Heal Thyself
Friday, April 2nd, 2010In 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…

