Autumn Lotus Yoga

Well, it’s pretty funny.  I was waiting til after an afternoon assisting workshop to write, then completely forgot!   And after commenting on writing everyday so recently too.   I blame the excitement of going out for a fabulous dinner right after the workshop, then sitting down to watch the Travel Channel & zonking out on the couch.

Yesterday worked out to be a great day, though there was a little slogging cuz of a random 4 am wake up (repeated today for some reason — what is UP with that??).   Did an early yoga class, then took Beloved Husband’s spin class.  (Yep, he was teaching!  Very fab.) 

The aforementioned workshop was taught by Lynne at Back Bay from 2-5 & it was AWESOME. 

It was open to 200 hr certified teachers from any style & focused on “feel good” assists rather than corrective, alignment based adjustments.  That means assists that help a student get space in the pose.  Lynne set up an opening circle where we each gave our name, main style of teaching & favorite yoga pose.  She then took us through a few suns.  To cover assists, someone goes into the pose, Lynne would demo the assists then we’d pair up & practice on each other.  Alot of the assists were Forresty, but Lynne has a diverse background & some were new to me.  

Rather than try to describe assists (which is tough in words if you haven’t seen them before), instead here’s a few of the concepts she emphasized in each of the poses we looked at:

Child’s pose — press sacrum back & down; don’t push chest down because it compresses cervical spine if head on floor

Down dog — lengthen sacrum up & away

Seated — lengthen back, align head

Seated twist — never crank the twist; lengthen & lift

Lunging twist — it’s never about the shoulders, rather lift up ribcage & revolve

Handstands — leverage always best at hips

Backbend — create space between sacrum & ribs; make sure to press sacrum back before any movement down & ribs UP

Basic jist is to make more room rather than compression & never force anyone anywhere. 

Okay, caught up!

So I gave my first round of thoughts on Forrestizing a non-Forrest class (especially vinyasa or power styles) here:

http://autumnlotusyoga.omblogger.com/2010/02/15/forrestizing-a-class/

But have  a few more points to offer today after observing more carefully what I do since writing that.

1)  For twists where the hands are in prayer position, Forrest yoga substitutes a stronger hand set-up.  Make the bottom hand into a fist, upper palm goes on top.  This protects the wrists & provides greater stability.

2) Forrest basic moves beyond active hands & feet & relaxed neck (mentioned in first post) are also really good to keep coming back to in any other class.  Telescoping the ribs, tucking tailbone are two.

3) Another Forrest basic move that deserves its own bullet point is the Forrest breath.  It’s similar to that from Ashtanga or Pilates in that it takes place first & foremost in the ribcage rather than the belly.  It co-exists with the idea of expanding the ribs while engaging the belly.  You can breathe like this in any class.

4)  You can also direct the breath in any class.  Either focusing on getting it to move into one special spot or putting it in different spots as appropriate to the pose.   This is a step more sophisticated than the idea above & is partly a literal physical thing  — breathing into pelvis or chest is very visible & more easily felt — & partly a bit more esoteric.

5) Another more internal thing to work on is reaching out through the bones.  Some styles of yoga focus on gathering the bones into the joint —  especially large bones at big joints, like hugging the thighbone into the hip.  In Forrest, you try to create space in the joint by reaching out through the bones & lifting the joints away.  It’s a small, sensation-based move, but it is a big difference sometimes. 

6) Exception to that: in Forrest you focus on pulling the sitbones together in some moves & for those with low-back or sacro-iliac stuff, often pulling the front hip points together. 

Okay.  That’s the download for today on that.   Had a nice 2 hours at the studio (though tight!  gotta get back to pre-practice warm baths & rolling on the Yamuna ball!) & a gentle few minutes on the ball & slow stuff at home after.

It’s a good question.  I’ve been asked a number of times why I try to write almost every day.  Like why practice (almost) every day.  How to make each time a discovery rather than an act of force. 

Wrote about it first from the perspective of blogging & yoga sutras here:

http://autumnlotusyoga.omblogger.com/2009/12/13/the-yoga-of-blogging/

I make no pretensions about having something profound to say each day, heaven knows!    But I do my best to say Something –  whatever shows up, with certain boundaries around my & Beloved Husband’s personal lives — even if it’s “yeah, today sucked, ready to move on to tomorrow.”

At the most basic level, it’s because life happens everyday.  Good, bad, indifferent, we wake up & go about the business of walking around in our skins (or trying to), being human.  Every.  Freaking.  Day.  It’s not something reserved for special occasions or profound revelation days.   Every day is not Christmas.

But thing is, if you don’t show up, if you don’t practice or write or get into your skin on each ordinary day, you miss most of the extraordinary ones.  To stretch the previous metaphor a little further, Christmas in July happens randomly quite often, usually when you least expect it.

Today’s practice had no likelihood of being “good.”  I had a rough day yesterday that I’m still processing & will share if & when it’s appropriate (not huge externally, more an internal thing — all is well truly in Chez Lotus .  Didn’t sleep much.  Woke up exhausted & tight & a little sore & mid-process.  By all rights I had every reason to give myself a pass, stay home, do an easy self-practice.  Went to class though, showed up on the mat for something a bit more structured.  And it brought some peace & release & a strong sense of getting a glimpse at a deeper level of healing.  Oh, & a random, rather loud & awesome hip/sacrum shift that just happened at the end of class during supine easy twists. 

It’s no coincidence I committed to a near-daily practice at about the same time I was ready to get married.  Practice, and  any chosen concurrent ceremony (including writing about practice), is like a marriage: you are there for it each day.  Gifts, challenges, breakthroughs, blahs, whatever, you are there.

Just a few years ago, I was a spinning nut.  Really. Taught several times a week, did class almost every day.  I just have that level of obsession sometimes.  Beloved Husband & I got together over spinning, largely – our first “date” was a 6 hour Spinathon in Munich.  (Any man who wants to go out with you after six hours of spinning is a keeper.

But around the time of my Forrest training I stopped spinning.  Partly to focus all my energies on yoga.  Partly because my left hip flexor & right knee weren’t appreciating the spinning so much anymore.

And I had other cardio obsessions prior to spinning.  Loved running, Jane Fonda-style dancaerobics, step aerobics, and even sliding! 

General perspective for yoga folks who love other activities as their primary pursuit is that yoga will enhance anything else you want to do in life, whether it’s a triathlon or being a parent. 

If your primary focus is yoga, though, doing other activies gets trickier, I think. 

The instructor at my first yoga teacher training was VERY down on non-yoga activities, considered them detrimental to practice, tightening joints/muscles.  Only thing he approved of was swimming.

But he was a right bastard, so we don’t care anymore what he thinks.

Ana &  some Forrest teachers don’t do much outside of yoga besides walking/hiking in nature.   They do ALOT of yoga though & honestly don’t have much time outside of it.

For the rest of us, I’ve decided its a continual balancing act — yeah, like we need more of those in life!!  There are times I HAVE to focus all my time/energy on yoga.  When I was getting ready for the planned assisting venture, eg, or teacher training, I was working my ass off on yoga.  But after that went off the radar, I have turned some of that built up energy/stamina to spinning again.  It’s been great so far — just a few times a week, bonding with Beloved Husband, listening to loud music.  I know other strong Forrest teachers who are adding in some biking or running or dancing again also.

Guess we go through phases on what we need.  If I find it’s detrimental to my practice, I’ll back off.  But while I’m enjoying it, why not?

Today I slept like hell & up early.  Did about an hour of mellow Forrest (yes, it’s possible  with some pranayama, abs, dolphiny excursions.  Heading to class in a few minutes & will see Herr Doktor this afternoon!

Ok, quick addendum post to share a NY Times article about new research on the power of touch to communicate emotion & enhance performance.  Check this out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html?ref=health

“A warm touch seems to set off the release of oxytocin, a hormone that helps create a sensation of trust, and to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Well, nursing computer along as best as possible.  Likely to be replaced soon but gotta get finances in order!

Still have a little more to share about thi s past Forrest weekend. 

Confession: I didn’t make Friday night.  Couldn’t resist the chance to dress up & have a date night with Beloved Husband at the Temple restaurant in the Renaissance hotel, Providence.  It’s a fascinating building — origially built as a Masonic temple but the Depression stopped construction in 1922.  It sat empty for like 70 years before coming back into use.  The hotel has a motif of Masonic devices & maps of the original structure; they even preserved & recreated some of the graffiti from the years of dereliction!

So, Saturday am workshop.  First off, went in of course a bit nervously &  tired (didn’t sleep well, despite gorgeousness of hotel).  But was hugely & pleasantly surprised to know like, half the group!  Between Boston & New Haven yoga excursions & the Mentorship program, it was akin to coming home & created a really nice vibe.

Here’s the breakthrough thought that Iwanted to share, past the prattle about hotels & yogacquaintances.  Sat down on the mat & had this bubble up as Ana directed us to focus on tracking transformation in a chosen spot: 

“No more fighting, forcing or faking.  Clear that all away & accept only healing.  Nothing less.”  

This intent cleared away alot of the flak & flotsam & crap immediately & allowed a directed focus.  4 wheels, first time in a year, baby! 

Accept nothing less than what you truly need.

Yesterday was take class, teach class, take class.  Today is mystery-activity-to-be-discussed-tomorrow, take class, then volunteer session!

My computer is dying, quite likely right as I type this.   It won’t take any power & is starving itself!

Short news is that this past weekend went great.  Theme was tracking sensation through a particular spot — by getting more skillful at tracking feeling, we can track our transformation.  And by being committed to evolving.

I did my first wheels in like a year on Saturday.  4 of them, going bridge/wheel/bridge/wheel/bridge twice through.  And felt great after.  Magic.

Here is Ana’s sequence from Saturday, best as I remember it: