Autumn Lotus Yoga

In Forrest yoga the theme of a class frequently is focusing on bringing healing/breath/freedom/energy to some chosen spot in the body.  It may be an injury or just an area that needs attention.  A pretty good-sized area, too.  Like your lower back, or neck or shoulder or front of the chest or whatever.

But this also begs the question: “Well, umm, HOW, exactly, am I supposed to do that?”

And that is a fair question.  Another Forrest thing is that if you tell someone to do something, you better be able to tell them both how & why.

Here’s my thoughts  first on the How of dedicating a class to a particular spot. 

Nutshell: In every pose, feel your spot.   Even if it’s not an obviously spot-related pose, feel your spot in the pose anyway.  Then, work the pose in a way that feels good for your spot. 

That means, for me, what my spot feels directly determines how I shape the pose on the outside with the big alignment stuff of legs & arms, but also how I shape the pose on the inside. 

If my spot is my lower back, for example, its happiness determines the exact angle of the tilt in my pelvis, or whether I squeeze the sitbones or front hipbones in & how much.  If the spot is my shoulder, it means I focus in each pose on wrapping the shoulder or connecting with my shoulderblade or whatever makes my shoulder feel good in the pose. 

Once you’ve connected to the sensation of what’s going on in your spot, the next level is working to get your breath in there.  One way is to provide some sort of pressure onto the spot & breath into that pressure.  Outside pressure might come from placing your hand there, or anytime the area is in contact with the floor or another part of your body.  From what I’ve encountered, getting breath into an area might feel at first like a small movement of expansion & contraction, or like the area is waking up & you are getting more sensory information from the spot.

As for the Why… One of the great things about working this way is that it takes a lot of  the BS out of the poses.  There is a purpose to the practice beyond whether or not I can do the pose in X way.  I work the pose in a way that feels good for my injured or closed off spot, not in the most flashy way possible.   Also I’m not doing the pose in the smallest, least energetic way possible because that’s not terribly useful alot of the time.  It’s like, out of all the possible variations for doing a pose, you get to pick the one that feels the best.  Not the one you think you have to do.  You have nothing to prove or fear on the outside because the practice is dedicated to you in a specific, detailed, healing way.

Contining on the Why train, another great thing is that it means my practice will be good for my spot.   Class will be helpful rather than hurtful for an injury.  Or help open a shut down area rather than further close it.  All the effort I’m putting into my practice will be gifted to a place that needs it & I learn moment-to-moment what helps.

And it gives an inner drishti or focal point, if you will.  My attention is going inward very specifically, rather than wandering off to my To Do list or daydreams.

Also, and this is key: By focusing on  being nice to one manageable area, I will learn how to work with my whole self in a humane & healing way.  Now that’s a useful thing to work on…

Heidi, to reiterate, is a goddess.  One of the reasons she is a goddess is that she starts her intensives at 9 am rather than 6 am!  That alone has earned her a place in the pantheon.

Day One began with a call to have the balls to change.  Yes, it was pretty much stated that way.  Direct language & cussing always amuses & delights me, so that worked well.  Heidi did the calling in of the directions ceremony, we chanted & did a guided meditation.  The meditation focused on saying “yes” to whatever was going on within us.  Not in an “I accept & love everything” kinda stupid way (there are things one should NOT accept, such as abuse) but in a “this is what I’m feeling & I can feel that & be ok” sense.  Which is very useful to help with tendencies to disassociate or yell at oneself for having particular feelings.  Such as running out of one’s skin everytime one is angry or bored or happy even.

The class that followed was a two hour, open-to-all public inversions class.  Heidi focused on external rotation in the shoulders alot anatomically, and in the standing poses, on top of the thighbone/heel alignment.  Nice addition was having the mentees help/spot newer students during some of the wall work, especially learning to get up into handstand.

After lunch, the afternoon started with Heidi setting the focus of the weekend: Finding our authentic voice.  That means teaching honestly, first off, examining the truth of what you say & making sure you say what you mean.  Heidi emphasized that it’s “Getting clear on why you teach what you do — is it because it resonates with you or it’s easier?  Is is something you’re passionate about, or is it a job?”   An authentic voice is not monotone, or riddled with repeat words, “teacher voice” or boring.  It also means being clear & direct — speaking, touching, & demoing with a purpose.  In short: teaching with passion from your experience.

We then reviewed smudging & did a short smudging ceremony.  After that, talking circle.  To prep for the circle, Heidi had us do some guided process writing on a series of questions about expectations for ourselves, our students & our teachers.  In talking circle, each person had 3 minutes with the talking stick to say something from those questions or whatever else was most pressing to say.  Oh, and you have to talk the Whole Three Minutes.  It’s funny — bunch of teachers who can talk for 90 minutes at a stretch all get wound up about talking 3 minutes with the stick.  

Then the group split into two & each group sequenced an inversion class, one 75 minutes & one 90 minutes.  Heidi reviewed the classes with each group to help finesse the sequencing. 

After the group reconvened as a whole, we finished the day with a teaching circle.  This was neat — each person taught three breath cues for a pose (which we made up as we went around) in a different way each time.  For example, on the first turn around the circle, each person just had to teach using the Breath Formula.  Inhale, speak on exhale.  Second turn around the circle, you had to inhale into pelvis, then speak.  Third turn, inhale into heart, then speak.  Fourth turn, inhale, feel whatever you’re feeling, then speak.

I HIGHLY recommend that last for a daily practice.  Inhale.  Feel whatever you’re feeling.  Then speak.

That’s actually kind of my homework from the weekend, but I’ll get to that tomorrow when I recap Day Two!

One of the good quotes from the Barbara Benagh workshop yesterday.

First, the health update: I am incredibly stoked to NOT feel sick this morning.  Like, dancing around the house in a pink fluffy robe excited simply to be back to normal.  (Literally.  The pink fluffy robe is for real, & should be a surprise to no one.   It always amazes me after I’ve been sick or injured or whatever how great it is just to be normal.  Must remind self of that on days when I’m p’od about being normal.

Okay, back to the workshop.  Barbara Benagh is a highly intelligent & well-educated yogi in the more classical mode, writes a lot for Yoga Journal & is a big local teacher.  She does classes around town & workshops at Back Bay & a few other places.  Yesterday’s focus was on the mechanics of the breath, types of breathing & incorporating breath into asana practice.

It was a three hour workshop, but mostly lecture.  In the initial 15 minutes we did a few lying down poses with blankets to open up the breath.  She used the blanket to create a mini-rolled up mat for a very gentle version of the Forrest lying over the roll to loosen up belly muscles at the start, then did some side lying & reclined work.  A single sloooooooooooooow sun salute & wide legged forward bend at the end illustrated some of her points.   Was very glad I did a mellowed-out Hip Hop Yoga class with Vanessa (subbing for Lynne) prior to the workshop to get the body moving again.

Barbara provided a relatively good discussion on how breathing actually works but it wasn’t super organized so if I hadn’t walked in with an understanding of it already, can’t say it would have provided a sufficient base.  She totally KNOWS the biological mechanics of both cellular respiration & ventilation (that’s the inhale/exhale part), just since it was a lecture format, it could have used a bit more academic-style presentation & preparation.  There was a whiteboard & once she began using that it organized her thoughts enormously, but it would have been helped by a very prepared outline & handouts.  But I’m Type-A that way.  

Barbara did recommend the book “The Science of Breath” published by the Himalayan Institute.  I’d also say read the chapter on breathing from Leslie Kaminoff’s Yoga Anatomy.  Or one day I’ll do a post on it – since I’m critiquing a master teacher, better put my money where my mouth is.

 Most interesting part for me was her typologies of breathing.  She organized it into 

1) Belly breathing: relaxed, passive breath where diaphragm contracts & flattens at level of xyphoid process causing a slight expansion of belly on inhale.  Diaphragm releases back to concave dome shape & belly contracts on exhale.  Pelvic floor follows movement of diaphragm.  (Personal side note: the diaphragm moves only a little bit, like less than an inch or so, so a big ballooning of belly while breathing is an exaggeration that can be used to emphasize belly breathing or create a particular effect to help access pelvic floor or stretch the abs, but isn’t an automatic manifestation.)

2) Thoracic breathing: more complete breath used during active phases of practice, adds three dimensional expansion of chest (up/down; front/back; side to side) incorporating intercostals.  Pelvic floor & deep abs can be engaged & held during thoracic breathing even as diaphragm moves — that’s the bandha action.

3) Clavicular breathing: stress response fight-or-flight breath that goes strongly into the neck & throat; can recognize it because shoulders come up.  Good for running away from bears, not needed in yoga class

On ujjayi breath, she was for it as a choice during practice, used quietly & consciously.  Did like the line “it’s great to lie down & great to run around, but not if either is the only game in town.”

She also associated particular types & qualities to the exhale/inhale process & those dominated by one or the other. 

Exhale: Kapha, parasympathetic nervous system, vagus nerve specifically,  lower energy state, can be depressive or relaxed, spinal flexion

Inhale: Vata (can be Pitta, but that’s more irritable , sympathetic nervous system, phrenic nerve specifically, can be overly excitable or energizing, spinal extension

Overall, good three hours.  Also the feeling of being in “intellectual yogi/student mode” was interesting — it’s been awhile since I was more focused on understanding yoga with my head than with my body.  Frankly, the former is easier for me & I need to get back to the latter today!  Peter is subbing the 9:30 Core Vinyasa class, then doing Restorative with Heather.  Yay for healthy!!