Some Basic Principles Of The Spinal Movement Practice

I have been teaching a spinal movement practice of late.  This is based on the things I have understood from my teachers, including Paddy McGrath and Simon Borg Olivier and Bianca Machliss.  Any misinterpretations of their teachings are my fault.  I encourage everyone to seek them out and learn from true masters how to move your spine in freedom.  If you are coming to my classes, I have outlined some basic principles of the spinal movement practice in this post.

Basic Principles Of The Spinal Movement Practice

The spinal movement practice has anatomical and physiological benefits.  On an anatomical level, spinal movements can help bring strength and flexibility to the spine.  On a physiological level spinal movements help move information and energy throughout the nervous systems and torso.  The torso contains most of your organs and careful application of the spinal movements can help improve the functioning of these organs.

There are a few important points to consider with regard to spinal movements.  These points are listed below, although not in any order of priority.

Move the vertebrae one at a time from bottom to top 

Blood can move in two directions throughout the spine, whereas in other parts of the body it can only move in the one direction.  This means if you move the middle part of your spine you will push blood (and energy) upwards as well as downwards—like squeezing a toothpaste tube in the middle.  Therefore, when performing spinal movements you try to move either from top to bottom or bottom to top.  It is more common to move from bottom to top and this is what will be instructed in classes.  This is akin to squeezing the toothpaste tube from the bottom so that all the toothpaste moves upwards.

 Create length on one side without squashing the other

An important principle of spinal movement is to create length on one side without squashing the opposite side.   For instance, in back bending this means lengthening the front without squashing the back.  In side bending it means lengthening the one (e.g., right) side without squashing the other (e.g., left) side.

Learn to move stiffer parts of the spine

There are parts of most people’s spines that are relatively stiff and immobile, while other parts of the spine are mobile and often weak.  The parts of the spine that are most commonly injured or which people complain about tend to be the weak mobile parts, primarily the lower back and neck.  A basic principle in the spinal movement sequence is try and move each vertebra, including the stiffer parts of the spine, rather than move only the more mobile parts. 

Create stability and mobility

The spine should be moved in such a way as to create stability without compromising movement.  This approach encourages use of the abdominal muscles in a very particular way—a way that encourages firmness with relaxation so that you can still breathe into the belly.  When practicing the spinal movement sequence you do not pull your belly in tightly.  This restricts movement and breathing and leads to tension in the lower back.  Instead, you create firmness in the belly through posture. 

Distinguish spinal movements from hip movements

It is important that you learn to distinguish spinal movements from movements of the hip or pelvis.  Despite the common claim of ‘tight hips’, most people’s hips have sufficient range of movement for daily life and most people will have learned to move their hips in favour of their spine.  Being able to separate hip from spinal movements is an important element of this practice.

Tense less, stretch less, think less

Remember that the aim here is to create a way to move energy through the spine.  Over-tensing and over-stretching will limit or block the flow of energy.  Thinking too much can also block the flow of energy and inhibit your ability to relax if you worry or focus too much on whether you are doing everything right as you practice.  Worry less about ‘doing’ and focus more on what it feels like to move.

Move slowly

Move slowly into and out of your postures and within the postures themselves.  When you move slowly you will be less likely to injure yourself as you will feel if something is not right.  Moving slowly brings greater control and awareness. 

Use active movements between and within postures

Use active movements to position yourself.  An active movement is a movement where you come into a position through your body’s own ability to move without the need for external forces.  External forces include gravity, momentum, and levering oneself into position.  If you need to use an external force to fall/fling/pull you into position then you need to ask yourself whether your body is really able to be there in the first place.  If you cannot take your legs into full lotus (padmasana) without using your hands then you probably need to question whether you should be there in the first place.[1]

You are different every day so do less or more as you need.

Only do what is comfortable for you.  Your body is not the same every day.  Your practice won’t feel the same every day.  See if you can learn to tailor your practice to whatever is going on with you on a particular day at a particular time.  Do less if you need.  Do more if you need.  Let go of the attachment and expectation that you can do the same practice every day.

Learn how to lengthen your spine

Try to learn the spinal lengthening movement first.  Then, before initiating any of the other spinal movements, initiate the lengthening movement.  This will help maintain the length and integrity of your spine.

Never move into pain

As you practice, do not move into pain, especially if you are prone to neck or back problems.  The sensation of pain is your body’s warning to you that something is not right.  Practicing using the preceding pointers should help avoid this situation from arising.  However, there are always exceptions and you must remain alert to the possibility that, for some reason, a particular movement on a particular day may not be right for you.  There are occasional instances used by trained professionals where pain is part of the healing process.  I am not using any such approaches and, therefore, if you sense pain you should immediately back off.

Summary

Using these principles should help you move your spine in freedom, without stress or tension.  If you feel stress or tension then do let me know.  There might be something we can do about it!

Happy and safe practicing!

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[1] Please bear in mind your life is not going to be worse because you cannot do full lotus!  However, it will be better if you don’t injure yourself by trying to pull yourself into a position that your body cannot move into naturally.  

A Trick to Free Your Neck

Be gone rugby neck (unless you are a rugby player)!

It's probably both safe and fair to say that most of us come to yoga looking to free our necks of the incremental tension that has built up in our bodies over the years.  I'll go out on a limb and also say you are not looking to either walk out of a yoga class or practice yoga with a rugby neck (unless you are a rugby player, in which case you need those muscles for protection as the above photo attests!).

Rugby neck (please, no offence to my rugby friends and students) is what I call hunched shoulders that creep up like noxious vine-y weeds towards your ears eventually swallowing your neck and leaving you with a dense, sinewy trunk connecting shoulder to ears.  It's usually accompanied by some sort of shortening and shrinkage as your shoulders become coupled to the ears.

But I exaggerate.  Indeed, this sort of neck thickening and shoulder creep does not always need to be so obvious that you'd be mistaken for a Wallabies forward.  Sometimes the neck is still long and slender while the elevation is more subtle.  And it is this more insidious shoulder creep that most of us need to manage.    

If you draw your awareness to your neck and shoulders this very second you may think things feel normal.  However, try to pull the shoulders down and, if you are like most people, you will probably realise your were holding slight tension in them without even knowing it.  

Even the slightest bit of tension in the muscles that draw your ears and shoulders closer can restrict freedom of movement in the neck, especially when turning it to the side or looking up or down.  Over time this can either just become an annoying niggly sensation every now and then or it lead to more chronic pain. 

So here is a trick.  

Think about your armpits.  

Really think about them.  

The armpits are hollow depressions under the shoulder.  The hollow of the armpit area is bordered on either side by two chunky muscles.  This is a good thing.  Knowing this is part of the trick.  

The muscle to the front (grab it and feel) is the pectoralis major muscle.  The muscle to the back (grab it and feel) is the latissimus dorsi muscle.  

Pecs and Lats: Two important armpit muscles

There are more muscles around the armpit but we will stick with these because they are the most important for our purposes. 

Now that you know where these two big and important muscles are , the real trick is trying to activate them.  Here is the cue.

In sitting or standing try to actively draw your armpits down towards your waist.  Don't think about the shoulders--just the armpits.  Move the armpits down.  Relax and breathe naturally.  Natural breathing is breathing into a soft abdomen (like a baby).  Let everything else be soft, just keep drawing the armpits down. 

What you will notice is that moving the armpits down also drags the shoulders down, freeing up space for your neck.  Some people might feel a lengthening or stretching sensation running from their shoulders to the back of their neck.  Don't tense too much or stretch too much.  Back off if anything is too much.

You don't have to pull your armpits down very hard.  Try a gentle downward movement that isn't too taxing.  Perhaps about 20 percent of your capacity.  

Now release and gently turn your head from side to side.  Slowly. Mindfully.  Notice anything different?

For most of us, pulling the armpits down will allow your head to turn more freely.  There is a new feeling of spaciousness as though the head is floating atop of the spine, which is how we want it to feel.  

Try this trick throughout the day.  

Once you know this trick you can do it anytime, anywhere.  It helps to relax the muscles around our necks that we all like getting massaged so much and allows our neck and head to move in freedom.  

Thanks to Simon Borg Olivier and Bianca Machliss for teaching me this trick.  Link to their Yoga Synergy site on my home page. 

I want to finish by adding that while I used to believe that taking the shoulders up to the ears was a 'wrong movement' I now know better.  In my yoga practice I now regularly take my shoulders up high around my ears as, with the arms extended, it can help traction the spine.  I will post on this later.

For now it is sufficient to say that while this trick is about taking the shoulders down and away from the head, there are times when it is appropriate to take them up towards the head.  The thing is, you probably don't want to live with them stuck half way and with your upper shoulders and neck chronically tense.

If you overdo this trick and just hold your shoulders down all of the time it wouldn't be good for you either.  Your body needs to move and our job is to learn to move safely in all ranges of motion that are available to us.  It is important not to get stuck in any one position.  Gentle, safe, slow movement is key.

Happy and safe practicing!

Key Points For Evaluating A 'Good' Practice

The most important thing to me at the end of a yoga class is that I feel good.  As a teacher, I want my students to feel good as well.

I try to make this clear by asking how people feel at the end of the class and by reminding people if that they don't feel good, or if (gulp) they somehow feel worse than when they came into class, that they should come and talk to me so we can try and nut out what might be going wrong.

Feeling good is understood differently by different people.  And sometimes things that might feel good while we are doing them can actually have harmful consequences.  Here I am thinking, for example, of people engaged in addictive activities that ultimately lead to suffering for themselves or others.   

So I thought it might be good to explore what it is I mean when I say do you feel good and I came up with the 5 points below.

1. You feel like you have done something but you don't feel exhausted or like you need to go and relax because you have done yoga.  Instead you feel energised.

This is an important point.  It means you come to the end of your practice without feeling like you need to 'recover' from the yoga session.  In my recent practice it means I also practice in a way that is nourishing and which means I hardly feel the need to do savasana. Instead of needing to lie down and relax, I feel like I can sit and mediate peacefully.  

2. You feel energised in a way that makes you feel calm, focussed, and relaxed rather than 'buzzing'.

I want to suggest that the 'energy' you feel is one that focusses you and allows you to feel like you can go away and do things in a calm way.  It is not an electric or buzzing 'high' that might be more of a feeling that you have over-stimulated your nervous system.

3. The relaxation you feel is not one that makes you sleepy, scattered or spaced out. 

By the same token, I want you to feel relaxed but not sleepy.  Don't worry if you do fall asleep if you do savasana--it might mean other things are going on.  It is just that I am hoping that your yoga practice has not been so dull (and I mean this in a nervous system way not in the sense of being boring) that you  are under-stimulated or, conversely, that you have worked so hard in class that you need to 'sleep off' your practice. 

4. You feel content with where you are right now and with what you have done.

This is really important.  A part of being content means worrying less about whether you are doing things perfectly or whether you can do everything.  See if you can find contentment in every moment of just being.

5. The body is relaxed in a way that you can move without pain or stiffness (or with less pain and stiffness than you came to class with and certainly not more).

At the end of a physical yoga practice one of my aims is that you have moved your body in specific ways that unblocks any blockages and which allows energy to move through you so that you physically feel good.  If you have pains or aches that are present after class that were not present before class then we need to figure out why so please come and talk to me (or your other teachers). 

Notice how none of the points mentioned above have anything to do with what poses you did, how much you sweated,  how many calories you burned, how deeply you came into a posture, how flat your stomach is (I know people worry about this--my blog posts that have something about stomach in the title are always the most read!), or how long you practiced for.  None of those things will make you a better person and, ultimately, will probably not make much difference to your life.  

Ultimately, I practice because I want to feel good, happy, and healthy.  I want to be a kinder more generous person to myself and to others.  So in my practice I feel for those things.  I feel for them as I practice and at the end of my practice.  

In following posts I will explain some of the 'hows' to generating a practice that makes leaves you feeling good.  Until then, happy and safe practicing!

Much metta,

Samantha

A Way To Turn The Neck Without Squashing It

***This is a repost of an article I previously wrote on my Australian blog: www.yogacafecanberra.blogpost.com.  I am sharing it here for my Sri Lankan students who may not have viewed the article.***

There are many ways to move and I tend to encourage finding ways to move that help you find freedom.

If your neck is squashing when you turn it then you are not in freedom.  In this post I want to offer a way to turn the head and neck so it is free rather than squashed.


I learned these tips from courses and classes with Simon Borg Olivier and Bianca Machliss of Yoga Synergy.  It is always good to go direct to the source so please take a class or log onto their website for lots of interesting stuff.

I previously posted on a way to move your shoulders to free your neck.  In that post it was suggested you can move your armpits down towards your waist so the upper shoulders and neck can move more easily.

I am one of those people with neck issues, which is perhaps why I like to post about freeing it.

I like to think my neck issues started courtesy of a man who did not give way to me riding on my bicycle and smashed into me.  This resulted in my head spearing through the windscreen of his car.  I thank the bike police (who'd caught me riding without a helmet a few weeks previously and who put the fear of spinal injury into me with their caution) for saving my life.

The man was also nice about it and, after staying around to peel me off the road (where it appeared that I  had only experienced a few seconds of unconsciousness and a few scratches), he drove me to uni and fixed my bike.

Anyway, since then I have experienced 'weirdness' in the upper spine.  I don't know what it is, and am not inclined to have scans, so I just call it weird since it is not normal and go about helping myself with yoga.

I do know that if I don't turn my head mindfully, to the left in particular, sometimes it jams up and I have had weird (that word again!) sorts of spasms occasionally.

Even if you have never head-butted a windscreen, chances are your neck is an area that can feel stiff and problematic due to the way most of us tend to move and work.

That said, I was really glad to discover the way of turning the head to the side that I describe below.  It creates space on both sides of the neck, lengthening the side you turn to rather than jamming it.

The Short of It
If you just turn your head to the side the side of the neck in the direction you are facing shortens or squashes.

To prevent this squashing bring your chin towards the middle of the throat before your turn.  Then, once your head has turned towards the shoulder, move the ear away from the shoulder you are looking towards.

It's pretty much that simple.

The Long of It (Applied To Postures)
There are lots of postures where you turn your head to the side, although you might not think of them that way.

The basic twisting postures are obvious ones--usually the torso turns and then the head turns to look over one shoulder.  It is often the back shoulder but can be the front.

You don't actually have to turn the head--you can keep it in line with the centre of the chest (which is in line with the spine)--but most of us will turn it and often turn it excessively.

Excessive turning of the neck is because the neck is much more mobile in turning (rotation) than the rest of the spine so you will feel like you are twisting more if you turn your head more.

And while it might be good for the ego remember it is not our ego you are practicing for.

A spinal twist should be a twist from the whole spine from the base up rather than a big twist at the neck.

Aside from the more traditional and obvious twists, there are other postures that we turn our head in.

Trikonasana and parsvakonasana are two of them.

These are two postures where students typically feel discomfort in their neck if they do not hold it right.

I believe this is because many of us turn the head to look up in those postures without thinking about what it is doing to the neck.

You must remember that when you look up in these postures you are actually turning the neck so the basic principles I outline here are relevant.

So what to do about this pain in the side of the neck when turning it to the side?

Look for freedom rather than squashing
The main thing to remember in any posture is you are looking for a feeling of comfort.  In the neck you don't want to feel squashed or restricted in any direction.  Being mindful of this is the first thing you can do for yourself: if you notice squashing then do something about it.

Move slowly and smoothly
You can also make sure that you move slowly and smoothly.  Moving slowly and smoothly is part of mindful movement and you will be able to stop before any discomfort arises.

Initiate movement from the base up
To help reinforce mindful movement you can try initiating your movements from the base of the spine first and moving the neck and head last.  That is, in a twist you could try initiating movement from the navel, lower ribs, chest, collarbones first and then mindfully position the head.

Position the neck and head: Chin in, ear away from the shoulder you are looking towards
With mindful, slow, smooth movement that is initiated from the base up you can then make sure that when you turn your head to the side you move the chin towards the shoulder you are looking towards and the ear away from it.


Summary
Whenever you turn your head to the side you are likely to squash the side you are turning towards.

A basic principle in yoga is to lengthen without squashing.

To avoid squashing the neck when you turn it to the side, keep the chin in and move the ear away from the shoulder you are turning towards.

It helps to be mindful that you might be squashing, and to move slowly, smoothly, and from the bottom of the spine to the top.

I hope this trick helps you find freedom.  Please do not do anything that causes discomfort and talk to your yoga teacher if you need help.

Happy and safe practicing!

A Way To Down Dog To Free Your Spine

Do I start every post with the phrase "there are many ways to do the same pose"?  Well, it might be boring but it is true.

Remember that I offer suggestions on a particular way to try poses because I believe they offer a way to bring freedom but they are not the only way to practice.

This week I want to offer a way to think about downward dog that I suggest you explore in my classes.  Rather than go into fine details about the entire pose,  I am going to focus on a specific part of the pose--what you are doing around the ribs, chest and armpit area.

I will also show you a variation that you can practice at the wall to create more freedom around the upper back and armpit area.

This variation will especially help those of you who feel your arms are 'too short' to come into pincha mayurasana or whose arms are too weak to help you into urdhva dhanurasana.

In my experience, it is not limb length or strength that makes those poses difficult but tightness around the outer armpits that prevents you from taking the arms overhead with a free spine; which is precisely what you want to practice in a pose like downward facing dog.

Background
If you just want the technical stuff then skip this bit.  You might have guessed that I am one of those people who LOVE reading the author's footnotes and endnotes, often more than the main text.  So, I'd like to meander a bit here to share with you how the idea for this post emerged.

A few weeks ago an inquiring student asked me why she another yoga teacher came and pushed her chest to the ground in downward dog when I was suggesting in my class that she gently soften the ribs towards the spine.  Obviously that was confusing since we seemed to be suggesting the opposite movements!

My first advice to her was to ask why the other teacher might be doing that, as teachers always have a reason and will be able to tell you their reasons.

My second words were that while I might be suggesting something else it does not mean one way is wrong or right, but that they are different and she needed to explore for herself what felt better at a particular point in time (bearing in mind our bodies are always changing).

These are really important messages.  Ask why and then explore what feels right.  Seeing this attitude in students always makes me happy.  You don't come to yoga to make me happy, obviously, but I am altruistically happy in this regard because I know that with an inquiring, exploring attitude you will eventually find your own way to freedom.

While I was chatting to her about this it also reminded me of another student who, many years ago,  asked me to teach the class exactly how to do downward dog because he had read somewhere that if you can master downward dog then you have mastered yoga.  As a relatively novice teacher  I mistakenly believed there was only one downward dog (of course it was the one I had learned!).  I wouldn't say I am wiser but I now know better.

Having said that my downward dog is still pretty much the same as it was then, mainly because I had the same genius teacher back then that I have now (Paddy McGrath if you haven't googled her yet then please do).

Purpose
You don't have to get all theoretical about yoga but it can help your practice if you have an idea about what you might be doing in a pose.

My purpose is always to look for freedom in the spine.  I have invented a new adjective to describe this way of freeing your spine--'spongify'.

In all of my poses I try to feel like my spine is a sponge so that at any time I could squeeze it in any place and it would be soft and spongey.  And if I came up to you while practicing and tried to 'grab' a piece of your spine (which my students will have experienced) it would feel spongey and not hard.

It is a beautiful experience to have this spongey spine and you will not get it if you stretch too much or tense too hard, so bear this in mind.

Physiologically, when you can let your spine be free you will enhance the flow of energy and information through it.

Aside from cultivating freedom in your free spine, you can also try to create length in your outer armpit muscles by practicing the way I suggest.  This will help you take your arms overhead without projecting your ribs forward so that the spine stays long rather than compressing in poses like urdhva dhanurasana and pincha mayurasana (or any pose where you need to take your elbows near your ears).

The Ribs
What to do with the chest in downward facing dog?

Because a lot of people think yoga is about stretching, and perhaps because many yoga journals and articles tend to print pictures of very flexible people, you might think that pushing the chest through towards the ground is what you should do with it in downward facing dog.

It is not wrong to push the chest through, sometimes I do this briefly myself and it usually gets a crack or two out of the thoracic vertebrae.  But, for me, if I hold myself in the pose like that it just feels like squashing the back of my spine and jamming up my shoulders.

What feels better is if I gently soften my ribs towards my spine--as though they are floating towards the ceiling.

The key is not to push the ribs back or you will go too far the other way--instead of shoving the chest through you end up shoving them back.

As in most things the middle way often bears the most delicious fruit.

What I suggest you look for is a place where you can wave the spine around.  You will see me doing a lot of that in the video.

The Armpits
With a free and spongey spine see if you can think about pressing the armpits downwards and inwards as though they are trying to move towards your inner thighs.

This firms the armpits in a lengthened position and will help cultivate strength and flexibility that will help you in other postures where you need to take your arms overhead.

Some Adjustments
To get a free and spongey spine you might need to make a few adjustments to your downward facing dog.  Some of the most common ones you can try are:

• bend the knees a little and worry less about getting the legs straight.  This is especially if the back of your legs are really tight.  
• take your arms a bit wider than shoulder width.  Sometimes this can help if you are already really tight in the armpit or across the upper back.

Summary
Downward dog is a pose that gets repeated a lot in yoga classes.  For me each downward dog is a great opportunity to to give my spine a good wiggle.  Actually, I wiggle my spine in each and every pose but this is a semi-inverted pose that helps it wiggle in a different way.

To get your spine waving, see if you can find a way to soften your ribs towards your spine.  Then, to help create strength and flexibility in the armpits to better backbends and inversions (by better I mean spine-freeing) practice pressing the armpits down.

Remember, if it doesn't feel good then it probably isn't.  And don't be afraid to ask your teacher to give you a hand.

May your practice be peaceful, safe, and joyous!