ELLEN’S BLOG
Balance: It’s Not Just Tree Pose
“The reason we think balance is associated with longevity is because it requires keeping your brain and nervous system’s integration circuitry intact.” —Danine Fruge, MD, family-practice physician
Practicing specifically for better balance is important for us at any age, but it is essential for those of us over 50 or 60, when so many changes happen in our bodies. To work on balance with yoga, Tree pose is a common choice. Although Tree Pose is iconic, often representative of yoga in general, there are many other diverse and entertaining ways to improve balance. With better balance, we avoid falls, which can lead to injuries and a serious decline in overall health. In this post I’ll describe to you some of my top choices for practicing basic balance skills that will help you in daily life and in your Tree pose.
To get the bad news out right away, here are the most common changes that happen gradually as we age:
- Less acuity in the nervous system (which could manifest as slower response time reduced coordination, reduced sensory and motor efficiency, and cognitive decline)
- Blood pressure deviations from normal levels
- BPPV: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, in which small stones in inner ear become dislodged, is common in over 60
- Reduced circulatory efficiency and reduced elasticity of blood vessels
- Peripheral neuropathy (poor nerve conduction in the hands and feet)
- Loss of muscle strength (called sarcopenia) and stiffening of the connective tissues
- Loss of bone density (osteopenia or osteoporosis)
- Degeneration and stiffness of joints due to wear and tear (osteoarthritis)
- Poor balance, resulting from all of the above
We need balance skills to avoid falling. According to the National Council on Aging, falling is the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults. The most common locations for these fractures are the hip, pelvis, ankle, wrist, and upper arm bone near the shoulder.
To catch ourselves when we might fall, we need flexibility and coordination to suddenly regain our balance. If we do fall, we need strength to catch ourselves. Fall prevention must include all of these elements of balancing: strength, flexibility, and coordination. And the bonus is that when we develop these skills, we contribute to our agility in daily life. Doesn’t that also sound like the same list as the benefits of a good yoga practice?
Our Three Balance Mechanisms
We have three mechanisms in the body that work simultaneously, moment to moment, to help us maintain balance. As the opening quote says, we need the brain and body to be talking to each other.
First, our proprioception sends neural signals from our muscles and joints to the brain that indicate what position we are in. For this to work well, we need sufficient body awareness and focus to receive those signals and make adjustments when needed. Many older adults have reduced proprioception and possibly also peripheral neuropathy, which is a lack of sensation and motor control in the feet. Our feet may feel numb or unable to move in the ways their design allows. Another common aging issue related to proprioception is a general slowing of perceptual and cognitive function. We may not perceive an impending loss of balance soon enough to prevent a fall. But evidence shows that these conditions can be at least partially reversed by regular exercise. The brain can keep learning!
Secondly, the delicate structures in the inner ear respond to changes of position (particularly of the head) and communicate with the brain. This is called the vestibular system, and it changes with the aging process.
Thirdly, our visual sense gives us a feeling-sense of orientation to gravity and the environment around us. We need to remember to maintain our attention and our visual focus (both direct and peripheral), whether walking on the street or doing any kind of exercise. This may seem obvious, but you can ask yourself: how often do I become involved with an internal reverie while doing my daily activities or while walking outside, either in the city or in the country? If that inattention becomes a persistent habit, it can increase your risk of falling.
If you suddenly develop a balance issue, such as dizziness or light-headedness when going from lying down to standing up, or if you have reduced sensation in your feet, I recommend that you seek medical help to consider inner ear, problems, neuropathy, medication side effects, or cardiovascular issues. However, a gradual development of balance problems is most likely to be caused by our normal aging process. This is where yoga can help.
With yoga, you improve your proprioception, you strengthen your muscles, and you increase your flexibility. I’ve mentioned why proprioception and muscle strength are important. But why flexibility? When you sense that your balance is off, the natural tendency is to adjust your position to regain your balance. This could be catching yourself with one foot after tripping over an obstacle or widening your stance while walking down the aisle of a fast-moving train. In order to do that, you need fast responses, but also hip and leg mobility. Flexibility allows you a greater range of adaptive moves to steady yourself and prevent a fall. For this reason, your yoga practice must include exercises for dynamic balancing, which I believe is just as important as learning to balance on one foot in stillness.
Alignment matters. What is your personal optimal posture, given all the variations that exist in humanity? How do you tend to arrange your body when standing, walking, and doing all your daily activities? I’ve seen some common non-optimal tendencies in my years of teaching, such as turning the knees inward or the feet outward, pushing the pelvis forward, sinking in the lower or upper back, rolling the shoulders forward, and carrying the head forward with the neck shortening. Each of these deviations from optimal alignment can predispose us to losing our balance.
I recommend that you consult a trained teacher to help you evaluate your posture. But here are some basic guidelines:
- Your weight is well balanced on your feet. You place your feet with the center line of one foot parallel to the center line of the other foot. If your habit is to turn your feet inward or outward, gradually work to become more familiar with this neutral position of parallel feet. (See the Four Corners exercise below.)
- Your knees face toward your middle toes, whether your legs are bent or straight. (See the Knee Tracking exercise below.)
- The tilt of your pelvis is appropriate for your body and the pose you are doing. Find the midpoint between an excessive lumbar (lower back) arch, and the opposite pattern of excessively tucking your tailbone.
- You maintain abdominal support, without losing the slight arch inward in your lower back.
- Your front chest is lifted and broad, with the muscles around your shoulder blades supporting your upper back.
- Your head aligns over your spine as much as possible. If you tend to carry your head forward, move your head back, first with the base of your ears moving back, then lifting your chin to recover the slight arch in your neck.
- You enliven your whole body with the energy from your breath and your highest intention for your well-being. Be fully present in your body.
What is “The Core” and Why is it Important?
The prevailing definition of “core” is your abdominal muscles. Within the fitness and medical community, there is a tendency to overemphasize abdominal strengthening through sit-ups, crunches, or some variation of those common exercises. For anyone with low bone density, this type of exercise is dangerous, because it puts excess pressure on the front part of the vertebrae as you curve your spine.
But there is another way to understand the core—to see it as including the muscles of the spine, hips, pelvic floor, thighs, and the abdominal wall. These core muscles stabilize the middle of our body on all sides, creating a source and center for the movements of the rest of the body. With a weak core, your body will find other, less efficient strategies for stability, such as tensing your shoulders. With a strong core, you’ll have much more stability and support for any situation, especially vigorous activities—but also for daily chores or extensive sitting at work. And most of all, you’ll have better balance.
One action that may be unfamiliar to many people is the lift of the pelvic floor. This is a muscular network at the base of your pelvis that we use to stabilize our center in the yoga poses. Right now, as you’re reading, squeeze the muscles there and see how it feels. Notice that you can continue to breathe while firming those muscles. You can squeeze toward the center, and then gently lift that floor upward. Practice this for 15 seconds at a time at first, and then gradually integrate it into your practice.
Here are some exercises that you can do as a warmup for your usual practice, with special attention to balance improvement.
My favorite core strengthening yoga pose is a dynamic supine twist, a variation of Jathara Parivartanasana. I like it because people or any age can do it, and all the core muscles are strengthened without spinal flexion.
Supine Twist (Jathara Parivartanasana)
Purpose: To strengthen the core muscles of the spine and torso, and learn to twist with a long spine
Props: Yoga mat and optional blanket under your pelvis or head and neck for comfort
Body position: On your back, knees bent, arms stretched to the sides, palms facing up
Instructions:
- Bend your knees and place a block between them (narrow, medium, or wide setting, your choice), keeping your feet at least as high as your knees, or higher. Squeeze the block.
- Flex your ankles and spread your toes.
- Press your arms and shoulders down into the mat to stabilize your upper torso.
- Move your legs at a moderate pace from right to left, breathing smoothly. Begin by moving a small amount and increase how far you twist as you feel ready.
- When you are tired, come back to center, remove the block, place your feet flat, and rest.
Things to watch for:
- Keep your shoulders on the floor and notice the strengthening actions in your twisting muscles (spine and abdomen). This is very good core work, because you are working dynamically through a range of movement, while stabilizing.
- Notice that the floor helps you to maintain a long spine.
- Keep your neck neutral: not pressing it down or lifting it up.
These three exercises prepare our knees, ankles, and feet to have the coordination and strength to support us.
The Four Corners of the Feet
Purpose: To balance your weight well on your feet and strengthen the intrinsic foot muscles.
Props: The floor
Body position: Standing
Instructions:
Begin by standing in a “normal” way and feel the balance of weight on your feet. Do you tend to place more weight on one foot in comparison to the other? More weight in one part of the foot?
Next, work with one foot at a time in the following way:
- Put most of your weight on one foot. With the other one, tilt your foot so that the inner heel is the only part touching the floor.
- Then keep that part down and put the base of your little toe down (at the joint at its base). Notice how various muscles in the sole of your foot (called intrinsic muscles) are working as you do these steps.
- Keeping those two points down, widen across the forefoot to bring the base of your big toe down. Notice how it feels to widen your foot in this way.
- With those three points staying down, press your outer heel down.
- Feel how the weight balances on these four corners. You might play with the four corners, moving through the sequence like a dance. Experiment with balancing on that foot.
- Repeat this sequence with your other foot.
Things to watch for:
- How do your feet feel different after doing this?
- Which corners are easiest for you to find and press down? Which are less easy?
- What does this tell you about your usual posture on your feet?
- What do you feel in your knees and hips as you do this?
Knee Tracking
Purpose: To align your knees well as they bend, for safety, balance, and strength in the poses
Props: The floor
Body position: Standing
Instructions:
- Stand with your feet balanced on their four corners and place them hip-width apart.
- Bend your knees and look down to see where the kneecaps are pointing. Adjust them so that they point toward the second or third toe.
- Practice this several times, observing the knees as they bend.
Things to watch for:
- For many people, the knees may turn in toward the midline. What is your habitual pattern?
- What do you have to do differently than usual to align your knees in this way?
- Where in your body do you feel the actions that are needed?
Heel Lift
Purpose: To strengthen the sides of the ankles for better balance
Props: A wall or some other surface you can touch for balance support
Body position: Stand facing the wall, touching it lightly with your fingertips, or stand next to another support (a chair or table)
Instructions:
- Touching your support lightly for balance, lift your heels, coming onto your toes, especially the first three toes. Feel the supportive action of your ankle muscles on both sides, as you lift the heels straight up.
- Bring your heels back to the floor and repeat this action several times until your muscles fatigue.
- Once you are comfortable with this heel lift, also spread your toes.
Things to watch for:
- Keep your weight mostly on your first three toes. If the weight moves to the outer toes, the ankles will wing out, and you will lose the purpose of the exercise.
The last exercise is a playful one, giving you the coordination you need to recover your balance before you fall.
Dynamic Balancing
Purpose: To simulate balance challenges in daily life
Props: A wall or chair back
Body position: Standing
Instructions for Part 1:
You can do this exercise while touching a wall or a chair, or free standing.
- From standing on two feet, bring your weight to one leg and swing the other leg gently forward and back. Try different speeds.
- Focus your gaze strongly on one spot in front of you and engage your core to stabilize your balance.
- Bring the lifted leg down and repeat on the other side.
Instructions for Part 2:
- Move away from the wall, and stand facing out into the room, with feet several inches apart so that you can easily move side to side.
- Start by lifting your right foot and take a wide sideward step to the right, placing your right foot down and shifting your weight on the right foot so your left foot is in the air. Leaving your left foot in the air, balance there for a few seconds.
- Then bring the left foot down into another wide side-step, this time to the left. Once you place your left foot down and shift your weight onto your left foot, hold your right foot in the air for a few seconds. Then bring the right foot down.
- Repeat this pattern, varying the distance and the speed. Focus on how you find and sustain your balance on one leg.
- Continue for as long as you wish.
Things to watch for:
- Concentrate on the strength of your standing leg, and don’t worry about your appearance. The important thing is building your skill to recover your balance when it begins to go off center. Be playful!
This post is excerpted from my book titled “Empowered Yoga: Everyday Yoga Practices for Bone Health, Strength and Balance,” published by Emerald Lake Books in fall of 2023.
Note: This post was originally published on Nina Zolotow’s blog, “Yoga for Times of Change.”
Shoulder and Neck Release in 10 to 15 minutes
Do nagging pains in the shoulders and neck impact your everyday life, perhaps even causing mental stress or headaches? Relief is possible, in as little as 10-15 minutes a day.
The good news: Our shoulders and neck have a complex array of muscles and joints to give us amazing range of motion. The bad news: those muscles and joints can be locked into inefficient and even harmful patterns. More good news: you can re-establish beneficial patterns so that your body knows how to return to “neutral” after any activity or stress that builds up tension.
Here are five simple and relatively quick fixes for shoulder and neck pain.
1. Shoulder circles (2 min)
Standing or sitting, move your shoulders forward, up, back and down. Do this slowly and with close attention to what you feel. Don’t just rush through it – “I already know this one, it’s easy”……but really feel the process and note the tight areas, crackling noises, areas of ease. Do it 5 times in each direction. Then stop and do a few deep breaths.
2. Massage of the trapezius muscles with rubber balls (5-10 min)
You’ll need two matching balls, ideally with a firm texture. Tennis balls are about the right size, but their fabric skin is not ideal because they will slip around. A grippy rubber surface is best. See the links below for the online resource, or check your local sporting goods and toy stores.
Lie on your back with a yoga block nearby. Place the balls under your upper trapezius muscles, one on each side. Readjust the exact position until it feels right: find the tight spots without causing extreme discomfort.
Place the block under your hips, so you’re in a supported Bridge Pose. Bring your hands to rest on your forehead and point your elbows upward.
There are two choices of movement:
- Remain still with your torso and move your arms slowly in the air. You can straighten your elbows, or keep them bent as you move. Explore different directions and notice how the pressure from the balls changes. Move very slowly. Frequently go back to a “home base” position in which your arms are as relaxed as possible.
- With your arms resting on the floor encircling your head, move your torso very slowly from side to side.
In both options, the movement adds to the effect of the balls as they encourage release of tension.
Do this for 5-10 minutes or so.
3. Shoulder stretch and strengthener (3 min)
Because most of our activities involve the arms moving forward, we need to balance that with strong support from the upper back muscles, for the spine, the shoulders and the neck.
Clasp your hands behind your back, inhaling lift your shoulders just an inch or two up toward your ears, then pull them back, squeezing your shoulder blades together on your back. Keep the upper trapezius (where you had the balls) as wide and soft as possible. Do the squeeze with the muscles further down your back (upper and lower trapezius and rhomboids). Hold this for 3-5 breaths, then release. Repeat once more.
4. Side neck stretch (3 min)
Standing tall, broaden your front chest. Wrap your right hand behind your waist, and grasp your left arm. If this arm position is not possible, you can sit on the floor and reach your right hand to the side, touching the floor or a block.
Tilt your head toward your left shoulder, looking forward. Stay there for several breaths. Then still tilting your head, look down and hold that for several breaths. Then turn to look up, and hold for several breaths. Then return to center, release, and repeat on the other side.
5.Massaging the back of the neck with a ball (5-10 min)
Use one inflatable ball that’s about 5-6” in diameter, the size of a common playground ball. Place it under the top of your neck, just below the base of your skull. Pause there to feel the sensations created by the pressure of the ball. Then very slowly turn your head to one side, progressing across toward your ear. Then return to center, and go to the other side slowly. Repeat again if you wish. Then remove the ball and gently roll your head to each side to feel the result.
Practice this series daily and enjoy more freedom and ease in your shoulders and neck!
For more information about Bodymind Ballwork and upcoming courses, visit www.ellensaltonstall.com.
To purchase balls go to www.lifesaball.org.
Protection and Relief for Your Wrists and Hands
Human hands have many skills: using tools, typing, playing musical instruments, giving massages, or using sign language, just to name a few. But in many yoga poses we make a special demand of our hands, expecting them to function like feet, holding all or most of the weight of the body. Examples of these poses include Downward-Facing Dog pose, Upward-Facing Dog pose, Plank pose, Handstand, and all the “bird poses” when we balance on our hands. Yet we don’t always prepare the wrists for this special demand, and injury can result. Looking at the structure of our wrists can help you understand why some preparation is important.
The wrist is made up of eight small bones, which form the transition between the two large bones of the lower arm (the radius and ulna) and the long bones of the palms (the metacarpals).
The second illustration above shows the fascia in the wrist area, including tendons of muscles that go all the way up beyond the elbow, and the annular ligament across the wrist. You also see the palmar aponeurosis (analogous to the plantar fascia in the feet), which is tougher fibrous connective tissue protecting the palm of the hand.
When we use our hands to bear our body weight as if they were feet, the wrists are in the extreme position of extension (as in the gesture when you extend your hand forward to say “stop” ). This puts extreme pressure on those eight small bones, and all the soft tissue around them. Without adequate preparation for flexibility and strength in the biomechanics of the arms as a whole, chronic or acute injuries may result.
One particular location to be aware of is the carpal tunnel in the wrist area.
This is the structure formed the carpal bones, which are arranged like a curved roof over a tunnel, whose floor is a broad connective structure called the flexor retinaculum, which is also known as the transverse carpal ligament. When we put excessive pressure on the wrist as in the poses listed above, and the surrounding area is tight or misaligned, the pressure irritates the median nerve inside the tunnel, possibly causing pain, numbness, or dysfunction in the hand.
There are four good ways to avoid this danger that I’ll be covering in this post:
- Loosen the soft tissues of the hands and forearms so there is enough range of motion in the wrists.
- Press down with the fingers to effectively take weight off of the wrists.
- Use supportive pads if necessary.
- Maintain good shoulder alignment.
- Loosening the Soft Tissues of the Hands and Forearms
There are many small muscles of the hands that we use to grasp objects, which are protected by the strong span of connective tissue (shown above) that in itself can be restrictive. Hands that are strong for grasping may not be able to spread enough to become support us in yoga poses. Specific stretching and massage will help to prepare the hands by loosening this soft tissue. Here are examples of some wrist stretches and of massage of the hand with a rubber ball:
- Pressing Down with the Fingers
When we press the fingers down—all the way to the tips—we transfer weight forward on the hands and reduce the amount of weight on the wrists. Try it right now at your desk: press your fingers down and feel your palms and wrists begin to lift. You can experiment to determine the right amount of this action for you. Use this image with the green and yellow dots as a guide:
- Using Supportive Pads
You can buy foam wedges to bring the weight forward on the fingers, but I prefer this: Cut up an old sticky mat to make a small roll, as shown here with the pencil as a size comparison.
Put that roll under the center of your wrist, pointing it toward and away from your fingertips. It will take pressure off the carpal tunnel and encourage small muscles in your hands to do their work. It’s best to use one under each hand for symmetry, even if only one wrist needs it.
- Aligning Your Shoulders: Upper Back Strengthener and Pectoral Stretch
Shoulder alignment can help to protect the wrists as well. Shoulders that are rounded forward put more weight into the hands. I recommend the pectoral stretch pictured below, plus a strengthening pose to bring your shoulder blades in toward the spine and away from your head. These actions will not only help prevent wrist strain, but it will support your upper spine and your breathing – and also lift your spirits! 
Breath is Food for the Body and Soul
How has your awareness of your breathing changed in this year of COVID? Perhaps some reactions to wearing masks, avoiding closed-in spaces, or being especially sensitive to any respiratory distress? With the pandemic dominating the world for an entire year, we are forced to the realization that we can’t take breathing for granted.
Each day we breathe about 25,000 times, and in our lifetime, that number might be 670 million. The body is programed to keep the breath going, and for much of the time we don’t think about it. But how we breathe is in our control, and is worth noticing and improving. Yogis know this, and it is the basis of pranayama practice. Dancers and athletes know this, and have developed strategies to improve and sustain enough breath for their energy output.
I’ve recently read Breath, by journalist James Nestor. His book condenses the story of his ten-year journey of exploration and research into breathing, fueled by the need to improve his health. He offers readers a wealth of evolutionary history, physiology, and cultural /spiritual traditions relating to breathing, all told in a conversational, easy-to-read tone. He travels the world, meeting what he calls “pulmonauts”, people from all walks of life who study breathing. In a nutshell (sorry, James) the message is: breathe slowly, exhaling fully, through your nose not your mouth as much as possible. This is definitely something I learned as a dancer many decades ago – it really helps to sustain energy and mental calm.
The word “Prana” is usually translated as “life force”, and it is the subtle energy that permeates, animates and sustains the body from our time in the womb until the moment we die. We are born with it, and we can nurture and expand it, or not. The suffix “ayama” means to regulate, extend, enhance the prana. Prana flows through nadis, which are subtle channels throughout the body, comparable to the meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The practice of yoga asana loosens the body to create a more receptive “field” for the flow of Prana.
Pranayama practice doesn’t just help your breathing; it helps to stabilize your blood pressure, enhance heart rate variability, and calm the mind. If fact, one of my teachers said: “Asana changes your body, pranayama changes your personality.” Doesn’t that sound like a worthwhile pursuit?
Did you know?….
– The root words for “spirit” and “breath “are the same in many languages.
– In the upper lungs there is a predominance of nerves that prepare you for alert action (the sympathetic nervous system). In the lower lungs, the predominant nerves are those that bring calmness and relaxation (the parasympathetic nervous system). Therefore, we can regulate our mood and energy level by the way we fill our lungs. When we chest breathe, we rev up. When we allow the belly to expand so that the lower lungs can fill, we calm down.
– The nostrils take turns being dominant. It’s called nasal cycles, and each period of dominance can last anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 hours. Breathing through the right nostril, the “sun” channel, is stimulating. Breathing through the left nostril, the “moon” channel, is calming.
Here are some tips and basic techniques, if you’ve never practiced pranayama, or want to revive your practice:
General tips:
For all techniques, a few moments of basic breath awareness is a good preparation. Allow the breath to become slower, deeper, and more steady on its own. Observe the rhythm, texture and all sensations associated with the movement of the breath. Feel how the breath nourishes you.
Keep your eyes soft and feel the three-dimensional shape of your lungs, which fill the rib cage from top to bottom and side to side. We often don’t feel the back part. If any anxiety arises, stop doing the technique and breathe normally until you feel calm, then resume.
Basic Techniques:
1. The 3-directions breath
It’s in four parts, and increases the elasticity of the ribs, breathing muscles, and lungs.
a. Picture your lungs filling from top to bottom with each inhalation. Exhale normally.
b. Picture your lungs filling from front to back with each inhalation. Exhale normally.
c. Picture your lungs filling from side to side with each inhalation. Exhale normally.
d. Picture your lungs filling in all directions at once.
2. Ujjayi = “upward moving and victorious”, can be done in any position
Ujjayi is characterized by the soft whisper-like sound made on both inhalation and exhalation. It’s often called the “ocean breath” or the “Darth Vader breath”.
Preparation:
Breathe slowly with your mouth closed, making a soft humming sound on your exhalation. The sound allows you to become more aware of the flow of the breath, and gradually bring it to a steady rhythm. Notice the slight constriction of your upper throat and the back of your tongue as you hum. Now, instead of a voiced hum, shift to a whisper, and make the sound on both the inhale and exhale. Another way to find the whisper sound is to open your mouth and pretend you are using your breath to fog your glasses to clean them. Then close your lips and continue into Ujjayi. Breathe in and out through your nose, making the soft ocean-like sound. Observe and feel the sound, and make it subtle, soft, continuous and smooth.
3. Kapalabhati = “shining the skull”, a cleansing technique for the central pranic channel, the Sushumna Nadi. The essence of this one is a series of quick, forceful exhalations through your nose, alternating with normal, automatic inhalations. It’s best done sitting, not lying down.
Preparation: Practice the abdominal action of quick contractions of your lower abdominal muscles, which will push the air out of your lungs and nose. Do not contract the upper abdominals or tighten the ribs, and avoid any tension or extraneous movements of your spine, shoulders or neck. Clear your nose. Sit tall with strength in your spine, shoulders and tongue relaxed. Now begin a series of 8-10 short, forceful exhalations and normal automatic inhalations. Keep the pace slow at first. Then take a few normal breaths. Repeat the process, increasing the speed and number of “puffs” as you are ready. If your face, neck, throat, shoulders, or ribs become tight or your rhythm becomes jagged, stop and rest. I recommend three rounds at first, then increase the number of puffs in each round or number of rounds as you are ready.
Note: it is common for people learning this for the first time to feel light-headed
afterward.
4. Nadi Shodhana = “cleansing of the nadis”, especially the ones that spiral around the Sushumna Nadi, the Ida and the Pingala. It’s also best done sitting. Alternating nostril breathing uses the fingers to regulate the nostrils, called “digital pranayama”.
Ida: the nadi on the left side, is associated with the parasympathetic nervous system and the
moon energy: cooling and calming.
Pingala: the nadi on the right side, is associated with the sympathetic nervous system, and
energizing and activating.
Preparation: Without coordinating the breath, practice the hand position and the action of gently closing one nostril at a time. The touch is soft and delicate, and does not compress the nose or turn it to the side.
Classic hand position: Right hand: index and second finger curl to touch the base of the thumb. Pinky and fourth finger touch the left nostril, thumb touches the right nostril.
Alternate hand position: Index and second finger touch the space between your eyebrows, otherwise the same as above.
Do one round of basic Ujjayi breath. Then close the right nostril gently and inhale through the left. At the top of the inhale, close the left nostril and exhale through the right. At the end of the exhalation, inhale through the right nostril. At the top of the inhalation, close the right and exhale through the left. This is one round. Each time, you change nostrils at the top of the inhalation.
Repeat as many rounds as you wish. Keep the flow of the breath slow, smooth and steady. If agitation occurs, take a few natural breaths. Keep your spine long and tall, your shoulders released down, and your head facing straight forward. If your right arm gets tired, you can support it with your other hand, or take some resting breaths with your hand resting on your thigh. Try for five minutes of Nadi Shodhana.
I invite you to spend some time each day focusing on your breath. Watch how it feels and enjoy its benefits. Visit my Youtube channel for more instructional videos and please leave a comment below.
Design Your Practice To Give You What You Need
In a recent blog post I talked about interoception, the ability to keep track of inner sensations in an ongoing way. The next step is to use what you feel through interoception to help guide you in designing your own practice for your particular body and mind.
What is your body type? Are you more fluid, and attracted to a nice stretchy practice? Or do you have a more solid musculature, pulling you toward weight lifting or gym workouts emphasizing strength? It’s not about which is better, it’s more about observing the body type you were born with, and using your choice of exercise to fill in the gaps.
Recent research tells us that the best way to have a resilient, strong body is to do a variety of movements – not just the same yoga series every day, or the same game of tennis, or the same gym workout with machines. Give your body a variety of challenges – balance, coordination, strength, flexibility – and you will lessen your chances of injury from underdoing or overdoing.
True confessions: My preference for years has been the Iyengar/Anusara yoga menu of poses, figuring that there is enough variety inherent in the poses to adequately build my strength, flexibility, balance and coordination. But aging shows us the weak points! With recent hip and knee issues, I’m appreciating the benefits of physical therapy to target the weaker areas, and then I integrate those skills into my yoga practice with more fine-tuned awareness of the parts within the whole.
I invite you to read my blog “The ABC’s of Yoga” in which I discuss the foundations of any good yoga practice: Awareness, Balance of opposites, and Creativity.
The take-aways:
Know and honor your own body type, its strengths and weaknesses.
Find ways to refine and vary your exercise routine to bring you into balance as much as possible.
Tiny Habits
Did you make any New Year’s resolution about your physical health? Many people resolve to exercise more, lose weight, get rid of an unwanted habit, or some combination of those goals. But the complexity of life can so easily take over and dislodge even the best intentions.
The other day, I heard an author speak on NPR about how to establish new good habits and get rid of “bad” ones. His name is BJ Fogg, and his book is Tiny Habits, The Small Changes that Change Everything. As you can guess from the title, the trick is to take small steps toward your goal. Instead of resolving to do an hour of yoga a day or taking class once a week, you can set the goal of doing one or two poses each day on your own. Make the “tiny” effort, and you’ll feel the results and probably want to do more.
Instead of approaching a complex chronic pain issue with the pressure of “solving it”, you can explore one small strategy on a regular basis, like doing ten minutes of ballwork, or one targeted stretch or strengthening exercise. Gradually you will gain momentum and your practice will mature.
For example, watch this short 4 minute video to experience Bodymind Ballwork and how it relieves tension in your hips, thighs, knees, lower legs and ankles.
The next part of the method is to schedule the activity to give you a daily prompt. Some examples: Right after you shower and get dressed in the morning, you can do some stretches to fully wake up your body and your breath. Or: Right before dinner, you can do a few strengthening exercises, or you can meditate for whatever period of time you have – from 5-20 minutes. As another teacher put it, think “Small, Scheduled, and Specific”. It’ll put you on the path, and once you’re on it, there will be enough to learn and enjoy that you’ll want to continue.
You can join me in NYC any time, every week (Wednesday 12-2) for a class with Bodymind Ballwork and yoga. See the schedule of that and other classes here. I also offer multiple workshops throughout the year in New York and beyond. To see where and when I’ll be teaching, check in often here.
Better Interoception Equals Better Health
How’s your interoception? In case you’re not familiar with that word, it’s the inner felt sense of the body, including being warm or cold, hungry or full, tired or energized, stiff or flexible. Interoception is increasingly seen as a crucial component of health by twenty-first century researchers, especially in how it bridges the gap between physical and emotional experience. Recent research shows that well-developed interoception can lessen our experience of pain, which might surprise you. In other words, the more we are in touch with our inner world of sensation, the more we can adapt our behaviors to lessen the causes of pain. When our interoception is faulty and we are disconnected from the body, we are more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.
One way to check in with our interoception – our inner sense of subjective presence in the body – is with an inner dialogue. Think for a moment about whether you have an inner dialogue, a way of checking in with yourself throughout your day. If you do, what are its contours and themes? Do you talk to yourself with judgment, criticism, or disapproval? Or are you an encouraging coach for yourself? Does your body have a voice in the conversation? If your neck hurts and you are short-tempered, can you see the connection between those two states? Do you see your body as an ally, or as an adversary? A burden that you carry around, or your very own self?
I believe that we develop our inner dialogue over our lifetime. It is influenced by our family and by the culture we live in, the education we receive, the work that we do, and our goals for ourselves. I often ask students what they were taught about self-care while growing up. For many of us, it’s the usual short list: eat healthy food, get exercise, get enough sleep. Rarely is anything taught about the value of interoception or embodied self-awareness – the ongoing process of dialogue between your mental and physical selves. Being embodied with awareness requires practice and continuous renewal.
Bodymind Ballwork is a great way to develop your interoception and gradually build a more authentic and self-supporting inner dialogue. If you haven’t tried it, now is a good time. I am offering several workshops this summer and fall to teach the full spectrum of this empowering and healing work. Check out the Bodymind Ballwork page and the workshop page of my website for more information. If you are already a practitioner, tell your friends about it!
Adapted and excerpted from The Bodymind Ballwork Method, pp 35-36.
Bodymind Ballwork for The Outer Side of The Legs
Right now, it’s the beginning of winter in the Northeast USA. We are wearing heavier clothing and shoes, the ground might be slippery, and the cold temperatures can sometimes cause muscles to tighten as we rush through our day. Tension in the outer legs that can cause hip, knee or ankle pain and fatigue.
Last year I wrote a blog about strengtheners for this part of the body, and today’s blog is about how to release tension there with the balls. While I acknowledge that many people use rollers for this, and get a lot of benefit, I prefer the balls, because I feel that the balls can get in between the layers and neighboring muscles really well, and they facilitate inner “glide” and healthy circulation.
Two of the techniques are done sitting on the floor, and the other two lying down. The balls can be purchased from www.lifesaball.org – look for the 4” spikey ball, and the 2.5” rainbow sponge ball, both of which I also sell at my studio. (Watch for the balls for sale from my website soon!)
1. Sitting with two 3-4” hollow balls: Begin by sitting with your legs spread to the side, and a ball under each buttock. Explore small movements with your pelvis to work on the muscles of the pelvic floor and lower buttocks.
Then stretch one leg to the side, bend the other one, and turn your upper body toward the bent leg. The ball will begin to move down your outer leg. You can lean over to that side to get more pressure if you wish. Make small slow movements to work on the outer thigh and the iliotibial band. Work for 5-10 minutes on one leg, moving the ball gradually down toward your knee, then repeat the same process on the other leg.
2. Sitting with one ball under the outer shin: For this you can use the hollow ball (for less pressure) or the solid ball (for more pressure). Sit with one leg bent and one leg straight out to the side. Place one ball under your outer shin. Lean over the bent leg and stabilize it with one hand on your knee and one on the ankle. Then slowly move your leg, moving the ball along the length of your outer shin muscles and fascia. Repeat on the other leg.
3. Lying on your side with one 3-4” hollow ball: Start by arranging props to support your upper body well while lying on your side. In this photo I have one pad under my ribs, two under my head, and a space between them for my shoulder.
Then place the ball under the side of the pelvis, where the iliotibial band begins. Your other leg can be behind, possibly on a bolster as shown here. Move your pelvis slowly forward and back to massage the muscles and fascia. Take your time, and stop in places that feel particularly tight.
Then move the ball a few inches down on the side of your thigh, skipping the bony prominence which is the greater trochanter of your femur. Work down the side of the thigh slowly, working on one spot at a time, moving the ball down with your hand when you’re finished with each spot. You can progress down to the side of the knee. Repeat on your other leg.
4. Lying on your side with two small solid balls under the side of your lower leg: Support your upper body in the same way as in #3 above.
Place the two balls under the outer shin of your bottom leg, and stack the other leg on top. You can start at the top and progress down toward your ankle. Move your legs slowly so that the ball works into the tibialis anterior and the peroneal muscles, and their associated fascia. You can roll the balls up and down, or across the outer shin. Improvise your movements to reach the places where you want the pressure.
For more fabulous ball techniques, check out my book The Bodymind Ballwork Method, published in October by North Atlantic Books.
Yoga On-the-Go: 7 Yoga Poses You Can Do Anywhere
Summer has finally arrived on the East Coast, and these seasonal transitions are a good time to review and refresh our commitment to self-care. If you’ve been browsing my website, you know that I practice yoga asana, pranayama, meditation and Bodymind Ballwork, a myofascial release technique. And in summer I look forward to adding in hiking, swimming, gardening, and playing outdoors with grandchildren. Plus one of my favorites – just lying in the grass and watching the sky. So the idea of what is “exercise” can expand beyond the normal routine.
What does your self-care look like? Perhaps you attend a yoga class or a meditation group, or go to the gym, or do some exercise at home. Does it change with the seasons? Can you throw in something new from time to time to keep it playful and fresh? Whether you’re in your twenties, your eighties, or somewhere in between, you may find that there is an ebb and flow to what your body likes to do. Aging is a reality for all of us, the body changes gradually but inevitably, and it’s important to adapt our practice to the fluctuations that are built into being human.
I encourage my students to try variations of yoga poses that they can do at in-between moments in the day – at the office, at home, or while travelling – to remind the body and mind to stay connected and to be fully present in the body for whatever you do. Here are some that I do at my kitchen table, while waiting at an airport, or on a break during a long drive. No need to change clothes, have a yoga mat, or even take off your shoes. Stretch in each direction: forward, backward, sideward and twisting. Be creative with your use of props (a park bench, the side of your car, etc) and also with the sequence – do what feels good to you.
Prasarita Padottanasana: With feet spread wide apart, stretch your legs and reach your hips back as you stretch your torso forward. Rest your head on the table with your arms folded. Breathe and quiet your mind as you connect with sensations inside.
Parsvakonasana with your back to the table: With your right leg turned out parallel to the table, bend the right knee, pointing it toward the middle toes. The other hips shifts forward slightly, away from the table. Lean to the right with the right arm on the table. Keeping your legs and abdomen strongly active, bring your torso to the side as far as you wish. Stretch your left arm alongside your head, reaching vigorously from hand to foot. Repeat on the other side.
Seated twist with chair: Sit sideways in the chair, with your spine erect and legs steady. Inhale, lift your spine, and exhale, twist toward the back of the chair. Place your hands wherever it helps you to twist more. Hold for a few breaths, and repeat on the other side.
High lunge with the chair: Face the back of the chair and step your right foot forward, your left foot back. Both legs are parallel and the back heel will be off the floor. Face your pelvis squarely toward the chair, and hold the back of the chair with your hands. Lean forward a bit and push into the back leg, widening inside your pelvis and hips. Then pull down through the back of the pelvis as you lift up in the front torso. Raise your chest, look up, and expand from the top of your head all the way to the back foot. Raise your left arm up, and possibly also your right arm. Enjoy your strong and expanded self, then release and repeat on the other side.
Parivrrta Trikonasana with the chair and tabletop: Place the chair sideways next to the table, the seat facing you, as shown. Step your left leg forward and keep both legs straight. Reach your hips back and your chest forward as you place your right hand on the chair seat. Twist toward the table, with your left hand pressing down into the tabletop to help empower your twist. Breathe several times, then come out of the twist and repeat on the other side.
Shoulders and arms pulling back: Stand tall, roll your shoulders back and clasp your hands behind you. Pull your arms back to find a stretch in the front of your shoulders, and a supportive strength in the upper back. Take several deep breaths, feeling all inner sensations as you hold the pose.
Upward facing dog with hands on the table: Place your hands on the edge of the table and walk your feet back. As you bring more weight onto your arms, be sure to keep your shoulders back and your chest lifted. Bend your elbows a bit, bring your pelvis toward the table with your tailbone lengthening, and move your chest forward between your arms, as if going through a doorway. Look up if you can, and enjoy a full stretch from your chin to your toes.
Then repeat the first pose, Prasarita Padottanasana, one more time to finish.
I invite you to leave a comment below…. and enjoy the summer.
I am excited to announce my new book, “The Bodymind Ballwork Method: A Self-Directed Practice to Help You Move with Ease, Release Tension, and Relieve Chronic Pain” to be released in October 2018 by North Atlantic Books. You can pre-order your copy now. Click here.
The Unexpected Silver Linings of Major Hip Surgery
At almost four months after hip replacement surgery, I wanted to collect my thoughts about the whole process, in hopes that hearing about my experience might help others who are considering or definitely heading toward a similar experience.
The lead-up:
I notice that my pain is more frequent and more disruptive of daily activities about two years before surgery.
I go to physical therapy, hoping that will be enough. It is very helpful, but not enough.
I take time to make a list of possible doctors to see.
I see four hip surgeons over the course of a few months. They all tell me I need hip replacement because of advanced arthritic changes in one hip, and they think I’ll need it in the other one too (but I don’t think so).
I choose one of the doctors based on two friends who had surgery with him, plus I liked him and his staff at the initial visit. He’s Patrick Meere at NYU Langone, Hospital for Joint Diseases.
I delay choosing a date, putting off the decision for a few months. Just can’t do it.
My physical therapist encourages me to get the surgery while I’m in relatively good shape, and save the remaining insurance therapy allotment for afterwards.
I schedule a date in late September, giving myself 2 months of time off from teaching afterward, plus another month with no travel. (Actually, I began teaching private sessions after two weeks and classes after three weeks, all at my home studio.)
I am grateful that I have both a solid background in complementary healing methods such as acupuncture, massage, chiropractic and homeopathy, plus a basic faith in mainstream medicine from my father who was a general surgeon. This way I go into the process with confidence on both sides of that spectrum.
The surgery day and first two weeks:
I am nervous, but the morning of surgery I feel ready and grateful for family support. My son is a medical student and I’m comforted as he chats with the anesthesiologist about drugs with impossibly long names (he’s studying pharmacology at the time).
After about 3 hours of pre-op procedures, I say goodbye to family, walk into the OR and sit on the table, greeted by the anesthesiologist and a very nice nurse. They chat as they prepare to give me the drugs, and I marvel at the high-tech feeling of the room. Everyone is wearing suits and helmets as if it’s a space flight about to launch. Thankfully a nurse without a helmet is right by my side, and probably holding me up. The last thing I remember is putting my head into a face cradle while still sitting up. I have heard that people talk at this early stage of anesthesia but don’t remember any of it, so that probably happened to me. I probably lay down on the table still chatting with the nurse.
The next thing I know, it’s 3 hours later and I’m in the recovery room with a very friendly young male nurse by my side asking how I’m feeling. He brings me juice and I am filled with gratitude that it’s over and I’m awake and feeling mentally normal. I have no pain, and in fact, I feel euphoric, thanks to those drugs flooding my system. The euphoria lasts all day while I transition to a room upstairs (with a great view) and get settled, greeting visiting family members. The hospital staff gets me up and walking that afternoon. As I traverse the hallway near my room, there is a framed print by my husband artist Robert Kushner on the wall – a welcome sight.
The next day I have more pain, but I can still get up and walk. That night I have my first melt-down of frustration, and a very kind nurse offers me a hug and a shoulder to cry on. That means a lot to me.
The third day I am scheduled to go home, and there’s a flurry of people in and out to arrange all the discharge procedures. Finally at noon, I walk out on crutches and take the short 4-block trip home via Uber. Too far to walk at this point. But only 2.5 days in the hospital, not much.
At home, I have two places where I spend time – my bed and a couch in the living room. Pretty soon I have a routine and everything I need within reach – phone, laptop, water, reading, medications, snacks. This is when the new normal emerges – resting, walking, taking care of only basic daily needs. This is radical for me, being a person who’s always keeping busy and going from one thing to another all day. Here I am, just on the couch. It’s kind of fun learning how to put on socks and pants with a long-handled grabber.
I’m tremendously grateful for family members and friends who care for me, make my meals, rub my feet, help me navigate daily needs. For these first two weeks, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, and a visiting nurse come to see me. The PT gets me up and walking outside the very first day. We walk to the corner and back, and that is plenty. When his time is up, I’m sad to say goodbye because we have become friends. He says he wants to come study yoga with me. He buys a rubber ball to help with his plantar fasciitis.
The long-term recovery
As an anatomy geek, I’m fascinated to watch the changes day by day. The incision goes from being quite gory looking with lots of bruises, to a thin red line. My walking becomes smoother, and I transition from walker to cane to nothing. Each week I keep track of my successes, and I laugh at how small but how significant they are. The first time I can wash my feet and put lotion on them. The first time I can put on lace-up shoes. The first time I can go to the grocery store, carry things home, and cook a meal. The first time I can sleep on my left side. The first time I do downward facing dog, sit cross-legged for meditation, do pigeon pose, sun salutation, kick-up handstand.
My muscles are sore and weak in unusual places, but physical therapy always makes me feel more fluid in my walking and confident in my strength. I gradually return to almost all of my favorite yoga poses, and although that process is slower than I anticipated, it feels right. My body clearly tells me yes and no. I get very creative with props.
The silver linings:
Ingenuity in figuring out how to do things in a new way.
Patience with myself and my “to-do” list which is ever present.
Gratitude for small and large kindnesses from family, friends and strangers.
Gratitude for yoga and physical therapy, both of which sped me along toward recovery faster than otherwise would have happened.
Awe at the body’s capacity to heal.
Awe for the medical profession to have figured out how to safely replace a hip joint.
And excitement to be in a new phase of wellness and enthusiasm for life!
Feel free to write me if you want to dialogue about any of this, or if I can support you in your journey.
The 15 minute stay-cation with Bodymind Ballwork
What do you do to take a break from daily stress, body aches, worry and fatigue? Maybe it’s a cup of tea, a phone call with a friend, or a few minutes of yoga. I recommend that you add this to your choices: a Bodymind Ballwork technique for the spine which will de-stress you, lengthen your back, and refresh your breath and your mind. I do it every day, as do many of my students.
All you need is 15 minutes, a clear space of floor and a yoga mat, and two balls. You can use tennis balls, or find various types of massage balls online. The ones I use are 3” solid rubber, but you can use larger ones as well. A smaller firmer ball will give you a deeper massage, and a larger hollow ball will give you a less specific pressure and an overall feeling of stretch. Both are good.
Lie on your back with your knees bent or straight, whichever is more comfortable to you. Spend a few minutes connecting with your breath, and feeling your body and mind – how are you right now? Are there some sore spots, achy muscles, worries, or emotions that are predominant in your experience right now? No judgment or analysis, just observation.
Now place the balls on your mat so that you can lie down with one ball on each side of the spine, near the bottom of your shoulder blades. They can be quite close to the spine, or a few inches away from it. As you first feel the pressure from the balls, you might be surprised at how strong the sensation is, but just give it some time. Let yourself settle, breathing slowly. Your arms can rest to your side on the floor, or you can stretch them overhead and on the floor.
Now move your back very slowly to one side, just an inch or two. Try to move only that segment of your back where you feel the balls. Breathe as you go, and notice any sensations, strong or subtle. The balls are massaging your spinal muscles, of which there are many, and all the surrounding fascia which is richly innervated. Some areas will probably be sore, others not. Think of it as an exploration of your own self, your back body which you can never actually see, but you can deeply feel.
After moving slowly to one side, and lingering there for a few breaths to give the balls time to do their work, glide back to center again. Then do the same to the other side. After one pass to each side, you can decide to repeat, or move the balls down. I usually go from side to side at least three times at each level of the spine, and more if I have sore spots.
When you are ready, roll yourself to another spot by pushing with your feet, and the balls move down your back an inch or two. Then work this new spot in the same way, slowly moving to one side, back to center, and to the other side. The combination of your body weight and your movement is dissolving tension, encouraging better circulation, and bringing more sensory vitality to all the soft tissue of your back.
Continue to progress down your back one spot at a time, noting the differences in sensation in each spot as you go. Also notice any changes in your breathing, especially when the balls are near your lower ribs. If you’ve had chronic back pain, your breath has surely been affected since the fascia of the diaphragm and back muscles are connected, and the stress of chronic pain can also disturb your breath.
Once you reach the pelvic bones, you can move the balls onto the buttocks and choose any spot to work on. This might lead to another 15 minutes, since most of us carry tension in the buttocks! You can choose to work more thoroughly here, finding several spots to place the balls, or just do one spot to finish your journey down your spine.
When you’re ready to stop, remove the balls from under you, and lie flat. Notice what you feel: what changes have occurred? Is there more ease, a softer and fuller breath, more contact with the floor?
Bodymind Ballwork offers more than 30 techniques, with something for each part of the body.
This technique for the middle and lower back is good to combine with the technique for the shoulders, described in my blog “Release Shoulder Tension with Bodymind Ballwork”, from January 2016.
I have a book in progress that will provide all the instructions, but in the meantime, you can come to class if you’re in New York, or attend a workshop – the next one is at Tasha Yoga in Williamstown, MA, August 11-13, 2017.
Want to learn more? In November 2017 I’m offering a three day intensive where I teach ALL the Bodymind Ballwork techniques in three days (open to anyone, come for a half day, full day or several), and there’s an added 2-day teacher training portion (by application).
Enjoy the summer and take time to renew yourself with Bodymind Ballwork!
Meet your hard-working (and possibly under-appreciated) outer hip muscles
The teams of muscles that support and move your hips are awesome. Even if you’re not an anatomy geek, they are worth getting to know. You have the flexors in the front (with the iliopsoas as the team leader) which bring your leg forward to take a step. Their counterpart is the extensors in the back – gluteus maximus and hamstrings – the push-off muscles for running. We also have teams that rotate the hip joint – external rotators (piriformis being the midget but strong team leader here) and the internal rotators, which I’ll talk about below. Another team is the adductors on the inner thighs, a group of five that stabilize the inner thighs, pulling toward the midline.
My favorite group is the abductor-medial rotators, a team of three multi-taskers on the outer hips. This group does both abduction (pulling the leg to the side) and medial rotation (turning the leg in toward the midline). Its role for stability is often ignored. Yoga students usually want to “open the hips” and I can understand that, but it’s easy to get fixated on flexibility and ignore our need for strength and stability. In that sense, we can do well to consider practicing some techniques from fitness trainers and physical therapists.
Here are the three muscles: gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, and tensor fascia lata.
Because of their attachment on the bones above and below, these muscles have a variety of actions, depending on what part of the body is stable. If you put all your weight on one leg, the abductors will move the other leg to the side, and potentially also rotate it a bit. They’ll also be stabilizing your standing leg! Because the gluteus medius has such a wide attachment on the pelvic crest, it can either rotate the thigh externally or internally, as well as abduct it…the multi-tasker.
But if you have your weight on both feet, as in Tadasana or Uttanasana or Utkatasana, the abductors isometrically pull the upper thighs apart without affecting the lower legs, which adds to your stability and prevents compression in the hip joints and the sacro-iliac joint. I think it’s particularly good action in Utkatasana, the pose shown above.
You might say: I don’t want to strengthen my outer hips because they’re often achy and tired! Often when the outer hips are achy, it’s because the muscles are reacting to something we’re doing or not doing on a daily basis that causes all the teams to operate in a disorganized way. Perhaps we stand on one leg without realizing it, or we have some other slight imbalance or asymmetry that’s under the radar of ordinary awareness. Gradually over time, some muscles get a lot of stimulus and others not so much. This can be reinforced in our yoga practice or athletic activity like running, once the habits are established.
Here are some examples of good additions to your daily practice that highlight these abductor-rotator muscles, both for strength and stretch. First you can isolate them, and then focus on how they play a part in your favorite asanas. Practice these on both sides, of course.
1. Side leg lift from all fours: From hands and knees position, lift one leg to the side, at first with the knee bent, and then straighten the leg to the side, as in a slow karate kick with the heel raised slightly. This works the abductor-medial rotator team. Do 10 slow kicks on each side, and increase the number as you get stronger.
2. Side plank pose (Vasishtasana): In this pose, side body strength is emphasized, and the abductor team lifts up the hips. It’s a really good core strengthener. There are many good variations of this pose, and here are a few. Hold them for as long as you can, with your supporting shoulder pulled firmly back.
3. Outer hip and thigh stretch: A variation of Supta Padangusthasana, this crosses one leg over the midline, highlighting the outer hip and thigh. Keep your leg muscles strongly contracting as you hold the pose.
4. Another outer hip stretch, this time with bent knees. Be sure to keep the shoulders and pelvis flat on the floor, and adjust your distance from the wall as needed.
I hope this has peaked your interest in your hip muscles! You can appreciate the contribution of these multi-taskers in all standing poses, but especially in any balance pose, such as Vrksasana (Tree Pose), Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) and Ardha Chandrasana (Half-Moon Pose).
For more on the hip muscles, see my new book Anatomy and Yoga: A Guide for Teachers and Students, available online and in bookstores.
Cycles of Time, Cycles of Breath
At the end of a year, we can reflect on the passage of time, reviewing the events and growth of the past year and setting intentions for the next year. It’s a valuable time to renew values and goals, and to savor meaningful experiences. What did I enjoy this year? What do I want to do more or less of next year? What mistakes did I learn from? What obstacles did I overcome, and which ones are still ahead?
For me the highlights of 2016 included a trip to south India visiting ancient temples, and publishing my book, Anatomy and Yoga, a labor spanning many years. I also proudly saw my youngest son begin medical school, and I reconnected with friends from 40 years ago. Profound sadness came from losing two loved ones, both too young. Somehow each of these experiences related to the passage of time.
The year – and a life span – are long cycles, made up of billions of short ones. Each breath we take is a cycle, taking less than a minute of time. We have an infinite number of chances in any day to connect with our breathing cycle. Though our breath continues on its own, it welcomes our awareness and playful participation.
Right now as you’re reading this, take a big deep breath, filling yourself with Prana, the life force in the air. Then exhale until you’ve let out all the air, letting it subside naturally like a wave in the ocean. Reflect on the passage of that moment in time, the rhythm of it. The inhale is a new beginning, offering fresh energy, then the natural pause at the top is a time for assimilation, and the exhale is a release, a settling. So many cycles of time have these elements – creation, sustenance, dissolution – three of the “cosmic acts”, according to Hinduism. (There are more, but that’s for another blog). We know that conscious deep breathing is physically healing – it lowers blood pressure, boosts the immune system, and reduces emotional stress by shifting the nervous system to a calmer state. And it’s so easy to do!
This year, I recommend that you practice conscious breathing a little bit each day. It could be when you first wake up, or before you eat, or whenever there is a transition in your day. Here are a few ideas.
1) Watch the breath play inside your body. Where do you feel it? What movement does it create? What changes does it bring about in your inner feeling? How is the breath being affected by what you are doing?
2) Practice slowing it down. This is a great one to do just before meditation. You can count the duration of your inhalation – perhaps 4-6 counts – and then see how long the exhalation is naturally, without doing anything about it. Then gently elongate the exhalation, so that it’s about half again as long as the inhalation. Then add a pause at the top of the breath, between the inhalation and the exhalation. The pause is a magical moment of entry into a deeper awareness – called the Madhya, the middle place where a more subtle state of consciousness is available.
3) Repeat a natural mantra along with your breath. This is a classical meditation technique that you can practice for a short few minutes to center yourself, or for a longer seated meditation. As you inhale, inwardly hear the internal sound “Ham”, and as you exhale, hear the internal sound “Sah”. This is said to be the natural sound of the breath, its meaning is “I am that”: the essence of each of us expands into the world, and the world also exists inside us.
Enjoy your breath, and please leave me a comment about your favorite kind of conscious breathing!
Make New Friends, But Keep the Old
“Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.”
These are the words of a song I sang with my mother as a child and as a Girl Scout – does anyone else remember them?
Friendships show us the love and humanity inside us that is our essence. We discover ourselves through doing things together, talking over current life issues and future goals. New friends give us a fresh chance for discovery and playfulness as we look for their unique qualities and bounce those qualities against our own. Old friends are actually part of us already and, in some ways, they might know us better than we know ourselves. As friends, we underscore and amplify each other’s values and uniqueness; we stand in each other’s truth. We are there for each other in celebrations and in rough times, giving moral support and delighting in each others’ company.
I recently attended my 50th high school reunion for the women of my graduating class, and was moved to see these women again after so long. Out of 42 women, 23 of us attended – a pretty good percentage I’d say. I had not really kept in touch with any of them except one who is my first cousin. One came from Panama, one from Italy, one from Australia, and the rest from around the USA. Even though so many years had passed, there was a strong and positive link between us, probably because of the formative experiences of those teenage years. Many professions are represented: doctors, lawyers, actors and acting teachers, psychotherapists, schoolteachers for all ages, musicians, visual artists. But I think I’m the only yoga teacher in the bunch. As I talked with many of them, I saw through their eyes and careers how the past 50 years have shaped us from our schoolgirl selves. It was impressive.
Walking around the school and remembering stories, I felt like I was almost able to see myself again at that age. Those experiences are still inside me, having partly shaped who I am today, for better and for worse. And these women were part of it.
Then I think of new friends I’ve made – through family connections, yoga connections and just living in a crowded city. They are neighbors, students, in-laws and colleagues. One of them said to me recently: “We’ve worked together but I don’t really know much about you – let’s have lunch and talk.” Connections grow from curiosity – what is common between us? What is different and how might I grow from that? Friendship grows from spending time together, listening, and opening the inner door to new understandings of the marvelous diversity and complexity of human nature. It’s a risk sometimes, but a risk worth taking. And then silver can turn to gold.
Photo: My High School Reunion, Class of ‘66
What is Yoga Therapy and Who’s Qualified to Offer It?
All yoga is inherently therapeutic, so what exactly is yoga therapy as distinct from yoga in general? I’ve heard many great teachers define it in different ways. To me, what makes the distinction is in the goal and the education/experience of the teacher.
A yoga teacher guides students in the practices of asana, pranayama, meditation, study of the philosophical teachings, chanting, and community service, in order to uplift their lives. Therapy will be part of it, because yoga improves our health.
A yoga therapist uses the tools of yoga to help people relieve pain and suffering in the body-mind-spirit. We use yoga techniques toward a particular goal. We do not diagnose. We work with the person, not the disease. We educate with the intention of relieving suffering.
Yoga opens the pathway for people to understand themselves more deeply, and to experience the flow of prana (life force) in the body-mind-spirit more clearly and powerfully. It is the prana that heals, not the therapist. Any good yoga teacher helps students to enhance the flow of prana. We teach people how to move intelligently, how to align the body well so that the natural healing power of the body-mind-spirit can do its work. A person’s own vitality will do the healing. We provide the support, the environment and the techniques, and that’s where the training comes in. We need to know about the underlying conditions to teach effectively. The teacher-student relationship is part of the therapy, but that’s also true in medicine and psychology, so we can’t claim to utilize more than other modalities.
So truly, every yoga teacher uses yoga as a therapeutic tool, and many students will expect their teacher to do just that. It’s inevitable, because that’s the way yoga works. Before every class, a student tells me about their latest ache or pain and wants my advice. Students put us into the role of healer, whether we want that or not. But we must practice ahimsa (non-harming), and avoid pretending that we know more than we do.
It matters how we present ourselves and how we pursue ongoing education. For myself, I continue to do research and learn from good teachers in related fields. Basic training to lead a yoga class is one thing. Training to be able to help people with medical ailments requires much more training in topics such as anatomy, physiology, psychology, and the characteristics of common medical conditions. We also need to have at least some knowledge of the current medical treatments for a range of common conditions. It’s a larger skill set, a larger toolbox, and one we must use with discretion.
Where can one get this training? Yoga therapy training programs exist around the world, and more will come every year. IAYT has set preliminary standards for training, and this is a good start. We can use the training of psychotherapists, physical therapists and physicians as a model for what’s needed. I advocate a period of formal training (at least two years after completing 500 hours of basic yoga teacher training), followed by a period of supervision/internship, similar to the training of social workers and medical doctors (at least two years). The formal training could be a combination of online and in-person courses, with competency tests. Perhaps those yoga teachers who are also accredited physicians or psychologists could help to design the curriculums and tests based on what has worked in their fields. And these programs should be administered by people who know about yoga. I’d hate to see the training of yoga therapists being legislated by people who know little or nothing about yoga (like university administrators, for instance).
What about licensing? Even though the issue of licensing has many dangers, I think it’s the only way for yoga to be fully recognized as an effective health care modality. I would like to see different sub-specialties, like yoga for structural/orthopedic issues, for mental health issues, for disease management (cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis etc), for elder care, for children, and for military personnel and veterans. We don’t all need to be expert at everything.
Right now this kind of training is self-directed, relying on the motivation, persistence, curiosity and integrity of each teacher to seek the training they need for what they want to offer. But potential students have no reliable way to evaluate a yoga therapist.
We’re in an important transition now as a professional field. Yoga has proven its worth in helping to heal or manage dozens of medical conditions, and more evidence will come to light every year(1). We need to be ready to competently serve the multitudes of people seeking the benefits that yoga has to offer.
Footnote:
1. Dr.Timothy McCall’s website has an ongoing list of studies showing the healing benefits of yoga.
Visiting the Hindu Temples of South India: The Source of Yoga
Ellen Saltonstall, Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai, India
When I returned from a recent trip to South India, my students asked, “What was the spiritual significance of your trip?” It’s a good question, worthy of ongoing contemplation. We visited 18 temples, ranging from a small outdoor one (just a platform under a tree), to the enormous Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, which covers 45 acres. It was definitely a pilgrimage for me to visit the birthplace of yoga and to feel its strong presence in 21st century life. In particular, we spent a fabulous day at the Nataraj Temple in Chidambaram, which I’ll describe later.
I’ve been a meditator and student of yoga for over 40 years. If you think yoga is just an exercise class, you’re missing out on a huge range of practices and traditions. I began meditating in 1974 within the non-dual Shaivite branch of Hindu yoga, that is, centering on Shiva, one of the Hindu deities. Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Minakshi, Ganesh – these deities and others are all representatives of cosmic functions and human qualities. Hinduism is generous in saying that you can align with any of the deities that appeals to you, since they all represent aspects of the highest truth. Each temple we visited had dozens of depictions of these deities in sandstone, granite, wood, and paintings. They become like familiar friends after a very short time.
The underlying teaching of Hindu non-dual philosophy: Everything is comprised of the same consciousness in different forms. The highest reality, the Absolute, is not separate from the concrete reality that we experience in daily life – it is interwoven through it. In other words, all life is sacred, and we can connect with that sacredness in our everyday world.
My experiences in the temples we visited made that very clear. In the active temples, devotees were streaming in and out, participating fully in whatever was going on. Rituals that have been performed for centuries are maintained and offered for anyone to witness and participate in. Far from being just about the performance of a task, the authenticity of these rituals is palpable.
Plan of Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai, India.
I love that Hindu temples are designed to mirror the layers of the human body. Put your western anatomical thinking aside for the moment, and consider this: We each are made of five concentric sheaths, or layers of being, called koshas. The outermost layer is the sheath of food, the physical body. Next is the more subtle sheath of breath, followed by the still more subtle sheath of thinking, followed by the sheath of understanding. The most subtle and central core sheath is of bliss, in which we revel in our own being in the most profound way. We practice yoga to traverse gradually and systematically through these koshas.
The temples are constructed in concentric courtyards to represent these sheaths. The first entrance and courtyard have the bustle of regular life, but as you get closer to the central area, there’s a strong feeling of vibrating stillness, like what we can experience in meditation. The inner sanctum is often dark and partially hidden, pulling us in like a magnet.
The Nataraj Temple in Chidambaram was the main focus of my pilgrimage; I had heard about it for years, and it was thrilling to be there. Its history goes back to the second century BCE and, among Shiva devotees, it is the pinnacle of sacred places.
At Chidambaram Temple. (clockwise, left to right): Ellen and family; Fire ceremony; Nataraj.
Nataraj is the name given to the form of Shiva dancing the cosmos into creation. He has four arms and two legs, and each limb is performing a cosmic function: creation, sustenance, destruction, concealment, and revelation. The temple’s architecture has correspondences to the human body: the golden roof over the inner sanctum is made of the same number of tiles as the number of breaths we take every day. The central shrine can be entered from two sides, symbolizing the flow of blood in and out of the heart. The outer walls of the temple have nine entrances, corresponding to the orifices of the human body. The iconography on the major towers (gopurams) depicts the 108 dance forms of Bharanatyam. Honoring the sanctity of the human body is built right into the temple.
This temple, covering 35 acres of land, is cared for by a democratic and hereditary group of 300-400 priests who perform all the rituals and attend to visitors to the temple. We had one priest as our host, a charismatic man with a dynamic energy and huge heart. He guided us through our day there with great generosity and compassion. We watched many ceremonies, and I was particularly mesmerized by the chanting of mantras and sacred texts. Sometimes I could recognize words and could chant along, and other times I just bathed in the sound. It felt both very exotic and also very familiar, as if I had been here before. It also felt nourishing at a very deep level. After each ritual, the priest would say: “Happy?” And I was. The chanting had a purifying effect, burning away the dross of mundane distractions and worries to reveal a wellspring of underlying joy. What a gift! Seeing the practices of yoga in their historical context of these south Indian temples gave me a potent reminder of the power and diversity of this path, for which I’m profoundly grateful.
Join me on March 5 & 6 for the Bodymind Ballwork Workshop where we use we use rubber balls of varying sizes and textures (as small as a walnut and as big as a melon) to support, massage and stretch localized areas of the body. Experience a positive mental and physical shift!
Look for Anatomy for Yoga Teachers and Students and Bodymind Ballwork, two new titles by Ellen Saltonstall to be published in 2016.
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Photo credits:
Plan of Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai, India : https://en.wiki2.org/wiki/Meenakshi_Amman_Temple
Image of Naturaj figurine: http://www.chidambaramnataraja.org
All other photos by Ellen Saltonstall
Release Shoulder Tension with Bodymind Ballwork
This is one of the best stress-busters I know of. Who doesn’t have tightness in the upper shoulders? Working on a computer, carrying things or children, worrying, getting inadequate sleep, and having less-than-ideal posture—these all contribute to chronic contraction in the trapezius, a superficial muscle spanning your entire upper back and neck. When you let go of tension here, with the help of balls, it does a huge service to your state of mind—not to mention helping to dissolve headaches and neck tension.
You’ll need two balls about the size of tennis balls (2-3” diameter), a place to lie on the floor, and a yoga block, if you have one. You might also want a bolster to rest your hands on, if your shoulders are tight, and a yoga mat for padding.
Lie on your back with the bolster above your head on the floor and the block near you. Take a moment to settle yourself, releasing unnecessary tension as much as possible while breathing fully. Notice how your shoulders feel.
Then place the balls under your upper shoulders, one on each side, in the area between the base of your neck and your shoulder blade. This is the upper trapezius, as well as some other deeper muscles. Bring your arms up in front of you and bend your elbows, pointing them toward the ceiling. This position brings more weight onto the balls and keeps them in place. You can rest your hands on your forehead or the floor behind your head.
There are two movements, each done very slowly and with awareness and care. Notice as many details of sensation as you can. Don’t rush. The benefit comes from the balls’ pressure on your tissues, the slow movement, and your attention.
1) Move your arms slowly up and down toward the ceiling, in a movement called protraction of the shoulder blades, which move away from the spine. Take special care to release your arms back to your rest position, feeling them settle onto the balls. Do this for several minutes.
2) Extend your arms overhead, resting your hands on the bolster or on the floor. Settle in this new position, and feel the difference in sensation where the balls are. If they have slipped out of place, just reach back with one hand to reposition them.
Now move your shoulders and upper back slowly and carefully off to one side, shifting sideward rather than turning. Keep your weight on both balls if you can. It’s a small movement, just enough to work into the muscles laterally. Return to center and repeat to the other side, and continue like this as long as you like.
Try this variation: place the block under your pelvis and feel how this changes the balls’ contact with your trapezius muscle. Then repeat #2, slowly moving from side to side to massage the muscle. If you find a trigger point, you can stay on that spot for a longer time, or go back and forth over it. Be careful to keep your movements slow and steady.
After 5-10 minutes, remove the balls and feel your shoulders as you lie flat on the floor. Is there a change? What do you feel? This is the beginning of the trapezius technique, which you can read more about in my upcoming book, Bodymind Ballwork.
If you have questions or want to tell me how it feels, please write me via the contact page. Look for another blog coming soon with essentials for shoulder alignment and strengthening.
Self Care for the Holidays, Inside and Out
This time of year gets busy, whatever holidays you do or do not celebrate. Year-end tasks, family visits, shopping, changing seasons, school events – it can be overwhelming. We all need some self-care, but we think we don’t have time. My message to you is: YOU DO HAVE TIME – perhaps just 10-15 minutes a day – and it will pay off with more centeredness to go about your day and your week.
Why do we procrastinate and delay the very things we know are good for us? Maybe it’s because we doubt that we’ll enjoy doing them, or that we’ll be successful at them. Or something else is “more important”. We all do this. Procrastination and avoidance can apply to self-care like meditation or exercise, chores around the house, professional tasks, or even big life changes like changing where you live, whom you live with, and what you do with your time.
When we are nagged internally by those things that we want-but-don’t-want to do, one approach is to examine the task or project or situation, and find a small – and specific – step in the right direction. A little bit goes a long way.
Let’s say you want to meditate, but you never seem to get around to it. The first step is to pick a time and place – both need to be quiet (although once you are a practiced meditator, you can do it anywhere). The next step is to choose a method – will you use awareness of breath, or a mantra, or some other method? Sally Kempton’s book, Meditation for the Love of It, is a great source of ideas. Also, set a realistic time frame – I recommend at least 15 minutes to start with.
Then you need to drop your expectations of having some huge breakthrough right away. Meditation is a slow process of reconnecting to more subtle layers of awareness. In normal Western culture, we are not trained to turn inside and see what’s behind the thinking mind. There’s a one-liner about meditation: “It’s not what you think….” Give yourself a chance to find out, to let something emerge. Do a little bit at a time. Even if your mind races at first, watch it lovingly and breathe. Your mind will calm down and there is a deeper part of your awareness – the witness – that can watch the process.
To help the mind and breath to slow down, try chanting the syllable ‘OM’ for a few minutes. Pick a comfortable pitch, feel the vibrations inside of you, and allow your mind to become absorbed in those vibrations. Picture them healing and cleansing you inside. See how you feel afterward. It may be much easier to drift into meditation.
How about practicing yoga asana? Many of my students love coming to class but don’t manage to practice regularly at home. My advice: choose three things you’ve learned in class that feel good, and follow the same steps – find a time and place, and drop your expectations, and just DO IT. Your body will thank you and remind you to do it again.
My ballwork students tell me how much they gain from doing the ballwork in class, yet they don’t do it at home. Again, just 10 or 15 minutes can make such a big difference in your state of mind and your connection to your body. Releasing tension, opening up the breath, and simply tuning into yourself is immensely powerful as a re-set to your day, and money in the bank of sanity. You can do it anytime in the day – beginning, middle or end.
One more little thing that can make a difference in your state of mind – your physical environment, your home or office. Maybe you can reorganize a shelf or tabletop that’s covered with clutter, or get a bunch of flowers to brighten up the room. These little touches of beauty and order can be an undercurrent of coherence in a complex life.
Remember:
1) Pick a time and place
2) Choose a method of meditation or other practice
3) Set a realistic time frame
4) Drop your expectations and be present
Will power is a muscle – it gets stronger with use.
Look for Anatomy for Yoga Teachers and Students and Bodymind Ballwork, 2 new titles by Ellen Saltonstall to be published in 2016.
Three Steps to Wrist Safety in Yoga
The human wrist is not designed for weight-bearing. Even though our hands have evolved with many skills, bearing the full weight of body is not one of them. The bones are small and there are structural weak points, notably the carpal tunnel. The carpal tunnel is formed by the combined curvature of the group of eight small carpal bones, forming the “roof” of the tunnel, plus a ligament across the palm side, forming the “floor” of the tunnel. (In this image the wrist is turned upward, so the roof is below, the floor is above). Through that tunnel pass nerves and tendons going to our fingers. Problems come when the tunnel gets too much pressure and swelling forms inside the tunnel. Symptoms can be pain, numbness, and loss of strength in the hand.
The good news is that we can protect the carpal tunnel in our practice. The 3 protective steps are: 1) understanding the natural movements of the wrist and nearby bones and joints, 2) building strength and mobility, and 3) being very careful with your technique.
Proper shoulder alignment is crucial to protect the wrists, but I’ll address that in another blog. For now, here are some things that help prevent wrist problems. Directional terms assume that you begin in the anatomical position, with your arms by your sides, palms forward.
1. Awareness of your range of motion: Move your wrists in all directions, including the ones shown here. Then find a “neutral wrist” position, with your middle finger extending directly out from your forearm bones. Return to this home base as much as possible.
2. Stretches and strengtheners (balancing opposites): See the short films on this website for 12 wrist exercises. These exercises include flexion, extension, twisting, and some combinations of the above. You’ll notice the sensations in your forearms (which consist of two bones, the ulna and radius), and you’ll be stretching the tissue between those two bones (the interosseous membrane), as well as muscles on all sides of the bones.
3. Technique: Experiment with the exact placement of weight on your hands in Cat-Cow as a preparation for weight-bearing. Notice what it feels like to bear more weight on the inner edge, the outer edge, the wrist, or the fingers. Can you have “neutral wrists” with the fingers (especially the middle one) extending straight forward, or do you tend toward ulnar deviation or radial deviation? If you have stiff shoulders, you may benefit from turning your hands out (slight ulnar deviation) to point your index finger forward rather than your middle finger.
Ideally you have the four corners of the hands pressing down equally, and an upward lift in the center of the palm. Pressing the fingertips down engages muscles that prevent collapse into the carpal tunnel, so this is very important. In general, bear your weight more forward toward the fingers, and less back toward the wrists.
Review this balance when entering poses such as handstand, Downward Dog, and all arm balances. The extra minute it takes to remind yourself will pay off! And study up on your anatomy – it’s worth it to protect your body and your yoga practice!
Consider attending my Yoga Anatomy and Therapy Workshop Nov 7, 8 & 14 where we study the joints, muscles and fascia and learn how to practice safely and effectively for a lifetime. Register here.
The ABCs of Yoga: Awareness, the Balance of opposites, and Creative expression
B is for Balance of Opposites: Tree Pose, Vrksasana.
B.K.S Iyengar said, “The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It’s about using posture to understand and transform yourself.” My teacher, Mary Dunn, taught her own version of this: “First you learn about the asanas, and then you learn about yourself in the asanas.”
I have pondered this a lot over my 34 years of practice. What are we really practicing? We are not just making shapes, stretching, getting a workout – there’s so much more to it. My thoughts have been greatly influenced by my teachers, but at a certain point I felt the need to distill my personal approach into a paradigm. It can be summarized as ABC: Awareness, the Balance of opposites, and Creative expression.
We focus on the ABCs in my upcoming workshop, Yoga Anatomy and Therapy.
A for Awareness
In asana, the practice of awareness can take many forms. The first and most important step is to become aware of yourself in the present moment. When practicing asana, we move our awareness into our bodies. We exercise our “muscles of awareness” in relation to sensations, thereby increasing our ability to be aware in all other areas of our lives.
As you practice asana, here are some questions that might trigger your awareness.
Important note: Awareness is separate from analysis and judgment! Try to let all sensations and thoughts register without categorizing them or giving yourself a scorecard.
What is your state of being, your energetic presence right now? Do you feel focused or distracted? Tired or energized?
What body sensations are you aware of? Listen to find out if parts of your body talking to you, either to relay that they are feeling good, or that there is some pain or compression or strain. Is there any area of the body that might need extra care today in your practice?
Feel the pull of gravity on your body, and notice if it feels like a burden, or more like a comforting sense of grounding.
Become aware of your breath – its texture, rhythm, and degree of comfort or discomfort. Observe it without judgment.
Observe the activity of your mind. Perhaps there are worries, plans, or other distractions, or perhaps your mind is calm and focused. It’s natural for the mind to generate thoughts, but we can take a step back and observe it.
What do you want to offer today with your practice, and what do you want to receive? Acknowledge your goals for your practice – for both your body and your mind.
Can you catch a glimpse of your own consciousness as part of something much bigger – the community of humanity and the cosmos?
With this breadth of awareness, notice how your practice becomes fuller and richer than simply “exercise”. Be open to expanding your awareness and learning about yourself while you practice, rather than just performing a task.
B for the Balance of Opposites
After the first step of becoming aware, there are guidelines help us do the physical work of the asanas without letting the process become simply making shapes. Without intention and attention, mind tends to wander to what’s on your agenda for later in the day, or a dozen other topics. I’ve found that balancing pairs of opposite actions in the body and attitudes in the mind can be very engaging, keeping me in the present moment for my practice. Here are some examples of pairs of opposites to consider.
1. Rooting and Rising
Every pose has a base, whether it is in the feet, the hands, the pelvis, the shoulders, or some other part of the body. In every asana we can simultaneously reach down into that base (“root”), and lift up away from it (“rise”). The more we connect downward to the base, the more we can lift up. For instance, in a standing pose, the pelvis and legs root down into the earth, while the torso and spine rise up. We feel simultaneously both solidly grounded and yet expanded and light.
2. Integrating and Expanding
The body needs both integration for stability and expansion for freedom. Each of us has characteristic types of connective tissue and patterns of muscular use that will determine whether our body is more loose and flexible, or more tight and compact. During asana practice we work to bring balance to the tissues of the body and to the pose itself. We explore each posture by becoming aware of the axial lines of energy that both integrate and expand simultaneously in opposite directions.
Try this with your arms extending to the sides. With your muscles firm, draw your arms into the shoulder sockets and magnetize into your spine. Feel the stability that gives to your joints. Then add another current of equal energy that extends from your spine all the way out to your fingertips, expanding your reach. With those two opposite directions balanced, you’ll have tremendous strength.
3. Wrapping Inward and Outward
In the pelvis and legs, inner rotation of the hip and thigh widens the pelvis, including the sacro-iliac joint, and it tips the top of the sacrum forward which maintains a good lumbar arch. We balance that rotation with outer rotation to bring stability and length to the sacrum, hips and lower back.
In the arms, especially in weight-bearing poses like Downward Dog, we balance inward and outward rotation as well. Placing our hands palms down onto the floor requires inner rotation, to which we add an outer rotation in the upper arms to support the shoulders well (see another blog post coming soon with more detail about safety for the arms and hands in weight-bearing poses).
4. Front and Back
Often in a pose, our attention is drawn to the front of the body. It’s what we can see in the mirror, and what others can see. Or, perhaps in other poses, our attention goes to the back because that’s where the most muscular work is happening. For example, in Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) we might focus on the contracting sensation in the back body in order to create the backbend shape. Bringing attention to elongation in the front body can make space for a deeper and more comfortable backbend.
5. Core and Periphery
I define “core” as the part of the body closest to the center. In daily life, we often move from the periphery, such as picking up a cup of coffee, or reaching a foot forward to take a step. When we’re not aware of it, our core is supporting us in whatever movement we do. To refine and strengthen our movements, we need to attend to what the core is doing.
When performing yoga poses, moving from the core is more efficient, more stabilizing and much safer for the body than moving from the periphery. For instance, when doing a twisting pose, the effects are deeper when we move from the torso and spine rather than pulling ourselves into the twist with our arms or legs.
6. Effort and Surrender
Any pose can be an exploration of a balance between holding firm and yielding. For instance, in a balancing pose, we create stability in the core of the body and the key joints that are holding us up, and yet we also leave room for yielding to the slight sway that will happen as we readjust our balance. You can observe this in Tree Pose, Vrksasana.
In your practice as a whole, can you find the right degree of effort without working too hard or not working hard enough? Notice where you need to hold firm and where you can soften, in the body and in the mind. Which parts of a pose will be more successful with more effort, and which parts with more surrender? Notice where you fit on the spectrum of making effort or surrendering. Are you a person who pushes very hard, or prefers to take it easy? Find the right balance through the practice.
7. Aspiration and Acceptance
It’s good to have a goal: I want to relax, I want to become more flexible, I want to be able to fully stretch my legs and arms in Downward Dog, or to balance in headstand, or to straighten my arms in a full backbend (Urdhva Dhanurasana). These are healthy aspirations that keep us growing, reaching for our full potential, while having fun with the challenges that yoga offers. In yoga practice the aim is to balance these aspirations with an acceptance of who we are, what body we live in, our age, and what is realistic to expect. My practice in my sixties is different from what I did in my twenties. Finding this balance involves knowing ourselves and making realistic intentions while fully accepting who we are.
8. Discipline and Playfulness
Anything worth learning requires and deserves some discipline. With yoga, that discipline can take the form of doing the practices regularly, practicing some poses and techniques that are not easy for you, or holding poses for a longer time. Discipline could also mean being particularly precise with your alignment and actions as you perform the poses.
But lest you get too serious, temper that discipline with playfulness. Play with your sequencing, the speed of the practice, and even the form of the poses. Practice outdoors, in the water, or some other unusual location. Mix up the discipline with something fun.
C for Creative Expression
Each of us has a unique practice, even though the vocabulary of asana might be relatively consistent around the world. We can express our individuality and our best qualities in how we perform the asanas.
How is your yoga practice expressing something about you as an individual? Even though some aspects of yoga are centuries old, we create the practice each time we go onto the mat. Even the act of applying these principles can be creative, not rote.
It’s good to modify poses to adapt to your needs and desires, while remaining safe. Make a standing pose into more of a backbend, a twist, or a forward bend. Find variations that stretch you in a new way. Use props to experiment with challenging arm balances. Connect poses in creative ways. Use music to find a refreshing rhythm in your body. Practice inversions and backbends on a hillside.
Shaking things up and trying things “out of the box” is a good way to keep the practice fresh and alive. It’s not just flexibility of the body that yoga can offer. Tap into your creative self to keep the practice true and alive for you.
Look for Anatomy for Yoga Students and Teachers and Bodymind Ballwork, 2 new titles by Ellen Saltonstall to be published in 2016.
Wear shoes that fit
“The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” (Leonardo da Vinci)
Are you a fashion victim? Do you wear shoes that are too tight, too floppy, too stiff, or too heavy ?
I recently found the best pair of boots I’ve ever had. They are light, flexible, waterproof, and they fit my foot shape, which has a narrow heel and a wide toe box. It’s amazing what a difference it can make in daily life to have shoes that really fit well.
Our feet need to move and stretch throughout the day to remain healthy. Often our shoes restrict us, while providing “support” and protection. I see many clients whose feet are weak, and sadly collapsing under the weight of the rest of the body. This collapse affects everything else in their posture. They may say “I’ve always had flat feet” but actually in most cases, the arch is normal but it is totally unused. Heavy or stiff shoes – even with arch support – merely reinforce that weakness. Orthotics, although they may help relieve pain in the short term, usually don’t let the feet move enough. They are usually rigid, reducing the chance that the foot will regain normal movement and strength.
The foot is designed with various internal spring-like structures, the main one being the medial longitudinal arch. The way the bones are shaped and fit together makes these arches possible.
Of course there is structural variation from one person to the next, with some feet having a higher arch, some a “normal” arch, and some a lower arch. One way to observe this in your own feet is to lift your toes, leaving the rest of your foot on the floor. This pulls on the plantar fascia, shortening it and lifting the arch like a bow and a bowstring. This picture shows quite a high arch, so don’t expect that much, but for someone whose arches have been collapsed, some lift will occur.
We have a marvelous web of muscles and fascia on the undersurface of the feet, but in many people it is underused. In the course of normal gait, we strike the ground with the heel, then ideally we roll through each part of the foot (including the toes) before stepping onto the other foot. The foot changes shape as we roll through the arch and push off with the toes to complete each step. That shape change stimulates the muscles and fascia to stay healthy. Those with weak and collapsed feet tend to plunk the whole foot down at once, without using the spring that is inherent in the structure of the foot, or any of the muscles. It’s like falling from one foot the other, all day long. The plantar fascia degrades without the muscular teamwork, resulting in tears and inflammation. The hips, knees and lower back also suffer.
Educating collapsed feet is possible and even entertaining! Here are a few things to try:
1. Foot Ball: First, roll the foot on a ball to wake up the kinesthesia of the foot and help to move the bones. In Kinetic Awareness, the foot ball technique is very specific and focused. We don’t roll the ball under the foot randomly. We work through the sole of the foot systematically, one spot at a time. With some part of your foot remaining on the floor, allow the ball to press in to the bones and soft tissue, mobilizing and bringing more circulation and sensation. The ball can encourage more movement because it opens up the fascia. Progress through the entire sole of the foot, taking time with the areas that are most in need. You can use a tennis ball, but ideally find one that is smaller, to reach more specific places in your foot. Choose a ball that is not too hard nor too soft: it should dig into the foot enough to provide stimulus. Spend at least 5 minutes on each foot, including the middle part, the edges, the toes, and the heel. Then walk around and feel how awake your feet are.
2. Toe curling: To strengthen the foot, sit in a chair and work one foot at a time. Curl your toes under and sweep them in toward the midline, in a gesture similar to gathering crumbs off the dinner table with your hand. This movement activates the muscles of your arch, particularly the toe flexors and the abductor of your big toe.
3. Foot Shrinking: Putting some weight on one foot, shrink the metatarsals and toes back toward the heel. Do this several times, and notice that the muscles you are using extend up into your lower leg. The arch will lift and your toes may also curl a bit.
For all you anatomy geeks, #2 and #3 strengthen the Tibialis Posterior, Abductor Hallucis Longus, Flexor Digitorum Longus and Brevis, Plantar and Dorsal Interossei.
4. Alphabet: Write the alphabet with your toes and feet, which works the foot and ankle muscles in multiple directions.
5. Heel raises: Stand near a wall or table for support. Lift your heels carefully, keeping your heels aligned by toning equally on the inner and outer edges. You are exercising the muscular sling around your arch, formed by the Tibialis Posterior and the Fibularis Longus. Most of the weight will be on your first three toes. Picture that your Achilles tendons are remaining absolutely vertical, and your ankles balanced directly over your heels. Get a friend to watch and see how you’re doing.
If the ankle and arch are collapsed, it will look like the foot on the right of this picture.
6. Four Corners: With one foot at a time, put weight into the four corners in the sequence described below, which accumulates by starting with one corner, then adding one more at a time until all four corners are down.
Start with only your inner heel on the floor, lifting the rest of the foot up. Then keep that inner heel down and put the base of your little toe down, making a diagonal connection across your foot. This activates the muscles in the mid-foot, your intrinsics. Then keeping those two down, widen across the toes to place the big toe mound down. Then keep those three down as you finish by crossing over to the outer heel. This last pass is the most important one for those with collapsed arches. It will bring more weight to the outer edge of the foot, allowing the arch to lift up. Notice the stability and strength when you have all four corners down and your arch lifted. Then repeat on the other foot.
Once your feet are alive and awake, you won’t want to stuff them into shoes that don’t fit. You’ll feel a new spring in your step, better balance, and greater stability in your yoga.
Be persistent; find the right shoes that allow your feet to have their full range of motion. Find the right combination of support, protection, and freedom of movement. Your feet deserve it!
This is a sample of some foot tricks, and there’s much more. Come to my therapeutics classes and workshops to learn more fun foot exercises. And watch for more blog posts about therapeutics.
Is Yoga Safe?
Attention: Media scare: Yoga is dangerous for stiff men and flexible women. Generalizations like this amaze and disturb me, because people read this and are scared to try yoga, or scared to continue if they already do it.
Big message here: Not all yoga is the same. People need to use discrimination in choosing an appropriate style of yoga and a good teacher. A well-educated, well-intentioned teacher can give instructions that will protect students from the errors that are easy for anyone to make: poor alignment, over-efforting or under-efforting. As one teacher taught me years ago, there are two mistakes in yoga: doing too much and doing too little. Beginners might tend to do too little, and experienced people might tend to do too much, although that’s another generalization, so feel free to disregard it.
Yoga is not about imitating a shape, it’s about inner transformation. It’s not meant to be competitive, but it is meant to challenge us. What makes this difference? Attitude and intention. The student who comes to yoga for the sake of achievement, competition, or self-promotion may leave their common sense behind, or maybe they never had it. The competition might be with the teacher, with other students, or with some mental image or internal standard that the student made consciously or unconsciously.
You can get injured doing anything – running, dancing, driving, crossing the street, cooking dinner, you name it. It’s our human responsibility to do anything with discrimination, with common sense. In yoga, common sense includes knowing your own body. Are you generally stiff, generally flexible, or a mixture of stiff in some areas of your body and looser in others? When you feel pain in a pose, is it the pain of unused muscles and joints starting to move, or is it strain? What kind of strain is it? Is something getting compressed, or is something stretching too much, or moving in ways that are not suitable to your particular physical structure? Have you prepared for the particular demands of the pose? These are all questions we can learn how to answer for ourselves.
Alignment and support also matter. How we arrange ourselves in a pose (every part counts) and the muscular supportive actions we do (while not appearing to move at all) are crucial to the safety (or lack of it) in the practice. I believe that we need enough time in each pose to feel, to activate the right support, and to prevent strain. A fast-moving practice doesn’t allow for that, and is particularly dangerous for beginners. And often the fast moving classes are large ones, in which the teacher can’t possibly monitor each student.
Most of us have the same set of bones and muscles, but within that, there’s a lot of individual variation. The shape of your joints and the qualities of your soft tissue are genetic traits. You may not know about a biomechanical variation you have until you start to feel pain during or after the practice. If you force yourself into a pose, you are asking for trouble, and the problem is not the yoga. We do get warning signs, and that’s the time to apply common sense: find out what’s going on and allow that information to inform the way you practice. Yoga asana practice includes a vast array of poses: if you can’t or shouldn’t do headstand or lotus, for example, there are many other wonderful poses you can do.
So: take a breath to refine your goals, find a good teacher, and use your common sense.
Ellen Saltonstall
Gratitude for the practices
Every time I practice, I feel better, more alive, more connected to myself and therefore more able to connect to others. The practice could be just ten minutes, or better yet 30 minutes, an hour or more. “Practice” for me means not just asana, but meditation, chanting, and Kinetic Awareness ballwork. I usually manage to do each of these every day.
Any one of these practices brings about a shift in energy, an inner resonance, a movement of prana that has a direct effect on how I feel physically and emotionally. Even when I’m dealing with a physical injury or a major life issue, something feels better. The inner subtle channels open, and whatever needs to happen at that time, can happen more clearly. The challenges are often still there – physical pain, strong emotions, decisions about work or relationships, the long to-do list – but I feel connection to the inner resources I need to meet the challenges.
Sometimes the practice is fueled by happiness or excitement, other times by frustration, anger, or even fatigue. Sometimes it’s pure discipline – doing it because of a commitment I’ve made to myself. These are all different forms of energy, always fluctuating, and often manifesting as reactions to situations. There are two yogic words for these fluctuations that I like to remember: “vrrtis”, meaning the quicker movements of the mind and emotions – and “vasanas”, the word for deeper tendencies in our character that recur over and over. Vrttis and vasanas can be positive, negative, or a combination of both. We all have them ! The question is, can we recognize them and ride the waves while remembering the stillness of our deepest self underneath them? That’s where practice is so useful and such a refuge.
As a gift for yourself in this season, I invite you to take time for whatever practice connects you to your deepest self. You won’t regret it, and it’s well worth the time.
Here’s what Judith Lasater says about practice in her book Living Your Yoga: “To practice is to pay attention to your whole life: Your thoughts, your bodily sensations, and your speech and other actions. As you do, you will discover that nothing is separate from anything else. Thoughts are the sensations of the mind, just as sensations are the thoughts of the body. Each moment of your life is a moment of potential practice.”
Ellen Saltonstall
Photo: Paula Court