Active Kurmasana

Kurmasana is an intense spinal forward bend and I recommend should only be practiced with a teacher and not by learning from the internet.

This post is mainly to show how long my spine is when I practice this posture rather than as a 'how to'.  I have pictures and a video at the end.

Many people can do a version of this where they straighten their legs but their spine remains very humped up--like a tortoise shell I suppose.

It will indeed remain a little 'humpy' but my effort here is in trying to lengthen.

I do active variations first to firm the tummy (in a way I can breathe and move the spine).  A more active variation would be to lie down and do what I show here.

First, a sort of navasana where knees bend and I make efforts to draw them into my chest.

Then, I try to keep my legs as close to my chest as possible and straighten them.  This will be beyond a lot of people.  Don't let your legs come out too far from your chest.

Next I take my heels and help myself into the posture assisting with the hands.  I try to push my heels into my hands and make efforts to bend my elbows.  I keep chest and thighs close.  I try to keep shoulders and knees together with firm tummy.  The danger when you use your hands here is that your tummy goes soft so make sure tummy stays firm.

Lengthen the legs as much as possible while maintaining previous actions.  In the video you can see me wriggling to lengthen my spine further--while trying to keep my balance. It's a bit tricky.

I keep tummy firm and legs come down.  Knees are bent, spine is long. I recommend you keep spine long and legs bent rather than go for straight legs.  Far better to stay here than strain or force.

Tummy firm, spine long and shoulders go under knees.

Arms straighten out beside me, shoulders under knees, tummy firm, spine long.  I can breathe comfortably.

Slowly I go, keeping tummy firm and spine long.

The video below shows the posture in action. I make particular efforts to also ensure my neck is in a comfortable position and you can see me moving it around. 

Following an intense forward bend like this I do a less intense forward bend like paschimottansasana and then a strong tummy firming posture like bakasana or a high plank.  If you do postures well counterpose is not necessary but I have just made it a practice.

Using active movements and doing the posture 'mid-air' without hands as much as possible ensures I combine strength and flexibility.

I teach something like the 'wowee active hip opening' sequence I just posted prior to this before I do a posture like kurmasana.

This is the approach I take in my classes, workshops and retreats.  Join me if you like--in Canberra, Bali (for our yoga and raw food retreat September 2015) or in Sri Lanka (yoga retreat).  Details of my class and retreat schedule are on the home page of my blog.

Happy and safe practicing.

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com
www.artofliferetreats.com
www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com

Parsvakonasana: Key Actions (& How To Lift Not Squash)

Parsvakonasna: A forward bending, side bending, twisting, backbend

If I could only give one instruction in class it would be something like, find lift in your postures.  Find lightness.

Okay, that's two, but that's what guides me through my self-practice reflection whenever I encounter and practice moving and postures.

That said, I encourage students to be mindful that they are not collapsing in their postures.

People who are very flexible often collapse out of habit, especially if they have not developed strength to balance their flexibility.

People who are stiffer might do it to try and get deeper into an image of a pose they think they should be in, often with some strain.

I have little slips and sinks and collapses that I still need to think of myself!  It is an ongoing work.

In standing poses there is always the possibility of sinking into the hips.  In arm balancing poses there is the possibility of sinking into the shoulders.  In backbends it tends to be sinking into the lower back.

In this post I look at a way to try parsvakonasana without sinking into the front hip.

I describe the key actions that give strength and stability to this pose and which help develop mobility.

I pay particular attention to some key spinal actions that will help you develop a strong and mobile core.

I have included two videos.  One has more slow and detailed visual instructions.  The other highlights the difference between lifting and sinking in the front hip.

I have also included step-by-step visual and written instructions, breaking down the pose into key leg, spinal, and upper body actions.

As with all my posts, I really write these for my students to practice outside of class.  If you are not a student of mine I encourage you to come to class or find a suitably qualified teacher who can help you better understand the feeling of these actions in your body!

Perhaps watch the key actions video first.  Then review the step-by-step instructions.  Then watch the difference between sinking and lifting.

Key actions video
This video shows me using my mime skills to show you how to come into the posture.

Perhaps the highlight of this video comes around 1 minute 50 seconds when a little boy (not in the screen shot) says 'I need to do a poo'.  A conversation ensues between the family members and the boy, discussing where he can do a poo, and culminates with dad's joking comment, 'well, you can't do a poo in the lake'.  As you can see, that brought a big smile to my face!

Key actions step-by-step instructions
Parsvakonasana, spinally speaking, is essentially a forward bending, side bending, twisting, backbend.  Is that what you are doing when you practice?  I deconstruct it below.

1. Sitting bones down, top of pelvis back, lengthens lower back and unsquashes front of groin.

2. Spinal forward bend.  This means firming the tummy in a way you can still breathe into it.  I do this by keeping top of pelvis back, leaning forward, and trying to move my hips forward without them actually moving.  I lean forward without letting my butt stick up and start to take my leg back.

3. Toe down then heel down.

4. Check sitting bones down and top of pelvis back.

5. Check front thigh is rolling out.  You could do this by thinking of how to roll it out.  You could do it by turning your front heel out slightly so outer foot points straight ahead then try gripping the heel back in without moving it. 

6. Check back thigh is rolling in.  You can allow your back pelvis to also come in if that helps.  In fact, these actions should help unsquash your lower back.  I have outer back foot lifting towards outer ankle.  

7. Stretch the ground with your feet.  That means pushing the front foot down and forward and the back foot down and backward. 

8. Lower ribs move back to middle back to help bring softness to your middle and upper back.  

9.  Spinal side bending.  That means you try and move the front of bottom pelvis forward and up towards bottom side front rib. In the picture you see me drawing those two points together.  Make sure the lower ribs stay back and don't pop out. 

10. Take top arm overhead.  Push armpits forward and up as though trying to bring your underarms towards your nose.  Outer armpit is rolling towards your face.  This enhances the side bend.

11. Turn from your navel level of spine towards the top pelvis.  Try not to move your top pelvis or move anything else.  This is just a spinal twist. Many people move the whole pelvis here but you want to make this a spinal movement. 

12.  Keep turning your spine progressively towards the sky.  In the photo I show turning the chest.  Again, try to keep this a spinal movement.  Also, watch that the lower ribs do not jut out. 

13. You can put your bottom arm wherever it goes without changing the preceding actions.  Here is the point where many people might just collapse in their front hip in an effort to reach the ground.  But in this photo you can see that I have kept the front hip exactly as it was in the preceding photo.  I come to the ground with my arm because I enhance the spinal side bend.  Wherever that bottom arm ends up, you don't sink into it either.  I am just lightly pressing my hand into the ground and mainly doing an action of moving that armpit towards the hips to enhance the spinal side bend. 

14. From there I add the last action.  This is a lengthening of the front of the spine.  I touched my upper chest in the photo (although the action comes from the navel).  I get a little lift which sort of feels like a little back bend in my upper back.  From there my head comes into place.  Many people will not feel comfortable with their head in this position.  It is better that you find your own comfortable position for your head and neck.  My head position is throat forward, chin up, combined with a little twist where move the top ear away from the top shoulder slightly.  I cannot show or explain this well here so I just suggest you move your head and neck gently and find your own comfortable spot. 

15. Here I stay firm but calm.  My tummy is firm but I can feel the movement of the breath there.  I am content and at peace.  I feel like I am doing something and I am getting warm from this posture.  It is about 10 degrees celcius in this photo yet I don't feel cold even in this crop top because I had been practicing for a little while and using active movements in such a way that I tensed less, stretched less and just enjoyed moving.  This is self-evident when you can see me laugh and smile as I hear the jokes of the people around me.  

Difference between sinking and lifting
In this video you can see me first coming into the posture so that I do not sink into the front hip.  In the second version I just sink into the front hip.

In the second way I do not do spinal side bending.  It is more just hip flexion.  Because of this I feel very passive.  I am not getting warmth and I am not moving energy through my spine effectively.

Ultimately how you come into postures is your choice.

Be happy and content.  Practice safely, mindfully, and peacefully.  When you practice like this people want to be around you.  You inspire movement in others.  As I was filming these sequences today I had at least 4 strangers come up to me, including two children who just wanted to do tricks with me (handstands and arm balances), all wanting to talk about what I was doing and how it just made them feel good.  I am certainly not the most elegant, strongest, most flexible person.  But I really enjoy doing what I do.   Happy with where I am.  When that happens I do believe you can have a powerful influence on helping others towards finding their own inner happiness too.

This is the type of thing I teach in classes, workshops, and retreats in Canberra, Sri Lanka, and Bali.  Hope to see you somewhere soon!


www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com
www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com
www.artofliferetreats.com

Active Movements Help A Tricky Arm Balance (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana to Eka Pada Koudinyasa I)

I use active movements to come into this posture

In this post I show active movements to come into eka pada koundinyasa I via parivrtta parsvakonasana.  We are practicing this in my classes at the moment.  I have included a few videos and step-by-step instructions.  

I do not recommend you practice this without the guidance of an experienced teacher.  Also, unless they are experienced in using active spinal movements they may not be able to give appropriate and safe guidance on safe spinal movement so just check.  This is mainly for students who practice with me and need some extra guidance.  I will give advice on safety in the posture.  As always, you need to be careful with knees, wrists, shoulders, and spine.  Moving slowly, moving actively, tensing less, and stretching less will always help.

Active Movements

As a teacher I try to demonstrate active movement and show where movement may be coming from so that you generate strength and ease of movement. 

Sometimes this is tricky because what you see may not be where the movement arises. 

Also, sometimes a more passive posture may end up looking much the same as the active posture. 

The pictures below highlight this.

Active spinal movements get me here

In the picture above I used active spinal movements to come into the pose. 

In the picture below I came in by ‘falling’ with gravity and mainly by flexing my hips. 

Passive hip flexion got me here

While they look much the same, the feeling in my torso especially is completely different.  If you look carefully at the angle or amount of blue space between my front thigh and torso you can see there is more space in the active pose as I did not close off the hip angle.

In the first pose I feel lifted, light and lengthened.  In the second I feel more sinking—especially into the hips--and general heaviness. 

You can see the difference in entry maneuvers in the video below.

I don’t want to suggest one is right or wrong.  I can do them both. 

I choose to do the first version in my practice and teaching to help you develop strength and mobility in the torso. 

Aside from helping my spine feel good, moving actively and having activated muscles around my tummy in particular, helps me come into the arm balance variation that follows this posture in our current sequence. 

Here I have to say, I got a six-pack without ever doing a crunch or by adding a ‘core yoga’ section into my classes or self-practice. 

I simply do active movements throughout my entire class and am pretty much doing a ‘sit-up’, aka active spinal forward flexion, in every forward bend I do. 

Back to the postures at hand!  There are two.  A standing posture, then an arm balance.

Perhaps watch the video first to get a sense of the flow and process.  Then take a look at the step-by-step freeze frames and instructions.

Demonstration of using active movements to the postures

Spinally speaking, the standing posture is basically a twisting, side bending, forward bending backbend. 

That is, once I am in the lunge and lengthen lower back (sitting bones down, top of pelvis back), I do a twist, a side bend, a forward bend, then a little back bend in my upper back.  A little hip flexion creeps in but after the spinal forward flexion.

Step 1: Get into a lunge

 In this lunge I have my back heel up.  That is because I am going to make this posture dynamic and move into the arm balance.  Traditionally heel is down.

Many people find having heel up difficult to balance.  You need to be using your feet and legs actively to assist with the balance.  I grip with my toes lightly. 

Also, if you allow your hips to be sinking it is often a sign you are not using your legs actively enough and will make it harder to balance.  I keep my hips a little higher and legs active here.  Nothing wrong with going lower but just in an active and not sinking way.

Step 2: Lengthen lower back

Here I have taken sitting bones down, top of pelvis back in order to lengthen my lower back. 

To me, this is different and more subtle than ‘tucking under’.  Remember, rather than fret about action, go for feeling.  The feeling here is to have space in your lower back and not squashing.

In this picture I have also lengthened my entire spine. I have taken my lower ribs back and up lightly.  You cannot see my neck but I have head down, neck back slightly to lengthen back of neck.

I have begun to push my armpits forward and lightly down, elbows lightly up.

Step 3: Active spinal twist

I try to move from base of spine upwards.  That means, turning from navel, area then lower ribs, then chest, then shoulders.

Look at the front foot.  See how much it is still working.

Spine still long, not arching.

Step 4: Active spinal side bending

Here I initiate side bending by bringing back hip forward and up towards the rib.  At the same time I am reaching opposite arm up and forward from my waist/pelvis and trying to move that side hip back slightly so the whole side body lengthens.

The side of my body that closest in this picture is firming.  This side bending firmness will help me in the arm balance.

You can see I start to have more weight on my front foot—the back heel is raising as well in preparation for the arm balance to soon come.

At this stage I am in a back lengthening, twisting, side bending posture.

Step 5: Spinal forward flexion

Now I have begun a spinal forward flexion process.

See the space you can see between the top of my thigh and torso and how the angle is still relatively open.

I am now in a spine lengthening, twisting, side bending, forward bend.

Step 6: A bit of hip flexion

There is no need to go deeper.  Unless you are coming to the arm balance, that is!

To get to the ground I need some hip flexion.  I initiate hip flexion here, after I have done my active twisting, side bending, forward bend.  Importantly, I maintain these actions as I lower.

In my own practice I often choose to stay at this point here.  It feels really good.

I can do the arm balance easily but for me it seems unnecessary compared to how nice it feels to stay actively in this posture for some time.   

At this point a t lot of yoga teachers in classes I have attended will come up and try and get me to put my back heel on the ground, to try and put my hand on the ground, to try and take my legs further apart. 

There is nothing wrong with that.  But this feels so much better.  Perhaps it is not pretty but once you start to appreciate active movements and see what is going on in the posture you see this as something lovely and delicious feeling. 

I am not leaning or using the bottom arm on my knee at all.  If you were to use it then do so in an intelligent and active way.  That would mean using the arm to press lightly into the thigh and pressing the thigh back into the arm.  I am definitely not using my arm to ‘wrench’ or twist my spine here.  I am also not sinking into it.

Step 7: More hip flexion and knee bending to get hands to ground

The only way to get to the ground is to get some more hip flexion in there, front knee bends more as well. 

A lot more in fact.  You can see it has started to come in front of my toes.  I need to be firm behind my knee to maintain the integrity of my knee here.  My ankles are moderately flexible in a squat so my heel can stay down.  If you need it is perfectly fine to lift that heel.  In fact, it might help you to keep firm behind the knee. 

You can see hands are coming in front of the foot and off to the side. 

I am maintaining all of the actions from previous steps.  That means my front knee is actually only lightly touching my arm. 

Notice how at no stage did I start pushing my arm into the knee to get me into this twist.  They are touching lightly here.  I do not want that front knee to get heavy.  It will become heavy if you are not using your torso actively and you will feel like you are sinking in this posture instead of lifting.

This picture sort of shows you how my whole back body is lengthened, not flattened.   You can see I am moving my chest into my upper back and moving my shoulder blades around the sides of my chest.

Notice I am transferring weight forward.  You can see this as I am coming more onto the tops of my toes on the back foot.

Step 8: Enhance side bending

Leaning forward with more weight on my hands and pushing the floor away.  I don’t want weight on my feet in an arm balance.  I need to support it by pushing into the floor with arms to get lift.

I am gripping with finger tips as thought grabbing at the ground (not flattening fingers).

I am maintaining all the core actions. 

This allows me to enhace side bending by bringing the back knee into my shoulder.  I can only do this without feeling heavy or sinking if I have kept all of the actions in the torso. 

You can see weight is more and more over the hands and my front heel has started to lift.  I need lightness in this foot to come up. 

I squeeze my wrists together and keep feeling as though my elbows are trying to come together.

Step 9: Lean forward, smile, stay firm but calm, and lift

Compare this picture with the previous one and you see my shoulders have come further forward over the finger tips.  I have to lean forward without dropping into my shoulders to come into this position.

Actually, let me correct myself.  I don’t have to.  You can drop and do this but it will probably feel awful on your wrists and shoulders!

If you can sneak a look at my tummy here you can see is it active!

Step 10: Legs out!

I continue leaning forward.  See how far my shoulders have come in front of wrists.  I suppose if you were stronger you would not need to lean as far forward but I am not that strong.  I am trying not to lower my chest but to stay lifted. 

Maintaining all previous actions, I just straighten my legs.

The top thigh is rolling in and bottom thigh is rolling out. 

I am happy and calm and firm and strong and feeling good.  If you walked past me I could say hello and tell you how good I was feeling and have a little chat without getting breathless. 

In Sum

Remember that this arm balance is just a bit of show ponying really.  It looks impressive but it won’t make you happier or healthier!

Staying in the standing version might help you more than the arm balance. 

I also don’t recommend trying this without your teacher. 

This is the way I teach posture.  I encourage you to think about how it feels at every stage.  Go for length and freedom, not squashing.  Use active movements.  Layer the movements and keep the actions you cultivated in the lead up on the follow through.  

This is how we will help you move towards greater strength and movement in our Bali retreat and in my classes and workshops in Canberra and Sri Lanka.  Look forward to seeing you. 

Happy and safe practicing!

Much metta,

Samantha

www.artofliferetreats.com

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com

www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com