It looks unassuming, but it's a powerful force: the gratitude jar made its debut at our anniversary party last month and is already holding so many powerful statements of what matters most to the people who yoga at the Badlands.
The idea is simple: write down anything you're grateful for. Put it in the jar. Once a year - at our New Year's celebration - we'll take them out and read some and then burn them to symbolically release and remember all the wonderful things that have transpired in the Badlands this year. The act of writing down what fills your heart and mind with gratitude is correlated with an increase in feelings of well-being and happiness. This starts what is known as a "virtuous cycle:"
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During September 2015 we'll be focusing on forward folds. Poses referred to as forward folds in yoga are poses in which your femur, or upper leg bone, is closer to your torso than 90 degrees.
When we focus on a particular class of poses - like forward folds - we focus on the actions of all the poses we do that involve this action. For instance, Downward Facing Dog has forward fold actions in the hips and backbend actions in the shoulders: we'll focus mostly on the hips this month. In Warrior I, instead of focusing primarily on shoulder actions, we'll focus on the leg strengthening action in the forward leg. Forward folds both require and create strong, flexible core muscles - both the deep core and the vanity abs - to support a long, aligned spine with all its natural curves. Hamstrings are a major focus during folds because the action of rotating the pelvis forward lifts the sitting bones from which the hamstrings originate. Since they attach to the bones of the lower leg (the tibia and fibula) and cross the knee, keeping the knees bent while you flex at the hip with your core supporting your spine is the best way to enter forward folds form the majority of people - even very flexible ones. This allows you to create the container of the pose, focus on aligning with your breath and then to feel into the lengthening of the hamstrings as you straighten your legs, lengthening the hamstrings. Only go as far as you stay connected to your breath and your low back stays in great alignment; if the hamstrings are pulled down because they're not yet flexible and strong enough to cross the back of the leg fully extended, they'll pull your pelvis back toward its upright position and this will round your lower back. Rounding your lower back in forward folds puts you at risk for disk injury and generally compromises the fullness of your breath as low back rounding leads to shoulder and rib cage rounding. Bent knees allow you to stay connected through the entire body and create the strength you'll need when you're flexible enough to extend fully. Forward folds are more contemplative, in general, than the mood elevating forward folds, and are great for calming anxiety, preparing for sleep and soothing your worried mind. Look for forward folding focus in all my hatha, yin and restorative classes and explore the strength and flexibility that will allow you to rock your world from a place of calm and stability. Questions about forward folds, hamstrings, home practice or yoga? Comment and get your answers here! When you remember your last yoga practice, what images do you have?
Do you remember the feeling of being in the poses? So well you could recreate the pose? Or do you have in mind an image of your teacher or the person next to you or the screen from which you were practicing? When you turn your senses inward (pratyahara) you begin to register not only how the poses make you feel and how having practiced yoga makes you feel all day, but you remember the poses in your body. While for some, it may take an extra moment to process spoken instructions without a demo, it's worth that moment and effort, at least for a percentage of practices. That moment, that "extra" moment... that's the moment of dropping in and inhabiting your body. Yoga is defined by the 8 limbs outlined by Patanjali in the Sutras, the work that all lineages acknowledge. 2 of these limbs are "focus" and "concentration" which, together with "flow", make up "samyama" - or meditation. Have you ever heard your teacher encourage you not to compare yourself to the next person, to focus on your own mat? Rather than looking around to see if you're "doing it right," listen and feel how it feels in your body. When you listen, you listen. You focus and you focus on your body in space, engaging parts of your body that may have forgotten how to engage. Listen for at least one practice a week. See how it changes your practice and your day. Share your experience in a comment below and join the movement! One of the most important lessons I got in teaching yoga had nothing to do with my teacher training. I was volunteering at the North Valley Senior Center here in Albuquerque. Those yogis taught me about community, practicality, triumph and longevity. And one of my lessons came at a moment of my own failure. Yogis of every size, shape and experience level were a part of this class and over months I taught them basic Sun Salutations and variations. Or so I thought. After about 9 months of twice weekly 90 minute classes - and most of these yogis were very dedicated - I decided to come in and ask them to begin the Sun Salutation series on their own so I could come through for individual feedback and consultation. I stood at the back of the room and awaited the flood breath and motion. Only a trickle flowed. A hesitant, confused trickle of people looking at one another and making motions - some of them related to Sun Salutations, but mostly shrugging of shoulders and Scooby faces. I had failed them. All I had taught them was to look at me and follow. True, this alone had gotten them to some pretty cool places; the stories of mobility and activity regained through the practice had awed me and moved me to tears. But following meant they were reliant on me or some other teacher. I knew from teaching Philosophy at Mizzou and EMS at UNM's EMS Academy that real learning leads to independence, not dependence. Indepent, successful, inspired people return for more from interest and commitment. Reliant people cannot make the most of their efforts and miss out on everything you have to share. This wasn't a popular philosophy with the studio where I taught and I realized I would have to break some pretty sturdy molds to create a teaching practice with this philosophy. But those dedicated yogis of the North Valley Senior Center were up to be my guinea pigs - they loved the practice and when they learned that I believed they could have independent practices, they flourished. I didn't perfect my style while I still volunteered there, but I began. I'm not much for perfection but I'm on fire for revision. Responsive iteration is what I like to call it: put it out there, see how people respond, respond to how they use it, how they stumble, how they triumph. It means you're never done, but I dig that kind of work. I did start a blog where I shared each week's practice plan with alignment tips and recorded my very first audio. Tech has come so far that now I can record every single class within minutes post it for followers. I can create special classes for busy people to nurture their classes. And design special practices for individuals. And what North Valley Senior Center Yogis taught me is that seeing someone else practice doesn't help you learn very much after you've got foot and arm placement. Learning to listen - to respond to how things feel as you try them, to feel your own body in space without matching it to someone else's, to imagine how words correspond to feelings and actions in your body - is the project of yoga. When you listen, you feel. When you feel you connect and you possess what you do. You can repeat it, change it, ask questions about it because it's really yours. It may not be perfect, but it will be perfectly yours. And you'll revise it next practice - that's what practice is: vision, revision, feeling, reponding, revision. That's why I share only audio. Have your practice, don't watch someone else's. I'm listening - what would you like me to hear? May is "True Core" month here in the Badlands, which means in every class we'll be experiencing some connection to "core" muscles and fascia. Learning to sense these structures is part of learning to engage and move from the deepest sources of your power. Traditionally in yoga these structures are referred to as the "bandhas," or locks - like ship locks, not like key locks. The bandhas refer to the three diaphragms of the body, structural horizontal elements that are key to both breath and movement: the pelvic diaphragm/floor made of 8 interlocking muscles in a fascial sheath (mula bandha), the respiratory diaphragm which is also a muscle wrapped in fascia (uddiyana bandha) and the vocal diaphragm through which we speak and modulate breath (jalandara bandha). Most focus in the beginning is on the first two. The cool thing about working with the bandhas is that when you engage these muscles, the vanity abs (rectus and obliques) come along for the ride - this doesn't work the other way around, which is why crunches are less than counterproductive. The pelvic and respiratory diaphragms can work in concert, supporting both breath and movement, and are each functionally connected to two of the other deep core muscles - the pelvic diaphragm to the transverse (from hip point to hip point horizontally across the low belly) and the respiratory to the psoas, the only muscle that crosses from lower to upper body, often referred to as a "hip flexor" but oh so much more crossing from the thoraco-lumbar vertebrae forward and down to the insides of the pelvic bowls with extensions to the inner femurs. The video below is a human dissection demonstrating the connection of the deep front line which includes the sting ray looking diaphragm-psoas connection. If you prefer not to see this clinical demonstration then read the next blog post instead. For some people, seeing this will help you connect to the same structures in your own body, which is why I include this wonderfully beautiful video. Some folks would rather not see human cadavers which is why I include the bold, large letters. Leave your reaction to the video or to your feeling of these connections in a comment below.
You've just experienced the bandhas. True, there's far more practice, finesse and exploration to do, but it would be disappointing if 7,000 years of investigating the human body were completely revealed in a 30 second exercise. This is, of course, just the beginning. In May's Yinyasative classes, we'll be using three different breathing techniques to connect to, engage and release and explore the usefulness of the bandhas. While pelvic floor connection and engagement does indeed have the benefits showcased on "The View," you now also see some of the more mundane, but at least as practically applicable benefits of exploring this connection. We'll then take that sense of connection and apply it in a variety of postures to create experience and strength in the "true core." Join us to be guided through a selection of some of these postures and techniques in every class (we'll get through this and more in the workshop on the 16th, with modifications available for all levels). Check out the small group class schedule and scroll down to register for your first free class! I can't wait to teach this class at the invitation of Tanya Greaser a Wellness Advocate for DoTerra EOs. To be clear, I'm a huge fan of EOs for altering mood, energy and for some proven health benefits, though I do not endorse or sell any brand of EOs. I have a broad spectrum of brands on my personal shelves; as with yoga, I'm a huge fan of eclecticism. I have several books from the 2 big name manufacturers and some of their oils, but also purchase many through Mountain Rose and Now. The most important thing when you buy and use EOs is that you are informed. For this class, scheduled for Tuesday, April 28th here in Albuquerque (email me for more info!), we'll begin as we always do with breath observation. Our yin poses will be root chakra and will be accompanied by the first of 7 EO experiences. We'll move up, through the body, accompanying resting poses with the bija mantra - or seed sounds - of each chakra, talking about its functions and characteristics and color before bringing it all back together in Savasanahhhh! Join us for this fun, energizing and relaxing experience! Registration is required to obtain the location and because space is limited. Do you use certain poses to create change in specific chakra energies, regions or organs? Comment and share your experience! |
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