How Making Things Easier Has Made Life Harder
“Stira Sukham Asanam”. The pose is steady and comfortable. These few words from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali have been a large influencing factor in how yoga asana is experienced. As a student and as a teacher we seek to find the balance of effort and ease in a pose, the balance of strength and softness. Asana specifically means the seat, or seated postures, so the asanas as a whole can be thought of as a way to prepare for sitting in meditation. I liked the way one teacher explained asana as to, “sit in the seat of the self”.
Being able to sit comfortably for meditation requires a certain steadiness in the body and openness in the hips. When the body can sit in this way the spine naturally aligns and the ability to breathe deeply is enhanced. The head gets to rest comfortably over the neck and spine. The mind can feel clear and alive.
But for all of our efforts in the west to make sitting in chairs comfortable, we have totally lost the plot. We haven’t made sitting comfortable, we have weakened the very muscles needed to support the body in order to sit. We have stiffened the muscles and joints. And thanks to computers (which I happen to be sitting in front of as I type), our heads are craning forward and the neck is uncomfortable, the shoulders sloping, the chest collapsing. ouch!
The "easy chair"
The easier we make sitting, the harder it actually becomes.
I think this phenomenon translates into many areas. I recently read a great book called, “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. He investigates the ultra runners who can run 100 mile races over trails and mountains. His interest began with a simple question, “why does my foot hurt?” he was experiencing, like so many people, countless injuries from running. His intrigue led him to find tribes of people who run with hardly any injuries, and hardly any shoes.
His argument, which is highly compelling, is that running injuries began with the invention of the running shoe in the 70′s (thank you, Nike). The over cushioned heel allows for a heel strike as you run, a completely new concept for running. Before that, the natural way to run would be a mid to forefoot strike.
Nike Shox Turmoil
If the name doesn’t just say it all. This is the over cushioned super heel of the Nike running shoe. It quite possibly spurned a whole generation of running injuries by teaching us all to heel strike. Not only that but these shoes weaken the muscles and the structures of the foot so that over time your foot has lost the ability to do what it was designed to do. Run.
Stira Sukham Asanam.
The pose is firm and comfortable. Not just comfortable. A feeling of ease comes from strength and foundation. It doesn’t really work the other way around.
When we experience discomfort we strengthen and grow. That is how the body works. We have to challenge the muscles, tissues, and bones to some extent to build their strength. The mind has to be challenged to stay sharp as we age.
This was going around facebook earlier in the week and it really rings true:
I will leave you with a video for fun. Cell phones: The prime example of making life “easier” gone wrong. Communication at your fingertips…blessing or curse?
Namaste!
Intentions are Set: Helping Students Learn to Fly
It has taken me a little while to set some 2012 resolutions. But then it struck me in my first week back teaching. I want to help my students learn to fly, at least in the yoga sense.
Why? Because it feels so good. It is empowering when you start to do things you didn’t know how to do or even more, didn’t think you could.
I want to help people get that up lifted feeling.
A dash of physics, a little practice (ok, a lot of practice), and the ability to pick yourself up when you fall.
Need a little inspiration? Check out this Equinox video of LA yogini, Briohny Smyth. Holy moly, I hope you like underwear.
“Yoga is the resolution of opposition” -Maty Ezraty
Opposition including Roots and Rebounds Yoga is made up of opposition. To lengthen something you must pull it in two directions. In our asanas we focus on rooting down into the floor through our hands and feet and then rebounding away in the other direction creating length and strength. There is also an opposing muscular action in the arms during arm balancing poses. We look for muscular counter actions to stabilize us and give us a locked in feeling. While the upper arms externally rotate away from the ears the forearms are rolling inwards. This helps give us a strong downdog and handstand. Another opposite is the balance of apana and prana in the body. Apana is a downward energy and prana is an upward energy. We must have these in equal measure to feel both grounded and light.
Bone stacking When we use bone stacking in our favor, the muscles don’t have to do all the work. We can be supported by the alignment of our bones and joints. In some of our arm balances we will look at this bone stacking as a fulcrum whereby we look to shift our center of mass.
Shifting your center of mass The center of mass is somewhere around your hips and pelvis. In all the arm balances, inversions, and jumping we are really working with shifting this center of mass (your hips, pelvis, ‘tail’), until we find a point of balance. This leads me to…
Dude where’s my core?Yes, the ever elusive core. The “core” consists of deep abdominal muscles (the transverse abdominals), the obliques (the sides of waist), rectus abdominals (your 6 pack abs), and the pelvic floor. If we think of the core not only as our midsection but also the trunk of the body than we can include muscle groups here like the lats, traps, serratus anterior and so on. The core is our power center. If we use opposition, roots and rebounds, stack the bones, and shift the center of mass, then our last stabilizing factor for flight is to use the core. In yoga this is often called using the bandhas (inner body locks), engaging the deep abdominals in the low belly and lifting the pelvic floor. These bandhas also play a role in creating prana in the body, that upward flow of energy. All of these things lead to lift-off.
“Yoga is 99% practice, 1% theory” – Pattabhi Jois
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
How to Keep Calm and Carry on Doing Yoga over the Holidays
Holidays are wonderful; some time off of work, maybe a trip or vacation, lots of family, and lots of food. It also means you could quite possibly find yourself out of your regular routine or away from your yoga studio, and all when you need yoga more than ever.
Here are some ways to bring the yoga to you when you can’t get to class
1. Online video classes:
with Yogaglo or YogaVibes Hundreds of great classes at your fingertips!
2. DVD’s:
Yoga Journal has many great DVD’s for home practice and therapeutics with teachers like Annie Carpenter, Natasha Rizopoulos, and Jason Crandell.
Gaiam also has an array of great videos including Seane Corn’s Detox Flow and Kathryn Budig’s Aim True (newly released!)
3. Podcasts
There are loads of audio and video podcasts on iTunes these days. Yoga Journal and Core Power Yoga are just a couple that you will find. Here is a a YogaJournal podcast featuring Kathryn Budig on building core strength:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEnp8sgi4F0
4. Roll out your mat and flow your own way! Home practice can also be a good opportunity for unedited creativity.
So these holidays, Keep calm and do yoga even if you can’t get to class.
Spice Up Your Yogatastic Holidays
In a holiday cookie rut? I found these cute yoga pose cookie cutters by the Kitchen Yogi. They could be dressed like gingerbread yogis, pulling all your favorite moves.
Video to Brighten Your Day: Yoga Girl
Laughter. It’s good for the soul.
Needle Me This: My First Acupuncture
I have finally taken the plunge and had my first acupuncture treatment. It has always intrigued me and yet I have never felt reason to go until now.
I am nearly three months out from having broken my big toe rather viciously by dropping the base of our patio umbrella on my foot. Subsequently I got married, failed my UK driving test, and started teaching a lot more. What’s the connection?
Healing takes time. Healing takes energy.
The failed test means I now cycle…everywhere. The wedding? A subtle case of bridezilla. The teaching? Amazing but exhausting. The broken toe? Really inconvenient. To top it off it is winter In Cambridge. Cold, wet, and dark.
I think I have been scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to my energy and there has been little to none left for my healing foot. Meanwhile doctors and nurses offered little more support than pain pills and bandages.
So I ordered a S.A.D. lamp and a bottle of multivitamins. I love sitting in the glow of my SAD lamp but always feel a twinge of sadness when I turn it off and the world goes grey again.
I needed something more.
I went to acupuncture, yesterday with Michael Balshaw in Ely. Not only does he stick needles in people but is also a certified Iyengar teacher. I felt confident this guy had it figured out.
There were a few different phases to my procedure. Some superficial needles in my ankles and wrists set off my stomach grumbling and churning nearly instantaneously. I had some deeper needles in my back and glutes. I finished with needles in my legs and foot. The final needles felt “interesting” in a good way. It definitely is not a painful procedure and it actually all felt quite good.
I felt energized after the session. A couple of hours later I was quite drowsy. And then perked back up and felt really good. I felt like my mind was working more quickly, my focus was improved, and I even felt my senses were heightened.
I had a good night’s sleep and today I feel relaxed.
Next acupuncture session is next Friday and I am really looking forward to it.
Complementary health seems to me a way to take the whole person in to account. It is a way to nurture, as the body is dynamic and changes over time. We have to support our body’s own ability to heal. For healing as for life, there has to be a flow of energy.
Let it Go: Why Savasana is So Hard, and Steve Jobs was So Right
Photo Courtesy Rene Carrillo
Dead body pose. Corpse pose. Savasana.
For some of us this seems to come so easy. Lie there and be still. Relax. Release. Give over to the moment. Ahh
But for so many, this pose is hard. I don’t want to close my eyes. Why Am I laying here? This is a waste of time. My face itches. I am hungry. Are my shoulders in the right place? I wish the teacher would stop talking. I’m bored.
We resist change and transformation because something has to die in order to give birth to the new. We must ‘die’ in the moment of savasana to let the new being take shape. I think the fear is that if I let go of what I think I am, what I think I know, then who am I?
Letting go is one of the lessons that we get from death. We realize that we actually have so little control after all. Not one person in the history of the world has escaped it yet, and none of us ever will. So how does one take this lesson of dead body pose and turn it into something less morbid and depressing?
I recently re-watched Steve jobs’ Stanford speech, posted through TED on “How to live before you die”. Well, he certainly did. Watch the video below for his full speech, even more prophetic now he has passed. In a nutshell: Trust your gut. Follow your heart. Be led off the well worn path…and trust that the dots will connect in the future. Never settle, and do what you love. Lastly, ask yourself each day, “if today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And if the answer is no too many days in a row, you have to change what you are doing.
When you live with the knowledge of your own death, you have nothing to lose.
So die to the moment. Give yourself to savasana. Let go of what does not serve you. And wake up to the new you, the best you every day.
I was cycling home today and I saw a girl on a bike nearly run over an older couple. She yelled at them because she had a green light and they were in the road when they shouldn’t be. The man told her she was going too fast. And she got angry with them. Here is a perfect example of where needing to be right is just so wrong. When did our humanity become prostrate to being right? Let it go.
Let it go. Let something die in order for something else to take shape. Give yourself the five minutes you get in savasana. And live before you die.
Hot Yoga Bliss Playlist
This Playlist has served me well for my hot yoga class and I thought I would pass it along. Most of this I downloaded through the UK version of iTunes. It is a good 90 minutes of music.
Nataraja Prelude by Shantala
Intention Feat. Morley by Earthrise Soundsystem
Holy Ma by Shantala
Jai! from the album Namaskaram
Let it Burn Feat. Daniel Dworkin by Earthrise Soundsystem
Falling from the album Human
Sa Ta Na Ma by Mantra Girl
Subterranean Sanctuary from the Yoga Flow Mix 1
Grace – U2
Belle – Jack Johnson
Procelain -Moby
Nagual from the Om Yoga Mix
Dhan Dhan by Mantra Girl
Deep Bamboo from Music for Savasana by Steven Halpern
Closing Meditation by Shantala
Yoga Home Practice Makes Progress: Press Handstand
In February of this year I posted a blog about having a yoga home practice. I had made a yoga corner in my house, which is still relatively uncluttered. I set off to working on things I love. Well, that mostly entailed handstands. I set the goal back in February to be able to do a press handstand. Below are the videos of my progress.
I was thinking about what the changes were in order to be able to facilitate press handstands. I just read this great blog post by YogaDork on the serratus anterior in chatturanga. Find the whole article here. The serratus anterior muscle attaches the ribs and and the scapula. When you engage this muscle you can keep the shoulder blades from winging up or out. You can actually feel a wrapping sensation around the sides of the ribs and the strength in the shoulder girdle. When you couple this with the triceps wrapping out around the upper arms you get a a very stable foundation. Kick in the deep inner core muscles and you are away.
Also, if you don’t have one already, try the Yogitoes uStrap. This strap has a little bit of stretch but it gives enough support that you can find the engagement of the serratus and triceps. Really useful little tool. With its help I learned the crow to handstand transition, which I think is a useful first step for pressing to handstand.
I think the key to these kinds of poses is practice, practice, practice and a bit of faith. You can’t necessarily predict the point where you will be able to go from not being able to do something to actually doing it. Massive change is often the result of many little micro changes that you hardly even perceive, spread out over time. I pressed my hands into the floor quite a lot to not go anywhere. Earlier in the year I blogged the growth of an amaryllis plant. I recounted that there were weeks of staring at dirt before anything happened. Then there were weeks of plant growth before a spectacular bloom.
Get to know your serratus anterior, and have some fun!
