our-yoga

Yesterday (Saturday), I went to morning mysore practice at my friends Derek and Brenda's studio in downtown Fargo, ND. Derek and Brenda have been running this mysore class, which meets once a week (Saturday morning at 9 a.m.), for close to 4 months now. Now that I'm talking about it, I should also give it a little plug: If you are ever in Northwest Minnesota/North Dakota on a Saturday morning (why would you be? But that's a question for another day...), please think about stopping by and practicing here. I try to go whenever I can make it; since I mostly practice at home, it is quite a treat to be able to go practice with others at least occasionally. I always feel that I build up more heat and tapas when I am practicing alongside others.

After practice, I chatted with Derek for a little bit. Brenda and he just had a baby girl a couple of weeks ago, and Derek was sharing with me about how they have been sleeping rather irregularly, waking up whenever the baby wakes up (I'm guessing that those of you out there who have children might be able to relate to this...), and squeezing in an hour or even a half-hour of practice when the baby takes a nap. He also said that they might even bring the baby to morning mysore in a couple of months. Now that would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? I mean, when was the last time you saw a baby in mysore class? :-) And just imagine what the earliest memories of this baby would be when she grows up... ("My earliest memories are of mom and dad bringing me to this funny room smelling of incense, where people do funny things like jump back and forth, fold themselves into half, and put their legs behind their heads. And then there's this little picture of this little old Indian guy (Guruji) at the front of the room...")

Anyway, as I was listening to Derek, it also really struck me how his present practice experience really brings into sharp relief the nature of the practice. If you have been practicing Ashtanga for a little while, you will know that it is only a little bit of an exaggeration to say that Ashtanga yoga is the yoga of "no": The practice confronts you with limitations everywhere you turn. Whether you are a relative "newbie" who is working on the standing postures or whether you are an "advanced" practitioner in the depths of third or fourth series, there is plenty in the practice to challenge you physically, mentally and emotionally: By bringing your body to places that you did not previously imagine it capable of going, subjecting it to postures that you may not even have previously imagined it capable of attaining, your ability to maintain equanimity and a spirit of humble acceptance is also being pushed to the limit.

The demanding nature of the practice becomes even more apparent in times of transition or major life changes: These can range from physical practice-related issues such as injuries or pain, to big life changes such as having a new member of the family. During these times, the limitations that the practice throws at one becomes even more pronounced: Over and above the inherently challenging nature of the practice itself, one also has to work with the pain or discomfort imposed by these changes.

So why do so many of us continue with the practice in the face of all of these challenges both inherent to and outside the practice? Well... one possible answer is that we are all suckers for pain and punishment: Perhaps it is really true that dedicated, "hardcore" Ashtangis are all a bunch of sadomasochists; a bunch whose numbers are increasing all the time, by the looks of it (as they say, "A sucker is born every minute")...

But I personally prefer to believe that there is much more to this practice than just enduring pain and punishment. In particular, I like to think that there is great value to be found in voluntarily and courageously confronting our limitations on a daily basis. In her latest post, Magnolia Zuniga shares this quote from the I-Ching:

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Yes, dear readers, the Gypsy is on the move again! You may have noticed that my posts have been a bit scarce of late, and that's because, as the title of this post suggests, I'm in the middle of moving... to Australia!!

Yep, I have packed up my worldly possessions (again), and am headed for the sun, surf and sand of Sydney! Needless to say I haven't found a lot of time for blogging with all that going on... But I do have some reader-requested posts in the works including: preparatory poses for Warrior III, relieving jaw tension, and yoga for people with hyper mobility or hyper flexibility. So stay tuned!!!

To keep you busy, while I'm away I'll be re-posting a few older posts purely for your enjoyment - and I'll pick back up in a few weeks at the most, maybe less. :)

Meanwhile, this last week I had the chance to relive a little bit of my personal history by driving through the Canadian mountains from Whistler to Kamploops, British Colombia. Here are some pictures of that stunning countryside that makes my heart sing.

Maybe I'll always be a gypsy, but there is nothing like the homeland to make my heart sing. Farewell for now, Canada! I will miss you.

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I love it when people a) comment on my blog, b) find my blog posts useful, and c) ask for particular things on the blog! Please don't hesitate to let me know if these posts are useful (or not!) to you and just leave a comment if there is something you'd like me to post about!!

On my post about transitioning your toes through the sun salutations, Lynn, a reader, commented: "I am a yoga teacher as well, and have always struggled with both jump to the top of my mat, or to smoothly step forward, do you have any helpful tips for this?"

This is SUCH a good question!! Being able to smoothly move from the back to the front of the mat might look simple, but (as so often in yoga!) it's actually a fairly difficult move for the majority of people. So, whether you are a teacher or a student, it's a very good thing to be able to break down this motion, and to teach it to people of all abilities.

There has been a lot written and demonstrated on the internet about jumping or "floating" forward, and it is a demanding move that I generally don't teach in classes (too much risk of injury when done sloppily) so I'm not going to focus on that. 


Instead, let's have a look at Stepping Forward

If you go to a vinyasa-like yoga class, you will probably hear these words at least 20 times per class: "now step your foot between your hands, and..." Well, for many people, this is easier said than done! If you're not convinced, imagine replicating this move while standing with your palms pressed against a wall! Ok, convinced now?

A little anatomy

Stepping your foot forward from downward facing dog requires a couple of things to happen.  In order for you to lift and bend your knee, your psoas and hip flexor have to strongly engage.  Your psoas is super strong and used to this - it's what it does every time we take a step forward when we are walking!  However, once your hip is fully bent (when your knee comes in towards your body), your psoas can no longer generate any force, which is why we tend to lose momentum half way through. Once you pass that critical point, the weight of the movement must pass from the legs to the arms; with the back, shoulders and core muscles helping to keep lift. Finally, the hamstring has to lengthen and the quadricep engages to bring the bent knee down to the floor and take the weight of the body back to the feet.



For this yoga tip, I'm offering a few simple movements that re-create the elements of stepping forward. If we work on those individually, the overall movement will gradually become easier!

1. Nose-to-knee stretch



Variation 1

Lie on your back with your hands and feet on the floor. Slowly, without using your hands, bend your right knee and bring it all the way up to your chest. Grab your right knee with your hands, and meanwhile keep your left leg strongly engaged, trying to press the back of your left thigh into the floor.

Next, as you exhale, warm up the core by drawing your nose towards your knee. Try not to use your hands, but instead press the belly back down into the ground and curl up from the core. Inhale, coming back down. Repeat 5 times, optionally holding the last repetition for 3-5 breaths.

Variation 2

This time, try the above exercise with the leg straight.  This stretches out the hamstring, while also bringing an extra stretch to the hip flexor of the grounded leg.

When you've done the right side, repeat on the left.


2.  Cat / cow variation and 3-legged dog variation


Come up to all fours. As you inhale, raise your right leg (with the knee bent) behind you. As you exhale, lift your belly button up towards the ceiling, arch your spine, and draw your knee as high as you can towards your chest, and bring your nose in towards your knee.

Repeat this 5 times, and on the 5th repetition try to hold the exhale position for 3-5 breaths. Then do the other side.

The 3-legged dog variation is similar to the cat/cow variation, except in downward-facing dog. As before, on an inhalation lift your right leg up behind you, keeping your hips square. As you exhale, lift up from the core, bring your shoulders over your hands, and hug your knee up towards your chest. Next inhale, lead with the leg and push back.

Repeat this 5 times, and on the 5th repetition try to hold the exhale position for 3-5 breaths.


3. Stepping forward

When the exercises above feel smooth, try stepping forward. Begin just as if you were going to repeat the 3-legged dog exercise, above. This time, when your shoulders come over your hands, use the momentum to lengthen from the hamstring and push from your quad to bring your foot down onto the floor between your hands. If your foot doesn't come all the way, gently walk it to the right place.

As you practice this movement, remember to:

• Compress the hip flexors on the front leg while keeping the front of the back thigh long and strong, like in nose-to-knee stretch
• Lift the belly button up towards the spine and the backs of the shoulders strong, like in the cat/cow variation
• Lift your knee high towards your chest and shift your weight all the way forward onto your hands, like in 3-legged dog
• Look forward and visualise where your foot should land!! Where you gaze goes, your body - eventually - will follow.

Once your front foot is there, pause, transfer your weight to the forward foot,  and repeat a similar motion with the back leg: lifting up, bending the knee, and gently placing the foot on the floor.  Remember to be patient, breathe deeply, and try not to be attached to the results of the exercise - it's the practice that counts!

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I love it when people a) comment on my blog, b) find my blog posts useful, and c) ask for particular things on the blog! Please don't hesitate to let me know if these posts are useful (or not!) to you and just leave a comment if there is something you'd like me to post about!!

This post is in response to a reader comment - yay! Anonymous said: "I'd love a tip on how to transition your feet from plank to upward dog then downward dog. I always have difficulty rolling my feet from plank to upward, and when I "fudge" it I worry I'm doing it wrong."

This is a great question! And don't worry, Anonymous, you aren't alone: this is a really difficult move and it took me (and many other yogis I know!) years of practice to make this a smooth transition.  Also, don't stress if you don't get it right away. As long as you aren't injuring yourself the way you are doing it, just view it as a step in the process, and keep working at it. As with everything, eventually, with practice, it will come!

First: Warm up your feet! Feet are delicate and deserve our respect, so it's a good idea to first establish that your feet have the flexibility to make this transition without injury. For some foot-stretching ideas, check out this old post on Yoga for Feet.

Next, do a practice-run.  Once your feet are warmed up, you can work on transitioning your toes from a flexed to an extended (pointed) position to make sure your feet are strong and flexible enough to do this comfortably. To isolate the feet from the rest of the transition, do this from plank pose.

1. Start in plank pose, with your toes tucked under and your heels strongly pressing back.

2. In plank pose, shift your weight a tiny bit forward, lift from the core, and come up onto your tip-toes. Don't try to roll your feet over yet - just see how high you can come onto tip-toes, hold for a breath, and then come down. Do this a few times.

3. Finally, come up onto the very tips of your toes and then gently shift your pelvis forward until you roll over onto the tops of your feet. You may want to practice this with your hands forward of your usual alignment to maintain your stability. Practice this until it feels smooth and comfortable.

If your toes don't feel comfortable rolling over, don't force it. Feet are delicate, so be careful!




Next it gets a little more challenging, because in between plank and upward-facing dog, we have four-legged staff pose, chaturanga dandasana, a pose that requires a great deal of strength.  For this exercise, we're going to use a yoga block (or something equivalent - a small ball or box) that you can squeeze between your thighs.  This isn't strictly necessary but it helps by keeping the legs engaged and therefore encouraging you to move from the core and the pelvis.

Before you start, read this post on the pelvic alignment in the transition from plank to upward-facing dog. Got that? We don't want to be injuring our SI joint while we're doing this, and finding that 'lift' from the core and the pelvis is a key part to making this transition.  The key thing to remember here is that the origin of the movement is from the pelvis.  Think of your pelvis as the engine that is driving the movement - try to move just the pelvis, and the rest of your body will follow.  

1. Place your yoga block between your thighs and come into plank pose. Set your mental mantra to moving from the pelvis, and as you inhale, lift (from the core!) up onto your tiptoes.




2. Begin to exhale and lower yourself as far down into chaturanga as you can hold for a few seconds - it doesn't have to be all the way! Keep lifting as high as you can onto the tips of your toes and look forward. Keep squeezing your block! This puts you in the perfect preparatory position to move yourself forward into upward-facing dog.




3. As your exhalation reaches empty, look forward, lift strongly from the core and move your pelvis forward while pressing into your hands to straighten your arms. Open up your chest and keep your spine long. With luck - and practice! - your toes will slide over at the last second as you go forward.




And back to downward-facing dog...   The final step is to take this from upward-facing dog back to downward facing dog.  Again, focus on the pelvis as the origin of the movement.

1. From upward-facing dog, begin to exhale. Press into your arms and as you near the end of your exhalation, strongly suck your belly button up and lift your pelvis UP and back.  As you come up to a plank-like position, you will come towards a full extension of your feet, which is pretty uncomfortable, so try to make this a smooth, continuous movement.

2. Before you think about going all the way back, try to get as high as you can onto the tops of your feet as you lift your hips up.  When you can go no higher, send your hips back and your toes will have nowhere to go but up and over!  If they won't quite go together, roll them over one at a time but practice alternating which foot goes first.




Here is a short video showing how it all comes together. I've tried to really emphasise the role the pelvis plays in driving the movement - I hope it helps!



A few extra tips:

- Keep your core strongly engaged by lifting the belly button towards the spine.

- Synchronise your hardest movements with the end of your exhalation, and move when your breath is empty. This automatically engages your abdominal and pelvic lift, which will compliment these movements.

- Try tiny variations in the position of your hands. While the general guideline is to line your hands up directly under your shoulders, a centimetre forward or back can really make the difference in finding the 'sweet spot' that will serve you in both Chaturanga and Upward-facing dog.

- Also, check out this video where Kino talks about using the bandhas (that pelvic and abdominal lift) to move through this transition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Hji2I4ZQM

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