, the serratus will fire to push the shoulder blades out of the focal point along the vector of the arms toward the hands. You'll get this yummy sliding of the shoulder blade up and down the rib cage (and all kinds of crackling might happen). Watch that you're not just lifting the heart center up and down away from the floor, but really extend Organic Energy along the vectors of the body, which are angled.
Handstand/flossing: Set up for handstand this way, and then go on up. It's easy to sink into the heart focal point in handstand. And while that may give you some integration in the shoulder girdle, to learn to balance you have to stretch out more. Try this at the wall: use passive muscle energy (release downward with gravity to integrate the arm bones in the shoulder sockets, without bending your elbows) and then stretch organically from the heart focal point down through the hands and back up through the torso and legs. The shoulder blades should push downward toward the floor in this action. If you really want a workout for the serratus here, you can also bend your elbows while in handstand to get more active muscle energy to the midline (squeeze those shoulder blades flat on the back!) and then stretch organically downward toward the floor to straighten the arms.
Dolphin pose: This is a form of downward-facing dog with the hands clasped and the forearms on the floor, as if preparing for headstand (but with the head off the floor). You can floss both shoulders effectively in dolphin pose (like we did in dog pose, but working both shoulders at a time). And to build strength in the serratus, walk your feet back toward plank, and do little push-ups.
Dolphin pinca mayurasana: You're there, why not just kick up? It's a little easier, I find, in the dolphin form of pinca mayurasana to get the organic extension downward and back up, perhaps because it's just easier to balance.
Pinca mayurasana: Anytime you can hold these inversions for several breaths, you really feel serratus kick in because you simply can't hold these poses for any length of time without a powerful organic extension. Try timing pinca mayurasana to hold it for a minute or more (or even start with 30 seconds; you'll feel it).
Funky pinca mayurasana: This is that variation on pinca mayurasana where you take one hand out to the side (in line with the other elbow) like for sirsasana 2. I only learned how to balance in this pose once I got the Organic Extension downward, especially through the arm that's still in pinca mayurasana. Of course, everything has to be set up first, with a full inner body and good integration through the shoulder girdle. But if you stop there, I find the pose just collapses on itself. Push from the heart focal point downward, and see if that gives you more power.
Do some thigh stretches, because we're going to backbend
Eka pada rajakapotasana 1: Arms in the overhead plane here. Even though the pelvis is the focal point, the whole shoulder girdle still must lift up and out of the pelvis. Pull up on your back foot with your hands to feel that.
Urdhva dhanurasana: The pelvis is the focal point here, so make sure to root down through the legs first before extending out through the shoulders and arms.
Dwi pada viparita dandasana (and ticktocks): You're prepped for this. Now just ROOT through the shoulders and arms into the floor to get lift off.
Janu sirsasana: Believe it or not, this (and many other forward bends) are really arms in the overhead plane poses. The pelvis is the focal point, so you must get rooted down through the pelvis and the legs before the organic extension of the upper body. Bend your elbows out to the sides to get a lift in the inner body, and then engage the arms and shoulders through muscle energy (the elbows, inner deltoids and outer shoulder blades should all lift in line with or above your ears). Keeping that engagement, extend organically down and then stretch long through the torso toward your front foot, pulling your elbows apart to find that extension.

What About the Breath?

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:28:00 +0000

I'm always a little mystified when a student asks me "Where's the breath in your classes?" OK, it's true that I don't instruct every breath in class, but to me the breath is everywhere. It is, quite simply, the gift of your own life, the gift of grace.

When you turn to the breath, you can't help but think how extraordinary, how rare, how precious this life really is. Of all the things that could have happened, the universe became YOU. Just as you are. Doesn't that make you shudder with awe, when you really think about it?

I think of life as a gift not because it was necessarily given by someone, but because it's just what was given as you. And it's a gift in the truest sense of the word because you need not pay any attention to it at all; there is no requirement to further engagement. As my teacher Douglas Brooks says, what makes something a gift is that "you didn't earn it, you don't deserve it, and you can't pay it back."

So what's left is yoga, the participation with and engagement of and savoring of life out of your own freedom (it's not required), simply for its own sake.

Pranayama, one of the eight limbs of yoga outlined in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, is the practice of engaging and participating in prana, the breath and the very essence of life. It is generally translated as "restraining" (yama) the "prana" (life force). The first question that comes to mind is, how could you control the energy of life itself? Instead, I like the translation Douglas Brooks once gave by dividing the word in a different place: "extending" (ayama) the prana.

Although prana refers to the pulsation and movement of life in everything, the breath is definitely our easiest access point to experiencing and participating in the life force. There are said to be five pranas in the body, and two of them correspond to the inhale and the exhale: prana vayu and apana vayu (which is which is a matter of some debate). In any case, these are the two that we can work with deliberately.

There are many wonderful practices of pranayama (see B.K.S. Iyengar's Light on Pranayama for more on this), but what I'm going to offer here is how the practice and engagement of the breath works through an asana practice.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Just by merely turning to the gift of ourselves, we are stepping into the current of grace. Even with a natural breath, you'll notice that the inhales expand your inner body (your energetic body) while at the same time drawing the outer body (your muscles and bones) more toward the core. And the exhales do just the opposite: the inner body contracts while the outer body extends. This is the natural pulse of life. When we engage this through ujjayi breath (toning the epiglottis to make a resonant breath), now we're stepping into yoga. (Ujjayi pranayama is the basic breath for an asana practice.) So the first principle of Anusara Yoga is not a passive principle (as Paul Muller-Ortega said at our teachers' gathering, it's not like you surrender yourself and say "Grace, come do me"); rather, it invites our active participation with the essence of life. The inner body naturally wants to expand on the inhales, so make space for it and it will rush in and fill you. This is what we call "inner body bright" and it includes a full expansion, from the pelvic floor all the way up through the dome of the palate. The sides of the torso, and front and back, all lift and swell with prana. This is followed by a release with gravity of the outer form on the exhale, which in Anusara terms is what we call "outer body soft." Inhale: inner body bright -- you make space for the prana to fill you. Exhale: outer body soft -- as you allow the outer form to melt and release onto that fullness.
Muscle Energy: So the inhale is naturally more muscular in the outer form and the exhale is more muscular on the inner body. So how do you code the breath? It depends on which perspective you want to take (and that choice depends on what you think will be the most empowering). In general, you can use the inhale to help engage active Muscle Energy of the outer body (particularly when coming out of twists, where it's important to stabilize the muscles around the sacrum). You can use the exhale to get more Muscle Energy in your inner body (as in going into forward bends and twists, when you want the inner form to contract).
Loops: The seven pairs of loops are really refinements of Muscle and Organic Energy, and the breath can be used to support the energetic flow of the loops if you think about it in this way. John Friend outlines this very clearly in the Anusara Yoga Teacher Training Manual. Basically, you'll inhale up the side of the loop that is more muscular or that's more opening to the inner body, and exhale down the side that is more organic or more softening. For example, the thigh loop would be Muscular on the front and Organic on the back, so you would inhale up the front of the thigh while exhaling down the back of the thigh loop. The Kidney Loop, is expansive in the back and softening on the front, so it would be supported by an inhale up the back and an exhale down the front. Stay with me, and you'll feel it when you practice in parsvottanasana below.
Inner Spiral: One of the features of the natural breath is that the inhale expands and dilates the pelvic floor, and so it naturally supports the action of Inner Spiral.
Outer Spiral: Similarly, the exhale naturally contracts the pelvic floor, and so it serves to support Outer Spiral.
Organic Energy: The exhale is naturally more expansive on the outer form, so you can use the exhales to support active Organic Energy, especially downward through the limbs. From the perspective of the inner body, the inhale will be more Organic or expansive, so you can use inhales to create active lengthening through the spine or extension away from gravity.

PRACTICE:

Sukhasana: Just feel the natural breath, and notice how it affects the inner and outer body. Then engage ujjayi breath by toning the epiglottis until you can hear your own breath. Ujjayi is a light engagement (remember, it's not to control the life force, but to participate in its flow), and shouldn't make you light-headed. It's the basic breath you'll keep going through your asana practice.
Hands and knees, then bring one cheek to the floor (place your arms wherever is comfortable, but keep your hips right over your knees). Feel the natural breath in your pelvis. In this form, it's easy to connect to how the inhales expand the pelvic floor, and how the exhales contract the pelvic floor.
Cat/Cow: This is a great place to experiment with the different perspectives on the breath. Usually, I teach this with the inhale to extend the spine (cow) and the exhale to round the back (cat). But you could easily do this with the breath oriented the other way. Try it with the exhale to extend and the inhale to contract. You may find that you have more of a connection to the back body that way.
Standing poses: Try a few simple standing poses following the breath in this way: Inhale to expand inner body, exhale to soften outer body. Inhale to engage the muscles to the core, exhale to extend the bones from the core. Inhale to inner spiral, turning the inner thighs in back and wide, exhale to engage more outer spiral, anchoring the tailbone down.
Parsvottanasana: Now work with the breath and the loops. Remember that the loops always initiate to the back plane first (and that's why you might find an extra breath between most loops). Full inhale, then exhale down the back of the ankle, inhale lift the toes (ankle loop). Exhale, then inhale up the back of the calf and exhale down the front of the shin (shin loop). Inhale, then exhale down the backs of the thighs and inhale up the front (thigh loop). Exhale to the back waistline and down through the sacrum and inhale up the front of the low belly (pelvic loop). Exhale, then inhale up the back waistline and exhale down the front ribs (kidney loop). Inhale, then exhale palate back and down the shoulder blades, inhale up the front of the chest (shoulder loop). Exhale, then inhale up the back of the skull and exhale down the front of the face (skull loop). Got that?
Seated twist (choose something simple, like twisted sukhasana, or ardha matsyendrasana): The key to using the breath while twisting is to inhale to lengthen the spine (the inhale supports that inner body bright) and exhale into the twist (the inner body contracts on the exhale, making it easier to twist the organs). When you come out of the pose, use an inhale to get more Muscle Energy to help stabilize the sacrum.
Seated forward bends: Just like in the twists, the inhale can be used to lengthen the spine, and the exhales to soften more deeply into the pose.
Pranayama: I love doing pranayama after an asana practice, because the support structure and vessel for a deepening engagement with the breath is already there.

Working the Butt

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:16:00 +0000

How often have you been told in yoga class to "soften your buttocks" and "let them hang like ripe melons" and just generally to take them out of play?

Probably as many times as my teacher Douglas Brooks has reminded me that everything you have, you need (and conversely, everything you need, you already have). Everything you've been given is your potential asset, so why not use it?

I'd like to dispel the myth that you do not use your butt in yoga. USE YOUR BUTT.

Seriously. The butt muscles are central to balancing, stabilizing and opening the hip joints.

However, the butt muscles (in particular gluteus maximus and the major lateral rotators like piriformis) tend to be very strong and can very easily over-ride the strength of the adductors (your inner thighs). If this happens, the thigh bones will push forward in the hip sockets, causing the adductors and psoas to tighten and the lower back to flatten, all of which contributes to lower back problems and tight hips.

The key to working with the butt muscles, to making them your asset rather than a liability, is to use them in the context of a balanced relationship with the adductors. This is true about anything that you've been given: the value of something is determined by the context of its relationships. (Douglas likes to say "inside it's dirt, outside it's soil"; or there's the more common adage "a rose in a cornfield is just a weed.")

Here's how you can create balanced relationships in the pelvis:

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace is the radical affirmation that everything you have is your potential asset. When you start there, in the physical form there will be a natural softening and release with gravity.
Muscular Energy is the engagement of all of your assets. All of them. For the hips, it's important to tone especially the upper inner thighs (adductors) and the outer hips.
Inner Spiral turns the inner thighs in, back and apart (this is achieved by the strength of the adductors) and serves to set the femur head into the acetabulum (hip socket). With Inner Spiral, the sitting bones widen, and the buttocks muscles soften their grip. In general, the back leg/hip in asymmetrical poses will need more Inner Spiral.
Outer Spiral initiates from the action of the tailbone scooping under, but it also includes a wrapping of the outer hips toward the back plane of the body. This involves the strong action of the lateral rotators of the hip, including piriformis, gluteus maximus, and several other smaller rotators. When you engage Outer Spiral, make sure that the action of the butt muscles doesn't override the power of the inner thighs moving back, which was established with Inner Spiral. In fact, you'll probably feel that the inner thighs have to work even more to keep the energetic flow back as you add the action of Outer Spiral. In general, the front leg/hip will need more Outer Spiral.
Organic Energy creates space in the joints by a powerful extension from the focal point toward the the periphery. When the pelvis is the focal point (as it is for most of the practice we'll do here), the pelvic bones and tailbone move downward along the vector of the legs toward the earth, and the lower back and low belly will lift upward through the torso. Gluteus medius is one of the key muscles involved in the rooting action of Organic Energy, and it creates enormous space and stability in the hip, especially when you're balancing on one leg.

GET TO KNOW YOUR BUTT MUSCLES:

Before you start working with these principles in practice, take some time to get to know your butt muscles:

Gluteus maximus is the largest butt muscle (in fact, it's the biggest muscle in your body), spanning from the side of the sacrum and ilium to the femur. It's primary function is to act as an extensor of the hip, but it also laterally rotates (turns out) the hip in extension. This is one reason the back leg in most poses tends to have too much outer spiral. If your leg is fixed, gluteus maximus serves to scoop the pelvis under (retroversion). To feel its engagement, standing in tadasana holding your buttocks and stretch one leg back behind you, extending the hip. You'll feel the gluteus maximus fire on that leg. Now try standing in tadasana and scooping your pelvis under. You'll feel both buttocks engage.

Gluteus medius is located on the outer hip, running from the outer upper hip down to the greater trochanter of the thigh bone. It's primary role is in abduction of the hip, moving the leg away from the midline by drawing the greater trochanter toward the top of the hip. It also serves to stabilize the pelvis when you're balancing on one leg (including when walking). To feel it, try standing in tadasana with both hands on your outer hips. Lift one leg straight out to the side to feel gluteus medius do the lifting. Interestingly, gluteus medius will also fire on the standing leg, to steady the balance by rooting downward into the earth.

Piriformis and those other lateral rotators: There's a group of six deep hip muscles that all contribute to lateral/external rotation the hip. The main one to note among these is the piriformis, will contract (and spasm) in an attempt to stabilize the hip when the inner thigh/outer hip team is not doing its job. Piriformis happens to sit right on top of the sciatic nerve, and so when it's tight it can cause a shooting nerve pain down the leg (also known as piriformis syndrome), and due to its connection to the sacrum, it can also pull on the sacrum to jam the sacro-iliac joint. I have a hard time actually feeling these muscles engage; rather, I feel them best when they're being stretched in hip openers, like pigeon pose. However, you will only feel them stretch if you get the inner thighs back and wide first, and maintain that while adding Outer Spiral.

PRACTICE:

Tadasana: Use a block between your inner thighs to feel the adductors fire and turn in, back and wide. (If you tend to hyperextend in the knees, begin with bent knees to gain greater access to the inner thighs, and then straight the legs as you add the Outer Spiral.) Once you've balanced the spirals, root down organically from the pelvis through the feet. Notice how the gluteus medius (outer hip) fires to assist in this action. When it does, you'll feel a natural spaciousness and lift up out of the pelvis.
Parsvottanasana: Set up in the pose and just feel. On the back leg side, the thigh and outer hip will tend to rotate outward, while the front naturally turns more inward with the hip jutting out to the side. This is common for all asymmetrical poses: so the back leg will need more Inner Spiral to find balance, and the front leg will need more Outer Spiral and Organic Energy. (Still, remember that both sides always do all principles.) Once you have the pose set up, with the inner thighs flowing back, add a strong Outer Spiral by wrapping the hips around and under, as much as you can without losing the action of the inner thighs. Then press from your pelvic bones down through your legs into the floor so much that you could lift your hands off the floor (and why not? lift them up!). You'll feel gluteus medius fire, especially on the front leg, to stabilize you here, and this will create a lot of space in the pelvis. Then place your hands down on fingertips again while keeping that much rooting action through the legs.
Utthita hasta padangustasana: Start with an easy variation, just bringing one leg up with the knee bent and holding the front of the knee with both hands. With the legs strong and the inner thighs pressing back, now use your butt muscles to anchor the pelvis more. Especially work the gluteus medius on that standing leg, extending from the outer hip all the way down into the heel, and you'll get a simultaneous lift up out of the pelvis. Hold this pose on each side until you feel that outer hip muscle start to tire. You can work this in vrksasana and the other variations of UHP as well.
Trikonasana: Like most asymmetrical poses, the front hip in trikonasana tends to get bound up. Try the pose with your bottom hand up on a block, so you have extra room to create good action through the front leg. Once you set up the legs with good Muscle Energy and Inner Spiral, activate your butt muscles to draw the front hip under more. This will clear space in the hip joint. Then extend organically from the pelvis through the legs into the earth, using gluteus medius in particular to root more down into the front leg. Remove the block when your front hip feels spacious enough to do so.
Ardha chandrasana: As a standing balance, this is a great pose to work on both gluteus maximus and medius. Gluteus maximus (and the other lateral rotators) will provide a wrapping energy from the outer front hip toward the midline and under, while gluteus medius gives you the extension downward out of the hip that you need to avoid collapsing the pelvis onto the thigh bone. If you have a practice buddy, a nice assist to help feel this is to have them press downward on your outer top hip, so that you get more rooted into the floor, and as you get more rooted, lift back up into their hand.
Virabhadrasana 3 and Urdhva prasarita ekapadasana (aka standing splits): These poses are fun, as they are great ways to build the gluteus maximus (back leg) while strengthening gluteus medius (standing leg). Start in tadasana with hands on your hips, and with both feet on the floor just shift your weight over to your right foot. You'll feel the butt muscles on the right side fire in order to bear weight (kind of like when you're riding the subway and have nothing to hold on to). Even before lifting the left foot off the floor, extend organically downward from the pelvis into the standing foot (that's your outer hip, gluteus medius, again), to make space in that hip. Then start to kick the left leg back toward Vira 3; gluteus maximus, as a hip extensor, will come into play here. The inner thigh on that back leg will have to work strongly to balance the lateral rotation that comes along with the firing of gluteus maximus. Hold Vira 3 for a few breaths, and then tip all the way forward to standing splits. Again, balance the action between the inner thigh lifting and the butt muscles working on the back leg, while extending fully downward out of the hip in the front leg.
Spastic Pose (we need a name for this one): Start in uttanasana holding the big toes in yogic toe lock (first two fingers around the toe, thumb pressing into the floor). Engage the legs, especially by hugging the midline, and then widen the inner thighs back and apart. Shift your weight onto one foot as you lift the other leg straight out to the side. Gluteus medius, as an abductor, gets a workout on the lifted leg, while, as a stabilizer, gets a workout on the standing leg. If it's weak, you'll see why this one was nicknamed "spastic pose."
Parivrtta Trikonasana and Parivrtta Parsvakonasana: The twisted poses require a lot of strength in the butt muscles to keep the hips squared to the front. The lift of the inner back thigh, and the action of gluteus maximus on that back leg as you move into the twist) will help keep the back hip from dropping. On the front leg side, use your butt muscles to pull the outer hip back and under, and to extend more through the legs.
Hanumanasana: Just try it! After all you've done already, this should be feeling pretty good.
Eka pada rajakapotasana 1 (pigeon prep): Finally, we get to stretch those muscles! In all of the "hip openers" (where the hip is in lateral rotation and flexion), the butt muscles will be involved. However, they won't get their optimal stretch if the inner thighs are not turning in, back and wide. Try pigeon prep pose first with a narrow angle on the front knee and the foot pointed, as this will give you a greater access to Inner Spiral. They go to the more advanced variation, with the front shin parallel to the front of your mat, foot flexed. This is a much deeper hip stretch, and it's also harder to keep the inner thighs flowing back, so find the place of balance for yourself.
Setubandha: This is one pose where, early on, I was told that you're supposed to let your buttocks relax, and I followed that instruction faithfully for some time. Then one day I realized that that didn't feel very good. Just think about it: if you're butt is hanging in this pose, it is going to pull on your lower back. The thing is, with backbends, the legs naturally tend to rotate outward, jamming the thighs forward and, ultimately, compressing the lower back. So instead, get your inner thighs toned and flowing back (using a block between your upper inner thighs will help create that awareness), and then activate those butt muscles, extending them out toward your knees without over-riding the power of the inner thighs. This will create tremendous freedom in the lower back.
Ardha matsyendrasana (and other seated twists): Because the seated twists give you the floor as feedback for the action of the hips, they're a great place to explore working the butt. In particular, the front hip (the side to which you are twisting) will tend to lift off the floor if the gluteus medius and the other butt muscles aren't working to create Outer Spiral and Organic Energy. Really tack that hip down to lengthen up and out of the pelvis and take a twist. Try also gomukhasana, with a twist to the top leg side. The form of this pose is hyper-stable in the pelvis, and so you will really feel that outer hip open.
Baddha konasana (and other seated hip openers): For the longest time, I practiced these poses with such a strong emphasis on Inner Spiral that I forgot about the other principles, and the poses only opened so much. For the hips to open effectively and have their greatest range of motion, the thigh bones must set back into the hip sockets, and Inner Spiral (coupled with Muscle Energy) creates that alignment. However, if you stop at Inner Spiral, you'll be missing the expanding qualities of Outer Spiral (after all, these are hip openers) and Organic Energy. In fact, the hip flexors can end up getting tighter from doing hip openers if you don't move beyond Inner Spiral, because the hips will tend to collapse onto the thighs. So, get everything set up with strong Muscle Energy and the inner thighs flowing back (down), then strongly open the hips using your butt muscles to create Outer Spiral and Organic Energy. In the seated poses, it's easy to monitor whether the butt muscles overpower the inner thighs, as you can see the flow of energy in your legs. Agni stambasana (fire logs pose, or "ankle-to-knee") is another great hip opener for this.

Initiation to Inversions

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:55:00 +0000

Students who come to Anusara Yoga from other yoga traditions often ask me "why don't you ever teach headstand and shoulderstand?" The answer is, I do teach them, but not as commonly as handstand and forearm stand, and the reason is that they are considered to be more advanced inversions that require a certain level of strength and openness in the shoulders in order for students to do them safely.

When I teach inversions, I follow a certain order of diksha. Diksha usually means "initiation", and when you get it, that means "you got it" in that it has become your experience. I use the term here to mean the way in which we initiate ourselves to progressive levels of deepening experience by making the teachings our own.

So for inversions, the most basic level of diksha is downward-facing dog. It's technically an inversion, with the head below the heart below the pelvis. And you're weight-bearing, but not fully weight-bearing, on the arms, so it's a good place to learn the shoulder alignment that will support handstand and the other inversions.

Good shoulder alignment for all inversions will mean that the head of the armbones (humerus) are rooted back into the shoulder sockets, the shoulder blades hug onto the back, and there's a balanced, lordotic curve in the neck created from the Shoulder and Skull Loops (see the principles section below for how to create this).

Creating this alignment gets progressively harder as the surface area of the foundation increases. That's because the mobility of the shoulder girdle decreases when more of it is part of the foundation. What's more, the stakes also get progressively higher, because when you're weight-bearing on the head (as in headstand and shoulderstand) the potential risks for the neck are greater (as are the potential benefits). It's a double-edged sword.

The paradox is that it's much easier to balance in poses like shoulder stand and headstand for precisely the same reason: there's more foundation, so the pose is more stable. I think this is the reason these poses are often taught before handstand and forearm stand -- they're simply easier to do, although they're much harder to do with good alignment.

To ensure a healthy alignment in the shoulders and neck, it helps to build your inversion practice from poses where the alignment is easier to create and the stakes are lower, toward those where, due to decreased mobility in the shoulder area, the alignment is more difficult and the stakes are higher.

The sequence of initiations for inversions goes like this:

adho mukha svanasana (downward-facing dog)
L-pose (handstand with the feet on the wall, hips at 90 degrees)
adho mukha vrksasana (handstand)
pinca mayurasana (forearm stand)
sirsasana 1 (headstand, with hands clasped behind the head)
sirsasana 2 and other arm variations
sarvangasana (shoulder stand)

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: Part of this first principle is a willingness to back off, even if you've been doing shoulder stand for 10 years in your yoga practice, and really see if you have created an alignment that serves you in each progressive stage of diksha. For the shoulder alignment, a key component of Opening to Grace is making space for the inner body to expand fully, especially through the sides of the torso from the waistline all the way through the sides of the throat.
Muscle Energy: When Muscle Energy is activated, the upper arm bones will root back into the shoulder sockets. This will create the greatest range of motion in the shoulder girdle. For the alignment of the neck, the throat will also move back with muscle energy (see the YogaNerd Blog posting on neck alignment); this action will line up the head and neck with the rest of the spine, and is particularly important for those students who have a forward carriage (AKA computer syndrome, where the head juts forward of the spine).
Shoulder Loop: The Shoulder Loop begins at the palate and flows back, tipping the head slightly back to create a lordotic curve in the neck. The trapezius muscles engage to draw the energy down the back of the neck and toward the bottom tips of the shoulder blades, so the flow of the muscles in the neck and upper back is toward the pelvis. Lastly, as it pierces the heart center, it lifts the front of the chest and chin.
Skull Loop balances the Shoulder Loop, by lengthening the back of the neck. It initiates in the palate, just like the Shoulder Loop, but extends up the back of the skull and down the front of the forehead, creating extension in the neck. These two loops create the optimal, lordotic curve in the neck. If you tend to have a flat neck, you'll need to emphasize the Shoulder Loop to create balance; conversely, if you tend to have a hyper-lordotic curve in your neck, you'll need to emphasize the Skull Loop to find balance.
Organic Energy adds length and extension from the active focal point in all directions. In handstand and forearm stand, the focal point is the heart. In headstand and shoulder stand, it's the palate, which means that the skull will root down into the earth while everything else (especially the trapezius muscles and shoulder blades) lift up toward the sky, creating space in the neck.

PRACTICE:

Here's a sequence to move progressively through the inversions, paying attention to the diksha at each stage.

Surya namaskar: warm up the shoulder girdle, paying special attention to keeping the armbones plugged in to the shoulder sockets
Lunge pose with cactus arms: In a high lunge, bend your elbows to the sides, palms facing forward. Once you have established the first two principles, lift your chin and press your head back, drawing the shoulder blades down your back and lifting your chest. Keep the energetic flow of the shoulder blades moving down your back as you stretch your arms overhead.
Parsvakonasana, trikonasana, virabhadrasana 1: In these standing poses, to build the strength of the Shoulder Loop, practice at first with you top hand (or both hands, in Vira 1) behind your head to provide active resistance for Shoulder Loop. You'll be able to feel the bottom tips of the shoulder blades curling into the heart.
Prasarita padottansana with hands clasped behind back: This pose is a great, non-weight-bearing place to learn the actions of Muscle Energy and Shoulder Loop against the flow of gravity. Go through each of the 5 principles here, making sure that the shoulder blades lift toward the pelvis even as you stretch the arms overhead.
Adho mukha svanasana: To know that you're ready for handstand, check in in downward-facing dog to ensure that you're able to keep the armbones rooting back (that would be up, in this pose) with the upper back soft (the shoulder blades pressing into the heart center).
L-shaped handstand: Set up on hands and knees with your hands a leg's distance away from the wall, feet at the wall (NOTE: this will feel like a short stance if you've measured one leg's distance, but this is how it is). With the arms strong and the upper back soft, extend energy down into your hands as you walk your feet up the wall. Just go to 90 degrees with the hips. Because you're not fully weight-bearing on the arms, this pose is a great place to learn the actions of the shoulders for more advanced inversions. The shoulder blades should lift up the back toward the heart center.
Handstand: Now try kicking up!
Forearm stand prep (aka dolphin pose): I love this form of the pose, with the hands clasped and the outer forearms pressing into the floor. It's a little easier than the classical form (with palms flat, shoulder distance apart), but it has less foundation (no palms) and so is easier to align. Keep your head lifted as you go up. This will really build the strength of the shoulder girdle for headstand.
Prasarita padottansana 2 ways: First, go back to the form of the pose with the hands clasped behind your back. You should be able to keep the arm bones back and the shoulder blades lifting here before attempting headstand (it's the same actions in headstand). As a preparation for sirsasana 2, take your fingertips to the floor, with the elbows bent and engage Muscle Energy from the hands all the way up to the focal point (pelvis). The armbones should move to the back plane (here, that's forward, toward the wall in front of you) and the shoulder blades should lift up the back. You'll feel the trapezius muscles flowing up, rather than bunching around your neck. This is a crucial place to learn alignment before attempting sirsasana 2.
Sirsasana 1: In the set up, clasp your hands and set up your elbows shoulder distance apart. Line it up so that your wrists are not bent either in or out (straight line from the hands all the way to the elbows). The placement of your head will depend on the curve of your neck, but you'll want to set up in way that the neck can have a natural, lordotic curve. As you place the head further back (toward the crown or even the back of the skull) that will decrease the curve; as you place the head further forward, toward the forehead, that will increase the curve. So if you have a flat neck, your head will probably be touching the ground closer to your forehead. Place the radius and ulna (the two bones of the forearms) so that they stack vertically, and press the outer forearms (from the outer wrists all the way up through the elbows) into the floor to engage even Muscle Energy through the arms. As you go up into the pose, keep that alignment; it's common to roll toward the back of the head in the transition, so keep the actions of the arms and the lift in the shoulder blades strong. You will be weight-bearing on your head and arms, so yes, your head will press firmly down into the floor. That part of Organic Energy will give you a simultaneous lift up out of the palate focal point through the feet.
Post-headstand alignment: Immediately after sirsasana, rather than moving to child’s pose, where the neck is released in a forward position that can pull on the cervical spine, transition to a pose where you can hold the neck in a neutral alignment. One good option is to go straight to downward-facing dog, keeping the back of the neck engaged and curved by lifting the ears in line with the upper arms. (Another option is to set up good alignment in vajrasana, wtih hands clasped behind your head to provide active resistance for aligning the neck) Give yourself several breaths in either pose before moving on.
Sirsasana 2 (and other arm variations): These are more advanced, as they are more weight-bearing on the head and neck. The paradox is that, as the foundation starts to peel away, you will have greater mobility in the shoulder girdle, but it becomes harder to balance and the stakes (the health of your neck) increase. Make sure you can do prasarita padottansana with the fingertips on the floor as described above before attempting sirsasana 2. Set up with a natural, lordotic curve in the neck, and KEEP THAT as you go up by creating strong actions of Muscle Energy and Shoulder Loop. The arm bones must stay plugged into the shoulder sockets and the shoulder blades must continue to lift up the back for this to be healthy on your neck. You can advance to other variations (sirsasana 3, niralamba sirsasana) safely only as you keep these actions.
Backbends: all of the backbends are great preparations for shoulder stand (and headstand, for that matter) because of the emphasis on the shoulder loop. To build the strength and openness needed for shoulder stand, do several backbends with a focus on curling the head back and shoulder blades into the heart. I recommend setubandha (which is very much like shoulder stand), urdhva dhanurasana and dwi pada viparita dandasana.
Sarvangasana: This pose requires an enormous amount of power in the Shoulder Loop to keep a curve in the back of the neck and all of the vertebrae lifted off the floor. To make the pose easier to perform – and easier to hold for an extended period of time – try using one or more folded blankets (with a mat folded on top, for traction) under the upper arms for this pose. The head will tip back to the floor, emphasizing a lordotic curve in the neck and helping to lift the vertebrae off the floor. No vertebrae should touch the floor (or your mat, or your blanket) while you're in this pose. As soon as you feel a vertebra touch down, it's time to come down out of the pose and re-set.
Post-sarvangasana: Matsyasana (fish pose) is often taught as a counter-pose to shoulder stand, as it creates an exaggerated curve in the neck while weight-bearing. However, if shoulder stand is performed with good alignment (like any pose in yoga), the neck will not be flattened or strained, and there will be no need for a counter-pose. Rather, it's nice to just go back to a neutral place. I like laying supine, with the chin lifted for natural curve, and the arms to the sides in cactus position, for easy integration of the shoulders.

When You Feel Stuck, Take Flight

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:08:00 +0000

Last week I lost my voice, and I found myself feeling very stuck inside my own head with no way to really communicate with others from my sick bed. (I tried texting, I tried instant messaging, believe me, I tried everything, because I wanted to talk and feel connected.) So instead I read, and one of the books I read was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby of his explorations of consciousness.

Bauby had suffered a stroke that cut his spinal cord off from his brain, and this left him with no mobility in his body other than the movement of his left eyelid, a condition known as "locked-in syndrome." He describes his condition in the first few paragraphs of the book, and the possibility of such extreme isolation is terrifying. Except that he immediately turns his situation upside-down, by saying something like "...my mind takes off like a butterfly. There is so much to do."

So much to do?!? And then he goes off on these journeys through consciousness, in the infinity of memory and imagination.

What inspired me so much about his memoir was the recognition that, no matter how stuck you may feel, no matter how much the circumstances of life limit you, consciousness always offers the possibility of an empowered engagement, the possibility of expansion.

Obviously, Bauby's example is extreme. But we all feel stuck sometimes, and not just feel stuck, but can be truly limited or oppressed by circumstances beyond our control. Yoga is the invitation to engage every experience toward empowerment and expansion. As Bauby shows us, that possibility is always open to us.

When you feel stuck in your asana practice, remember there's always a way to expand the experience, and a good place to start is by expanding the inside (Open to Grace), where the possibilities are vast, and expanding into the back body, which re-affirms this inner expansion.

This week, we're going to look at how to open space for the hips and lower back by aligning and strengthening the psoas muscle, particularly by moving into the back body through the actions of Pelvic and Kidney Loops.

The psoas muscle has two parts that function as antagonists. The lower psoas (from the middle of the lumbar to the lesser trochanter), when activated, will create more lordotic curve in the lower back. The upper part of the psoas (from the origin at T12 down to the middle of the lumbar) creates more extension in the lumbar spine. When both the inner upper thighs (lesser trochanter) and the middle of the lumbar/waistline move to the back plane of the body, the psoas lines up and you'll have optimal curve in the lumbar spine.

The action of expanding to the back waistline is the initiation of both the Pelvic and Kidney Loops. The Pelvic Loop flows back and down, toward the bottom of the sacrum/tailbone juncture; the Kidney Loop flows back and up, lifting the kidney area and the back ribs toward the heart. This split of energy creates a huge expanse in the lower back, to support back bending, taking flight in arm balances, and a healthy opening of the hips.

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace: The first expansion of Opening to Grace brings you into remembrance of the ways in which you are connected to more than just yourself. The fullness of the inner body that comes with Opening to Grace is important to establish and maintain as you add the other actions.
Muscle Energy: Draw all of the parts of your body into connection, especially by hugging the legs and hips to the midline. This strength in the outer shins and tone on the inner thighs is the power you'll need to open up Inner Spiral.
Inner Spiral, by taking the inner upper thighs back and apart, helps to align the lower fibers of the psoas, which attach at the lesser trochanter of the thigh bones. Inner Spiral will create an increased lordotic curve in the lumbar spine, and this should be an even curve from the top of the sacrum all the way up through the lower back. Often, however, the sacrum and L5-L4 vetebrae are less mobile, and so the curve in the back happens more at the top of the lumbar region. Keeping the fullness of the back body established with the first principle, and really activating Inner Spiral from the power of the upper thighs, will help create a more even lumbar curve.
Kidney/Pelvic Loops: Both of these loops start at the middle of the lumbar (in line with a point below the navel) and flow back, so they bring you back into a connection with the back body. This is initiation is activated in part by the upper fibers of the psoas, which lengthen the lumbar spine. When they flow back, the energy splits in two directions: pelvic loop draws the waistline back and down (toward the bottom of the sacrum) and kidney loop draws the waistline back and up, lifting the back ribs and kidney area. In this way, the two loops create a vast spaciousness in the lower back that is crucial in both forward- and back-bending. In back-bending in particular, these two loops will make space in the kidney/adrenal area so they are not squeezed to intensely by the "bend" in the back (resulting in the well-known backbend headache); they also provide the support for a deepening shoulder loop in backbends.
Organic Energy: When the pelvis is the focal point, the split of Organic Energy down through the tailbone, pelvis and legs, and up through the torso, head, and arms will lengthen the psoas in a healthy way. Organic Energy should extend up out of the pelvis as much through the back waistline as through the front.

PRACTICE:

Lunge: start with your hands on your front knee (back knee lifted) and bow forward over your front leg. When you do this, you'll have greater access to Inner Spiral on the back leg (lifting the top of the back thigh strongly up to toward the sky). Keeping the back leg that lifted (this aligns the lower psoas and creates a lordotic curve in your lower back), press your hands into your front thigh to help lift the back waistline (below the navel) up. This fires and strengthens the upper psoas. Now split the energy of the two loops from the waistline down and from the waistline up to come upright. Watch that the back thighbone does not pop forward when you do (it's very easy for the butt muscles to override the power of the upper inner thighs). Lastly, stretch organically from the focal point (pelvis) down through the hips and legs and up through the torso and arms. I know, it's just a lunge, but if you get it lined up it's a great stretch for the lower psoas and strengthener for the upper fibers of the psoas.
Anjaneyasana: in this pose, the pelvis will tend to tip more forward, so getting the waistline to move back is somewhat harder, but it's a good strengthener for the upper fibers of the psoas. You can use your hands on your front thigh to help get the power needed to lift the back waistline. Make sure that you keep the base of the back thigh bone (the part above the knee that's pressing into the floor) drawing forward and up, so that the thigh sets back.
Downhill Skier: This is a modified form of utkatasana, with your hands on your knees instead of in the air. It's a good place to work on these actions symmetrically.
Tadasana: Use a block between your inner thighs to help keep your awareness of the upper inner thighs drawing back. When you do inner spiral, watch that you don't pitch your torso forward. Isolate the inner upper thighs moving back, and the top of the sacrum will draw in and up along with the lumbar vertebrae. Now add the two loops, splitting the energy at the back of the waistline down and then up. Stretch your arms overhead and feel the support in the back. You can take this into a mini backbend, or even drop all the way back to urdhva dhanurasana.
Parsvakonasana, Virabhadrasana 1, Virabhadrasana 3: All of the standing poses (these 3 are particularly good) for strengthening both the lower and upper fibers of the psoas). Make sure that the actions of the Kidney and Pelvic loops don't override the power of the thighs rooting back. In general, you'll find that the waistline on the front leg side will need to flow back at a faster rate than on the back leg side, particularly in Warrior 3.
Handstand/Forearm stand: The inversions can be good indicators of the health of the psoas. (I learned this from Doug Keller's Yoga as Therapy book.) If the upper fibers of the psoas are weak or not engaged, the result in inversions will be the well-known "banana back." Try doing your inversions at a wall, about a shin's distance away from the wall so that when you kick up, you can place your feet on the wall with the knees bent at 90 degrees. Once there, hug your legs in and turn your inner thighs back, so you start with natural curve in the lower back and the lower fibers of the psoas are lined up. Then keeping that, draw your waistline back and split the flow of energy down (through the back ribs) and up (through the tailbone) to create length and space in your lower back. Then work to straighten the legs toward balance.
Handstand leg lifts: OK, now if you really want to build some strength in the upper part of the psoas, try a handstand as close to the wall as you can get, bringing both heels to the wall with straight legs. Keep one heel at the wall while bringing the other in a split down to at least 90 degrees (or toes to touch the floor). To keep from toppling out of the pose, you'll have to draw the waistline back strongly and lift up through the bottom of the sacrum/tailbone area from there. Once you've done the splits, bring the leg back up (this is the hard part), and do the other side.
Pigeon prep pose: These poses where the hip is externally rotated and flexed (pigeon front leg, baby cradle, agni stambasana, etc.) can be incredibly opening for the psoas, or they can easily pinch the psoas and hip flexors if done out of alignment. The key is to keep the inner thighs flowing back while lifting the waistline so that the front hip doesn't just collapse down onto the front thigh (jamming the hip flexors in the process). So in pigeon prep pose, try this: on the front leg side, manually turn the inner thigh in and back and wide (use your opposite hand, and you'll get the best leverage). Then, keeping that, press your other hand into the floor to help lift your waistline up and off that front thigh. Draw the front hip under as you lift the back ribs, and then extend more into the pose. When you're bowing forward in pigeon pose, make sure that the front of the pelvis and waistline does not collapse down onto the front thigh.
Thigh stretches: I addressed this somewhat in a previous Nerd blog (5 Steps to a Deeper Thigh Stretch), but what's important to add here is that thigh stretches must include this action of drawing the waistline back to be strengthening for the upper psoas. Try a thigh stretch in pigeon pose, and notice what happens to the waistline when you bring the foot in with a strong action to root the thigh back toward the foot. In general, this will set the lower psoas into good alignment, but the bowl of the pelvis will tend to tip forward and the waistline will collapse forward. So to add the upper part, keep the foot in close and the back thighbone rooting back, and then add the actions of Pelvic and Kidney loops. When you do, the pelvis will tip upright and the waistline can flow back so far that you may be able to rest your waistline on the ball of your foot (this is the "shin pillars" variation).
Supta virasana: One of the reasons this pose can be painful for the lower back is that it's easy for the lumbar spine to over-arch if the upper part of the psoas is weak. Try setting up the legs with the shins and feet lined up and the inner thighs flowing down (to get a natural curve in the lower back) and then just go back part way into the pose, resting your elbows on the floor. Keep your inner thighs flowing down, and then lift your pelvis up off the floor to get greater access to the Pelvic and Kidney Loop. Draw your waistline back, and lengthen the energy from the waistline out through the buttocks and knees and up through the back ribs. This will bring the spine to a more neutral curve. Then bring your pelvis back to the floor.
Ustrasana: This is one of the best backbends to feel the opening of the lower back that comes from splitting the energy from the waistline down and up, I think because so much of the lower body is part of the foundation and that helps you to feel the rooting more. Try doing this with a block between your inner thighs to keep the awareness and action of Inner Spiral while you add the loops. (Backbends tend to push the thigh bones forward anyway, so it's very easy for these two loops to override the action of the inner thighs.) Squeeze the block and press the inner thighs back, and keeping that, fill up the back waistline. From the waistline flow down through the sacrum and up through the back ribs, so the lower back is expanded, and then come back into the pose, doing more of the backbend in the upper back. Once you're holding on to your ankles, recreate these same actions. Use the block to maintain inner spiral, and then expand the lower back from the waistline in 2 directions. You can take this into kapotasana or laghu vajrasana variations.
Urdhva dhanurasana: In backbends, it's hard to feel the waistline flowing back, but you can really access the expansion of energy in two directions from the back waistline. (Think of backbends more as "back extensions" and you've got it.) Go into this pose in stages to really keep the expanded quality of the lower back: 1) place your hands and feet and just lift your pelvis off the floor. Here, hug the legs in and turn the inner thighs down, and then breathe into the back waistline. From the back waistline, extend energy downward (that's toward your knees and feet) so much that your knees come more forward and you get more weight in your feet. Keep anchored in the lower body and then from the waistline, lift the kidney area and back ribs toward your heart, and then curl more in the upper back. 2) Repeat once you've curled onto the top of your head. 3) Repeat again once you're in the full pose. THIS FEELS SO GOOD AND SPACIOUS IN THE LOWER BACK.
Hip openers: All of the hip openers are great for practicing these actions. Indeed, if you feel stuck in your hips, expanding to the back body through the waistline will help you to find more freedom. As I noted in the pigeon pose description above, any hip opener (where the hip is externally rotated and in flexion) can be either great for the psoas or it can cause tweakiness. The main thing is to keep the inner thighs flowing down while making space by drawing the waistline back. Try baddhakonasana and agni stambasana, for example, to feel this.
Janu Sirsasana (and other forward bends): The same is true for forward bends. If the waistline collapses onto the front thigh, the energy will get stuck. In janu sirsasana, bow forward and hold the foot from the inside with your opposite hand. Place your front hand on fingertips just wide of the front knee. With the front leg straight and the thigh rooting down into the floor, press strongly through your fingertips into the floor to lift the waistline up and off the front thigh. That's the upper psoas toning. Keep the lift as you draw down through the back of the pelvis and up through the back ribs. Then bow forward fully into the pose, without letting the front waistline drop down.

Action vs. Form: How to REALLY Engage Muscle Energy

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:45:00 +0000

It took me a few years of wrist pain to finally figure out how to really engage Muscle Energy. It turns out that getting the arm bone back is a result of Muscle Energy, not a substitute for it. Interestingly, you actually can get your arm bone back in the shoulder socket without really doing Muscle Energy at all. Muscle Energy has to draw from the periphery (in this case the fingertips) to the core, and I had been shortcutting all along.

It was just a form, with no action.

The difference between form and action is really important, because if you seek form, that's exactly what you'll get. Nice lines, perhaps. But there's more at stake in yoga, or there can be, because you'll only get as much as you seek.

To me, all action begins with some kind of longing, and usually if you dig deep enough you find a longing to connect, whether it be to yourself or to the world around you, and to self-express. So when we talk about action in asana practice, it's fueled by an inner longing, and form will naturally follow in the way of beauty. What's at stake is that you can create something that is truly expressive of yourself, if you choose. What's at stake is the possibility of art.

In Anusara Yoga, action is a balance between Muscle Energy (which draws you in to your core) and Organic Energy (the expressive extension out of your core). Last year I heard John Friend talk about Muscle Energy as not merely moving from periphery to core (as it does), but as the core, in its longing to know itself, drawing all of the parts of the self to it. I love this image, and it fueled my practice in a new way.

Whatever image works for you, whatever infuses your action with meaning, start there. And bring your whole self to it. Muscle Energy starts from a longing inside, and the longing is so strong that it pulls all the parts to it. Then the form you take is not just a form, but the highest expression of yourself.

And on top of that, it will really help clear your wrist.

HOW TO REALLY ENGAGE MUSCLE ENERGY

Whether you think of it from outside-in or inside-out, Muscle Energy will draw all of the parts of yourself into your core. For the upper body, the most peripheral parts are the fingertips, so we start there.

Bring your hands into anjali mudra, with the palms together, and then turn the mudra upside-down so you can see the heels of your hands. If you're just gently touching the hands together, you'll see a gap between the heels of the hands. This is the carpal tunnel, and it's supposed to be there (it's called a tunnel, after all).

Now just press your hands up against each other, and notice how the tunnel can easily flatten. This is what often happens when we're weightbearing on the hands, and it can be the cause of all kinds of wrist, hand, and shoulder issues.

Still with the hands in this inverted anjali mudra, now just gently press the hands into each other so that the four corners of the hands (index knuckle, thumb pad, pinkie knuckle and outer heel of the hand) are touching, and then claw the finger pads into each other. You'll feel and probably even see a lift in the tunnel between the heels of your hands, and this is a healthy engagement. Also notice how the muscles around the underside of the wrist (where the retinaculum holds all of the connective tissue of the flexor muscles in the forearm in place) hugs to the bone. Again, this is a sign of a healthy engagement in the wrist.

When you're weightbearing on the hands, this is the kind of engagement and action you want to create: the four corners of the hands evenly pressing into the earth; the fingertips clawing so that the muscles of the underside of the forearm tone and lift; and the carpal tunnel (i.e. the heel of the hand) light.

The thing is, for many of us, the muscles on the underside of the forearm (flexors of the wrist and fingers) are weak, and so the muscles on the backside of the forearm (generally extensors) get bound up trying to compensate. When they are tight like this, they can pull on the carpal bones in the hand, getting the carpal bones locked up. More significantly, when the flexors are weak, the wrist will get jammed (and carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the results).

PRINCIPLES:

Open to Grace includes setting the foundation of the pose, and when the hands are part of the foundation, that means the creases of the wrists (where the forearms meet the carpal bones in your hands) should line up parallel to each other. It also includes anchoring the 4 corners of the hands: the index knuckle (the knuckle where the index finger meets the palm or the first metacarpal), the thenar eminence (cool term for the heel of the thumb), the pinky knuckle (again, where it meets the palm), and the hypothenar eminence (that's the outer heel of the hand).
Muscle Energy is the action of longing, drawing all of the parts of yourself to the core. In the hands, it starts from the fingertips and flows evenly through the arms all the way to the active focal point. (Or you could look at it inside-out, as the core of yourself calling all the parts of yourself into service.) As a result, the head of the arm bone will move back into the shoulder socket, but remember this is a result. If you prioritize this as a form, you could easily not do the action.
Shoulder Loop brings you deeper into the heart, and you can go there once a strong Muscle Energy to the core is established. When you activate the Shoulder Loop (palate back, shoulder blades curling into the heart), the action in your hands should not really change.
Organic Energy is the balancing action of Muscle Energy. Without Organic Energy, which flows from the focal point to the peripheral parts, we can get too bound up, and the asana fails to find its fullest expression. In the hands, Organic Energy will stretch out through the fingernails, without losing the engagement of the undersides of the arms.

PRACTICE:

Hands and knees: just feel where the weight falls on your hands if you don't add any action. For most people, it will sink into the heel of the hand, flattening the carpal tunnel, and the index finger knuckle will be lighter than the other corners of the hand (if not lifted altogether). Just like you did in anjali mudra, anchor the four corners of each hand, and then draw Muscle Energy through the arms by clawing the fingertips to the floor (without lifting the ridge of knuckles where the fingers meet the palm). You will feel the muscles on the undersides of the forearms fire, and perhaps start to burn. As I said above, these muscles are generally weaker, and when you first learn to engage them, it will be intense.
Downward facing dog: When you shift back from hands and knees to dog pose, notice what happens to the weight in your hands. Does it fall to the heels? Does the index knuckle get light? Feel what it's like to lift the armbones up toward the sky and then soften the heart. That's effective, to some extent, in aligning the shoulders, but if it's just a lift, it's not an action, it's a change in form. Now draw actively from the fingertips all the way up into the core of the heart. The weight will shift toward the fronts of your hands (fingertips and the ridge of knuckles where the fingers meet the palm), the undersides of your arms will tone and lift, and the arm bones will move to the back plane. Keep that, and then actively press the bottom tips of the shoulder blades into the heart (chest toward your thighs). As you engage more of this shoulder loop, watch that the weight in your hands doesn't shift to the heels of the hands.
Surya namaskar: move through plank, caturanga, and cobra pose keeping this engagement.
Pencils: This is a trick I learned from the wise Ellen Saltonstall. On hands and knees, place the tips of pencils in the carpal tunnel (at the heel of each hand) to remind yourself that this part should energetically lift when you're weightbearing on the hands. Then try to move through a round of surya namaskar with the pencils there. It will give you a sense of how much you can draw in and up from the hands to the core.
Handstand: Feel in handstand where the weight falls. Get the four corners of your hands rooted, and then claw into the floor to lift more the undersides of the forearms in this pose. You can do handstand on ridgetops (up on the knuckles where the fingers meet the palm, with the heel of the hand lifted and the thumb kicked back for support) or even on fingertips to build strength and tone.
Vasistasana
Bakasana
Mayurasana: in preparation for mayurasana, come onto hands and knees and turn hand out so that the fingertips point back toward your knees. Now lift the heel of the hand off the floor and claw the fingertips into the mat. As you do, bend your elbow back and watch how as you engage Muscle Energy, the retinaculum (around the wrist) will draw in. (To see the difference, just flatten the heel of the hand to the floor and see how it will tend to puff out.) Now, keeping the engagement in the hands and forearms, soften again in your upper back and then extend back out through the arm, bringing the heel of the hand toward the floor without losing the muscle tone. You can watch the retinaculum (it should stay toned and flat against the bones) to make sure you've kept good engagement. Do both arms, and then try mayurasana.
Urdhva dhanurasana (OK, do some thigh stretches first): on your way up into the pose, stop on the top of your head and find the engagement of Muscle Energy from the hands all the way in. Notice the difference between pulling your arm bones back into the socket (form) and drawing from the fingertips all the way up into the core (here the palate, but it shifts to the pelvis when you're in the pose). The arm bones will go back, and the result will be more powerful.
Urdhva dhanurasana #2: Go up into the pose, and then draw in from your fingertips to your pelvis so much that the heels of your hands start to get light, and the arm bones tip back toward your pelvis. Keep that much engagement in the arms, and then pump your chest through your arms (shoulder loop) to bring your chest and arms more vertical.
Urdhva dhanurasana #3: By the way, this is how you prepare for ticktocks (jumping from wheel through handstand to downward-facing dog). The armbones have to stay back from Muscle Energy, and then the chest pumps through.
Handstand scorpion: Why not? OK, scorpion will really open up if you can get the weight out of your wrists and more forward onto your fingertips and the ridges of the hands. Try it.

Never Stop Growing

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:11:00 +0000

"He never grew up, and he never stopped growing."

Arthur C. Clarke, who passed away a couple of weeks ago, left this as his epitaph. I hadn't known much about Clarke (although I had seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he co-wrote) until I read this line in the Economist's tribute to him, but I resonated with this quote, as it holds both a deep sense of play and a deep desire to expand to the boundary of possibility.

Never grow up: to me, it means being willing to see the world anew, without the jadedness that can often come along with adult consciousness.

Never stop growing: the world offers itself to us as expansive possibility. There is always more to reality than our experience of it.

How do we access the more that's there? Yoga offers us two strategies. The first, is to bring ourselves with the fresh eyes of one who has never grown up, to be able to look at the utterly familiar and see it anew. And what is more familiar than the self? My teacher Douglas Brooks once said that every yogic endeavor is an inquiry into the self (or something to that effect). Are you willing to see yourself in ways you've not yet imagined?

The other strategy is to expand to the boundaries of possibility, to the very edges where the known pushes up against the unknown, and to take what is unfamiliar territory and make it our own.

Recently, I was given the great gift of seeing familiar in a totally new light by studying with Ross Rayburn, a Certified Anusara Teacher who was visiting New York. We were focusing on something I'd been practicing for years, and sure enough, Ross articulated it in a way that made me look all over again, and suddenly the familiar actions of shins-in-thighs-out gained a whole new depth. So much so that we had to discuss it again, over brunch, the next day.

What Ross explored (and I've spent the last few weeks exploring) was how the kneecaps have a kind of inner alignment that must be set before doing the actions of hugging the shins to the midline (part of Muscle Energy) and widening the inner thighs (part of Inner Spiral). Open to Grace. It comes first every time!

What I heard from Ross that radically revamped the familiar was the idea that when you set the foundation of a pose, there are three points that must line up: the 2nd toe mound, the middle of the ankle, and the center of the kneecap. Oftentimes, the kneecap will roll in or out, and if it isn't set straight ahead, then the actions of Muscle Energy and Inner Spiral will not have their full effect.

So it's back to basics this week, to line up the foundation up through the kneecap and then keep it straight ahead as we add the other principles. When this happens, the hamstrings will track properly (as will the hip flexors and the ligaments around the knee), and you'll explore boundaries that you may not have seen before!

PRINCIPLES
It goes like this:

Open to Grace: the first principle includes an alignment of the foundation, and even if you know what's going on with your foundation, take the opportunity to see it anew. There's always more there. When the feet are part of the foundation, that means the second toe mound, the middle of the ankle and the middle of the kneecap will all be in a straight line.
Muscle Energy: for this week, focus on the second component of Muscle Energy, which is hugging to the midline. This creates a tone in the outer shins as well as the inner thighs, and it will provide the steady resistance for Inner Spiral to happen. Watch that when you hug the midline the kneecaps don't knock in; they should stay straight ahead with your feet.
Inner Spiral turns the inner thighs in, back and wide. When the inseams of the legs turn inward, however, watch that the knees don't also roll in. If they do, you won't really be getting the spiraling effect of this principle (which helps to line up the hamstrings, hip flexors, and knees). I love this principle because it really speaks to pushing the boundaries of our experience.
Outer Spiral balances Inner Spiral, so that the outer seams of the legs move backward. In particular, for the health of the hamstrings, this action seals the hamstring attachments at the sitting bones, keeping them from getting overstretched.
Organic Energy adds length and space to the whole pose.

PRACTICE

Uttanasana: first just come into this pose with your feet lined up straight ahead. Without adjusting your knees, notice if they turn inward or outward or face straight ahead in line with the second toe mound and center of the ankle. Whatever the pattern is, it will probably be repeated in most poses, so make a note of which knee does what, and then incorporate aligning the knees into setting the foundation in every pose.
Runner's stretch (ardha hanumanasana): on the front leg, line up the foundation and kneecap, and then add the other principles, emphasizing the widening component of Inner Spiral, without losing the foundational alignment.
Uttanasana: line up the knees with your feet, then use your hands to engage Muscle Energy to the midline, then add Inner Spiral to widen the legs against the boundary of the shins.
Parsvottanasana/Virabhadrasana 1: on the back leg side, the kneecap often tends to roll inward. So track it first with your foot, then add the other principles. Watch that it doesn't roll in again when you Inner Spiral.
Uttanasana: hold your lower legs steady with your muscles while using your hands behind your legs to hold all three hamstrings on each side and widen them into the resistance of the lower legs.
Parivrtta parsvakonasana: twists, because they require a strong focus on hugging the midline and the widening aspect of Inner Spiral, are a great way to align the hamstrings so that they will open more easily in forward bends. Watch the kneecap on the front leg. It will probably tend to follow its pattern of rolling in or out, so keep it straight ahead.
Vrksasana/Utthita hasta padangustasana: the standing balances are a good place to monitor the way each leg is tracking.
Thigh stretches: they're all great for this. Just keep the knee in the midline as you go!
Virasana/Supta virasana: Look at your kneecaps when you sit back in virasana, noticing if one knocks in or out (they'll probably follow the pattern you saw in uttanasana). Then come back out of the pose, and before you sit down, track the three points of the foundation. Keep that steady, have a seat, and then engage the other actions.
Hanumanasana
Upavista konasana
Pascimottanasana

Mapping the Topography of the Inner Body

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:15:00 +0000

Recently, I've been playing a lot of violin in preparation for a concert, and what usually happens when I'm playing a lot of violin is that my inner body begins to return to its habitual pattern: right side body short, twist to the right, right armbone forward. Of course, this is its habitual pattern because I've been playing violin since I was 5 years old, in just that way.

In the yoga tradition, this is what's called samskara, and it makes up the landscape of your consciousness (and from a Tantric perspective, everything is consciousness, including your physical form).

Every time you do something, it creates a groove, and if you do it repeatedly, in the same way, the groove deepens, and now you have troughs and plateaus and ravines that make up who you are. Sure enough, if you do something repeatedly over time, the samskara is no longer a groove but a rut: you're just stuck doing the same thing in the same way again because the samskara is so deep it pulls you in. This is as true for the physical form as it is for the subtler experiences of minds and hearts. Walk with your bag over your right shoulder for years, and it will leave an imprint; react in the same way to similar situations again and again, and your tendency to keep reacting in the same way will only deepen. We harden into our samskaras, but yoga invites us to make ourselves soft (like wax) in order to participate in creating the landscape of ourselves

The Tantric response to samskara is not to eliminate them, but to create mudra. A mudra is a seal or an imprint; it's both the thing that makes the mark, and the mark that's made. And as such, it implies a certain kind of relationship and agency in creating the topography of our consciousness. My teacher Douglas Brooks says that, while samskaras are more volatile, mudras are the deep contours of our consciousness. To make mudra, we have to become the agent of imprinting ourselves, aligning to the deepest imprint of ourselves.

In Anusara Yoga terms, this is what we call the optimal blueprint. It's the place where your inner and outer body are aligned in the best possible way for energy to flow. To know where that place is, you have to soften, open to doing things in a way that is not habitual, and see the deep contours of your consciousness so you can align inside. We have to make ourselves malleable, and this is the first principle of in Anusara Yoga: Opening to Grace.

In the first few years of doing yoga, I wasn't very aware of the particular (violin-playing) contours of my inner body, and so rather than making mudra, I was just creating samskaras. Sure, my body changed and got stronger and more flexible quickly (samskaras are volatile). You can work from your outer body and get all kinds of great results. But I also started to find (over time, over repeated action on an inner misalignment) that my right shoulder wouldn't integrate properly, or that my right wrist would get jammed when weight-bearing.

And then I discovered with help from my teachers that my inner body, and how it was exactly turned in the way that I turn when I play violin. And I discovered the process of making mudra, of aligning the inner body first, and then imprinting the outer form onto that, creating a seal.

The inner body is your energetic body (after all, your physical form is just energy moving). John Friend sometimes calls it the "etheric double." Your whole body has an etheric double, but we're going to focus on the inner body of the upper torso, which will have a particular impact on the alignment of the shoulder girdle, the ribs, the wrists, and even the diaphragm. Unless the inner body is aligned to the optimal blueprint, all of the actions on the outer form won't be as effective as they could be. They'll be just samskaric actions, and they'll lend themselves to volatility. That's why my wrist would flare up in the past whenever I ramped up my violin-playing: I was doing the best action I knew how to do, but on top of an inner misalignment. This year is the first time that the mudra I've created has held strong enough that I can play violin as much as I want without it impacting my shoulder and wrist in a negative way.

Get to Know the Topography of Your Particular Embodiment
Start by softening, without trying to hold yourself too much on the outside so that you can feel and see more clearly how your inner body moves. Notice (either by feeling while seated or standing, or by looking in a mirror) the following:

If one side body (for this, the side body is the length from the waistline to the armpit) is longer or shorter. When the inner body is full and bright, the side bodies will lengthen so much that the shoulders will become more level across.
If your chest is rotated to one side or the other. Look at the fullness of the chest (right below the collarbones) as indicators; if one side is more hollow, that means your chest is turned to that side. You can also feel the rotation of the inner body in cobra pose: keep both hip points on the floor (so that the rotation of the pelvis doesn't get involved) in a low cobra, and then lift up and twist your chest from one side to the other. In general, the side that's easier to twist to will be the side that your inner body is rotated toward.
If the head of the arm bone is more forward in the shoulder socket on one side than the other. You'll have to square your chest to the front to see this clearly, as the rotation of the chest might mask the relationship between the arm bone and the shoulder socket.

One common pattern is for all three misalignments to be present on the same side: side body short, inner body turned to that side, and arm bone forward.

See what the pattern is for yourself, and these three marks will help you to know how to line up the inner body and the outer body in any pose.

Aligning the Inner Body
The first principle in Anusara Yoga is to Open to Grace, or an opening to receive yourself as the gift of grace. In the upper body, it includes a luminous expansion of the whole torso (sides, front and back, top and bottom) and a softening of the outer form. We call this "inner body bright, outer body soft." When opening the inner body to its fullness, you'll have to bring more awareness to lengthening the side body that tends to shorten, and to turning the chest to neutral in the front. Keeping that, let your outer form -- your skin, your muscles and bones -- release and be held on that brightness. You'll feel a dynamic alignment between inner and outer: this is a practice of mudra.

Once you align the inner body and allow the outer form to soften (like wax), all of the other actions you engage will map directly on to this deep imprint of yourself.

As you move through the sequence of asanas listed below, in every pose, first align the inner body, then the outer. Asymmetrical poses (especially twists) are fun, because on one side the inner body is moving with the outer body, and on the other side the two will be in a dynamic resistance.

One of the things that you'll notice when you first start working in this way is that it's very easy to move the outer form instead of the inner. Notice if, when you lengthen the sides of the torso, the trapezius muscles and levator scapulae engage to create the effect of "side bodies long". That's an outer action, rather than inner. Notice to, if you're spinning your chest to square off at the front by just turning your chest rather than moving the energy around the central axis of your core. For it to make mudra, the first principle must move from the inside out.

Practice
For every posture, expand your inner body fully, lengthening the side that needs more length, and turning the chest to the center. Once you have that, just soften and release into that place. Then engage muscle energy, to re-imprint on the outside what you've mapped on the inside. Notice how you'll have to do more muscle energy from the periphery to the core on the side where the arm bone tended to poke forward in order to find a place of balance.

Surya namaskar: The poses in this sequence are great for feeling and aligning the inner body. In caturanga, cobra and salabhasana variations, try lengthening both side bodies, and then turning (exaggeratedly) the inner body to the side it needs to go to. Keep that, and then with the action of muscular energy, get the upper arm bones to plug back into the shoulder socket. For most people, you'll have to do more Muscle Energy on the side that you're turning away from (as the turn will tend to bring the arm bone forward) -- but for everyone, just get both arm bones fully back while keeping the inner body aligned.
Adho mukha svanasana: In dog pose, often times you'll feel one arm bone dropping more toward the floor, and this can be a result either of not enough Muscle Energy through that arm, or it could be that the inner body is turned so that that side of the chest is pushed more forward (i.e. downward). Regardless, align the inside first (side bodies long, turn the chest to neutral) and then engage Muscular Energy on top of that inner alignment.
Standing poses: the asymmetrical standing poses are great for feeling the mudra between inner and outer forms.
Standing twists: This gets a little more complex, but remember, it's the same principles every time. When you're twisting to the side that your inner body is naturally rotated toward, you'll need to turn the inner body away from the twist, and then twist the outer body on top of that. When you're twisting to the side that your inner body is naturally rotated away from, the twist will bring you more to neutral. Still, you must align the inner body (turn the inner body into the twist) and then twist the outer body on top of that. Otherwise, your inner body will chase the outer body into the twist.
Inversions: Do you ever feel like your all of your weight falls to one side in handstand or forearm stand? That's probably related to the inner body collapsing to that side. Line things up on hands/forearms and knees first, getting more length on the side you need, and turning your chest to square. Then integrate the arm bone into the socket more on the side where the arm bone tends to poke forward. Keep that dynamic alignment while you go up.
Ustrasana: Try coming into the pose by first turning your inner body (and your outer body) to the side that brings it into alignment. Keep your pelvis squared straight ahead, and as you go into the backbend, keep turning to that side, bringing that hand to the ankle first. Once you're there, keep the inner body square and let gravity help you bring the other arm bone back to hold the foot.
Urdhva dhanurasana: Go to the top of your head in preparation for wheel pose. There, align the inner body (side bodies long, turn), and then keeping the inner body aligned, draw Muscle Energy from the hands all the way up through the arms so both arm bones go back. Notice if when you do that, the muscular action turns your chest back to its natural samskara. The inner body must hold its alignment even as the outer form maps onto it. Once you have that, press up into the pose.
Scorpion: Now for fun, try this out in scorpion and see if it helps you to open up the backbend.

The Spine's Serpentine Path

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:11:00 +0000

Teaching in Louisville, KY last weekend, I found myself practicing in front of a mirror for the first time in a long time. The mirror can be a useful teaching tool once in a while, and I had some insights into how to create a more fluid curve in the spine.

The spine is a pathway for the shushumna nadi, a current of energy that runs inside the vertebral column. In many traditions, this is the path of Kundalini, the serpent power coiled at the base of the spine that can be awakened and raised through a practice of yoga. In the Rajanaka tradition, Kundalini is already awake: your birth was the dynamic unfolding of Kundalini into the form of embodied power. So rather than trying to awaken Kundalini, yoga is to align to the empowered self. Enlightenment is not an attainment, it's a recognition.

The pathway of Kundalini, then, is a circuitry that you can create and empower, rather than a ladder that you must ascend. Sometimes you'll want to make the heroic leap from the mind back down to the heart, or from the heart to the throat (the place of self-expression), or from the waters of the belly to the root of yourself.

So, too, in working to align the spine.

In its optimal alignment, the spine normally has four curves: the tailbone tucks under (a kyphotic curve), the top of the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae draw in to the body (a lordotic curve), the thoracic spine is kyphotic and the cervical spine is lordotic.

In Stage 1 forward bends (where the hips are bent to just 90 degrees), the spine is in its neutral position and, in alignment, will have these four curves. And as you move from Stage 1 to full form forward bends, the entire spine should round at an even rate.

What I was noticing in the mirror in Louisville was that exactly the opposite was happening in my body, and this is common. Tight hamstrings will tend to pull the pelvis under when the legs are extended and the hips flexed, and this reverses the curve in the lumbar spine (the vertebrae will stick out). Even if the hamstrings are not tight, if the upper back is really mobile and moves toward a flat spine (rather than kyphosis), it will push the lumbar vertebrae out. This is particularly true in seated forward bends, where the pelvis and legs are all part of the foundation: the lower part of the spine gets more stuck, while the upper part, because it doesn't have the resistance of the floor, pushes in at a faster rate.

Take inventory:
Before doing full form forward bends, check in at Stage 1 to be sure that you can get all 4 curves in the spine. Try this first seated in upavista konasana, just to feel.

Notice what parts of the spine are sticking out and what parts are moving in to the body, and then see how that relates to the optimal curves of the spine. You don't need a mirror for this. Just run your fingers up your vertebrae from the top of the sacrum up towards your upper back.

Because of the reasons mentioned above, most people will find that the upper back is pushing in faster than the lower back, creating reverse curves in the lumbar and thoracic spine.

Connecting the Circuitry:
In order to line up the spine optimally in a neutral place and for forward bending, the strategy will be to stabilize the hyper-mobile part in order to gain access to a deeper opening in the part that is more stuck, like this:

Set up in Stage 1 of the forward bend
Back out of the hyper-mobile part of your spine by breathing and even rounding back. For most people, this will be the thoracic spine, but you'll see what it is for you.
Keeping that part stable (moving back), charge your inner thighs by hugging the legs to the midline and then turn the inner thighs in, back and apart (Inner Spiral). This action will draw the top of the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae into the body, creating a natural curve. If you still feel stuck in the lower back area, back off even more through the upper back -- you might have to lean back past 90 degrees in the pelvis to gain access to the action of the thighs.
Once the lumbar vertebrae have moved in to the body, draw your tailbone down and lift the spine up and out of the pelvis
In moving deeper into the forward bend, extend the whole spine evenly. Notice whether the neck or the upper back are moving faster into the forward bend than the lower back, and if so, back out there, re-anchor the inner thighs, and then extend again. You can use your fingertips on the floor in front of you pressing down to help move th mobile part of your spine back.

Application
Use the principles outlined above to create a more even, fluid curve in the spine in these poses. If you have a mirror, use it to watch the curves (if not, you can just feel your vertebrae with your fingertips)

Cat/Cow
Downward-facing dog with the hands on the wall (L-pose): the upper back (and neck) will tend to be more mobile here, pressing toward the floor with gravity, to stabilize these areas by backing out of the pose and then move into the lower body.
Downward-facing dog
Prasarita padottanasana
Parsvakonasana: notice how if you lean forward in your upper body to get the thighs back, this is more form than action, and won't be very effective in getting curve in the lower back. Keep your upper back in line (even puff out through the back lungs), and then access your inner thighs and use them to create lumbar curve.
Parsvottanasana: start standing upright, and bring your spine just to horizontal first (this is stage 1); back out of the upper back until you can use your legs to draw the lower back into the body, then come into the forward bend. Use blocks for your hands, or bring your hands to a wall, if you need.
Prasarita padottanasana toward press handstand: I finally figured out that this is the key to pressing up into handstand. You have to move your spine from forward bend to neutral, and getting the low back to draw in and up is essential
Supta virasana: notice how the lower back here tends to be arched more than the rest; lift your pelvis up off the floor to extend the tailbone more and lift up through the kidney area so that the tailbone and upper back curves are kyphotic.
Upavista konasana: I don't recommend using padding under the pelvis to accommodate tight hamstrings in seated forward bends, because it tends to move the legs toward hyperextension. Try instead to just get Stage 1 upavista konasana, with natural curves in the spine. If your hamstrings are really tight, you may have to lean backwards quite a bit in the upper back, then use your legs strongly (hug the midline, inner spiral) to get the inner thighs to flow down, the pelvis to tip upright, and the lumbar vertebrae to draw in and up.
Triangmukhaipada pascimottanasana/krounchasana
Dandasana: For me, this is one of the most challenging poses of all. With the legs straight ahead, you don't have the space that upavista konasana affords, and with your pelvis and legs on the floor as part of the foundation, there's limited mobility. Work this one with the legs separated sitting bone distance apart, and put a block between your feet or your shins as resistance for hugging the midline. Then go through all of the steps above, leaning back as much as you need to in your upper back to make space to access your inner thighs.
Pascimottanasana: Once you're able to get natural curves in the spine in dandasana, come forward into pascimottanasana.

5 Principles to Grow Your Experience From Inside Out

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Spring finally seems to have hit New York, at least with enough sun and fair weather to turn people's moods on the streets to gaiety and delight. I found myself in Union Square on that first warm day, surrounded by happy New Yorkers soaking it in, and it was remarkable how much the outside can affect our spirit. And then, it's not so remarkable, because as yogis, we know that what we do with our outside (our physical form) can have a significant impact on how we feel on the inside. That's one reason people come to an asana practice in the first place: you move through some poses, and by the end of it, you feel different inside. This is a great gift of asana.

But yoga invites us to something more than just transforming ourselves from outside-in. It also posits that who we are on the inside can become manifest in everything we do, in all of the forms that we take. Of course, who we are on the inside is manifest in everything we do. It couldn't be otherwise. What makes something yoga, is that we act from a place of connection ("Act standing in yoga", Krishna says to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita) to the subtle-most experience of ourselves. It's the difference between speaking or acting without reflection (and we all know when this happens, as it's usually followed by regret), and speaking or acting with a clear connection to what you want to create and offer of yourself.

I've been thinking about this using the model of the koshas, the five "sheaths" or five ways we experience ourselves as embodied beings. In my understanding, the koshas are not really separate layers, but rather different ways of accessing the same thing: our self. So when one of the koshas is affected, so are all the rest. The densest/grossest sheath is called the annamaya kosha, your "food body." It's the recognition that you literally are what you eat, you become everything you consume and ingest. It's the recognition that what you do on the outside will change your inner state. The subtle-most experience of yourself is what's called the anandamaya kosha, or your bliss body. It's the experience of yourself as pure delight, the experience that you are who you are just because.

The challenge of yoga is to grow yourself in both directions, from outside-in and inside-out, so that who you are on the outside is intimately connected (yoked) to who you are on the inside. And there's nothing like backbends to turn things inside-out, to make our heart our outer experession (think of the image of Hanuman, with his hands ripping open his heart to reveal Ram and Sita inside).

The principle of alignment that opens up the heart center is the shoulder loop, spanning from the upper palate to the bottom tips of the shoulder blades (the palate and heart focal points). But for the shoulder loop to be effective, it has to be established in yoga, in connection, especially with the head and neck.

Here are five principles that yoke the shoulders and neck in their fullest expression:

Open to Grace: The experience of ananda expands the inner body fully, including a lengthening all the way up through the sides of the torso and throat.
Muscle Energy: In the upper body, when we draw from the outside-in (periphery to core), the upper arm bones will move back plane of the body, more deeply into the shoulder sockets. A key aspect of muscle energy is to take the top of the throat back, lining up the neck/head with the spine, and toning the muscles on the back of the neck. The hyoid bone floats there, at the top of the throat, and through a series of muscles (it's involved in swallowing) connects all the way down to your belly. To line it up, think of the top of the throat moving back and up, as if it were smiling (and the notice if you smile when you do that.) When the hyoid bone is in alignment, you'll fell a natural tone and lift in the low belly as well as in the sternum. Although the muscles involved with the hyoid bone are not primary actors, the positioning of the hyoid bone can offer signifiers that the head/neck are yoked with the rest of your body.
Shoulder Loop: This refinement begins at the soft palate and flows back toward the occiput and then down the back, drawing the bottom tips of the shoulder blades forward through the heart focal point and lifting the front of the sternum and the chin. In addition to creating a lordotic curve in the neck, shoulder loop gets the trapezius muscles on the upper back to flow down (so they're not all bunched up around your neck). Even though the trapezius muscles and shoulder blades flow down the back with shoulder loop, the front of the chest and the tops of the arm bones continue to lift up and flow back. Shoulder Loop literally turns us inside-out, by bring the heart forward. Note that Shoulder Loop won't be very effective if the first two principles aren't established: we must act standing in yoga, from a place of deep connection, in order to make our outer form our truly reflect our inner-most self. If the head/neck are not in line with the spine (throat/hyoid back), and the back of the neck isn't toned, when the head tips back with shoulder loop, the back of the neck will just collapse and shorten.
Skull Loop also starts at the soft palate and flows back, but then moves up the back of the skull, lengthening the back of the neck. When balanced with Shoulder Loop, it will bring the curve of the neck to it's natural alignment (lordotic curve with length).
Organic Energy gives extension to all of this.

Practice with these 5 principles as focus:

Tadasana: go to a wall, with you heels and back against the wall. When you line up the upper body, the back of your skull will be up against the wall. Yes. All the way back there.

Lunges with cactus arms: I love the cactus arm variation, because it's simply easier to engage the upper arm bones to the back plane of the body with muscle energy. Once the throat is aligned (back), curl your head back and actively draw the trapezius muscles down the back and into the heart center to lift the chest.

Surya namaskar: practice keeping the neck/head in line with the spine as you move. It's interesting how when we engage the arm bones to the back plane of the body, the neck/head often poke forward, disconnecting from the core. Take the arm bones and the top of the throat back together, in order to move from a place of deep connection.

Standing poses: practice parsvakonasana, trikonasana, virabhadrasana 1, etc. starting with your hand(s) behind the base of your skull (at the occiput). Use this hand to provide active resistance for the shoulder loop, so the neck doesn't collapse back.

Handstand/Pinca mayurasana: look forward toward your fingertips while kicking up, to initiate the shoulder loop and engage the trapezius muscles up the back toward the ceiling.

Makarasana/Rajakapotasana: notice what happens as you take the head back to move toward the fullest expression of the pose. If the arm bones and neck aren't firmly established with muscle energy, the back of the neck can collapse and the upper arm bones may pop forward the deeper you try to go. Move from a place of connection.

Ekapadarajakaptoasana 1 (2, 3, 4): Again, the head/neck will tend to pull forward here. The backbend becomes some much easier if you get the head/neck in line with spine first, and then curl the head back for shoulder loop. Spinning the arm to bring it overhead comes only after all of this.

Sirsasana 2: this is a good one to feel the trapezius muscles and shoulder blades lifting up away from the palate focal point.

Setubandha: use the floor as resistance to create a deeper action of muscle energy and shoulder loop.

Urdhva dhanurasana: ever wonder why teachers tell you to look at the floor when you go up into wheel, rather than looking forward? By taking the head back (actively), it will help initiate the flow of shoulder loop, so the trapezius muscles lift up and curl the upper back more into the backbend. (Conversely, if you look forward or even up toward your chest, the trapezius muscles will tend to pull toward the neck, and misalign the shoulder blades off the back.) As you're going up into wheel, go first to the top of your head and pause there to establish the connections that you want to make. In particular, get the upper arm bones back by clawing the fingertips into the floor and drawing the muscle energy up through the arms. Then to tone the back of the neck and curl more in the upper back, drag your skull energetically back on the mat toward your feet (you'll be able to bring the chest more vertical). Then go up, looking at the floor toward your fingertips the whole way.

Sarvangasana: I know, we've been doing backbends, but these actions are great preparation for sarvangasana. Everything applies. The only thing I should add is that in this pose, none of the vertebrae should be touching the floor. Getting the trapezius muscles and shoulder blades to lift up toward your hips through shoulder loops is the way (and use blankets under your upper arms as needed to lift your pose and allow your head to tip back to the floor with more curve in the neck).

Seated poses: try out these principles in seated twists (like ardha matsyendrasana) and forward bends (like janu sirsasana). Notice if the head tends to lead the way (it often does). Just taking the top of the throat back to line up the spine, and then move from this place of connection.

Shri Vidya: The Technology of Opening Up to More

noreply@blogger.com (Zhenja) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:12:00 +0000

One of the things that happens when you're a YogaNerd is that the technology of the yoga can be so enticing and exciting that we can get caught up in the details and refinements, but forget the big picture. It's important to remember that this technology is in the service of something more: it's Shri's vidya. It's for the sake of beauty, for the sake of what we hold valuable, and for that which brings us to an expansion of consciousness and of our hearts. If we lose sight of Shri and do the technology just for the sake of technology, we can easily end up feeling disconnected.

(There's a great story about the Pine Forest Sages, who have gotten so invested in refining the technology of their yoga that they begin to neglect their wives, meaning, they've forgotten the purpose of all of this yoga anyway. It's supposed to serve your life, not isolate you from your life. Shiva steps in, with his pal Vishnu, and as hot young things get the sages and their wives all hot and bothered, to bring them back into remembrance of what it's all for. For Shri, for beauty, for love. If you ever wondered why Shiva was out there dancing in the forest, this is the back story.)

Whenever you practice, remember Shri, remember what is valuable, abundant and life affirming. This is why Opening to Grace is the first principle in Anusara Yoga, we remember Shri and place all of the other actions and refinements within the context of Shri.

The technology focus of the week are the actions of "shins-in-thighs-out," a combination of Muscle Energy to the midline and the widening aspect of Inner Spiral away from the midline. Muscle Energy can feel like hard science (it's precise and linear), and if done in isolation, you can actually start to feel hardened and, well, isolated. But when you activate Muscle Energy from a remembrance of Shri, it has a sweetness and becomes something that serves a deepening experience. Inner Spiral is less linear, and more intuitive. It curves and turns and broadens. It needs the steadfast, linear remembrance of Muscle Energy as something to push up against to expand into more.

Now we use the phrase "shins-in-thighs-out" as shorthand, but Muscle Energy to the midline includes the thighs and pelvis, and Inner Spiral widens all the way up through the inner rim of the pelvis (iliacus) and the waistline (catching the psoas and quadratus lumborum, and moving them into alignment). Once they're lined up, you can stretch them with Outer Spiral and Organic Energy. This lateral expansion through the pelvis and waistline is a powerful way to open the hips and lower back. Why? For Shri, for beauty, for more.

So, a summary of the technology, in the service of more:

First start with a remembrance of what it's all for; this technology is in the service of something great.
Then with remembrance, hug the legs and pelvis in toward the midline. If you keep the second toe mound lined up vertically (when the heel is lifted), that will help you remember the midline as you add Inner Spiral.
The back leg side always needs more Inner Spiral, so spin the inner back leg in, back, and especially wide. Widen not just the thigh, but also the inner rim of the pelvis (iliacus) and the waistline.
Keeping the width to the back leg side, spin the low belly (the part of your belly that's in between the pelvic bones; it's LOW) toward the front leg side
And bring it back to Shri with an expansion from the core out.

Here's a sequence to practice these actions, especially to expand and widen the pelvis and waistline area:

Downward-facing dog: with the feet placed, bend your right knee and cross the knee in front of the left leg. The left hip will widen toward the sky, as both feet turn out to the left. Keep the arms steady, the legs active to the midline, and broaden the whole left side of the body, feeling the stretch in the inner rim of the pelvis and waistline. Then go to the other side, and move back and forth like this.

High lunge: line it up, and then take a side stretch over to the front leg side to really feel the widening of the back leg side (leg, pelvis and waistline)

Vasistasana prep pose: In vasista on the right side, step your left foot forward towards the front of your mat and turn the foot out, so it points the same direction as your back foot. Charge the legs to the midline (that will lift the bottom leg up toward the sky). And then keeping the tone in the leg, slowly start to widen the right hip and waistline toward the floor. You can go all the way down.

Goofy lunge and goofy parsvottanasana: Goofy foot on the back foot means that you turn the back leg/foot inward so much that you'll be on the outer blade (pinky-toe-side) of the foot. Keep strong action to the midline as you do, and then widen that back leg a lot. You'll get the iliacus to stretch in this way

Parsvakonasana (and other side plane standing poses): Use the power of the shins to the midline to widen the back leg side (leg, pelvis, waistline) up, and that will make space for the front hip to tuck under more.

Parivrtta Trikonasana/Parsvakonasana: oh my god this is so great.

Balancing in inversions (try this in handstand, forearmstand, even headstand): the leg that you kick up with will tend to rotate the pelvis outward, so hold a remembrance to the midline with that leg and widen through the back of the pelvis. Kick up just to an L-shape at first, with your kicking leg vertical and the other leg horizontal. Here you can re-establish your alignment, by spinning the back (vertical) leg in, while sliding your belly to the front (horizontal) leg side. It's amazing how this brings you more into balance.

Hanumanasana: find the midline (back foot with second toe mound vertical), and then push out against it, expanding the back of the pelvis and hamstrings.

Janu sirsasana: In these seated poses, you can actually lean to the back leg side to find the width and get the hip flexors to release, and then keeping the heaviness on the back leg side, slide your belly to the front leg and go for it.