The 15 minute stay-cation with Bodymind Ballwork

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elongating the spine with Ellen Saltonstall's Bodymind Ballwork TechniqueWhat 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.

Placement of balls in Ellen Saltonstall's Bodymind Ballwork to massage the spineNow 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!

 

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Meet your hard-working (and possibly under-appreciated) outer hip muscles

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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.

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Cycles of Time, Cycles of Breath

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interlocking-circlesAt 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!

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