Listen to yoga anatomist Leslie Kaminoff chant the mantra given to him by Desikachar.
http://embed.vidyard.com/share/D0k8xf1XmNBxX6Y9FeFL_A
Dvipada-pitâm
Earlier, I published a description of the yoga pose dvipada-pitâm. Here are the photos to accompany that post. Please refer to the description. Please note: keep the chin tucked in, make sure hands and feet are firmly on the floor. Don’t pull the feet in towards the buttocks with your hands. Let the natural flexibility of your leg joints determine the distance between bum and heel.
Apanasana – part.2
I previously published a description of the yoga pose apanâsana. Please refer to that post. Here are the photos to accompany the description. Please note: Keep your chin tucked down!
The Post: published articles
Dear readers,
Please find here the articles I have published in The Post, a fine, free tabloid found on the lovely Costa Blanca. The first three articles, published in the summer of 2013, describe in detail some important fundamental poses in the Viniyoga system of hatha yoga. Here, I have simply copied them inline, without the lovely photos (by my friend Pepe Zaragozí) accompanying the originals.
Apanasana:A powerfully simple pose
Hatha yoga is a very good ally in the struggle against lower back pain (LBP). LBP is one of the main reasons people visit the Doctor’s office. Although in some cases surgery might be the only option, for most people a good program of spinal care and yoga would keep them pain-free and mobile. Stretching, freeing, loosening and unbinding muscles, ligaments and tendons, yoga gently eases aches and pains, realigning our bodies and calming our minds.
Apanasana is a basic yoga pose that is very easy to learn and may help reduce LBP. It is a full spinal and gluteal stretch, a contraction of the abdomen and compression of the abdominal cavity.
Most of us know that weak abdominal muscles and protruding bellies contribute significantly to lower back pain. The internal organs push out the weak abs, rocking the pelvis forward. With the pelvis tipped forward this way, the hip flexors shorten and pull on the lower back, making it curve even more and causing pain.
In the subtle anatomy of yoga, there is a dominant downward running energy and a dominant upward rising energy. Apana is the downward facing energy. It runs from the navel down to the tips of the toes. It governs elimination, reproduction and the rooting, terrestrial facets of life. Apanasana derives its names from the energy apana. It is the posture (asana) that actuates directly on the downward energy current (apana). Combining this gentle movement with the precise breathing technique of lengthening and counting the breath changes the direction of the flow of apana, sending it upwards.
When it flows upwards, apana nourishes our nervous system, giving us vitality, vigour and zest for life.
Observe carefully any limitations you might have including herniated disks or difficulty rising from the floor. If this is the case, you may wish to try practising on your bed. Do not undertake any physical activity without consulting a professional first. But also, don’t worry. This is a very safe pose, reclining, head neutral, feet raised.
Use a yoga mat or folded boiled-wool blanket to cushion your back. Lying face-up on the floor, legs bent, feet flat on the floor, parallel and hip-width apart, heels near the buttocks. Extend the neck and lower the chin to make a double-chin. Keep the neck straight throughout.
Breathe in. Breathing out, lift the feet off the floor, bringing the knees to the chest. Place the palms of the hands on the knees. Breathe in. Breathing out, pull the knees gently in towards the chest. Breathing in, move the knees back and away from the chest. Breathe out and rock the knees back in. Breathe in and rock them away. Repeat. Take note: the movement is small. Don’t straighten the legs on the inhale. The elbows flex and extend, but the knees mostly don’t. Repeat this movement for 6-8 breaths, three times per day and you will almost certainly reduce lower back pain (LBP). Practice 6-8 breaths in apanasana three times per day, for one month. If you wish you keep a diary of your experiment, you may find it informative. I welcome any feedback on your practice. Keep it up!
Dvipada-pitam: The two-legged table.
Strength and alignment is the name of the game to avoid lower back pain (LBP). LBP is all too often cause for a doctor’s visit, but can be managed without drugs or surgery.
Abdominal muscle tone is important to spine health. The rectus abdomus “six pack” at the front contains the internal organs, preventing them from pulling us forward into a permanent sagging arch. The obliques and transverse abdominals complete the famous “core muscles” that stabilize the mid-section of the human body.
Dvipada-pitam, with apanâsana, which we examined last month, represents the culmination of the work of modern yoga master Krishnamacharya. Crucially when practising yoga, we mustn’t lose sight of the objective of yoga: to canalize and control the body’s subtle energy, prana. These two poses help concentrate prana in the body’s core, making it available for higher purposes. Whether one ascribes to this point of view is an entirely personal matter. Yoga grants its benefits to all who practice, regardless of their investment in its philosophical underpinnings.
Variants of dvipada-pitam are found most modern body toning systems, but especially in Pilates. They may use props like balls and rings to increase the intensity of the pose, but the outcome is the same.
With proper alignment, this pose engages the abdominal muscles, the muscles of the dorsal and lumbar spine, the hip flexors, the leg adductors and the feet and ankles. It is a very complete pose. There is compression of the throat and extension of the neck, as well as an inversion, as the heart raises above the brain. Thus, be careful if you suffer from glaucoma or dizziness. Please consult a professional before beginning any exercise program.
Lie on your back, arms at your sides, palms down. Bend the knees and place the feet parallel and hip-width apart on the floor. The heels are near the buttocks, but not touching. Don’t pull the feet nearer – allow your natural knee and hip flexion to determine the foot placement. Stretch the neck directing the chin towards the collarbone. Relax the jaw, placing the tongue on the soft palate. Inhale, lift the buttocks, hips and back up off the floor. Exhale, lower slowly, “one vertebrae at a time”, rocking the pelvis and trying to get whole spine on the floor. Repeat six times. Variants include raising the arms behind the head on the inhale, taking breaths in the static pose, lowering the body whilst leaving the arms behind, moving one arm at a time and varying the separation of the feet. Be very aware of the feet – keep the toes on the floor! Also, if you have a very curved neck, use a prop behind the head.
Twisting and turning – what your car can tell you about your body.
The yoga of daily life is about observing ourselves in our daily actions and deciding if we are fulfilling our true capabilities.
The car, constant in modern life, can tell us many things about our body’s health. We must twist to get into and out of cars. To shoulder-check, we turn the head some 80º. This might be the only time we regularly move our bodies in the “transverse” plane. Our limited daily lives tend to “move” in the forward direction only, progressively limiting our range of motion.
lf you notice that twisting and turning in the car is limited or painful, you will have to make a decision – to live with or without pain. Awareness is the first step – what you choose to do with the information is the interesting part. Do you ignore the pain? Accept it as inevitable? Take a pill? Or, care for your body?
Simple and gentle yoga exercises can help restore range of motion. Note:
Breath and movement are always co-ordinated in hatha yoga. If you have any injuries, consult a professional before attempting new exercises.
Dvipada-pitam means “the two-legged table” in Sanskrit. This pose is prominent in the system of yoga I use, Viniyoga. Lying on the back, with the arms by the sides, palms down, bend the knees and place the feet on the floor , hip-width apart. Breathe in and life the hips and lower back off the floor. Breathe out and slowly lower down, rolling the pelvis. Repeat six times.
Jathara parivritti is the sanskrit name for the lying twist. There are variations in the pose which include changing the position of one or both legs, or using props, or varying the breath. Exhale to lower the legs to the floor and inhale to bring them back to centre. Go down and up, alternating left and right, 6 times on either side , breathing each time you move. In the 6th movement, stay in the pose for 6 breaths, before inhaling to come back to centre.
Apanasana completes the set. Breathing out, lift the feet off the floor, knees to chest. Separate the legs to accommodate the belly. Place palms on the knees. Inhale. Exhaling, pull the knees gently in towards the chest. Inhale, push the knees away from the chest. Exhale, and rock the knees back in. The movement is small. The elbows flex and straighten, but the knees mostly don’t. Don’t straighten the legs on the inhale. Maintain the distance between the knees. Repeat 6 times. Perform this simple sequence twice a day for a week, then take to the open roads, twisting and turning!
Why heal?
It can seem to be a bit navel-gazing, all this personal healing that we do. Your journey within is completely unique, mysterious and exciting. One can easily get distracted by the phenomena and surprises along the way.
We had the opportunity to examine this question in great depth, this past week. Some 27 students and 7 instructors gathered in Dénia to study the yoga sutras. I am privileged to be amongst that group. We turned over and around sutras 3:1-38, delving into the siddhis that appear when one practises samyama upon different points in the body. This is pretty esoteric stuff, and it is also information that is privy to the study group. But, it suffices to say that
, with the regular yet detached practice of yoga principles (yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara), one develops the capacity to perform dharana, one-pointed concentration on an object. Dharana leads to dhyana, and dhyana to samadhi. The practice of one-pointedness is called samyama. Our relationship with linear time is altered and we become able to understand the past and the future. (3:1-15)
Along the way, as the nervous system becomes purified and the sensibility heightened, whilst preserving detachment from the information sent to the brain by the sense organs, hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling and seeing, we become more sensitive to other information being subtly transmitted by the person or thing in front of us. This subtle information is unspoken, but it manifests in thought, action, deed and reaction. We find ourselves with the ability to see things that are hidden, or in the past or future. We find our intuition honed and receptive. We may perceive luminosity, sweet tastes and fragrances, murmurs of sound reverberate and are heard. These delights are real and reproducible – as is everything that Patanjali has thus far described. Practice makes perfect balance and union.
But! Beware. Do not identify with these powers. If the ego grabs hold of them, it only becomes stronger. Even the most purified mind, if there are still vrittis of rajas in there, is prone to fall into the trap of identification, exultation and emptiness. If you feel these powers manifesting in you, by all means use them. but use them for the good of man and womankind.
Which brings me to the topic of my post. Why heal? What is the point of all this consciousness-raising? What changes if we are healthier, suppler and more emotionally and mentally balanced? Well, everything.
There is only one way that humankind is going to get itself out of this eco-econo-fear-based decadence and back onto the path of the soul: join together, working for peace and understanding and harmony and an end to war, forever. How do we do this? By understanding, accepting and healing ourselves, we create space in our energetic field for the joys and sorrows of the other. By loving our neighbour as ourselves, by shining our divine light out and letting it meld with the divine light of the other, humankind unites in fraternity and sorority. We heal so that we can love. We love so that we can grow and throw off our shackles. We grow because there is no other way. If you don’t grow, you shrivel.
Heal yourself, heal the world.
The guru is in you.
Article in the Independent – The Busy Man's Guide to Broga
In the ever evolving world of occidental yoga, “broga” is making a thrust for the hairier sex with a longing to loosen up. Yes, those guys who call each other “bro“, probably knocking fists as they do so, are starting to understand why one can’t transition from a youth filled with high-intensity competitive sports like football (both varieties), rugby, hockey etc to a sedentary job behind the screen or the wheel and not find ones legs calling out for respite. Good, I am glad that they are on the lookout. Here is the Independent’s tale of Broga in the UK:
Now, before I look at the article, I will address the name. Broga. BRO-ga. brOOOO-gah. Hmmm. The Urban Dictionary link above definitely casts this term as pejorative. It sounds like a So-cal version of redneck. So, I ask myself, who would have coined the term Broga and then had the balls to actually go out and market it? Apparently, Broga LLC, that’s who. They are Robert Sidoti and Adam O’Neill. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Sidoti says:
People see the name ‘Broga’ and they think it’s just a bunch of idiots. But there’s integrity.’
Later, in what might be seen as a slight contradiction to the term “integrity”, we learn:
“What we want to do is start training more guys, basically cloning Rob and having instructors in other cities who can teach it,’’ O’Neill says…He bristles at the term franchise, but that’s essentially the idea they’re exploring. That way a Broga class in Dallas will be the same as a Broga class in Los Angeles.
Um, yeah. But, anyway, that’s the marketing. I am not going to jump to conclusions, but I don’t know if that many men self-identify as bros, if they’re not. Ya get my drift? And cloning your business partner. Umm, that’s kind of far-fetched, isn’t it? Perhaps the humour doesn’t come across in print.
OK, so back to the article in the Indy.
Let’s start with the instructor. He isn’t a clone of Rob. Maybe their technology has yet to catch up. Instead, he is a fitness guy who “fell into” the “sport” of yoga way back in 2011, after being named a Lululemon ambassador. Yep. Go back and read it again. A more glowing recommendation for a yoga teacher I cannot imagine.
So, you turn up at buff guy’s class and he yanks you into the bridge pose, (“We attempt the assisted wheel…with sweaty-ankle man supporting my shoulders as I rise, and Miller pulling up my hips, I make it.”) which leaves you hurting for two days afterwards (“Two days later, when it aches to type these words”). Sthira-sukha anyone? In YS II-46, Patanjali says:
sthira-sukham-asanam
Which, at the risk of offending any “… physically active man who understands very well the benefits of the downward dog but would sooner cultivate his horribly stiff hamstrings than walk into a room full of girls spouting mystical Sanskrit.”, translates to “asana should possess two qualities: attention and relaxation.” Yeah, that’s dandy Patanjali, but what about the SWEAT???
Did these people miss the point that one moves more deeply into yoga poses, not through muscular force but through muscular relaxation? I guess if you’ve only been practising for two years, you might not have reached a true understanding of this concept that is oh-so-foreign to western mindset. Yoga is an experiential science – follow the formula, observe the results. If you are unsure of your results, repeat the experiment until you are convinced. Proceed.
I really don’t want to trash Broga, or any, er, bro, who decides that yoga might help his hamstrings. And I really do hope that this first brush with yoga will set him on his path. And yes, yoga begins its work on the gross, physical plane, then gradually expands into the subtler planes of the breath, mind and purusha. But, I think that eliminating the philosophical parts of yoga steers us off course. The codes of behaviour, the deep psychology of yoga, it sets us free. I believe that the world needs more kind people, not more worked-out people. But, to keep my mind untroubled, I choose to trust that the Universe is unfolding as it should, and that all that we encounter in our path is there to teach us. I trust that yoga will do its work, yoga entrepreneurs notwithstanding.
Let us yog. The Guru is in you.
Why me? Why not?
When cancer strikes – or strikes again – a most frequent question is “why me?”. Almost universally, we believe that we live our lives well enough to stave off the tumours and lesions and lumps. Perhaps a death-wish 60-a-day smoker might be secretly pleased when the CAT scans show a mass, but most of us just say “why me?”.
My mother had a book lying around the house called “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” I never read it. But, I understood it to be an analysis of tragedy from a Jewish perspective. I saw it mostly when she was dying of brain cancer, but I am sure that she bought it after her bitter divorce. You know, why me?
A client of mine who has been fighting cancer in one form or another for thirteen years gave me a very good answer to this question. I asked her if she asks why me and she said
“No, I usually say: why not?”
Indeed.
Being face to face with the precarity of life, I ponder our relationship to the physical body. When we ask why me?, we are not only asking whether our past actions have brought this suffering to bear upon us. We are also asking why our life is to be snuffed out.
Did anyone give you a guarantee when you were born? Did anyone promise you that you would live 80 healthy years then die peacefully in your sleep? No? I thought not.
But, there is a pervasive belief in our Christian societies that suffering and death are a punishment, yet another, for our sins. I am not a Christian scholar, but was raised Christian and was quite insistent in my beliefs for some years. Like many, I got angry at God. Cruel and callous, presiding over all this suffering, how could this entity be the bringer of peace and the ultimate judge of humanity? I stopped believing in the doctrine I had been taught. I began to search.
My search eventually led me to yoga. Via yoga, I have been able to re-evaluate the core values I was taught in childhood. I do believe that the Kingdom of God is Within You. I believe that yoga gives us the tools to find the Kingdom of God Within Us. I believe that Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are like a spiritual how-to, laid out by a spiritual scientist, telling us to try it ourselves and live the results.
There is a strong thread of anarchy running through all this thought. I have been an anarchist since I first learnt the word. But, anarchy as a political system has to per forza de prefaced by the Human Revolution, in which each member of the collective (society) prepares mind and body for the honourable social responsibility that anarchy supposes. We forgo policing and state-based control when we become fully functional and responsible. Until then, we outsource our moral compass, putting it in the hands of politicians who, by their very nature, are both corrupt and power-hungry.
So, why me? Well, why not? The greatest obstacle to joy and peace is ignorance. Ignorance of our true nature. Patanjali posits that there is an eternal soul within the human being. The soul, Purusha, uses the physical apparatus of the human body in order to observe the world and continue learning. Suffering arises when the Ego identifies with the physical body, imagining it to BE the soul. But the body is not the soul. It is the vehicle. We must care for it because a long life allows us more time for learning. But, we must not identify with it. When we are ignorant of our true nature, we are in a state called avidya. Avidya leads to suffering, dukha. Suffering leads to wrong action, trying to alleviate or escape suffering. This wrong action is called karma. The Law of Karma is avidya->dukha->karma. Ignorance leads to suffering leads to wrong action which then reinforces our ignorance. So repeats the cycle, the much quoted but little understood karma….
Why me? Why not? This body is only a temporary home. It is not your last stop. You will inhabit many more. if it is riddled with cancer and pain, don’t ask why me. Ask, why not. Perhaps your mission in this incarnation is complete? Perhaps your suffering is the teacher you need at this time. Perhaps you will never know why and you must learn to be content in not knowing.
Why me? Why not.
Yoga in Daily Life
Dear readers,
I am thrilled to report that I shall be publishing monthly articles about yoga in the local newspaper, The Post. Here is the first edition...
Docufilia – ¿Programados para ser gordos?, Docufilia – RTVE.es A la Carta
My personal yog: To thine own Self be true
My personal practice has been suffering of late. Time, but also boredom, has kept me off the mat. Granted, I have been practising a lot of yoga of daily life, being aware, present, joyful, honest and patient. Well, most of the time.
Then I read this article, about how to be an inspiring yoga teacher, in which the author says:
When you give yourself permission to abandon the rules, to listen and truly explore and celebrate your body through the shapes and then share what you discover with your students, the movement becomes medicine. My partner and Laughing Lotus co-founder, Jasmine Tarkeshi, always says that to be a good teacher you’ve got to be a soul scientist. You truly must go into a laboratory and investigate your sacred self through your body, every single day.
Heck yeah! I need to remember that sometimes.
The system I know and teach is called Viniyoga. The central tenet of this system is “the yoga adapts to the person, not the person to the yoga”. It is a system that can be considered the peak of Krishnamacharya’s life’s work and investigation. I believe wholeheartedly in that core message and have iron faith in my teacher, Carmen, and my lineage (Krishnamacharya -> TKV Desikachar -> Claude Maréchal -> Christina S. de Ynestrillas -> Carmen Sánchez Segura). And yet, and yet…lately something hadn’t been quite right.
I embarked on the second phase of my teacher training, the “Post-Formation” last autumn. The format was different than the first part (once every two months, a residential weekend away) but the content built solidly on the earlier teachings. Perhaps a bit too solidly…more sutras? more posture analysis? etc…Boredom has always been my bugbear, so I knew I need not heed that little voice inside saying “something new…something new…go and find something new…”
What was putting me off? Boredom, yes. But more than anything, a distinct lack of joy was bringing the whole tone down. I felt the need to knuckle down for the seminars rather than blossom out. In the meantime, I had enjoyed the wonders of Stretch Therapy and the deep relaxation of Yin Yoga.
I began to doubt…was Viniyoga too limited? Are the postural compensations too often, too indulgent, not challenging enough? Why is it that those who practice Viniyoga seem to do so for a very long time without ever developing the stunning and deep flexibility that other lineages develop? Why do my teachers, who evidently know a lot about yoga and have practised for years not seem to smile, not seem joyful (with the exception of Claude) ? The questions rolled round my head and I found no answers.
The second, then the third seminars dragged on. One of the group dropped out. Doubt, head-scratching, the decision to stay.
Then, I read this article and realised something both simple and profound. Having completed the teacher training, having practised solidly since 1999, I had earned the right to innovate, create, both in my personal practice and in my classes. Of course, I had always done this, I know that I am creative when it comes to sequencing, bhavanas, important details. But, still, I limited myself.
I think I will grant myself a little more leeway from now on, find out how Viniyoga adapts to Rachel, not Rachel to Viniyoga.
I still believe that the training I am pursuing is the highest quality teaching I can receive here and now. It is I who needs to transform. OM. May you find your own path, too. The Guru is in you.