I tried to come up with a theme for my class last week, just to make it a little more serious. So my theme was 'lengthening', finding length in all kinds of different ways in the various asanas. I thought about it quite a bit, and while I think the class was maybe a little slow and boring, I think the theme was actually quite good. I was pleased, I had a yoga teacher in my class, someone just dropping by, and she quite liked my theme and the class. We discussed the way everyone in new york just does the flow style, how hard it is to find an alternative. She said that basically, except for the iyengar institute, everywhere she's been they just do flow classes, and she agreed with me that it can be a deeper, more intense experience when you take the time to explore the poses. (the subject of my last couple poses.)
So back to lengthening. To some extent, we are always having to fight gravity, which is pulling us to the earth, so just the process of standing or sitting up requires active lengthening. And of course we want to stand or sit up straight, so we have to be more consciously lengthening. And similarly, our arms spend most of their lives hanging down at our sides, and our hands grasping at things, so these appendages get pretty used to not lengthening.
I think we all think of yoga as a an opportunity and a mechanism for opening the body. But I think that thinking of that opening as lengthening can be useful. Let me mention a few examples here before I get too tired.
My favorite examples of lengthening, because for me at least they seem to be most useful, is in various backbending poses. The classic is in Sphinx, which is really just a variation of cobra with the elbows on the floor. In this pose, because the forearms and hands are on the floor, we can actively pull the torso forward through the arms. And because our lower body is on the floor and doesn't move so easily, we lengthen the lower spine by this pulling motion in Sphinx. Of course the spine doesn't lengthen much, it doesn't have that much 'play'. But I think it definitely has a little, because I can feel this lengthening. It might be just a few millimeters, but these few millimeters allow me to move a little deeper into the pose. So Sphinx is a good way to access this kind of lengthening in backbending poses.
And we can then find the same sort of length in other backbends. Regular full cobra, with straight arms, works nicely here. although we have to find the length internally more than via the arms. Another pose that's really nicely affected by finding length in the spine is locust pose or shalabasana. In this pose, I think it's important to think of moving the low ribs forward, towards the front of the mat. I think in general this is a good way to look at lengthening in backbends -- instead of imagining a giant arch or C-shape, you imagine pulling your low ribs forward, as far away from your pelvis as you can, and then you think about finding the arch. Danurasana or bow pose is a great example here -- you really want to pull the low ribs, the bottom of the sternum forward.
Full wheel or chakrasana is another pose where lengthening the low ribs forward (towards the front of the mat) can have a nice subtle reward. When you do this kind of lengthening here I think you can really feel the backbend distribute more into the mid spine, and not exclusively in the low spine as most of our backbending tends to be. And by doing this, you get the upper spine more vertical, so that it's easier to get the arms vertical, which is just a much more comfortable position to be in in full wheel. (If your arms are far from vertical, it takes much more muscle effort to remain in the pose, and it can be more of a strain flexibility-wise on the shoulders. )
There are many more examples of lengthening in specific asanas as a way to find a deeper experience, but, d'oh! I gotta go to bed!
Damn this day job! I hope I stay up every night into the middle of the night writing in my various blogs when I'm in buenos aires this winter!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
More on flow-vs.-hold
So I keep coming back to the debate in my head between the flowing and the more slow, deliberate styles of yoga. While I do think it's true that the flowing style is just more fun, especially in a big group, I do think that people who do not do a more deliberate, careful, and introspective practice at least once in a while are holding themselves back.
I take a particular flowing sequence class once or twice a week usually. In recent months I've really wanted to move more slowly, and I find myself lagging the class, just because I hold poses here and there even though the instructor has given directions to move to the next pose. I was doing this tonight, and I realized that I keep holding the poses because I think, ah, I'm finally getting somewhere in this pose, I need to keep it up a bit longer. And I think there are a bunch of different varieties of getting somewhere which can only be achieved through holding the asana for a while. First, there's a variety of strictly physical phenomena going on. For instance, sometimes the body has to relax into a pose, so you can't really even find your full expression of the pose until you've held it for a while. Second, sometimes you need to experiment with the alignment, see how it feels. Do I pull my hip back, what if I rotate my thigh under, should I be tucking the tailbone here, that sort of thing. I think this is one of the most important processes in yoga, this kind of mindfulness in the pose where you experiment with very subtle alignment adjustments, and you see how these affect how you feel in the pose.
And there's also a variety of mental processes that takes place when you're holding poses for a while, which I think you miss out on when you keep flowing from pose to pose. For one there's a kind of mental discipline that you have to employ to keep focused and mindful when you're holding a pose. And honestly, I think this is one of the nice things about the flowing classes, that you don't have to bother with this sort of discipline, because you're always moving onto the next thing. Sometimes you don't want to have to be disciplined. Nonetheless, this discipline is an important aspect of yoga I think. They often say that the asana practice is really just preparation for meditation. Well, maintaining focus and not allowing the mind to wander while holding poses seems like a sort of beginner's meditation, a step on the way to 'real' meditation.
Also, I think there's an important body awareness aspect to holding the poses. This is how we really get to know our bodies, by hanging in the poses and making subtle adjustments. I think it's too easy in the vinyasa classes to just breeze through those things that we find difficult and say, oh, that one, that's always a little hard for me. But you never really have the time to explore why it might be hard. And this kind of exploration is very powerful for helping develop an evolved body awareness.
So, sure, I love the flowing vinyasa classes, especially in a big group. It's a communal dance, and I think that's really fantastic, a great thing for our spirit. But I think everyone who's been doing yoga for a long time also owes it to themselves to regularly do a slower, more introspective practice. And if you're really experienced, this can be done at home, by yourself. A teacher can shed some great light on the process, but sometimes you only need to listen to yourself. You just have to take the time to let yourself be heard.
I take a particular flowing sequence class once or twice a week usually. In recent months I've really wanted to move more slowly, and I find myself lagging the class, just because I hold poses here and there even though the instructor has given directions to move to the next pose. I was doing this tonight, and I realized that I keep holding the poses because I think, ah, I'm finally getting somewhere in this pose, I need to keep it up a bit longer. And I think there are a bunch of different varieties of getting somewhere which can only be achieved through holding the asana for a while. First, there's a variety of strictly physical phenomena going on. For instance, sometimes the body has to relax into a pose, so you can't really even find your full expression of the pose until you've held it for a while. Second, sometimes you need to experiment with the alignment, see how it feels. Do I pull my hip back, what if I rotate my thigh under, should I be tucking the tailbone here, that sort of thing. I think this is one of the most important processes in yoga, this kind of mindfulness in the pose where you experiment with very subtle alignment adjustments, and you see how these affect how you feel in the pose.
And there's also a variety of mental processes that takes place when you're holding poses for a while, which I think you miss out on when you keep flowing from pose to pose. For one there's a kind of mental discipline that you have to employ to keep focused and mindful when you're holding a pose. And honestly, I think this is one of the nice things about the flowing classes, that you don't have to bother with this sort of discipline, because you're always moving onto the next thing. Sometimes you don't want to have to be disciplined. Nonetheless, this discipline is an important aspect of yoga I think. They often say that the asana practice is really just preparation for meditation. Well, maintaining focus and not allowing the mind to wander while holding poses seems like a sort of beginner's meditation, a step on the way to 'real' meditation.
Also, I think there's an important body awareness aspect to holding the poses. This is how we really get to know our bodies, by hanging in the poses and making subtle adjustments. I think it's too easy in the vinyasa classes to just breeze through those things that we find difficult and say, oh, that one, that's always a little hard for me. But you never really have the time to explore why it might be hard. And this kind of exploration is very powerful for helping develop an evolved body awareness.
So, sure, I love the flowing vinyasa classes, especially in a big group. It's a communal dance, and I think that's really fantastic, a great thing for our spirit. But I think everyone who's been doing yoga for a long time also owes it to themselves to regularly do a slower, more introspective practice. And if you're really experienced, this can be done at home, by yourself. A teacher can shed some great light on the process, but sometimes you only need to listen to yourself. You just have to take the time to let yourself be heard.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
flow v. hold -- yoga as dance?
Like most of us in the US, I started and mostly continue doing yoga following the vinyasa approach, which incorporates a lot of movement from pose to pose, and frequently doesn't hold the pose very long, sometimes hardly at all. This is far and away the most popular kind of yoga in the states. Other types of yoga, like iyengar technique, and bikram, and many others, emphasize holding the poses for quite some time, and don't really worry themselves about transitioning between one pose and the next. In general it seems that people refer to this latter kind as "hatha", although I believe hatha yoga really refers to any type of physical yoga. (As opposed to the various other types of yoga such as bhakti yoga, karma yoga, mantra yoga, etc., etc.)
For most of us americans, when learning the vigorous flowing types of yoga, we sort of assumed these were "harder" and so more serious than the slow approach of holding poses for a long time. We would get out of breath and soak our t-shirts in sweat and think, oh, yeah, I'm really doing something here. I certainly felt that way, and so did many of my friends.
So maybe this was Stage One of my thinking about yoga. Move fast, do as much as you can, push your body. Slow yoga is for old people, or people with low physical vitality.
But as i started to do more yoga on my own, I realized I wasn't that interested in doing these flowing sequences at home. Instead, I would just do a few poses, and hold them for a really long time, and sort of explore them. Or really, explore myself and my body in its reaction to the pose. And this is really interesting work, something you need time for, which you usually don't having in the flowing vinyasa classes. Sometimes these poses were strength challenges -- just try holding warrior 2 for five minutes. But most of the time they were more mental challenges.
So maybe this was Stage Two of my thinking about yoga: Find the challenge in the poses by taking the time needed to work with your own limits. Slow is intense, fast is for posers who can't be bothered really trying to understand what they are doing.
And just lately I've been thinking about yoga as dance, and maybe i'm finding a Stage Three in my thinking. I think vinyasa yoga is a lot like dancing. And, hell, dancing is fun. We humans like to dance, and we especially like to dance in a group. And lord knows, we don't do enough dancing in our lives.
So, these vinyasa classes kind of give us an opportunity to do some dancing with the others in the room. And make no mistake about it, one of the great appeals of these flowing vinyasa classes is the group dynamic. We are all doing this together, we are moving together, there is a communal energy in the room. That energy can be powerful, it can motivate us in ways that we just can't motivate ourselves. And that's the beauty and the power of these classes -- they motivate and energize. And on a purely physical level, it feels good to move.
So, no surprise, Stage Three of my thinking on yoga is that there's room for every approach. It depends where you are, and what you need, and what you're interested in. The fast-and-hard approach is not 'better', the slow-and-deep approach is not 'more serious', they're just different approaches, suitable for different people with different needs and interests.
For most of us americans, when learning the vigorous flowing types of yoga, we sort of assumed these were "harder" and so more serious than the slow approach of holding poses for a long time. We would get out of breath and soak our t-shirts in sweat and think, oh, yeah, I'm really doing something here. I certainly felt that way, and so did many of my friends.
So maybe this was Stage One of my thinking about yoga. Move fast, do as much as you can, push your body. Slow yoga is for old people, or people with low physical vitality.
But as i started to do more yoga on my own, I realized I wasn't that interested in doing these flowing sequences at home. Instead, I would just do a few poses, and hold them for a really long time, and sort of explore them. Or really, explore myself and my body in its reaction to the pose. And this is really interesting work, something you need time for, which you usually don't having in the flowing vinyasa classes. Sometimes these poses were strength challenges -- just try holding warrior 2 for five minutes. But most of the time they were more mental challenges.
So maybe this was Stage Two of my thinking about yoga: Find the challenge in the poses by taking the time needed to work with your own limits. Slow is intense, fast is for posers who can't be bothered really trying to understand what they are doing.
And just lately I've been thinking about yoga as dance, and maybe i'm finding a Stage Three in my thinking. I think vinyasa yoga is a lot like dancing. And, hell, dancing is fun. We humans like to dance, and we especially like to dance in a group. And lord knows, we don't do enough dancing in our lives.
So, these vinyasa classes kind of give us an opportunity to do some dancing with the others in the room. And make no mistake about it, one of the great appeals of these flowing vinyasa classes is the group dynamic. We are all doing this together, we are moving together, there is a communal energy in the room. That energy can be powerful, it can motivate us in ways that we just can't motivate ourselves. And that's the beauty and the power of these classes -- they motivate and energize. And on a purely physical level, it feels good to move.
So, no surprise, Stage Three of my thinking on yoga is that there's room for every approach. It depends where you are, and what you need, and what you're interested in. The fast-and-hard approach is not 'better', the slow-and-deep approach is not 'more serious', they're just different approaches, suitable for different people with different needs and interests.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Why the emphasis on shoulders down the back?
Ever since I started taking yoga teachers have always emphasized bringing the shoulders down the back when you lift or extend your arms. This has always been a challenge, and in recent years it's occurred to me more and more that it's just unnatural. I've gotten to the point where I'm a little dubious about this dictate to keep the shoulders down when reaching up.
The most obvious and vexing example of this is warrior 1. If you press your palms together in front of you and try to lift your arms overhead while honestly keeping the shoulders all the way down, for most people you can't lift the arms any higher than 10 or 11 o'clock. But if you let the shoulders rise naturally, you can bring the hands straight overhead, arms alongside the ears, and maybe even behind the ears a bit.
Extended side angle is another pose where we extend the arm alongside the ear sometimes. And here too teachers are insistent on keeping the arm "plugged into the socket", as they frequently say.
What really got me thinking about this was swimming, and looking at pictures of swimmers. If you look at one of those classic underwater pictures of olympic swimmers reaching forward in the water, their shoulders are lifted way, way up alongside the ear. That extends the range of the stroke, and, just as important, it brings into play those big lattisumus dorsi muscles along the outside of the back, which pull the shoulder down. There's a lot of power in those muscles. But more importantly, on a totally intuitive level, the swimmer is just reaching as far as she can, and to do that, her shoulder lifts way up.
Well, I think that lifting the shoulder up towards the ear so that the arm comes alongside the ear is a part of our natural range of motion, and it's something we need to work with rather than inhibit. We go out of our way in yoga to extend our range of motion of everything else, so why not the lifting of the shoulders?
My guess is that it's an aesthetic thing more than anything else, and it comes from dance. Lots and lots of dancers end up as yoga teachers. And in dance, you want to keep the shoulders down and the arms away from the ears to frame the head and neck. So perhaps all these yoga teachers just remember years and years of "shoulders down" from dance, and come to believe that it's a biomechanical thing rather than an aesthetic thing.
I do think the situation is completely different when we're putting weight on the shoulders, pressing as in plank or chaturanga or vashistasana. This is completely different than in swimming crawl, where the shoulder is pulling, not pushing. When the shoulder is pushing as in the weight-bearing yoga poses mentioned, you want the shoulder down and back. This allows you to make more use of the much bigger muscles of the back and chest rather than the puny and delicate muscles of the rotator cuff. If you're supporting all your weight with those puny muscles, you've got a good chance of straining the muscles or more likely tendons.
So, my advice is to try lifting those shoulders, especially in Warrior 1 and parsvakonasana. You'll feel a nice stretch in your lats, and you'll find a rotation in the shoulder that you can't find otherwise. We want as much mobility as we can get in our shoulders, just as we do in our hips. But if you're putting weight on the arms, hold them down and back, and try to take that weight with the muscles of the trunk, not the shoulder.
The most obvious and vexing example of this is warrior 1. If you press your palms together in front of you and try to lift your arms overhead while honestly keeping the shoulders all the way down, for most people you can't lift the arms any higher than 10 or 11 o'clock. But if you let the shoulders rise naturally, you can bring the hands straight overhead, arms alongside the ears, and maybe even behind the ears a bit.
Extended side angle is another pose where we extend the arm alongside the ear sometimes. And here too teachers are insistent on keeping the arm "plugged into the socket", as they frequently say.
What really got me thinking about this was swimming, and looking at pictures of swimmers. If you look at one of those classic underwater pictures of olympic swimmers reaching forward in the water, their shoulders are lifted way, way up alongside the ear. That extends the range of the stroke, and, just as important, it brings into play those big lattisumus dorsi muscles along the outside of the back, which pull the shoulder down. There's a lot of power in those muscles. But more importantly, on a totally intuitive level, the swimmer is just reaching as far as she can, and to do that, her shoulder lifts way up.
Well, I think that lifting the shoulder up towards the ear so that the arm comes alongside the ear is a part of our natural range of motion, and it's something we need to work with rather than inhibit. We go out of our way in yoga to extend our range of motion of everything else, so why not the lifting of the shoulders?
My guess is that it's an aesthetic thing more than anything else, and it comes from dance. Lots and lots of dancers end up as yoga teachers. And in dance, you want to keep the shoulders down and the arms away from the ears to frame the head and neck. So perhaps all these yoga teachers just remember years and years of "shoulders down" from dance, and come to believe that it's a biomechanical thing rather than an aesthetic thing.
I do think the situation is completely different when we're putting weight on the shoulders, pressing as in plank or chaturanga or vashistasana. This is completely different than in swimming crawl, where the shoulder is pulling, not pushing. When the shoulder is pushing as in the weight-bearing yoga poses mentioned, you want the shoulder down and back. This allows you to make more use of the much bigger muscles of the back and chest rather than the puny and delicate muscles of the rotator cuff. If you're supporting all your weight with those puny muscles, you've got a good chance of straining the muscles or more likely tendons.
So, my advice is to try lifting those shoulders, especially in Warrior 1 and parsvakonasana. You'll feel a nice stretch in your lats, and you'll find a rotation in the shoulder that you can't find otherwise. We want as much mobility as we can get in our shoulders, just as we do in our hips. But if you're putting weight on the arms, hold them down and back, and try to take that weight with the muscles of the trunk, not the shoulder.
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