Latest theme -- lengthening

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!