Health & Fitness

A good question if one wants to understand a pose: What effect shall it have on the hips. Every asana influences the flexibility of the hip joint if done correctly, the question is in which direction shall the flexibility increase.

Having the hips in mind the performance of  the asanas improve at once. It’s not about reaching the toes when practicing paschimottanasana i.e., this happens almost alone. It’s about stretching and it’s about the hips (and the hamstrings).
More than ever I realize how important the hips are when I exercise the poses of third series. The hip muscle needs to be strong and the hips need to be flexible.

Today I’ll practice primary. I stick to my schedule. Hanumanasana (forward split) will be part of it. And I want to try to lift myself up into handstand after prasarita padottanasana.
I could add another twist (purna matsyendrasana i.e.) after the marichyasana C and D. It’s easy to dress up primary in a reasonable way.
I also realized that there is marichyasana E and F and G and H. Hahaha,…………just in case when I feel bored.

Time to move on……..

“Activate where necessary, relax where possible.”– David Swenson

For 10 days, David Swenson was here in Munich giving workshops and a teaching intensive. I was fortunate to be able to attend both. Years before I had even heard of Ashtanga yoga, a friend lent me David´s practice manual, so getting to met him in person was almost like meeting Santa Claus himself.

David is light-hearted and easy-going, a great comedian and story-teller. He has an incredible amount of knowledge and experience and shares this openly with his students. He has a way of speaking in images, making what he is trying to convey easy to understand.

One of the images that comes to mind, is David´s comparison of a cat verses a dog in flight. During the first workshop which focused upon “Flying, Floating and Handstands” David discussed the issue of Bandhas in jumping back and jumping through. The problem, he said, is not with flying, but rather landing. Often we place too much focus on activation of Bandhas, as if this will miraculously enable us to jump through or jump back. While the use of Bandhas may help to give some control, they don´t actually make you lighter. To drive home his point, David compared the image of a falling cat with that of a falling dog. Simple observation of a cat being dropped with its feet in the air, shows that the cat remains supple and relaxed during the flight. The cat activates only the bare minimum of muscles, turning the legs towards the earth just at the exact moment. Timing. Breath. And a focus on the moment of landing. Dogs in comparison, freak out. They panic and as a result tighten every muscle in the body. My guess is that they also stop breathing. When practicing jump throughs, jump backs, or any other form of handstands, the hands become the feet, the finger become the toes. David´s advice: activate where necessary, relax where possible and put your awareness on the part of your body on the ground. (ie, focus on hands and arms, not feet and legs.) From personal experience in dealing with the fear of handstands, although it may be natural to tighten the legs, getting them to relax is the key. During this workshop David also pointed out a remarkable anatomical fact: the legs are attached to the hips(!) Jump from the hips and allow the legs to relax. The legs will follow. Try to find the balance between too much and too little energy when practicing yoga, (or any thing else in your life.) Do it like a cat:-)

David plans to return to Munich in 2014. If you have the opportunity to attend, I can highly recommend it.

www.yogabee.de 

This morning I explored Advanced A series, at least the beginning. I wanted to understand which poses support these first advanced asanas. They don’t come out of the blue, they go a bit further than what already was exercised.

Vasisthasana: This pose has roots in the standing sequence and in primary. The root asanas are utthita parsvasahita and supta parsvasahita. Exactly this hip opening is needed also when practicing vasisthasana. In addition one has to balance. Today I practiced first supta parsvasahita to open the hips while lying on the floor. I held the pose longer and repeated it. It was a good preparation.

Viswamitrasana is much more difficult. I tried the leg position without balancing on my hand and then I realized that parighasana is the pose that I can intensify in order to prepare viswamitrasana. But how?  I used my Indonasian chest to give me support (see picture). I prefer to repeat this and to do it regularly than to exaggerate and to risk injury.
In order to exit the pose, forward split (hanumanasna) must be able. I practiced also this. I must be patient, viswamitrasana requires a lot of time and attention.

The next variations of leg behind head poses kasyapasana and chakorasana improve slowly. So it is with bhairavasana. My experience: the leg cannot be far enough behind the back.

Skandasana is a wonderful pose, durvasana I omitted. I considered it as too intensive.

Urdhva kukkutasana A is possible for me, I exercised it as preparation for karandavasana when I practiced alone. I wanted to do an advanced balancing pose to approach karandavasana.

Then I played around a bit and realized, there is no easy pose to come. Hahaha, what have I thougth?

I can imagine that I’ll do further session like this morning. To work more intensively on few poses instead of going from one asana to the next might be a good approach to those asanas who seem difficult. To focus on them and to start with them has the advantage that I’m warmed up, but rather fresh and still full of energy.

For me life is an experiment. I love to explore what is possible for me again and again in different areas of my life. I try to find out my limits, sometimes they are modest, sometimes astonishing. It’s possible to push limits. What I don’t practice I can neither explore nor improve nor  can I enjoy it. Giving my available energy (not only half of it) to matters or people I love makes my life spicy and passionate. (PS, it also gives me young aura, psssssst.)