Playin’ The Edge

Here’s the last kickin’ it post.  I figure you’re either really strong now or you’re really sore and have promised never to read this blog again  

1. Get into Chair pose and add lifts.  These are slow - drop 3-4 inches bringing your thighs close to parallel to the floor and then slowly come back up again.  When you’re ready to rest dive into Standing Forward Bend for a few breaths.  Come back into Chair for a variation.  This time, bring your arms to a T-position, palms facing forward and slowly twist from side-to-side.  Focus on maintaining your posture, core muscles contracted.  It doesn’t matter how far you twist, just use those Obliques to get you there.  When you’re ready to rest, dive back into Standing Forward Bend.  
2. Kneeling with knees hip-width apart - do a variation of the first.  Bring your arms to a T-position, palms forward.  Lean back a few inches and exhale into a twist.  Inhale back and change sides.  Do 5-10.  Rest in child’s pose.
3. Bring your lower body into Goddess position (feet spread, toes pointing out, knees bent) but bend forward with a flat back and stretch your arms out in front of you.  So you’re bent at the hips, holding your torso straight.  Hold for a couple breaths.  Then bring your fingers to the floor, poking your bum out behind so that your knees stay roughly over ankes.  Lower your butt a little more if you can, while you hold the position for 3-5 breaths.  Standing Forward Bend is a good rest after this one.
4. In a seated position, cross your ankles with knees bent and lift your legs off the floor.  Hold your arms forward for balance, or for more challenge, stretch them up overhead without letting your lower back round.  Press your navel into your spine and breath while you hold.

Hopefully you can do these and keep it playful instead of punishment.  When all else fails play some good tunes.

I’m not big on regrets.  I did my thing, I likely used my best judgement at the time, so I live with it and move on.  Like the rumnogs I enjoyed over the holidays for example.  I had a great time.  Loved every one of them.  So no regrets - but - the question I’m asking myself these days is how do I get my butt back in gear so that I can lift it in Plank pose?  Can anyone relate?

So this topic’s going to be at least 3 parts (we’ll see how many I come up with).  These are little additives for your yoga sessions, designed to kick it up a notch.

These additives are not classic yoga, but it shouldn’t feel like aerobics class either.  Keep the movements slow and deliberate.  Be mindful of what you’re doing and don’t just get the reps in.  The key is to work at your own level, mix in resting poses and enjoy some good solid stretching at the end so body *and* mind are in a happy place.

1. Mix in a Lunge with your Sun Salutations and try it this way.  Lunge with your right leg forward first.  Bring arms into a t-position.  With an exhale twist right, then inhale back.  Keep your exhales nice and slow, twisting as far as you with a straight spine.  Repeat for 5 and then change sides.  Add a Plank/Cobra/Down Dog flow in-between if you like.  Need more?  Do it again and hold the twist for 3-5 breaths before changing sides.
2. When you’re getting to the end of your standing pose session, pause in Plank and rock on.  Rock forward and back on your toes, just little movements, to make it more interesting.  Be mindful of your posture here - keep your navel tucked in, your tailbone curled down toward the mat and your shoulder blades pressed down your back.  You’ve done enough when you’re not holding your posture firm.  But if you feel like you still have more juice, just drop to your knees and hold the easier version Plank for 3 more breaths before relaxing down to the mat.
3. Start in Reverse Plank or for an easier option, Reverse Tabletop so your knees are bent and ankles are underneath your knees.  Let your butt drop 3 inches, then squeeze and lift back to the beginning position.  Try 5 of these.  Go slow, stay focused.  Don’t push your hips too far, keep them in line with your body to protect your lower back.  If you have enough energy for both poses - try Reverse Plank, rest in a seated Forward Bend for a few breaths, then do Reverse Tabletop.

I love Fish pose, it’s just the best relaxed, end-of-session back-bend there is.  And it’s great combined with a variety of forward bends.  Try this flow holding each pose for 3-5 breaths:

Forward Bend - Seated, with legs straight, wiggle around to get your sit bones in contact with the mat.  Knees and toes should face up. Let your pelvis drop forward to find the stretch.  Hold onto your legs, feet or big toes working on lengthening your lower back, dropping your navel to your thighs. 

Fish - Tuck your hands under the edges of your hips, drop your elbows to the mat in line with your hands, press your chest up to the ceiling and let your head drop back.  I like having my elbows at a good angle here to amp the back bend and find the stretch across my chest and fronts of my shoulders.  If it feels uncomfortable for your neck though, tuck a pillow or block underneath your head.  Or slide your hands toward your feet a few inches so your head can rest on the floor.

To come back to sitting, bring your head back up, tuck your chin and supporting yourself with your hands behind you, curl back up.

Seated Twist - Bend your right leg and drop the foot over your left thigh onto the floor.  Tuck it in nice and close.  Sitting up tall,  hug the bent leg with your left arm and twist right.  Use your right hand on the floor to support your twist.  Let your navel slide along your thigh as you move deeper into the pose.  Pull your right shoulder back, keep neck relaxed.

Fish - Just like above.  The second time around see if you can get just a little more lift in your chest, squeeze your shoulder blades together gently.

Forward Bend with Twist  - Prepare like you did for the Forward Bend above, tilt your pelvis and then bring your left hand to the outside of your right leg.  Use it to move you into a twist to the right, extending your right arm up, opening your chest and pressing your right shoulder open.   Change sides.  Come back to center for another breath or two in Forward Bend.

Fish one more time if you like, or just roll down to a lying position for Bridge and other finishing poses.

I’ve been doing alot of Yoga Mudra lately - the juicy shoulder/chest stretch that feels so great if you’ve done alot of time at a desk or computer.

To get into Yoga Mudra - interlock your fingers together, clasping your hands behind your back. Ideally you want to have straight arms so if that’s not happening, grab a strap. Roll your shoulder up and back. *Squeeze* your shoulder blades together. Then straighten your arms, pressing your hands away from your hips so that you feel a stretch in your chest and the fronts of your shoulders.

It’s an arm position that you can use in all kinds of poses. Here are a few:

Standing Forward Bend - stand with feet hip width apart. Establish Yoga Mudra with your arms and then slowly bend forward, creasing at the hips. Keep a slight bend in your knees. Make sure neck is relaxed and head hangs loose. Keep letting your shoulders relax, keep breathing, this can be intense. Stay for at least 5 breaths. If you can really focus on relaxing your shoulders, often you’ll get just a tiny release your exhales. Come out of this slowly so you don’t reintroduce any tension. Bring hands back to hips first, unclasp your hands, then roll up, or with hands on hips come up slowly with a flat back. Stand and breath for a bit.

Wide Leg Forward Bend - use the same instruction as the last except with feet farther apart. Bring your arms in a t-position and widen your feet so that they’re under your ankles. The insides of your feet should be parallel to each other. Again, knees can have a little softness in them. Follow the same instructions as the Standing Forward Bend.

Warrior 1 - Hold Warrior 1 for a few breaths, then Yoga Mudra your arms and creasing at the hips, fold over your bent leg. Relax your arms away from you. Your torso can rest on your thigh. Keep your neck relaxed. Breath as you actively rest.

Kneeling - From a kneeling position get into Yoga Mudra and then fold forward so that your forehead is resting on the floor (or a pillow). Relax your arms away from you, finding the stretch. Then slowly lift your hips, getting a nice curve in your spine. You will roll from your forehead to the top of head as you lift. Keep your lower body active, so all your weight isn’t in your neck and head. Take a few breaths here and then slowly come back.

Locust - once you’ve done a pose using Yoga Mudra and another back bending posture to ensure you’re warmed up, try this one. Add Yoga Mudra to a Locust pose. Try bringing only your upper body off the floor the first time. Keep legs engaged so you have a firm foudation. And then for the second round bring upper and lower body off the floor. When you do the first one really focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together as you press your arms away and press your chest forward. Really work the curve in your upper back. Then in the second round work the curve in the lengh of your back. I love this one, it’s intense but delicious. When you finish each one, let your head rest on your mat and take a breather feeling the way the energy moves in the back of your body.

Relaxed Yoga Mudra - The other night in class we were winding down, almost to Savasana but I wanted to do one more shoulder stretch, so we did this one. Lay face down, put your arms into Yoga Mudra getting a shoulder stretch while the rest of your body is fairly relaxed. You can also do it lying on your side.

Yoga Mudra is such a good heart opener and it stretches all those muscles that get tight from slumping all day. It’s worth adding at least one of these to each yoga session.

Last night I threw in a Half Moon pose at the end of a flow with my Power Yoga class. And I could tell everyone was going into “oh no, this is a hard pose and I’m going to really suck at it”. And I looked around at the class and there were 9 professional women who are busy achiever types, most have kids and spouses. They’re beautiful, talented and wonderful. And they’re pretty much used to doing everything well.

And it really struck me how a challenging pose like Half Moon can be a great opportunity to beat ourselves up or be playful. It can be an opportunity to demand perfection and be cheesed off at anything less. Or it can be an open field to just see what happens.

It’s interesting because we always want to *do* the complete pose. But if we’re trying to find ease in each pose, if we’re trying to find a place of not striving and efforting, then that means being ok with not doing the pose 100%. It means being OK with not looking like the model in Yoga Journal, or like your teacher or like the picture in your head.

Sometimes you have to hack the pose. So rather than telling the class how to do the pose perfectly, I suggested the steps to getting into to. I suggested putting the limbs in position first, turning the torso open next and straightening the standing leg last. And I suggested they stay at any of those places just to hang out.

I love doing movements with breath in class. It forces people to breath deeply which ensures that even the breathing resisters will feel great by the end of class. And it encourages awareness - you’re finding your edge with every breath so your mind can’t easily wander. I also like it because once I’ve given the instruction everyone does it on their own to the rhythm of their own breath. I figure at best this helps build their own sense of self-direction in their yoga practive and at the very least ensures they won’t have to listen to me yack non-stop for the class.

Here are 4 active poses that I like:

Core. Building core strength is so important and I like to do integrative work that builds awareness of our core. Go into sphinx and then with an exhale use your core strength to bring your hips off the ground, bringing your torso and hips into one long line. Exhale back down, gently press your chest forward. Work the details when you lift your hips - tuck your tail, focus on engaging your whole core, keep your shoulder blades rpessed down your back throughout.

Core with a Twist. Lay on your back, arms in a T position and bend knees so they’re over your hips. Take a deep inhale and as you exhale drop knees to one side but stop a few inches above the floor. Hold until exhale is complete, then use those core muscles to inhale them back up. Repeat, going back and forth a few times. Don’t let your knees drop to your chest, keep then at right angles. The last time, relax knees to the floor, turn to look in the opposite direction and hold the twist for a few breaths. Change sides.

Lunge with Breath. There are two options - sink into a high lunge with arms up (Warrior 1 style) on the inhale, and then straighten the front leg and lower arms to the side with an exhale. Repeat. For a less strenuous version use a shorter stride and bend both front and back leg, using the same arm motion. In this version, your front knee shouldn’t go ahead of your ankle, but your back knee can drop as far as you like so that you come up on your toes. If you feel any knee discomfort do less and avoid it.

Chair to Forward Bend with a side of Back Bend. This is actually a flow of poses that mixes back bends and forward bends together, it’s insta-bliss. Exhale into Chair, inhale up to standing keeping arms up. To add a back bend here, press your chest forward and lift your gaze. Then exhale and swan dive slowly into Forward Bend. Inhale and roll back up sweeping arms wide (back bend here too if you like). Then on the next exhale sink back into Chair. Repeat. Try to make your breaths as long as you can with slow measured movements.

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 went to a John Coleman class (see him here in the instructor section) and he did a lovely little flow that I’ve added into my home practice. Here’s how it goes:

1. Standing with feet at least hip-width apart, bring arms up into a T-position. With palms up, sink into a backbend, letting your head drop back, arms open wide, press your hips forward slightly. Stay for a couple breaths. When we did this pose in class John said “feel like you’re hugging the sky.” I love that.

2. As you come up out of back bend, keep arms open, turn palms down and slowly drop forward into a Forward Bend. Stay for a couple of breaths and head back to standing for another backbend.

Repeat the flow at least 3 times. Place your hands on your lower back for the back bend if it needs more support.

Variations - In your Forward Bends add variations after the first, like holding your big toes with elbows out to the side, or lift your toes and slide your hands, palms-up under under your feet. These variations can be used to *gently* lengthen your spine and direct your torso a little closer to your thighs.

I’ve found this flow very heart-opening and calming too. Enjoy.

A couple weeks ago I was salsa dancing, or actually “salsa watching” and my friend was salsa dancing. What a fun spectator sport that is! I realized that while the technical stuff is important the huge distinction I saw between the seasoned dancers and the newbies was the ability to make it look really easy.

I think being a female is probably tougher in salsa dancing because men lead so women do the moves, but in a responsive way. I noticed that the seasoned dancers do that *and* bring an ease and comfort to the moves. It looked like they were having fun and not saying in their head “and spin and turn and uh-oh what the heck are we doing now!” Which is what I’d be doing.

And I thought about how it’s the same quality we want to bring to the yoga mat. Not for spectators but for ourselves - that loose quality of ease should be on the inside. And of course there’s the technical stuff in yoga too, but if you can get through the review of the 2 or 3 elements of the pose that get you there, the rest of the time can be spent being responsive to it. Finding the firm and the soft. Like in Tree where your standing leg is working, but you might sway like a sapling as you enjoy the balancing. The effort and the comfort. Like in Triangle where you’re putting out energy to be there, but you relax into the twist, opening your chest and torso up and up. The doing, but also the responding. As you patiently feel for your body to open and then drop deeper into the pose.

I went to a Bikram class one time and the teacher yelled at a young 20-ish guy that his backbend pose sucked because of video games. “You can’t do too many backbends,” she said. You gotta love the sargeant approach to teaching yoga hey? But regardless of her delivery, her message was bang-on. Our culture is designed to keep us sitting for as long as possible, whether it’s in the car, on the couch, at a desk working or playing we need a good backbend as often as possible.

But sometimes you don’t have the time to warm up for, or the energy to do, a Bow or Camel pose, you need some easy options too. Here are three:

- Kneel down into Hero pose. Put your hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing toward your hips. Let you head relax back as you lift your chest toward the ceiling and your hips away from your ankles. My arms are a little short so I feel this mostly in my shoulders, if this is true for you too, try making fists or tent your fingers if they’re strong enough so that you can get more height in your hips. This will move more of the stretch into the front of your body. Stay for 3-5 breaths.

- Here’s a variation on the first - sit with legs straight, place your hands on floor behind your hips, fingers pointing toward your hips. Let your head relax back, puff your chest up. Lift your lower ribs away from your hip bones. If you feel more energetic, bend your knees them over your ankles for Reverse Tabletop. Keep working the lift in your hips, keep head relaxed.

- When you’re ready to relax try this one, it’s kind of a gentle supported Fish pose for your back - lie back with legs straight or in Reclined Bound Angle. Grab the cushion from your couch, because it’s usually the shape that will fit perfectly under your upper torso. For this one your shoulders and head are not supported so that they can relax toward the floor. Arms are away from your body, you might want to try a palms-up T-pose resting on the floor. The cushion supports your upper back to open your chest and stretch the front of your shoulders. Make any adjustments needed to make it more comfortable. Stay here for 5-10 minutes.

Even if you’re doing a few minute of morning yoga to get warmed up for your day, try to work in some easy backbending poses. These poses help work against the sitting ’slump-asanas’ that we find ourselves in the rest of the day, and make you feel more energized and positive.