Tag Archives: pose

How Making Things Easier Has Made Life Harder

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  “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!

Let it Go: Why Savasana is So Hard, and Steve Jobs was So Right

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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.

Yoga Home Practice Makes Progress: Press Handstand

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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!

Tutorial on Yoga’s Crow (Bakasana) and Crane

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Crow is one of my favorite poses.   This pose is a foundational arm balance pose.  When you get this one, many other arm balances and even handstand start to fall in to place.

Just below is an absolutely awesome video on the physics of crow and crane pose. This video does a good job of talking about the center of mass and the bone stacking of the forearms (elbows over wrists).  Other things to keep in mind are:

Hands shoulder distance apart, fingers spread and the middle finger aims forward.

Tailbone scoops under and there is a round to the spine.

If the kness are on the outside of the arms they need to squeeze in toward the the triceps and the arms need to press out toward the legs as well.  (opposition)

Don’t forget your bandhas!

The video below, I shot a few months ago after my blog post “yoga home practice makes progress”.  It is a  step in the goal I had set for myself, to do a handstand press, the crow to handstand transition. When coming into handstand from crow you need to find the crane position.

Crane Preparation

In crane, the arms straighten.  In order to achieve this:

Take the hips higher.

Place the knees into the armpits.

Hands as they are in crow.

Think bandhas and center of mass.

Almost there with the handstand press, hope to post a video shortly!

Remember to have fun!

Yoga Bride

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Weddings have been on the brain.  With a royal wedding behind us, and my own wedding before me, I can’t stop thinking about them.  Not to mention I happen to live in the new royal couple’s dukedom.

I have been thinking that yoga is the perfect fitness regime.  Not surprising that I think that.  It tones the body, stretches muscles, calms nerves, and gives you a positive outlook on life.

Why do bridal boot camp to get fit for one event, when you can do yoga and feel good, well, forever?  I was thinking I would write a segment on my blog about yoga tips for brides.  And instead of the focus being on one day in a life it can be about over all well being for the rest of your life.

Here is a silly picture of me in a field of  ’cow parsley’, now ruled by Duchess Kate, doing Utthita Hasta Padangustasana. Why not get in to the spirit of love…

Downward Facing Tree?

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I have always wondered why handstand is referred to as Adho Mukha Vrksasana in yoga, or ‘downward facing tree’.  It certainly doesn’t look like tree pose turned upside down. It is more like upside down utthita tadasana, extended mountain pose.

I have been a real handstand junky as of late.  And it was through this handstand immersion that downward facing tree suddenly had meaning to me.

It is in the architecture of the pose that we mimic a tree.  Rooted down to earth with strength, the tree rises towards the sky.

Handstand is all about preparing the base of support and then building the pose from the ground up.

And they are fun to do anywhere.  Tara Stiles does them in the concrete jungle…where do you do down face tree?

Yin Yoga Home Practice

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Paul Grilley’s Yin Yoga book is a quick read and a lovely tool.  Having taken yin classes in the past, I picked up the book just the other day because I felt my more yang practice could use some balance.    So I have made yin part of my home/self practice.  And it is really easy to do because you hold the poses longer. It is challenging in the sense that you don’t necessarily feel like you are ‘doing’ anything. It is a quieter practice.

Simply put, most yoga is yang and deals with the muscles and tendons (energetically masculine).  Yin yoga stretches the ligaments and the fascia (energetically feminine).  Ligaments being much harder to stretch take time to access.  I find you have to hold the pose long enough for the muscles to switch off and then the pose really starts to deepen.  I feel as though in just two days I have gained flexibility and freedom in my hip joints.

It has been a really great addition to my home practice.  And felt I had to share!  here is a little video clip of Paul Grilley teaching some of the hip series and more on the theory of yin.

Namaste!

Taking the next step…

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Lately in the vinyasa classes I take, we have been working on Hanumanasana, which is a regular left or right-legged split, as opposed to a split where your legs are in a straddle position.  I have never ever been able to do a split, with any leg in any direction.  There was a point when I was a kid, that I was pretty close.  But still, I was never able to get into the split and then lift my arms up over head.
I have seen some people get into this position pretty easily.  It is those bendy types.  They’re just born that way I guess.  And I have really longed to reach the full expression of the pose as well.  I have wanted to feel the freedom of being in my split and reaching my arms up and arching back in a backbend.  But I have just never gotten down to the floor all the way.  I used to grip blocks on each side of me and then work myself down to the floor, really striving for the split.  But it still never happened.
So, I’ve changed my tactic.  I now take one block and place it under my pelvis once I have gone down as far as I can.  I am then propped up on my prop.  Instead of reaching the floor I have brought the floor to me.  And it still feels like a stretch, trust me.  Now, once I get that prop under me I inhale my arms over head and look back at the wall behind feeling my chest lift and open upwards, sometimes bringing the heels of my palms to rest on my third eye.  And the amazing thing is; I feel it!  I am in it.  I am in the pose, without having reached the floor I get to experience the freedom of the pose.  And it feels so good.  Why reach the floor first?  That may never happen.  Why not feel the expansiveness of the pose instead, rather than the struggle?  We can get so caught up perfecting the micro that we lose sight of the overall macro experience.
And this was the thought that I could not shake as I was job searching today.  When I get concerned about money, all my thoughts go micro.  My vision and my focus shrink further and further in.  I am plagued by myopia.  And the trick is, to solve that quandary, I have to go macro.  I have to look at the bigger picture, I have to see the forest through the trees.  You cannot find the right job or career if all you are thinking about is paying the bills.  You cannot make the right choices if you don’t have the end result in mind.  You can’t make a plan, and then half way through start making decisions based on individual cogs in the wheel.  Big picture.  Big picture.  Big picture.
And that means sometimes you will be taking steps before you are “ready”.  Some steps are more like leaps.  But those leaps are necessary if we are to do something great with our lives.  They might feel a little scary and they might even feel like something we shouldn’t do because we didn’t get permission or “perfect” the step before.  But we are all capable of so much more.  We can feel, and be, and do so much more than we think possible at times.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
– Marianne Williamson

Deep Stretch

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My yoga class today promised me a deep stretch.  Why on earth does anyone need a deep stretch?  For some reason I am completely drawn to treating my body like saltwater taffy, working it into longer and longer pieces.  Is this compulsion normal?  You can relax into a stretch or you can pull yourself into a stretch with your arms pulling and your scapula wrapping the outside of your back.  You can guess of which I have done more.
I have a certain relationship with my hip flexors and my hamstrings.  Some days the relationship is: I hate them and they must be beaten into submission.  Well, that’s most days.  I long to do splits and to sit in king-pigeon pose with my head resting on my foot, a big yogic smile stretching across my face as God showers sun beams down upon me.  If I could just stretch more, if I could just stretch harder, I could…
I could what?
Unlock the hidden mysteries of my hips?  I think actually Shakira is right, hips don’t lie.  Well hers definitely don’t.  They can “not lie” to you in just about any language too.  But mine don’t lie in other ways.  Mine seem to be holding 28 years of unclaimed emotions.  Spending a yoga class “opening” my hips is just about the biggest tension reliever I can think of.  But doing yoga certainly isn’t the only way to accomplish that.  There are other obvious ways like…riding a horse?  As my Psoas gets worked so does my stress and my emotional sensitivity.  In fact all sorts of emotions can bubble up to the surface.
The result is: I am forced to deal.  Deal with what exactly?  The discomfort.  I have to quite literally sit on my discomfort.  I have to just sit there and be ok with it.  Sit there and struggle with it.  Sit there and sweat over it.  Sit there and be pissed off about it.  Sit there and forget about it.  Asana is the physical practice.  It is to “sit in the seat of the self”.  And that seat isn’t always comfortable but I sit there.  And at the very least I am being with myself, in an honest way.
I can stretch by pulling and I can stretch by just sitting.  The activity of sitting into an uncomfortable pose is actually more intense than the activity of pulling and straining into a pose.  The rest of my life seems to be a tender balance of being able to sit with the uncomfortable bits and being able to pull myself out of them.
So when do you sit and when do you pull?  Sometimes we are ebbing and sometimes we are flowing.  And other times we just want to grab a branch and pull ourselves out of the river for while, have a siesta on the shore, and get swept up a bit later.