Bakasana Without Fear

In this post I share a video of coming into bakasana on a small block I found by the lake.  Below are some important instructions.

Above, I came up onto my tip toes and bent my knees slightly.  This helped make the backs of my knees firm.

I suppose you might not do this if you did not have confidence that you could move up onto your toes!  We practice this type of action a lot in my classes to develop stability around the ankles and knees.

I had my sitting bones down, top of pelvis back to lengthen lower back.

I was pushing my hips forward as though to move them over my toes and initiated spinal forward flexion to help make my tummy firm.

I was beginning to push my armpits down and forward to bring my shoulder blades around my upper back.

Next, as I lower my hands I try not to send my bottom back.  I keep my knees bent to encourage more spinal forward flexion and maintain my firm tummy.

Then, you can see my spine has essentially not changed shape.  I am still firm in my tummy doing spinal forward flexion.

I am pushing my hands down into the floor, shoulder blades wrapping around my upper back.  You can see that I was doing this from the beginning so really that has not changed either.  I do feel as though I am sending my elbows backwards but my fingers/hands down and forwards.  This helps me be firm and strong around the shoulder joint.

Actually not much has really changed.  I am trying to maintain the actions I initiated in the beginning and bring them towards the ground.

The main thing I have done here is to actively lift my knees up onto my arms.  I am not resting them there.  I am trying to keep them light and lifting.  I do press my upper arms back towards my knees.

Look at my toes.  I am trying to lift up onto the tops of my toes here rather than be on the balls of my feet.  The less weight I have on my toes the better--for the full posture that it!

If you do this well you will know how hard this is.

If you can practice this without sinking into your shoulders and without sinking into your feet or being heavy on your knees then you will be doing excellent work for the full posture.   Maintain the push through the arms and the firmness in your tummy.

What changes here is that my shoulders come far in front of my wrists.

One of the reasons I did this posture on a block was to show how far my shoulders are coming forward.  If you compare the previous picture to this one you can see my head is now in front of the block and my shoulders are just over the edge.

At this point I start to feel lift.

The video below shows lift off!  Instead of leaping into the posture, I balance.  I actively lift my heels to my bottom.

I have written previously about using the wrists but you can see here I have wrapped my finger tips around the block.  I am pressing into them.

This is how we deconstruct posture to help you be strong, safe, and active in postures.  Hope to see you in classes and workshops in Canberra and Colombo, or at our Bali retreat!

Much metta,
Samantha

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

Active Movements For Eka Pada Koundinyasa I

I use active movements to come into this posture

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

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

Active Movements

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

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

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

The pictures below highlight this.

Active spinal movements get me here

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

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

Passive hip flexion got me here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Demonstration of using active movements to the postures

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

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

Step 1: Get into a lunge

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

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

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

Step 2: Lengthen lower back

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

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

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

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

Step 3: Active spinal twist

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

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

Spine still long, not arching.

Step 4: Active spinal side bending

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

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

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

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

Step 5: Spinal forward flexion

Now I have begun a spinal forward flexion process.

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

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

Step 6: A bit of hip flexion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 8: Enhance side bending

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

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

I am maintaining all the core actions. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 10: Legs out!

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

Maintaining all previous actions, I just straighten my legs.

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

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

In Sum

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

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

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

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

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

Happy and safe practicing!

Much metta,

Samantha

www.artofliferetreats.com

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com

www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com

A Fun Arm Balance: Eka Pada Galavasana

No audio for this one yet.  I do try and mime some of the key actions for you though!

Hips Fly High

Moments of pure joy should be savoured so I wanted to share the joy I felt at seeing students in the hips don't die class last night amaze themselves with their acts of flight! 

Tittibhasana B
(Ok, so we may not look quite like this!)

For 6 weeks now we have been working on some deep hip openers.  We have been doing a lot of forward bending type postures that involve nuzzling the shoulders inside the knee, including a wide-legged standing forward bend where we really burrow our shoulders between our knees known as Tittibhasana B.  We have continued to come back to that pose without a concept of where else it might lead.  And, to tell the truth, I had no intentions of making the pose go anywhere else.  But last night was different!




Tittibhasana A
(And we might not look
quite like this either!)

As I looked around the room, bottoms were not quite so high as the picture shown above, but spines were long and shoulders were nuzzled deeply.  And I thought to myself, "By gosh, I think they can do more!" 

And more you did.  With a few basic instructions I was astounded to see nearly everyone in class come into the first stage of the very challenging arm balance posture Tittibhasana A!  The best part was seeing the looks of awe and amazement on everyone's faces as they realised what they were doing--flying!  I know it came as a surpise to some people and I hope you realised that these sorts of postures are more about finding your centre of gravity as opposed to raw strength.

Whether or not you made it up last night does not really matter though because the potential is there in every single one of you.  No, we may not look like the pictures on this page but as long as we feel light and free and enjoy what we are doing then it does not matter at all. 

I can't wait to see what happens next week!

Mettha