Autumn Lotus Yoga

Alot of time in class I’m not doing exactly what the teacher cues.  The world doesn’t end.

(Unless it’s Ana.  Then, 99%  of the time, I do what she bids.  When she says jump, I’m already in the air before even asking how high.   But, she also gives detailed intelligent progressions with alot of possible variations.)

Sometimes I’m upleveling.  Sometimes downleveling.  Sometimes it’s because I’m working with an injury.  Or practicing a very particular technique.  Sometimes it’s just plain because the teacher is cueing something ridiculous/injurious.

It’s really important to take responsibility for your practice, stay present, and do what works for you & your body.  But there are ways to do your own thing that are disruptive & disrespectful of the teacher & the other students, and ways to modify that are respectful & mindful of the energy of the class.    Marching to the beat of your own drummer is great but pulling others attention away from their own practice isn’t so great.

The Big Four for modifying respectfully to my mind are:

1) If you know you’ll be going yer own way when you are walking into class, and have your choice of a spot, pick somewhere out of the way.  Off to the side, or in the back or whatever.  That way whether you’re rocking some wild variation or taking a long rest in child’s pose , it’s not a big distraction.

2) Keep your eyes on your own mat.  (Well, do that anyway.   If your focus is internal & not flamboyant, it’ll again keep you from being a distraction.

3) If possible, keep within the spirit of the direction the teacher is going.  Eg, do a twist that works for you when everyone else is twisting.  Be standing  when the class is, lying down when they are.  Work in the framework to meet your needs rather than wander off into your own private Idaho.

4) Do SOMETHING.  Rest in child’s pose or ragdoll or even savasana rather than sitting on the mat staring at everyone else.  

Those are my personal guidelines that work when I’m in class & that I appreciate in my students when I’m teaching.  Additions?  Changes?

Bad yoga teacher, bad!!

(Though the shirt is brilliant… it was once Beloved Husband’s, back when he was, like 12.  It does in fact show a perfect, anatomically correct skeleton that lines up pretty well with mine.  Great for using as a guide during class.)

EDIT:  Thankfully, it seems it is not immediately apparent to the untrained eye what, exactly, is in front of naughty yoga teacher.  Phew. ;)

This past weekend I got to spend almost all of Sunday at Back Bay Yoga doing two amazing workshops.  I’ll pass on the gems from the first one today.  Not even gonna try to give everything that happened, but just a few of the bits I found most useful/interesting.

Christine Raffa from Raffa Yoga in Providence, RI led the workshop.   Christine is a blonde, sporty little sprite who favors patterned tanktops & boisterous ballcaps.  She also has an incredible background in a neuroanatomy, yoga & bodywork.  Here’s a link to her studio:  http://www.raffayoga.com/  and to her bio:  http://www.raffayoga.com/?page_id=41

She started us off standing at the front of the mat in Tadasana.  Same as we’ve done a bajillion times.   BUT.  She then had us roll forward, putting weight in the toes, then back a little, lifting the toes, into Active Feet.  She stood at the front of the room, facing sideways to us, and exaggerated the moves so we could clearly see the postural shift.  Newsflash.  Most of us stand too far forward into the toes, pitching the angle of the pelvis, sending the ribs on a diagonal & jutting out the head.  Active Feet puts the weight back into alignment, in a plumb line from the back of the skullbones to sitzbones to heels.

Next we all put a block between the ankle bones & practiced active feet while squeezing the block & turning on the inner line of the leg.  ZING!  Activation/energy ran up all the way into pelvic floor to the center of gravity, S2.

Big revelation of the workshop following on from the importance of the feet:  flexibility & alignment of the feet correlates profoundly with flexibility & healthy alignment in the back.

Follow the logic — how we stand or walk travels up & has direct consequences for the pelvis & therefore for the low back.  Misalignment in the feet & inflexiblity in the ankles distorts healthy standing & walking & injures the back/diminishes flexibility & spine health over time.

For yoga teachers, this means she encourages looking at the pose from the ground up rather than gravitating to “hot spots” of wonkiness.  (Teachers, you know what I mean.   The one question I have with this that I’m pondering is the imporance of also looking quickly at what is happening in the spine — David Swenson’s advice for posture assessment.

Christine gave us two especially useful exercises to increase flexiblity in the feet & release the low back.  I’ve already incorporated them into my daily pre-class warm up.

1)  Sit on your heels.  With the feet flexed, however, not pointed.  Some folks call this “Toes Pose.”  This is a doozy for stretching the feet & frequently can be done for only moments at a time at first.  For extra goodness, squeeze a block between the ankles so ya don’t rotate the heels out.

2)  Lie on your back.  Send the feet up to 90 degrees, in line with the hips.  Keep the back in a neutral, natural curve.   Arms straight up over head until they touch the ground.  Rotate the arms so the palms face down, staying on fingertips if that feels better in the shoulders.   Keep the feet hip distance & parallel.  Now point & flex the feet, at the same time.  Start slow & then speed it up.  This is fantastic for warming up the whole core cause it gets into the psoas, & for helping out feet & back in one fell swoop.

The blog is back & active again — wow,  I’ve missed the time spent here.

But I have a bit of a new intent for it.  Rather than focusing so much on my daily practice, I’d like to use this space to work more directly with the material I’m studying.  It’d help me by keeping me on track & maybe be interesting to others as well. 

The daily practice is going quite nicely really too — it’s settled into a space that is far more right-brained than left.  I’m way inspired on the mat right now by what is happening that I can’t put into words yet. That probably doesn’t make sense, hence the whole not being able to put it into words.  Hopefully the time spent feeling & investigating will yield some good stuff that I can articulate later on. 

Also been enjoying the return to personal pen & paper journaling for my daily writing so I’m not committing to a daily blog online.  It might happen, just cause I am verbose that way, but we’ll see.

So come on in to the revamped site, take off yer shoes, grab some tea & stay awhile!

The day I got back from my most recent trip, the computer went kaput.  It’s all better (finally!) now, but a funny thing happened.

The week without a computer, between the trip & the whole belly-up tech thing, was AWESOME.

See, I am right now in the very fine & rare position of not really needing to be on a computer much.  In the 21st century, who gets to be that lucky?

I like it.  I like it so much I’m going to pause & reassess computer usage signifcantly & during this time, blogging is going on hold in favor of a return to old-fashioned journaling again.

Plus, we got formal word that Beloved Husband & I are moving to Tampa by June!   This next move will hopefully keep us steady for 2-plus years & there’s a few things to do to prepare.

To sum up: fate of blog is TBD.  My fate, however, is SPF.

The alternate, serious title might be self-myofascial release, self-massage, self-trigger point therapy etc etc.

I’ve been loving my Yamuna ball for the past few months as a tool to help with my back as well as general soreness & stuckness.  It’s hugely useful.  Back about a year ago, I did take a workshop on the technique, and I’ve also studied how to use foam rollers for self-…. well, all the stuff above.

But here’s what I say when asked about it:  Don’t worry too much about specific technique.  (This is one of the few times I say those words.)  Get in there, find a knot, or a hot spot, or a line of tension and then, this is key, STAY ON IT FOR A WHILE.  Like, two to seven or ten minutes or however long it takes for the knot to unwind a little, or the sensation of tension or heat or prickly to diminish.

Biggest problem I see with folks on foam rollers or balls or other tools is that they roll really fast over everything, quick like bunnies, and never take the time to get in there & wait for release/change.

It take patience but does make this work PERFECT for doing while watching TV, talking on speakerphone, or even surfing the web if you are very coordinated.

Had a fab sweaty practice this morning & am running around the rest of the day.  Going to Pensacola, FL tomorrow until next Tuesday.  I am, in keeping with recent tradition, not bringing the computer.  (YAY!)  I may have access to one down there, or just have to catch up upon my return.

Hope you are enjoying amazing spring weather today & the rest of the week!!

This thought started in class this morning.  Picked up again after teaching my volunteer class.  Culminated during a short second practice this evening.

Things in my life which have changed in the past few years:

my profession

my address

my mood

my marital status

my name

my employer

my favorite books

my favorite websites

my favorite music

my hair

my dress size

my voice

my brain chemistry

 But I am still here.

Hmmmm.   Those things must not be me, deep down.