Playin’ The Edge

I’ve noticed more being written about gratitude lately, and the health and happiness benefits of being grateful.  One recent article talked about how it’s not enough just to mindlessly list stuff you like - you need to feel the positive emotions or the emotional connection to the things you feel gratitude towards to really get a benefit.  Here’s a visualization:

Get into Savasana after your yoga practice and take a few deep Ujjayi breaths while you relax, letting your body sink deep into the mat.

1. Place - Think of a place you feel grateful for.  It could be a place you’ve visited,  a place you go to to relax, it could be your favourite place in your home.  Someplace that allows you to be who you really are. See yourself in that place and experience it with all our sense.  See your surroundings.  Take in the colors and the feeling of the place. Feel the texture of whatever you’re resting on.  Feel the quality and temperature of the air on your skin.  Notice if there’s a smell to your special place and take that in.  Notice any sounds.  Take a couple more breaths while you enjoy being in your place.

2. Thing - Think of something you own and enjoy, that you feel grateful for.  Try to think of something that you feel emotionally connected to.  See this object in your mind’s eye.  Imagine yourself holding it, or if it’s a large object, sitting or relaxing with it.  Notice it’s color.  Notice its texture and how it feels.  Notice if there’s a smell or a sound.  Come up with a word that describes the emotional connection you have to this object.  Take a couple more breaths while you enjoy it.

3. Person.  Now choose a person you feel grateful for.  It obviously can be your partner or a family member, but doesn’t have to be.  It could be the person who serves you coffee in the a.m., someone you feel a connection with.   See that person and hold them in your heart center, in the middle of your chest.  Try to feel the connection or the feelings that they bring up for you. 

Bring a feeling of warmth to your chest, making the feeling stronger and bathing them in your gratitude.  Then taking a few more breaths, breathe that feeling of warmth throughout the rest of your body:  fill your torso, let it flow down your legs to your toes, let it flow down your arms to your fingers, feel it flow up into your neck and fill your head.  Enjoy the feeling of warmth throughout your body and let it relax any last bits of stress or tension you might be holding onto.

Then take your next breath a little deeper.  Bring slight movement back to your fingers, and then to your toes.  Rock your head slightly on the back of your mat.  Roll over onto your right side for a moment with your eyes closed, keeping as much of that relaxed feeling as you can.  And then make your way up to sitting.

I had the opportunity to get to a Bikram class last week in Montreal while I was in town to see The Police.  I loved the teacher and I’m sorry to say I didn’t get her name. 

The last time I had a Bikram opportunity, the teacher was like a drill sargeant, I felt sorry for the newbie that she yelled at.  But the Montreal teacher managed to challenge us but also be gentle.  She was respectful of the newbies in the class saying for Standing Head to Knee Pose, “if this is your first time you’re going to hold the posture right here” with foot in hand above the floor. 

I find Bikram teachers talk non-stop which means I inevitably zone, but because this woman was teaching in English and French I had to really focus when it was in English to make sure I got the instruction I needed.  Then I zoned when she switched to French because I understand about zero of it.  I never did learn the words for ‘rabbit’ and ‘camel’ let alone anything useful to yoga instruction.

But what I liked best about her teaching is that she encouraged us to enjoy the spaces between the standing postures.  She told us to avoid the urge to wipe sweat, scratch and fidget.  She asked us to just pause and breath.

It was a great way to deal with being overheated, which I find makes me feel edgey and fidgety and then clausterphobic.  It’s like my body thinks it can wiggle away from the heat.  But that’s just resistance talking right?  It was so much better to just stand and breath.  Just suck in the heat.  I felt calmer and cooler. 

We get can get so busy between poses.  It’s like we want to avoid the subtlety of what’s really going on inside.  I love how there are times between Sun Salutations in my own classes where it seems like the whole class finds something to get busy with.  They adjust clothing, blow their nose, play with their hair, line up their mat more perfectly with their neighbour.  Not that any of those things are inherently bad.  It *is* best to avoid having the snot flow when you’re doing Sun Salutations.  And in my Bikram class I did wipe the brow sweat every so often because I knew salt in the eyes was *really* going to harsh my buzz.  It’s just another thing to be aware of.

It reminded me of how they do it in Kripalu too.  The languaging is different, but same effect.  In Kripalu you pause after a strenuous standing pose and literally soak up the effects.  Notice where the energy moving.  Feel the flow of prana.  Soak up the bliss. 

And in Bikram they take it a step further so that you actually enjoy a 20 second Savasana between each of the mat poses.  I originally thought it was to keep you from passing out after an hour of that heat.  Now I’m seeing it probably helps the energy flow and kickstarts the detox process between the twists and sit-ups.  But whatever the reason is, it was delicious and calming. 

It reminds me of how little we focus inward and how powerful it is when we do.

Ever get to the cushion for a little a.m. meditation and your body feels like it’s made out of bricks?  And 80 year-old achey, creaky bricks at that?  And because we’re mind/body connected kinda folks, hitting the pillow in that state means you’re going to sit there feeling like a creaky ol’ curmugeon whose family has stopped visiting. 

Sometimes it makes sense to get your body parts moving first so that it’s easier to relax and chill out.  If this seems like cheating to you, like feeling crappy is a great challenge, then get back into your horsehair shirt and stop reading!  If not, here are some suggestions.

When you get to your cushion check out what body parts feel like they were poured full of concrete while you slept.  Then based on what you find, try these:

Neck - if it’s stiff, let your chin drop down to your chest.  Keep your back straight, completely relax your neck and let the weight of your head stretch the back of your neck for a couple of breaths.  Then slide your chin along your collarbone moving the stretch.  Come up on one side with your ear directly over your shoulder (face forward).  Slowly move back and head to the other side.  Repeat until your neck feels looser.

Shoulders - if they’re stiff do some slow shoulder rolls.  If you were sleeping on your side and feel like your chest has caved in,  clasp your hands behind your back, straighten your arms and lift them gently away from your hips.  Hold here to stretch your chest and shoulders.

Back - if your back needs a stretch start with your hands on your knees.  Round your back, pressing your navel into your spine as your drop your chin.  Hold for a moment and then lift your gaze as you press your chest forward.  Repeat both moves until your back moves freely. 

Then side bend by placing your right hand on the floor next to you and lowering your right shoulder toward it.  Keep your left shoulder back.  You’ll feel the stretch up the left side of the spine (your spine should look like a big letter ‘c’ to someone behind you).  Change sides and repeat. 

Then lastly, twist.  With a straight back, press one shoulder back, using your hands to hold you in the twist.  You should feel it all the way down your spine and change sides.  Repeat. 

Hips - if your hips are tight, bend your knees, move your feet apart and drop your knees to one side and then the other, windshield wipering back and forth them until your hips feel looser.  To stretch your ’sitting’ muscles, bring the outside of your right foot to the top of your left thigh.  Your left leg is bent - enough that you feel a stretch in your right hip, but not so much that it makes your pelvis want to roll back, keep it vertical.  Hold for a couple deep breaths and then change sides.

Do as many of these warm-ups as you need to get your body loosened up for sitting meditation.  You’ll breath more freely.  You’ll feel more loose, calm and comfortable.  

May all the thoughts you let go of, be happy ones.

My friend told me that she’d had an ear massage at the end of yoga class and loved it. I did a bit of research and found out that there are a bunch of acupressure points in the ears so it’s a useful place to focus. A good ear massage releases tension from the neck and jaw. So I tried it out on the folks in last night’s yoga class during Savasana. It’s great because you can do it for yourself too:

1. With a finger and thumb massage the edge of the ears, flattening out the cartilage at the top. Move from top to bottom. When your fingers reach the bottom tug the ear lobes down gently. Repeat 3 times.
2. Tug outward on the circle of cartilage in the middle of the ear (not the ear canal) working from top to bottom.
3. Rub your head right behind the ears starting at the top and moving down. The juciest spot is the bottom third near the base of the skull.
4. Keep moving, rubbing fingers into the hollows at the base of your skull working toward the spine.

I used some ‘tranquility’ massage oil when I did this in class last night. I can always tell when it’s been a good Savasana session by how slowly people come back to sitting - last night was one of the slowest - so it must be good!

I read somewhere about Smile Meditation and came up with an interpretation for Savasana. If if feels weird to smile while you lie down in Savasana consider that the act of smiling releases serotonin and endorphins. It’s guaranteed to make you feel good. Here’s how it goes:

- Get into Savasana pose and take a few deep belly breaths. Relax your body into the mat and focus your attention inward.
- Smile just a little. It doesn’t have to be a toothy grin, just a little smile that you can hold without effort.
- Feel that smile radiate into your body. Inhale the smile into your lungs. Smile at your heart. Smile with gratitude at your kidneys, your stomach, your liver (right side ). Smile at your bones and your muscles.
- Give your smile a color and feel the color spread from your head down into your torso, down your arms to the fingertips, down your legs to your toes.
- Relax further as you feel the color permeating warmth into your skeleton and muscles. Feel your body sink deeper into the mat.
- Immerse yourself in the feeling of being completely calm, still, safe, relaxed for as long as you like.
- When you’re ready to transition, deepen your inhales a little, make your exhales long.
- Bring tiny movement back to your fingers and toes.
- Roll over onto your right hand side and pause for a couple of breaths.
- Come back up to sitting.

While we usually appreciate our bodies for what they can do or how far they can stretch, Smile Meditation seems like a good way to be grateful for our bodies just because.

I was doing an audio CD from Erich Schiffmann the other day and he says that we gather tension unconsciously but release it consciously. In Savasana he asked us to try to make our toes feel more relaxed and our nose, as well as the more obvious spots in our body that need relief from tension. It’s an interesting thing to try - feel your toes droop or melt into total relaxation. It takes practice just like anything else.

Sometimes tension is daunting. I gather my tension between my shoulder blades and have a rock-hard knot on the left side. I’ve only become aware of how *dismayed* I feel when I’m conscious of a nasty knot. Why do I respond that way? Part of it is that it’s uncomfortable and I resist it because I know it’s hard work to get rid of. But it’s also a wake up call to do something differently in my life, and I’m generally too stubborn to want to do that much.

But sometimes I wonder if my dismay is just a way of holding it tightly. Maybe if I can soften my approach to my own tension, it would be easier to loosen the knots. Until then I’ll practice *melting* away the knot in my back….and I’ll visit the massage therapist tomorrow

Here’s a quote from Praying Naked by J. Francis Stroud:

How do you find happiness? By not going after it. If you make happiness your first order of business, you’ll never find it. All you will get are thrills, excitement, and distractions, not abiding contentment. Happiness follows self-discovery. There is no possibility of it if you are a stranger to yourself. Position self-awareness before self-gratification.

He goes on to talk about the difficulty of meditating - it’s a hard thing to do if we’re not comfortable with ourselves. When we sit and breath we come face-to-face with ourselves and it can be really uncomfortable. We immediately think of all the reasons why it’s dumb and useless and we conclude we must be really bad at it because it’s uncomfortable and before we know it we’re off and running. But really there’s nothing to be bad at. You can’t fail at sitting and breathing, we do it all the time, we’re just doing it with full awareness this time around. And learning to sit with all that judgement and discomfort and let it pass with our breath is one of the best ways to get past it. It just is. This too shall pass.

I’m actually a certified Kripalu yoga teacher and while you wouldn’t know it from my teaching - thanks to my training I really value the importance of breathing. Next time you’re bored in front of the PC (hopefully *after* reading this blog post ) do some googling on the benefits of breathing, it’s amazing what you find out.

I’ve found that the simplest forms of breathing (pranayama) are the most powerful. And this is a boon for teachers - because they’re simple, it means you can stop yacking sooner and just do it. Here are my faves:

- 3 part or Complete Breath (Dirga Pranayama) - gets you centered before practice. A stress response requires shallow chest breathing, so the best way to start relaxing your body is to breath into your belly. Here’s how to start - get into a comfortable seated position, close your eyes, pull your spine straight and relax your shoulders and knees. Put your hands against your belly and completely relax it. Feel it soften into your hands. We normally suck in our belies to look svelte, but now it’s break-time. Fill that nice soft belly full of breath. When your belly has expanded into your hands, let your breath fill your ribs and then your chest. When you’ve completed a deep inhale, let the air go in one long smooth exhale. Take 10 more breaths like this focusing on the sensations that come with each breath. Allow your exhales to becomes longer and slower as your body becomes relaxed and filled with oxygen.

- Breath with Retention (kumbhaka) - this is a good one for centering, Savasana or those nights in bed when you just can’t quiet your mind enough to fall asleep. Here’s how it works - take 3 deep breaths, then hold the next inhale pause before letting the breath go. Do this 3 three times. In the next round move the pause to the end of your exhale. Do this 3 times. For the next round pause in both spots - when you’re full of breath and when you’re empty of breath. Start again. You may find your pauses naturally get longer as you go. Allow yourself to enjoy the gaps - known as a ‘perfectly peaceful pause’.

Bonus points - add rention to 3-part breathing.

- Ujjayi or Ocean breath - if you’re new to this one, one of the best ways to get the hang of Ocean breath is to breath onto your hand like you’re fogging up a mirror. Ujjayi breath uses the same throat position and produces the same sound. Then maintain that position with mouth closed and you’ve got it. The key is finding the right amount of relaxation in the throat. It’s like you’re getting so relaxed that you’re going to start snoring, but don’t quite get there. If you’re not sure, it helps to listen to someone else. Ujjayi breathing relaxes the body and the reason we do it during asana practice is to help keep us focused on the body. The sound and sensation of the breath helps keep us grounded in what’s happening on the mat so it’s harder for the mind to drift off.

Bonus points - add retention to a 3-part Ujjayi breath.

There are a plenty of forms of pranayama - heck there are a bjillion versions of the retention breath alone, where you add bandas and all kinds of fun things. These are just simple starters. CDs can be useful for your home practice. I have
Kripalu’s PRANAYAMA: Beginner Level Practice and it’s a good one (I don’t have experience buying from this vendor). But the bottom line is that you can get pretty relaxed and go pretty deep even with these simple breathing techniques. And they’re guaranteed to get you to sleep every time.

I like to take time for Savasana when I teach. I’ve been in classes where Savasana feels ‘rushed’. It’s like people are just waiting until they’re allowed to get up and run off. But I think *especially* in our crazy rush-rush culture we need to have the space to just lie there and *be*.

I also find that while lying there is great, “thinky” people appreciate help staying focused. So visualizations can be a great tool. I read somewhere that visualization is powerful because as far as the brain is concerned what you’re seeing in your mind’s eye you’re really seeing - it’s as good as being there. So bring on the tropical beach! Whew I’m more relaxed already. Here are some guidelines to offering a juicy relaxing visualization:

Play some good music . If you’re playing something with nature or water sounds, take advantage and build on that for your visualization (the Solitudes CDs can be useful here).

- Invite everyone into Savasana pose. Legs are far enough apart that the feet can flop open, hands are palms up, shoulders resting away from the ears.
- Start with 3 deep breaths (Ugayai, 3-part if you like) to transition into relaxation. Encourage everyone to really relax deeper into the mat with each exhale.
- Then ask them to let their breath become relaxed without controlling it.
- Keep the music soft and keep your voice soft. Allow people to ignore you and just zone if they want to. Also, use lots of pauses so it never feels rushed and people can sink into the silences.
- Start by offering a setting. Let’s stay with the tropical beach example. “Imagine yourself on a perfect beach - one you’ve been to or one you’d like to visit”.
- Work all the senses - Ask them to notice how it looks (color of the water etc.), what they smell, the sounds (”notice the sound of the water, notice any birds sounds, see if there are tree sounds”), the air on their skin, notice the sensation of the warm sand that molds against their body as they sink deeper into it. And whatever else that comes to mind that will enrich the visualization.
- Allow a few minutes of silence at the end so that they can just enjoy and go deeper.
- Come out gradually. I usually bring people back to their breath, then bring tiny movements back to fingers/toes, then roll onto their right side for a moment with eyes closed and then come back to sitting. I think that keeping with a gradual, consistent ‘coming out’ process allows people to relax even more. They learn fast that I’m not going to ask them to jump up and run off.

Things to watch out for:
- Keep the visualization simple - don’t get wordy or complicated. One time I suggested in the visuatization that they come across an object. And then I said to pick up the object in their hand. Someone told me later that their object was a house so my instruction wasn’t very useful. Keep it simple and clear.
- Avoid anything too distracting - a setting like a beach is pretty universally relaxing but not everyone would find camping in the woods at night relaxing, for example.

This may feel like a wacky thing to try the first time, but I think people appreciate having the permission to enjoy a juicy Savasana. Don’t underestimate how open and open-minded we all are after a good yoga session.