Joy to the World – Backbending Workshop
Sunday, December 18th, 1-3:00 at the Yoga Space
Backbends open the chest, heart and lungs and expand our capacity for joy. We will open our hearts and our spines through a dynamic and methodical sequence. The basic building blocks will allow us to achieve backbends with simplicity and ease (even if not in the full pose). Be prepared to dive in! All Levels Welcome!
New Intro to Yoga Class!
Wednesdays, 5:30-7PM
I am offering a new 7-week series class at a new space – Deep Roots Massage & Bodywork - right across the street from Keene State College! The class is great for beginners of those looking to understand foundational poses and how to adapt them to specific needs.
Class begins November 2nd through December 21st. Class will not meet Thanksgiving week – November 23rd.
Click here for more details on the class or follow the link to Deep Roots!
Musings After Windhorse Retreat
I’m just returning from a 3-day workshop with Peentz Dubble at Windhorse in Bridgewater, Vermont. It was wonderful to take 3 full days to delve deeply into pranayama, asana and yoga philosophy – and enjoy time in a beautiful part of Vermont! The theme for the workshop was on abhyasa (effort/practice) and vairagya (non-attachment/letting go).
In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Sutra 1.12 informs us that the goal of yoga (stilling of the fluctuations of the mind) can be reached through practice and non-attachment. Our culture tends to reinforce the element of practice; working harder and bringing effort - but what about non-attachment? How does one balance these two different elements? Peentz introduced us to Judith Lasater’s definition of abhyasa as, “doing what you can and doing it fully.” This definition really gets at both bringing effort to practice, but in a way that does not include over-doing or aggression – which is all at the heart of yoga.
Bonus Classes
I’ll be teaching a couple of classes during the month of July at Core Connection in Keene, NH. The classes run from 8:45-10:15. I will be filling in for instructor Jennifer Callihan. Stop by to experience this Friday morning class in a beautiful studio space!
Moving Towards Center
In tonight’s class we focused on drawing the center of the buttock of the front leg forward and thigh of back leg back in standing poses such as Trikonasana, Virabhadrasana II, and Parsvakonasana. An instruction that is often given for these postures is to imagine you are in between two sheets of glass. The action of pressing the center of the buttock forward and thigh back allows us to access this image. They are also oppositional actions. One of the gifts of yoga is seeing how movement of one part of the body informs other parts. By engaging the legs and hips the side trunk lengthens, the rib cage expands and the chest opens – who would have imagined they could open the chest through the legs!
At Blackwater Pond
At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have
settled
after a night of rain.
I dip my cupped hands. I drink
a long time. It tastes
like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold
into my body, waking the bones. I hear them
deep inside me, whispering
oh what is that beautiful thing
that just happened?
- Mary Oliver
Forward Bends – Another Approach
In this week’s class, we continued to work on forward bending postures. Last week, we approached this family of poses by increasing awareness of the back body and using hip-openers to deepen the ability to bend from the hips. I often have seen how tight shoulders inhibit a student’s ability to do backbending poses or inversions. I was surprised to realize how they also limit full extension in forward bends. This week, we looked at how opening the upper body and shoulders can bring more length to the torso. Sometimes there is a temptation to race the chest to the thighs or chin to the shin and along the way it becomes easy to drop the full extension of the spine. Mr. Iyengar often refers to the upper abdomen, just below the diaphragm as a “shy area.” By slowly moving into the pose, reaching and opening and pausing along the way, we allow for opening of this shy area and the whole length of the anterior spine.
“If you bring a lamp into a dark place,
It does not matter if it has been dark for a day
or for 1,000 years.
It will be illumintated.” – The Buddha
Springtime Cleanse Workshop
Saturday, April 30th, 1:00-4:00 PM
Click here for more information about this upcoming workshop or select below to view flyer!
Creating Spaciousness – Forward Bends
One of the most fascinating things to me about yoga is how what we enhance in an asana practice can translate into other parts of our lives. The body often reflects the state of the mind, but in yoga we reverse that process. For example, when you are feeling depressed, have you noticed that your gaze is more downward and your chest is collapsed? In yoga we work with the physical body, learning new ways to move in postures, gaining flexibility and openness. The real work is tapping into that openness – like a deep drink of cool water – and allowing it to echo out into the rest of life.
In class this week, we worked on forward bends. For many people, forward bends are a challenging family of poses. There can be a tendency to round the spine or it can be difficult to maintain full length in the spine as you come into the complete pose. When you bend with a curved spine, it compromises the back by putting pressure on the discs between vertebrae. Learning to bend from the hips and maintain a straight spine are essential ingredients of a healthy forward bend. Different people need different direction to gain clear understanding of the movement of the back. In class, we experiment with use of props – such as a wooden pole or the wall to gain insight – and used some hip openers to move into our forward bends.
Paschimottanasana - rounded spine
With support of belt and block - note straighter spine
Abhyasa and Vairagya – Practice and Dispassion
[The vrtti states of mind] are stilled by practice and dispassion. – The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’s – 1.12
Though often taught as a physical practice in the West, the goal of yoga is to quite the fluctuations (vrttis) of the mind. The average person has over 67,000 thoughts a day – and many of them are repeats. So quietening these thoughts can sound like a pretty daunting task. In Sutra 1.12, Patanjali presents two aspects of yoga to lead the practitioner to this quiet/calm state; practice (abhyasa) and dispassion/surrender (vairagya). In class we challenge ourselves with effort (abhyasa), moving deeper into poses. The organs of perception – the eyes, ears, and tongue – serve as beacons for what is happening with the nervous system. Softening of these areas brings about a more relaxed state. By relaxing the organs of perception, the yoga practioner has an opportunity to explore the balance of effort and relaxation (abhyasa and vairagya). When you look with this lens, you’ll find that twists are a family of poses that are easy to tighten around or push ourselves into. In this class, we intensified our twistings in Maricyasana III and Ardha Matsyendrasana and experimented with simultaneously releasing any tensions of the nervous system.
The Psychology of Asana
Iyengar in Pinca Mayurasana
For many of us, the day is spent with shoulders rounded, chest dropped, seated at a computer, desk or driving a car. This class focused on opening the chest, releasing the shoulders and feeling the effects of the backbending postures. We included Pinca Mayurasana – a pose we had touched on a few weeks ago and found challenging. Pinca Mayurasana opens the armpits, shoulder and chest – all important actions for backbends. What is the psychology of Pinca Mayurasana and other inversions? What is the feeling of turning upside down or trying a new pose? One aspect of a backbend is literally dropping back into the unseen. How can we use this practice to safely explore moving gracefully into the unknown?
“The practice of Yoga over the past fifteen years has convinced me that most of our fundamental attitudes to life have their physical counterparts in the body. Continuity and a sense of the universal come with the knowledge of the inevitable alternation between tension and relaxation in eternal rhythmns of which each inhalation and exhalation constitutes.” – Yehudi Menuhin, Foreword to B.K.S Iyengar’s Light On Yoga, published in 1966