This shape of spine is key throughout the sequence
Here I give you some key instructions that can support a beautiful transition from kneeling plank to down dog to bakasana.
Watch the video first. You can see the a side view and the front view in the same video. I have sped this video up so this whole sequence actually took 2 minutes in real life. I am really trying to emphasis some good slow mindful movement.
The instructions below should help firm the tummy and armpits while giving a sense of length in the spine (neither stretching nor tightening).
The key instructions here are to push front of groins to armpits and armpits to front of groins. Then, if you can add something else, press your hands forward and your knees back. You should start with feeling relaxed in your tummy. You should be able to breathe naturally into your belly throughout although it will become firm through the instructions (but not by sucking it in).
Kneeling plank
In this kneeling plank make sure knees are behind hips, shoulders over wrists.
Sitting bones move down towards backs of knees, front of pelvis lifts to the lower back to lengthen the lower back.
Lift lower ribs towards the back of chest to lengthen around the middle and upper back.
Press front of groins towards the armpits and armpits towards the front of groins without moving the body forward. This should bring a postural firmness to your tummy.
If you can manage, press hands forward and knees back while you maintain groins and armpits moving towards one another.
Half child pose Quite honestly I did not know what to call this position. It is halfway between kneeling plank and balasna (child's pose).
I move very slowly back into this position. I am not trying to get my bottom onto my heels. I am thinking about maintaining the key actions I established in the previous position. As I move back my challenge is to keep feeling as though I am moving my groins forwards.
See the spine stays the same shape.
Partial lift Here I focus on keeping the groin-armpit connection then go back again to pressing hands forward but toes and heels backwards. This combined effort causes my knees to become light. They start to lift of their own accord.
Downward dog
I keep with those four actions:
armpits to groins
groins to armpits
hands pressing forward
feet pressing backward
Walk forward
Maintaining those actions (you might need to let up on pushing feet back because they start to be less on the ground), bend your knees and walk your feet forward. I tip-toe forwards trying to stay as light on my feet as possible.
Bakasana
If I keep pressing armpits to groins and vice versa, press hands forwards, lift knees up to chest, rest them lightly on the back of my arms, press elbows back and towards one another and just keep breathing and leaning forward then you might find yourself floating. Maybe you stay on tip toes. Wherever you are be happy wherever that is. Keep working on being where you are and staying for a little bit longer until you feel comfortable moving to the next stage.
Remember, nothing should hurt. If you have not developed the correct strength and actions around the wrists then you need to work on clawing with your fingertips and pressing the wrists into one another and just have less weight on the wrists until you are ready to shift more weight there.
Have fun.
Remember, these videos are primarily intended for my own students so I can give adjustments and comments and personal feedback. It is always best to go to an actual teacher rather than learn off the internet.
Oh, and don't forget about my retreat in Sri Lanka this April 2016. Come along if you can!
I had several questions about hamstring lengthening this week and this post has three videos to demonstrate some of the ways to help! You won't see any of the usual suspects.
Hamstring stretching or lengthening?
The truth be told, most people ask me how to stretch their hamstrings. It is I who always jumps in and reminds them that I will give them tips on how to relax and lengthen their hamstrings but I won't give tips on stretching them.
The thing is, these people know how to stretch their hamstrings. They have invariably been doing stretches for a long time. The problem is the stretches generally don't help them to feel better movement.
The postures and advice I give are mainly around helping them feel better movement without feeling like they are stretching, such as I am doing in the photo below.
Standing balance with leg raised and straight
In positions like the one shown I am actively trying to keep my leg straight while drawing it towards my chest. It does not feel like stretching at all. It feels like the back of my leg and bottom is lengthened.
When I do postures like this I am cultivating a relaxation response in my hamstrings (known as reciprocal inhibition. Basically, I work the opposite muscle groups to help relax the ones that I am trying to lengthen. Have a look at this post for some cool graphics: http://www.bandhayoga.com/keys_recip.html.
It feels like a lot of work in the standing leg, front of raised leg, and tummy. Most people miss the tummy activation in this posture, which tends to cramp you in the front of groin. Which leads to the point below.
Active positioning for spinal lengthening
In postures like the one shown below I am doing very important spinal lengthening and hamstring lengthening work. It is basically the same position as the standing balance shown above, but just lying down.
Active positioning to improve hamstring lengthening
The key difference (in terms of effort) is that I am obliged to use tummy muscles in a way I am not obliged to in the standing variation.
I am using my active core to send a message to my spinal muslces to relax as well.
Importantly, I am actively bending forward in my spine using tummy museles in a way I can still breathe into the tummy. If I tighten my tummy by tightening everything and shifting to chest moving breathing then I won't get the same relaxation effect.
Many people are limited in their forward bending because their lower backs are really tight as well as their hamstrings (and their hips).
The active movement in the core that you cultivate in this position is important and will help lengthen the spine and it is why I put the lying down sequence first in the videos below.
Try to remember the feeling in your tummy that you generate in this position (of it being firm but in a way you feel you can still breathe there) when you do the postures in the other videos.
Remember, better spinal movement is more important than being able to touch your toes.
As an aside, many observers wonder why I am not holding my foot when I do postures like the one above. And it is, I suspect, because of the focus on the sensation of stretching as opposed to the sensation of lengthening.
Holding the foot, the way most people tend to (which is to just grab the foot and pull the leg) generally means the muscles do not need to work and you lose the potential benefit of a relaxation response. Pulling tends to switch you to a sort of suffering and grimacing associated with tearing yourself apart!
It would also feel like I was not doing much work if I held the foot in that way because the big muscles that were working (including the core core muscles) have switched off.
The truth is most people cannot even grab their foot with their leg straight because their hamstrings (and lower back and hips) are too stiff. And so most people would probably be using a belt or towel or rope.
And then you have to ask yourself if you cannot bring your straight leg close enough to your chest to be able to hold it without a belt then should you really try to straighten your legs in positions like paschimottanasana and all the other seated forward bends? In my classes I encourage people to come into all seated bends with bent knees to lengthen the front and back of spine first and only then to slowly lengthen the legs on the condition the spine does not distort.
Lying video and key actions
The first postures to try are in lying because they oblige tummy activation (in a way you can feel the movement of the breath).
In general:
front thigh (coming close to chest) is rolling out (your knee looks like it is turning away from midline);
press down through the grounded thigh and keep it straight. Reach through the inner thigh;
keep the front knee straight. That is one of the main points--to keep is straight. It does not matter how close to the chest it comes. That will be a good indicator of your available active movement and something for you to contemplate when trying this posture in other relations to gravity;
as you move through the variations keep the whole back of the pelvis and sacrum touching the floor.
you will be doing sit-ups here so this is a good core strengthening sequence. If you feel strain at all in your neck you are doing the sit up incorrectly and you need to learn how to do sit ups without your neck feeling strained.
First position (lying parsvottanasana)
Lying down, draw straight leg towards face. Do a sit up and reach as though you are trying to touch the toes (but don't actually get them).
You need to actively lengthen the side hip area of the raised leg down towards the heel of the leg on the ground. The pelvis and hip tends to hike up on that side and squash the side waist. If you need to, put the web of your thumb in your groin to help actively lengthen that side waist. You should feel this as an action of rolling that thigh out.
Second position (lying trikonasana variation)
To get into position I bend the knee, take the thigh out to the side, ensure my whole back pelvis is still on the floor, and then straighten the leg from there. The pelvis of opposite side will tend to raise up if you try to get to the ground so be mindful of this.
Note, to make it real trikonasana type posture I need to add spinal movement and turn from bottom of spine to top away from the leg out to the side then do a little lengthening movement (not clearly shown in this video).
Again, keep that raised thigh actively rolling out. I am still trying to straighten leg and draw it towards my face but out to the side.
Third position (lying parivrtta trikonasana)
A tricky one and tough to capture on the video.
I bring the raised leg back to midline. I really need to make sure that the hip does not hike up here. Put a thumb in your groin if that is the sort of thing that might happen to you.
Keeping your pelvis on the floor, take that raised leg across your body. It will not go very far.
From there, you are still in a sit up, you can try to do a twist from the bottom to the top of spine, turning towards that leg.
It is not shown here but you could try a little spinal extension (lengthening from the front surface of your spine.
I could have positioned my arms better in this posture but was focusing mainly on spinal movement.
By the end of these postures you should sense your tummy very active! That will have helped lengthen the lower back and help you for the next series of postures in standing! Standing balance video and key actions
In the standing balance video you see I do take my foot (after I have done the active postures first).
However, when I take my foot I straighten the leg out slowly without distorting my spine. I also press the foot and hand into one another so that the leg is active and not being passively pulled (this triggers another relaxation response).
In general:
raised sitting bone feels like it is scooping underneath you and lengthening in the lower back;
raised thigh is rolling out;
keep standing leg foot pointing straight ahead;
remember your core activation from previous postures and find it here.
Posture one
Watch the leg stays straight. Watch the raised leg hip does not hike up. Keep trying to feel as though you are smoothing your side hip down to the ground.
If comfortable you can try the assisted posture, shown below, by bending the knee, drawing thigh to chest, holding foot and pushing foot out as you draw in with the hand, keeping thigh and chest together slowly start to straighten the leg. If you have trouble in the lying sequence with getting your leg straight and past 90 degrees then you will not be able to do this and best to work with just holding the knee to chest and pressing shin to hands and hands to shin until you can start to slowly straighten the leg without thigh coming out from the chest. Be patient.
Position two
As you did with lying, bend the knee then turn the knee out to the side but still in front of you. As you did with the lying version do not let the pelvis move with you. Keep scooping the bottom under. Then try to straighten the leg. If it will not straighten then put the toe tip on the ground. From there try to straighten the leg and raise it.
You want to keep rolling the thigh out and scooping the bottom under.
This is really much harder than it looks as you will see if you try.
If you feel ok with the active version you can try and draw knee to side-front chest. Keep scooping hip under. From there you could try to keep knee and shoulder close and then slowly start to straighten. If knee comes out from shoulder then you have gone too far. Be patient and wait with knee in shoulder until the leg is almost straight when you can let it move away from shoulder a little.
Position three
The leg comes back to the front here. I need to be particularly careful the hip does not hike up. Then I rotate the spine from bottom to top, maintaining length through both side waists.
Standing postures
You can then try these positions in their more traditional forms; parsvottanasana, trikonasana, parivrtta trikonasana.
I have linked these postures without chaining my foot position at all. The thigh positions remain the same. The pelvis position does change when you move to trikonasana, but the lower back position does not (it remains lengthened). The pelvis position is a subtle change and it is just the top side pelvis that opens lightly to the sky. This opening does not cause a shift in the leg positions.
It is really tricky to do these postures all linked together without changing the foot positions and without falling over. You will need to keep your legs and feet very active.
Watch for your bottom sitting bone trying to stick out. I keep a light feeling of it scooping under to keep the length of the lower back.
The end
Phew, this has been a long post!
We have been working on some variations of this in class. Remember these videos are intended for my students so I can position and correct and answer questions. It is better to learn from a teacher you are physically present with than the internet.
Have fun. Stay safe.
Much metta,
Samantha
www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com
www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com
Away on retreat last week in Sri Lanka we took use of the furniture to learn a bit more about positioning for handstands.
Normally I do not use a wall for teaching.
The main reason is that I saw too many people using the wall as a support to lean on, collapsing in the spine, and not seeming to have the foundations in core and shoulder stability. I speak from experience here, as an ex-wall user.
Doing a handstand is not important (don't be attached to an outcome). And while the tips in this video will help you to a handstand if that is what interests you, there are more important lessons about core stability, shoulder stability, spinal freedom, and being calm in a challenging situation that can be learned.
Despite the wall space available in the room we practiced in, I chose not to use it. I wanted to find something lower, around knee height, that we would use to put a foot on. This was so we would not be tempted to go into the ever popular 'l' shape commonly taken at the wall which can tend to encourage shortening of the lower back in particular.
A few important ideas from the video.
Lengthen spine
I lengthen the spine from the inside. From the organ side of my spine. It feels non-muscluar. You can see I am not dipping in my lower back.
I am breathing naturally. I am not sucking my tummy in or trying to tense it.
Shoulder joint complex
I bend my elbows slightly so they point back to my knees. Then I press my elbows in lightly together. I feel firm around the armpits and side of my chest.
Then I straighten my arms again by pushing my hands down and forward while trying to maintain the previous actions.
I did a slight micro movement from the inside, which was to lengthen the front of my chest forward a little.
Short dog
Keeping the shape of the spine, actions around the armpits, move bottom back towards the feet, lift knees to chest, and start to come into a short down dog.
One toe tip to the edge of the chair.
Lean forward
Take a slow lean forward. Your shoulders will come over and then in front of your wrists. If you have not developed strength and stability around the wrists you need to go back to that type of work. Make sure you are using your hands well (as though you are making a fist with your hands, press inner wrists towards one another, press through finger tips).
This leaning forward is a slow lean. As you do so you should feel the tummy naturally activating. Your grounded foot should start to just slide forward along the floor.
Knee to chest, to sky, then straighten
Keeping all preceding actions, on the condition you feel comfortable and can breathe naturally, bring the ground knee towards your chest. Try to be light on the foot on the furniture. It is only lightly touching.
You could then take that knee up. It is still bent as though trying to bring heel to bottom.
And then, if you still feel comfortable, can breathe easily without tension, then you could straighten out that leg.
Make sure you reset the spine (lengthen it from the internal organ side). Make sure you are not dropping into your shoulders (try and reach your shoulders to your ears). Make sure your foot is not heavy on the furniture (this lightness will come when you maintain the abdominal activation you established naturally earlier).
Be comfortable in this challenging position.
You can step on your wrists afterwards as shown in the video if needed. Then repeat on second side.
Have fun. Don't hurt yourself. Don't do anything that hurts. Be able to smile and talk as you practice. This is intended for my students. Learning from a physical teacher is best.
Kurmasana is an intense spinal forward bend and I recommend should only be practiced with a teacher and not by learning from the internet.
This post is mainly to show how long my spine is when I practice this posture rather than as a 'how to'. I have pictures and a video at the end.
Many people can do a version of this where they straighten their legs but their spine remains very humped up--like a tortoise shell I suppose.
It will indeed remain a little 'humpy' but my effort here is in trying to lengthen.
I do active variations first to firm the tummy (in a way I can breathe and move the spine). A more active variation would be to lie down and do what I show here.
First, a sort of navasana where knees bend and I make efforts to draw them into my chest.
Then, I try to keep my legs as close to my chest as possible and straighten them. This will be beyond a lot of people. Don't let your legs come out too far from your chest.
Next I take my heels and help myself into the posture assisting with the hands. I try to push my heels into my hands and make efforts to bend my elbows. I keep chest and thighs close. I try to keep shoulders and knees together with firm tummy. The danger when you use your hands here is that your tummy goes soft so make sure tummy stays firm.
Lengthen the legs as much as possible while maintaining previous actions. In the video you can see me wriggling to lengthen my spine further--while trying to keep my balance. It's a bit tricky.
I keep tummy firm and legs come down. Knees are bent, spine is long. I recommend you keep spine long and legs bent rather than go for straight legs. Far better to stay here than strain or force.
Tummy firm, spine long and shoulders go under knees.
Arms straighten out beside me, shoulders under knees, tummy firm, spine long. I can breathe comfortably.
Slowly I go, keeping tummy firm and spine long.
The video below shows the posture in action. I make particular efforts to also ensure my neck is in a comfortable position and you can see me moving it around.
Following an intense forward bend like this I do a less intense forward bend like paschimottansasana and then a strong tummy firming posture like bakasana or a high plank. If you do postures well counterpose is not necessary but I have just made it a practice.
Using active movements and doing the posture 'mid-air' without hands as much as possible ensures I combine strength and flexibility.
I teach something like the 'wowee active hip opening' sequence I just posted prior to this before I do a posture like kurmasana.
This is the approach I take in my classes, workshops and retreats. Join me if you like--in Canberra, Bali (for our yoga and raw food retreat September 2015) or in Sri Lanka (yoga retreat). Details of my class and retreat schedule are on the home page of my blog.
Here is Trikonasana with active spinal movements. You can see the movement has been initiated from core stabilising muscles as you can see the tummy muscles in action. This is not a 'sucking it in tightly' type of tummy firmness.
Trikonasana comes in many forms. In this post I share some tips on using active spinal movements to come into one variation. I make a particular point of not sinking into the front hip. You will see that my active spinal movements create postural firmness in the tummy. Perhaps watch the video first, then take a look at the step-by-step instructions. We all have different bodies. This is the way I teach in class and is mainly intended for my yoga students so I can talk about the posture and discuss how these actions fit their bodies. When practicing move slowly and don't do anything that hurts. Feel like you are doing something but without stress or strain.
Video Sequence The video shows me coming into the posture dynamically from a hypothetical top of mat (if I used a mat but who needs one for a pose like trikonasana especially!).
Step-By-Step Instructions
Below I have broken down some of the main actions. They are not all of the actions. I do quite a bit more subtle movement in my own practice. I look for freedom, lift, and length. I move away from squashing, pain, and strain.
1. Lengthen lower back and open front of groin
I give the instruction to move the sitting bones down, top of pelvis back. I look for a feeling of length in the lower back (subtle) as well as opening of the front of groin. 2. Spinal forward bend
Here I maintain action 1. Then I try to move forward from my spine around the level of my navel without letting my hips move back. I am basically trying to do a sit up in my tummy in a way that I can still feel the movement of the breath there. It is something I have posted about previously. 3. Lean forward and step back
Maintaining all previous actions, I lean forward so my front toes start to naturally grip then take the other leg back. I am careful not to drop into my front hip, stick my butt out, or arch in my lower back. 4. Open front of groin, lengthen lower back
Once I take toe and heel down I make sure I have maintained the length in my lower back and opening across front of groin (sitting bones down, top of pelvis back). 5. Front thigh rolls out
I check the action of the front thigh. It is rolling out. I could also make sure my front heel is out and the outer edge of my front foot is pointing straight ahead. From there, I try to move my heel inwards without it moving. This will help activate outer hip muscles to assist in rolling the thigh out. 6. Back thigh rolls in
Allow the back pelvis to also come around to the front slightly so the lower back feels comfortable. Roll your back thigh in. Feel the inner thigh working. 7. Stretch the ground with your feet
Push your front foot down and forward and your back foot down and backwards, as though you are stretching the ground with your feet. You should feel the legs become very firm. When the legs become firm, the spine should start to feel light. I am always looking for lightness in my spine. 8. Lower ribs move subtly back
I move the lower ribs subtly back into my middle back so the middle back feels light and long. 9. Navel turns towards top pelvis
I turn my navel towards my top pelvis. Importantly, I keep my back thigh rolling in. 10. Lower ribs and chest turn to sky
Keeping lower ribs in, I start to turn the rest of my spine up towards the sky. 11. Arms reach
I take an arm up and and arm down. My arms are in line with the front of my chest. 12. If going deeper, keep front groin open
It is possible to go lower to the ground. However, I move slowly so that I do not sink into my front groin. I need to keep strong actions of rolling that front thigh out and the sitting bones down and top of pelvis back. If you start to sink or your butt starts to mutt out or your lower back starts becoming archy then these are signs you might be collapsing in the posture. 13. Neck in a comfortable position
Once I have the rest of the spine in place, I decide where my head and neck will be most comfortable and move them there. This could be looking down. Happy and safe spinal moving! www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com www.artofliferetreats.com
Here I focus on keeping the groin-armpit connection then go back again to pressing hands forward but toes and heels backwards. This combined effort causes my knees to become light. They start to lift of their own accord.
Maintaining those actions (you might need to let up on pushing feet back because they start to be less on the ground), bend your knees and walk your feet forward. I tip-toe forwards trying to stay as light on my feet as possible. 
If I keep pressing armpits to groins and vice versa, press hands forwards, lift knees up to chest, rest them lightly on the back of my arms, press elbows back and towards one another and just keep breathing and leaning forward then you might find yourself floating. Maybe you stay on tip toes. Wherever you are be happy wherever that is. Keep working on being where you are and staying for a little bit longer until you feel comfortable moving to the next stage. 
