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

Foundations For Handstand: High Plank

A handstand is an arm balance.  The foundation of the arm balances I do is the high plank.

If I was super strong I could transition from my high plank to bakasana then to a handstand.  But I am a bit weak.

Not all high planks are equal.  Some will not teach you the requisite postural firmness you need for better arm balances.

In this post I show a video where I give some of the fundamentals of the high plank that I do that changed my practice phenomenally and helped me to develop into this handstand.

Watch the video first to see the movement in action.  Then follow the step by step instructions.  I have written about bakasana before so you can also refer to that post (bakasana on a block).

Do not do anything that hurts.  It is better to practice with a teacher.

Get Set
Come onto your hands and knees.  You need to make sure you are using your hands properly so you don't feel sinking into your wrists.  This means pressing with your fingertips, feeling as though you are trying to grip at the floor or make fists.  Imagine there are little holes in the ground like a tenpin bowling ball that you are trying to press your fingertips into to lift up the ground.

Knees are behind hips.  Shoulders are over wrists.

Lift ribs into upper back. Can you see how rounded and lifted my upper back is?  This feeling of being broad across the upper back is important.  I feel as though I am pushing the arms downwards into the floor.  My shoulder blades come right around the sides of my chest.

My sitting bones go down towards the back of my knees and top of pelvis moves towards the sky to lengthen my lower back.  My lower back is not arched.

The sense is the entire back of my body is lengthened.  This shape is important.  You will need to maintain it.

The actions in my arms are important and maintained.

I push my armpits in the direction they are facing.  Here that sort of means down and back.

I push my hands down and forward--away from my knees.

I feel as though I am pulling my knees towards my hands.

I feel as though I am pushing my hips forwards towards my hands but they do not go anywhere.

You cannot really see these actions.  That is what makes the practice of this posture difficult.  My kneeling plank is already cultivating a postural firmness for me so that my tummy is getting firm through the posture but in a way where I can still feel that when I breathe the tummy can move.

In fact, if you look at my waist area you can see it is like I have little gills there--you can see movement when I am breathing.  I am breathing a lot here! It is hard.  If I could I might try to breathe less.

Lift Up
Maintaining all previous actions, I put the tips of my toes on the ground and lift my knees.

I am careful not to sag my chest or lower back.

Performed well, you should feel very firm in the tummy area without needing to actually try to firm it.  It should come naturally because of the posture.

See how I am trying to be right on the tops of my toes.  Not the balls of the feet.  That is important.

Tip toe forward
From there I try and maintain the same actions but I just tip toe forward--on the very tops of my toes.

A common challenge as you tip toe forward is to keep the tummy firm.  It helps if you keep your knees bent and stay on the tops of your toes.  

I keep all the same actions from before, lifting chest up into upper back, sitting bones down and top of pelvis back to lengthen lower back, feeling as though I am moving my hips forward.

Stay or bakasana

You can just try and stay there, on the very tops of your toes, lifting your chest, firming your tummy.  It is really hard!!

Or you can initiate bakasana by dropping your butt a little, lifting your knees up higher as though into your chest, lightly resting them on our upper arms.

You can stay there or, if you feel light, you can lean forward until the toes feel light and then you can pull the heels into the bottom.

You can still see my little gills breathing.  That is important.  I am firm but calm.

Optional extras!
I am too chicken to do handstand on a bench like that.  I have not yet got the strength.

But if you have built these foundations then a handstand should get easier.

I do the same thing but get onto my tip toes and start to take one leg up.

I give a little tap...

...and up I come...

Sthira sukham asanam.  Firm but calm.

Summary
I have written a few posts about bakasana and even kneeling plank and plank before.

That is because they are really important!

Get a good high plank.  Then keep the actions and get a good bakasana.

These will help build the foundations.

There are other poses that you can do from bakasana so that you do not need to kick up into handstand but instead float from bakasana straight up.  I am still working on that one!  In the meantime, I enjoy the inversion with free spine.

This is the type of step by step approach to movement and posture I use in classes, workshops, and retreats.  You are welcome to join me any time!

Happy and safe practicing.

Much metta,
Samantha

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

Block Yoga For Strength, Mobility and Stability

We have been challenging ourselves beyond the high plank to bakasana and handstand of last week's post.

This week we discovered how great a pair of blocks can be to enhance strength, stability, and mobility around the shoulder and spine.  

The video shows us working to a chandra namaskar variation.  Some step by step instructions are below.  I have skipped the half push up that we did.  On reflection it is probably not ideal here.  

Some of the instructions on the block might not be exactly what you do on the ground.  However, the arm actions are pretty similar.  When you do this sequence then do a normal down dog on the ground it will feel as though you are as light as a feather. 

Downward facing dog

You can start with downward facing dog.

We put our wrist on the bevelled edge of the block and the ball of the foot on the other block.

Push down and forward strongly through the hands.  Stay here, make sure you are firm but calm.  No need to go further.

High plank

Then slowly move to high plank.

You want to try to avoid sagging in the shoulders or hips here.  That means you need to really push down and forward with your hands into the blocks. Lift the lower ribs into the upper back.  

With your feet, you also push on the edge.  

The tummy needs to be firm in a way that you can breathe into it so you might just try the high plank on these blocks, rather than the whole sequence. 

Legs are firm as well.  Pushing thigh bones to sky.

You can stay here if you like.  No need to go further.

Upward facing dog

I have skipped the push up we did.  Too stressful for most.  Instead, you could try up dog. 

Again, you push your hands down and forward. Armpits pressing down. Strong in the legs so you do not sag.  

We lowered our pelvis carefully so there is no strain in the lower back.  We kept the firm tummy we had in the high plank.

We lift the chest to lengthen the front without squashing the back. 

Go back through high plank and down dog.  

Lunge

Step a foot forward for a high lunge.

Front foot pushing down and forward strongly.  Pressing with back foot as well. Trying to keep hips raised and tummy stays firm.

You can stay or raise the body and arms.

Hip variation

From there we lowered the torso, hands to block.  We turned the front foot out to the side and allowed the thigh to drop out as well.

Keep legs firm.  Raise the body if you like but remember to lengthen the front without squashing the back.  Do not feel squashing anywhere. 

Back and do it all again on the other side

Back to plank and down dog and repeat on the other side.

Optional extra

Since we were up there already, we decided to try a side split.  

Make sure you try and push the feet down and feel as though you are trying to pull them together.

Ankles are firm. Tummy is firm. 

The end

This was a fun sequence for us to try and enhance our practice.  You can get lazy with your yoga practice sometimes and this type of practice forces you to be mindful and stable. 

You cannot collapse into your flexibility here.  Being between the blocks obliges you to be strong. 

We tried downward dog and handstands after this.  They felt light and free.  Although I was pretty tired I must say!

I always recommend you practice with a teacher.  Do not do anything that strains, squashes, or hurts.  

Happy and safe practicing.

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com

www.artofliferetreats.com

www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com

Breathe Less, Eat Less (Raw Food)

Raw food does not mean salads. 

It includes salads but it also includes much more!

At our retreat in Bali we will be exploring some delicious raw food, and be learning to make some of our own.

We will be working in a way so that the way we practice our yoga compliments what and how we eat. 

Through the Yoga Synergy system of applied anatomy and physiology, we learn that, in general, breathing less will lead you to feel less hungry but also to feel that you would prefer more raw foods.

Breathing more will typically make you feel more hungry and you will generally gravitate towards heavier foods. 

Anyone who has ever been swimming without knowing proper breathing technique, which leads to gulping in air almost every stroke, will undoubtedly experienced how hungry you feel after a session of over-breathing up and down the pool or at the beach. 

By contrast, once you learn to breathe better, you are less likely to feel as hungry after the same session.

This is just one of the things we will explore and discuss on the retreat. 

We don't want you to take what we say as 'gospel'. 

Instead, we intend to guide you to experience it for yourself so you can figure out the best approach for you.

Places are filling up so book soon!  April 5-11 2015, Ubud Bali.  Go to www.artofliferetreats.com for more details. 

Read more about breathing and eating with one of our teachers, Simon Borg Olivier, here:
http://blog.yogasynergy.com/2014/01/how-your-yoga-practice-can-make-you-fat-and-weak/

Much metta.


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