Wriggling Spine

Here I show a wriggling spine that lifts and lengthens as it comes into a backdrop.  It's fun.

But it is not important to do a backdrop.  Only if you feel it is there.

This wriggling spine can be applied to all poses where you need to lengthen.

Music optional!

Better Backbends (Make Them Active Like Hanging On A Trapeze)

By better I mean backbends that will strengthen and mobilise the spine without squashing.  If you feel squashing in any part you are in some other pose and not in the one I am feeling for.

I was inspired to write this post because I started circus classes recently.  Just to try something different.

Me practicing some a
ctive movement on the trapeze

One of the first things they were teaching me was to hang upside down and do a backbend.  To me it was like a version of ustrasana or dhanurasana with my legs hooked around the bar.

It looked a bit like this.

Circus is a lot about performance and so my hands should probably look more elegant, but those who know me will appreciate I am more functional than glamour.  

Turn the trapeze pose sideways and it would look a little like
this active variation of dhanurasana 

But you can see how if I had my tummy on the ground that pose on the trapeze would look a little like this one.

This is active spinal extension.  I am lengthening without squashing.  My butt and hamstrings are very active as well.  To hang onto that trapeze I need good hamstring activation or I will fall off and that would not be a good look (even if I am about function over looks I don't want to face plant!). 

A good yoga practice should include a lot of active movement so you strengthen rather than pull yourself passively into postures.  

When I teach dhanurasana I teach it using active movements that will help you strengthen your entire back body in a way that lengthens rather than squashes.  Watch the video below that will show the active movements where I hold position without my hands and then read the step by step instructions.  

As always, this is intended to help students that practice with me.  It is better to learn from an actual teacher who is beside you rather than the internet.  Do not strain or do anything that hurts.  Move slowly.  

One of the great things about doing this sequence actively is that you still have something to work on if you cannot reach your ankle as it is not essential to hold the leg at all. 

Video Sequence

The sequence below is what I tend to teach towards the end of our practice.  

When practiced without squashing you should not feel the desperate 'need' to do a counterpose in any yoga posture.  

If you have squashed or over-tensed it is definitely beneficial to try active spinal flexion (firm the tummy so you can still breathe in it).  

I show a transition to down dog at the end and then down dog.  I am firming my tummy in those postures and lengthening the back of my spine. 

Step-by-step instructions

I have deconstructed the video sequence below. 

Draw heel to bottom

I start lying down comfortably.  I get a feeling I am doing a sit up in my tummy.  I draw a heel to my bottom.  I am breathing naturally.

Lengthen arm forward and upwards from armpit

Maintaining previous actions I reach forward as far as I can as I come up.  

Reach arm back towards foot

I take the arm towards the back foot.  I can stay here.  I do not need to take the ankle.  

The photo shows clearly that my hand is beside my foot.  That is a good clue that I have enough spinal extension and sufficient strength in my hamstrings to move to the next stage. 

If you cannot have your hand close to your foot then you just skip the next step and do the rest of the sequence without holding your ankle. 

Hold ankle, pressing shin into hand

I will say it again.  If you cannot hold actively in the posture then do not take the foot.  Just stay in the previous posture (where you will be working quite hard).

When two body parts touch I use an action of them pressing into one another.  Here that means once I have the ankle I push the shin into the hand (as though trying to straighten the leg) as I try to bend my elbow.  

I am not trying to passively pull my foot closer to my bottom.  

If there is any strain in the knee at all then let go and do the previous posture. 

Reach forward and upward opposite arm

I reach forward with the opposite arm then up.  At the same time I reach back with the opposite foot and lift.  

For those that can handle a more subtle cue, I try to reach out through that back foot while at the same time feel as though I am drawing the front of that thigh towards my front ribs.  

I am also doing a sit up in my tummy in a way that I can still breathe. 

Out, up and away!

I continue with all previous actions, moving out, up, and away.  Importantly, I try to distribute the curve through my spine so that it is not concentrated around the lower back. 

I work on trying to do a sit up in my tummy.

Release and hold position

Stay in the same position but just real ease your back foot.  

You should not 'spring out' too much.  One of the anatomical purposes of this posture is to be able to hold the position without using your hands!

Do the other side.

Both heels to bottom

You can guess what is coming next!  That's right.  Both legs!

Start by bringing both heels to bottom. 

Both arms reach out and up

Reach out and up through the arms.  The chest needs to lengthen forward and up. 

Both arms reach back

Then reach the hands back towards the shins/ankles.

Hold ankles

You only hold the feet if you can reach there without strain.  Also, I recommend that you know you are ready to reach the feet when you can take them simultaneously rather than having to grab at them.  In class I joke that this you should try not to waddle around like an elephant seal to fiddle your way into the posture.

Press shins into hands

I press shins into hands as though trying to straighten the legs while trying to bend my elbows.

I have my shoulders rolling out.  

Lift feet

I press my feet upwards. 

Lengthen through chest

I try to distribute the curve evenly through my spine, lengthening through the upper back area.  

I am doing a sit-up in my tummy in a way that I can still breathe there. 

Release and hold position

Then try to hold the same position but let your hands go!  Try not to spring away!

Hands beside waist

Take your hands back towards your waist.  Elbows press back and squeeze together.  Sit up in my tummy.  

Up

Press hands down and forward, elbows together and back and come up.   A sit up in my tummy.  Trying to drag my knees forward as though trying to bend my hips.  Allow your pelvis to come away from the floor so there is no squashing. 

Knees to chest

Sit back to your heels then lift your knees into your chest, trying to hug them in as close as possible.  

Down dog

Press the heels back, keep the sit up in your tummy, and come into downward facing dog. 

And...

Once you have all of this in place, you can start to work on more shoulder mobility to come into the fuller dhanurasana but that requires tremendous and careful practice for a long time for most people. 

My yoga teacher has amazing spinal mobility and this type of posture would have her head touching her feet or having her legs straight up to the sky while she hold onto her ankles.  I am still a novice and quite stiff and weak comparatively.  But we all work to our own bodies and best not to compare yourself.  That is why I suggest trying the active version with no need to even hold the ankle at all!

Have fun.  Move slowly.  Tense less.  Stretch less.  Think less.  Breathe less.  

This is the type of practice I encourage in my outdoor classes in Canberra and retreats in Sri Lanka.  Come along if you like!

Happy and safe practicing.  

Much metta!

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com

www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com

How To Lengthen Lower Back And Unsquash Front of Hips

In this post I show videos and step by step instructions on how to help unsquash the front of hips and lengthen lower back.  They are great tips for people who spend a lot of time sitting, which is most of us in general.

Key Instructions
I have a limited repertoire of what I consider some basic instructions.

No matter what sequence I teach these instructions repeat themselves over and over.

They repeat themselves over and over in single class.

Sometimes I wonder why people keep coming back since I do say the same thing over and over again!

I like to think that it is perhaps my wit and good humour that brings people back.

But I am pretty sure it is because while these instructions sound simple, they are actually tricky to apply, to apply consistently, and to apply in different orientations to gravity.

One of those instructions is "sitting bones down, top of pelvis back, lengthen lower back."

For people who have tight lower backs, and even people who do not, this instruction feels amazing on the lower back.

However, I could also say, "sitting bones down, top of pelvis back, unsquash front of hips."

You see, depending where you focus, or perhaps where you feel more tightness, the same instruction can help in two places.

Most people live a lot of their lives squashing the front of hips.  Well, those that sit for most of the day do.

So this instruction is a great way to help unsquash.

It is particularly useful to apply in forward bending postures.

I keep the front of groin open (unsquashed) when I practice forward bending postures.

It is the opposite of what many people practice--either deliberately or incidentally.

It means you work on spinal forward bending then hip flexion rather than just hip flexion, which often happens.

Some Thoughts Before You Watch And Practice
For me yoga is a spinal movement practice.  In order to maintain the health of your spine you need to learn how to move it, and move it safely. Unsquashing is key.  Being able to create firmness in they tummy in a way you can still feel the movement of the breath there while mobilising the spine are also key.

In the videos I chose a modified chandra namaskar to show the differences between squashing and unsquashing.  One video shows me showing what squashing looks like versus unsquashing.  The other video just shows a smooth unsquashing practice.

I have also taken still shots so you can compare the two side by side.

Perhaps watch unsquashing versus squashing first.  Then look at the still shots.  Then watch the unsquashing so you are left with a clear impression of unsquashing.

When watching these videos please consider that I mainly post things for my own students who come to me and whom I can watch carefully.  Practicing from videos is a not the best, especially if you have pre-existing issues.

Also note that in the videos below I create firmness in my tummy in a way I can still breathe into it.  I have written about this a lot before so please refer to those posts.  Whenever I bend forward from the spine I create firmness first.  I am trying to have core stability with mobility.  Much of what I show will not work if you suck your tummy in tightly (using muscles of forced exhalation) because this will stiffen the spine.

Squashing Versus Unsquashing: The Video
This video shows me trying to highlight squashing versus unsquashing in the same poses.

Squashing Versus Unsquashing: The Still Shots
Below I show the shot of being squashed on the left and unsquashed on the right.

In the squashed shots I performed the actions of moving the top of my pelvis towards the front of thigh and pushing my sit bones up into the air.

In the unsquashed shots I performed the actions of moving my sitting bones down and top of pelvis back.

You can see I put my hand to the place that I am concentrating on.  One finger is at top of front of pelvis and the other on the thigh bone.

In most shots you can see the 'air' in the unsquashed variation.  You can also see that my lower back lengthens or is less 'archy'.  

In all forward bends I try to firm my tummy in a way I can still breathe.  I also feel that I am pushing both hips forward without actually moving them.

             

 

 

  

 

Unsquashing: The Movie

Here I show the whole sequence with just the unsquashing version.

The End

That's it from me today.  

Happy and safe practicing.  This is the type of thing I teach in classes, workshops, and my retreats in Canberra, Sri Lanka, and Bali.  If you are around I would love to teach you. 

Much metta,

Samantha

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com

www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com

www.artofliferetreats.com

Backbends Without Squashing

I have written about armpits many times before.  There are more things to talk about with regards to actions at the shoulder joints but the armpits are so key and I have focussed on them in our course.

One of the key things to appreciate is that how you use your armpits, depending on shoulder position, can impact on the spine.  If you take your arms overhead, I take armpits forward and up and NOT down and back.

In an overhead position armpits forward and up will help create length in the spine.

If you take them down and back while arms are overhead, or even down, you get a shortening feeling around your sides and back.

To come into more difficult postures where the arms are overhead you need to free up your armpits so the spine can move freely.

Some backbends happen with the arms below shoulder height, like ustrasana or bhujangasana for instance.  In those types of positions, because arms are not overhead, I take armpits down and back.  The video below shows how I can do backbends with armpits down and back, as I would in backbends like bhujangasana, or forward and up, such as I would in urdhva dhanurasana.

In the video I also show how you can actually come into a pose like urdhva dhanurasana with armpits either towards ears or with armpits towards hips.  I do this to illustrate a point that it can be done, not necessarily that it should be done.

As I show, because I have a fairly fluid spine it does not create difficulty for me to come into an overhead backbend like urdhva dhanurasana with armpits down.  But it does not feel as good as it could either.

The thing is most people (either coming to yoga or not) tend to be stiff in their spine in general, and move most from their lower back.

Doing urdhva dhanurasana with the armpits to the hips (downs and back) can reinforce the shortening many people already experience.

So, in my classes I encourage armpits to ears to generate the length in the spine.

Again, because I am fairly mobile around my armpit area, especially when I take them overhead, I can easily come up into a full backbend with armpits to ears.

People who are tighter around the armpits will find that they cannot come up so easily and I suggest you only come up to the point where you feel at ease in your spine.  This might mean the shoulders barely come off the floor and you just lift a little, as I also show in the video.

These are not things to practice without the guidance of an experienced practitioner so I encourage you to go to one.  I would encourage you to feel in your own body what is going on and if you come out of a backbend with a sore lower back to question what has gone on to create that as it should not be squashing.

In our classes this week we also looked at some of the basic movements at the shoulder joint--shoulders rolling in and shoulders rolling out.  We looked at how these movements can cause associated movements in the upper back (thoracic spine).  We looked at how these associated movements can be over-ridden if we call attention to them.

For instance, rolling the shoulders in tends to cause the upper spine to round as though bending forward.  We can try to lift the chest softly to help bring the spine back to upright.

When rolling the shoulders out it tends to cause the upper spine to arch as though back bending but that we can also over-ride this if we are conscious of it by softly drawing the lower ribs in.

Understanding these associated movements will help you learn to move your spine independently of shoulders for better and more active spinal movement.  I will post more about this later.  The armpits are a lot to think about already!

I had to laugh at myself when I re-watched the video.  I am not sure how my voice turned into a David Attenbourough-esque commentary.  Perhaps it is because I feel so wonderfully passionate and when that happens and you try to explain something it does something funny to your voice.  Well, to mine anyway,  Also to my eyebrows!

We will practice these actions in my classes, workshops, and retreats in Canberra, Colombo, and Bali.   I'd love to have you along.

Great work all.  Happy and safe practicing.

Much metta,
Samantha

Working Towards Hanumanasana/Splits (James Brown Version—Gotta Go Up To Go Down)

Working Towards Hanumanasana/Splits (James Brown Version—Gotta Go Up To Go Down)

Hanumanasana (henceforth to be called the splits in this post) is a pose to work towards with caution. 

It looks so impressive most people’s egos get the better of them.

Or, perhaps it was just my ego?  As I tell my students, when I first started yoga I injured myself with over-zealous practice of the posture.

Actually, the practice was not over-zealous.  This was a case of pure ego.  I actually practiced mindfully and diligently.  The day I made it into the pose after many months of practice I was so pleased with myself that later on (several hours after my practice and we could almost call it the next day) I met a friend and said ‘Look, I can do the splits!’

I proceeded to do the splits right there and then, with no preparation.

Well, let’s say I managed the position but did something to my butt that had me limping for a month!

These days I can do the pose almost first thing in the morning as I have been practicing for many years.  However, most people will need quite a bit of preparation. 

Hopefully my previous posts should have lead you towards an understanding that the splits should not feel like too much stretching. 

It is not about splitting apart. 

Using active movements means the pose is actually about coming together again. 

If you are working towards this posture I recommend you work with an experienced yoga teacher to guide you.  Do not confuse flexible with experienced and also, I think it is better to make sure your teacher can do any pose they are trying to instruct you in. 

In the photos below I have shown one progression.  Watch the video above to see the movement in action.  The video at the end of the post shows advanced variations of the posture (intended for demonstration not for practice).

You remain at whatever stage you feel comfortable in (feel like lengthening and relaxing, not stretching and tugging).

There are two key things I am doing in each stage.   The first thing also has a little subplot. 

First, my front thigh is rolling out and my back thigh is rolling in. 

This means the thigh bone of the front leg feels as though the side butt (near the crease) is firming slightly.  What you see is that the knee might roll away from the centre line of your body.

The back thigh is rolling in, which means you might feel the inner thigh firming a little.  If you could turn around and see your knee is trying to move so it is more towards the centre line of your body. 

The subplot here is that I am also trying to move the side of front hip back and draw side of back hip forward. 

If you are not mindful the opposite tends to happen.  That is, when you roll the front thigh out it can often bring the side of front hip forward and when rolling the back thigh in it can often send the side of back hip backward. So you need to watch out for this.

The second key thing I am doing is to try to suck my legs or feet together. 

Yes.  I am not actually trying to split them apart. 

Sucking them together could be likened to someone at foot trying to push your legs back together (what I am doing). 

Whereas most beginners just try to let their legs come apart, almost as though there is a person at either foot pulling them in a tug-o-war.  Actually, they do not even do that so much as let the weight of their entire pelvis and torso just hang and sag in the middle. 

Ouch!  It is obvious when put that way that it would not be a pleasant feeling.

Sucking it up is key. 

This is where I put in the James Brown analogy in class.  He was a guy who sort of did a type of a split while on-stage singing but leapt straight back up again.  It looked really cool as a dance move.

In our yoga practice of this pose we need to be thinking of trying to draw our feet back together again (while they move apart). 

This makes the posture active rather than passive.

It will help make you stronger and more mobile.

Step 1

A standing lunge.  Stay here.  I am trying to pull my feet together.  No need to go further unless comfortable.

Step 2

Kneeling lunge.  Be soft on the back knee by being active in the legs and feet.  I am drawing front heel back and back knee forward.  You can stay here.  No need to go further.

Step 3

I start to move the front foot further away.  I go slowly so I don't elicit a stretch reflex.  You can see the back knee slightly raised.  I try and draw my feet together as though trying to stand up.  I am not sinking into my shoulders or hands at all.

Step 4

That front foot just keeps moving slowly forward.  

Step 5

I have come all the way forward.  I have moved my torso back while trying not to arch my lower back (tummy firm but calm).  I am reaching forward and up through my armpits to lengthen my spine.  

Of course, there is really no reason you need to do this pose.  It is fairly extreme. 

One of the benefits (which is not going to make you a happier or healthier person by any means) is that if you are coming into some other inverted postures like pincha mayurasana you can tap into the pose with greater ease. 

 Below is a video of me coming into active hanumanasana with a variation.

  

Some additional points you might notice from the videos:

• I am not sinking into my hands or shoulders at any point.  I am trying to cultivate lift and length and freedom in the spine through the actions of my legs.  This is clearly shown in my fuller versions of the posture where I take my hands off the ground, arms overhead, and reach for the sky.

• I am using my back foot strongly.  You can do a  top of foot down version if you like.  I just prefer this one.

• Most people think of this posture as something to do with hamstrings.  As soon as you practice you should get an appreciation that the front of the thigh of the back leg needs to be lengthened.  If it is not you can squash your lower back.

• You can see that in my versions I begin to move the whole spine back over the pelvis, trying to lengthen my spine while coming into an upright position.  This is actually a pretty tough back bend and you need to monitor that the spine is not squashing.  I am firm in my tummy in a way that I can still breathe into it, which helps.

• I am reminding myself periodically to relax my face, my tongue, my lips.

• I am breathing naturally. 

• I am enjoying the sun on my face, the chirps of the birds, the call of loud children in the background playing with their dog.  I am feeling radiantly alive! Firm but calm.  Delighted with where I am and what I am doing, whatever that is. I am connected to my body but not so inward looking that I cannot sense others and I smile and nod as they pass by.

This is the type of thing we workshop in classes, and in our retreats in Bali and Sri Lanka.  Hope to see you there.  (www.artofliferetreats.com).

Happy and safe practicing!

Samantha

www.artofliferetreats.com

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com

www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com