I found this photo on the internet when I typed "tight hips" as a keyword into Google. I am not quite sure what the picture is trying to show (is it tight hips? tight hamstrings? tight lower back?) but I thought it was a good way for me to introduce a new interactive feature into this blog. Whether or not you come to my yoga classes or not, I hope that you can learn something from reading it. So I have decided to have little yoga quizzes from time to time that I hope might enhance your practice or the way you think about your practice.
I want you to take a look at the picture in the photo. It is actually a fairly accurate replication of what I sometimes see in yoga class when people are coming into a standing forward bend.
Below are some questions I want you to think about in relation to this photo. I will post my own answers soon but hope that some of you might send in some suggestions of your own--either to my personal email or publicly if you are up for it! I am giving a free yoga class to the person with the most creative and positive answers so have a try!
What is the name of the standing forward bend in yoga (in Sanskrit and in English)?
What part of the body typically stretches in this pose?
If we were to make some changes to the way she is doing this pose, what might we suggest? Bonus points for giving a reason.
Reason why you love or hate this pose.
As you can see, I am not necessarily looking for one 'right' answer. Have fun exploring your answers, just as I hope you have fun exploring your yoga.
There are a few yoga poses that provide a stretch that is just, well, mega. These mega stretches may push your intensity threshold, but they are usually worth it.
Thursday classes at the moment offer one of these mega stretches. On Thursdays we are going from the two ends of the torso to open parts of our body that will help us fly up into backbends. They are not the only keys to the flying backbend but they really help. In last week's blog we thought about how our orangutan arms--how our arms connect to our waist. This week, we get a chance to go to the other end of our torso and consider how our legs also connect to our waist.
Anatomically, this is true. There is a muscle called the iliopsoas that goes from our thigh to just below our lower ribs.
This is a pretty important muscle and, among other things, influences the curvature of our lower back. If this muscle is too tight, your lower back can get habitually pulled into a curve that is exaggerated (too curved or hyperextended). Without going into too much anatomy, if your lower back is constantly being pulled into a tighter curve this can lead to all sorts of back problems as the vertebrae get pulled closer and closer together and the discs get compressed.
Backbends require our lower back to be long and free, not tight and compressed. If your iliopsoas is tight you are going to have trouble feeling this freedom and it is likely that you will get a 'crunching' or squashed feeling in your lower back as you try to come into backbending postures.
Bearing this in mind, on Thursdays we are doing a mega yoga stretch to help free the iliopasas so that we can have free lower backs in backbends. We do a wall variation of virasana (hero pose) that seems much more difficult than virasana itself. This is probably because your thigh is fixed against the wall and cannot move, thereby preserving your alignment, whereas in the real virasana your thigh can move around (even if you try not to let it) and subtly change the alignment of the pose. As most of you have no doubt found out by now, the smallest change in your alignment can make a huge difference to a posture. When our body is stretching it will often find little 'escape routes', by which I mean it tries to take us away from the intensity.
In the the mega stretch on the video clip there is little escape from the intensity. You need to go with the flow and breathe. Of course, as always, be mindful of any strain that might be leading to injury. In this pose the most likely strain would be in the knee joint or possibly the lower back if you are not mindful. Below I have outlined a few points about the integrity of the joints for this pose:
fold up your mat like I do in the video clip. This is actually just to act as a cushion for your knee. The thing about this pose is that it looks like the pressure is on your knee, but your weight is actually not on your knee cap but on the bottom of the thigh bone. I usually do this pose against a wall without my mat, but, having said that, having a little cushion does bring a bit of comfort.
watch the front knee does not come too far in front of the ankle and definitely not over the toes.
in the video clip I fix my shin straight up the wall and then slip my pelvis inside the heel of my foot to take it all the way back to the wall. You do not need to do this and you should not force yourself to do this. Remember, yoga is never about forcing. Your body will 'do' when it is ready. Your pelvis can stay in front of your foot, it does not have to go back to the wall, and that is completely ok! You can use this pose as a lunge variation rather than as the virasana variation as I move into. Work within your limits.
this posture requires us to maintain the normal curve of our lower back. We don't want to try and flatten it or exaggerate it. Most people will probably find the curve exaggerating--especially if your iliopsoas is tight. So be sure to keep your lower ribs from jutting out, which will increase the curve at the lower back.
if you are going to try and take your arms overhead, make sure the natural curve of your lower back is maintained. Tight latissimus dorsi muscles (which connect your arms to your waist--see last week's post on orangutan arms) will make it difficult to take your arms overhead and the escape mechanism for them will be to try and increase the curve in your lower back to allow you to do so. So watch what happens to the curve in your lower back as you try to take your arms overhead. If it starts to get exaggerated then don't take them up any further.
ankles that are tight might make it a bit difficult to get into this posture. If the front of your ankles are tight and you cannot get them flat against the wall then roll up a little hand towel and place it between your ankle and the wall.
See if you can hold the two poses I demonstrate in the video clip for about a minute each. Focus on steadying your breath as you do so. In between legs, get up and move around. You will really feel the new 'freedom' in the leg that you have just stretched.
This mega yoga stretch really targets the front of your thighs and pelvis and, combined with your orangutan arms (see last week's blog), will help you fly up into backbends! Have fun and practice safely.
I have a good friend who has arms like an orangutan, by which I mean his arm span is greater than his height not that he has hairy shoulders. Orangutans have amazing arms and shoulders, which comes in handy when you live mostly in the trees.
But for those of us yogis who (for the most part) don't live in trees, having arms like an orangutan, or at least imagining that you do, is a great asset to your yoga practice.
The fact is, although most of us think of our arms as starting from our shoulders, they actually start from our pelvis. Well, not the arm bones themselves, but the muscles that help our arms to move. We have lots of muscles that connect our arms to our torso (you've probably heard of your deltoids). But there is one pretty big one called the latissimus dorsi that runs from your humerus (that's the arm bone that goes from your elbow to shoulder) all the way down to your pelvis.
I don't want to get too much into anatomy here, but you might be able to imagine now that if the skeleton above raised it's arm overhead and it's latissimus dorsi were tight then the arm would not move very effectively. This is especially if the skeleton wanted to to externally rotate at the shoulder joint, like we do in backbends, because the latissimus dorsi muscle is even more stretched in that position.
Having extra long arms that are rooted in your waist will help you with all backbends, and will help that pesky problem of the elbows splaying out that happens in some inversions (like pincha mayurasana or hornstand). It also helps you experience downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana) in a different way and with more freedom in your neck and spine. Your handstands will get better and you might even find yourself becoming more attractive, wealthier, and.... wait a minute, strike those last two.
To cultivate orangutan arms (ie, arms that move freely from your waist not hairy ones) there are lots of things you can do. I got on a movie-making spree last weekend and made three short clips to help you bring awareness to the area extending from the middle of your upper arm, down through the armpit, and down to the waist, and to feel the connection between these areas.
In the first clip I try to show how to connect your arms to your waist in downward facing dog. I also show a pretty intense stretch that will hopefully bring your awareness to the entire torso, armpit, arm complex.
In the second clip I show another intense stretch to really open up your armpit area. After you have held this stretch for a minute (or two), I recommend you go back into downward dog again and see what a difference it makes!
In the third clip I show another way to come up into an effortless backbend by really drawing those arms back down into your waist. As you watch this clip I hope you can see that my entire spine rises from the floor as though it is floating just by setting up my arms. Those of you who come regularly to my classes and who struggle with backbends will know that I can help you fly up not by lifting you (I am not that strong) but just by firmly sending your arms back into your waist. If anyone is willing to be filmed with me making this adjustment then I would really appreciate it so we can show people what I mean!!
Before you watch the movies and try some of the poses I am doing, I recommend that you try this little exercise so that you can really feel your arms connecting to your waist.
Come into tadasana (mountain pose or standing upright)
Take your arms over your head
Reach your arms up as high as you can
Now, imagine that you have a shirt pocket sewn into your side ribs, just above your waist
Bring your awareness to your armpits and drop your arms back into those shirt pockets. Your elbows will probably bend a bit. That's fine.
Once you understand how the arms connect to your waist and can manage to keep them connected you will fly up into backbends like a wind billows out a sail.
By the way, if you can hear Kylie Minogue in the background of these movies, it is just because I was having a bit of a yoga dance practice session when I took the shots. Am seriously thinking about doing a yoga dance workshop as it was a lot of fun!
Our doggy friends instinctively know this stretch is good for them but most of us struggle with adho mukha svanasana (downward facing dog) at first. It's usually the wrists that feel like they are bearing too much weight, and perhaps the shoulders. Once you learn how to use your hands, forearms, and shoulders correctly this will become less of an issue but, until then--to use that wonderful Sri Lankan turn of phrase-- what to do?
Why not try a supported version of the pose? You just need a belt and a column to tie yourself to, and you can get a great stretch for your hamstrings, calves, and spine without putting any weight through your wrists at all. This supported version is fabulous even if you can manage a five minute down dog with ease. I had forgotten about it until recently when I saw a spate of people with bent up legs and crooked spines, then saw a few people with hand injuries who could not put weight through their arms at all.
Check out the video below to see how to support your dog. A word of caution: make sure you are securely tied or you are going to face plant. If you don't have a belt then use a non-elastic sarong or scarf. As always, stay there, relax and breathe. For those of us who have had a long day at the office, a long day of looking after children, a long day of shopping or walking in high heels, or even just a normal, easy-going day, this pose is sure to top it off and leave you feeling longer, calmer, and refreshed. Have fun!
Previously I posted a video that showed how lying over a block placed strategically in your upper back can help 'billow' out your chest and give your upper spine a new found feeling of freedom. Well, we can do the same thing with our lower backs too!
Lots of us want to or need to free our lower backs. The video link shows a wonderful way to help create length in your lower back to give it the freedom to move pain free.
The poses shown should be restful. If they do not feel restful, or if you feel any pain, then move out of them. It is really important to get the block position right. It needs to be on your sacrum, which is the hard bony plate that you can feel just above the crack of your own bottom (I wish I had a better way of putting it!). Do not put the block on the lower back itself--it will feel awful and you probably will not be able to stay there.
If you do not have a block, be creative. A thick dictionary could do the trick. How high you go all depends on your flexibility. Don't go too far, too fast. Listen to your body and respect what it is telling you.
In the video I show a progressive series of poses of increasing difficulty, culminating with a mega thigh stretch at the end!
These sorts of poses are 'gems' and I practice them nearly every day, along with the block in my upper spine. The lower back becomes more free and length is created across the upper thighs where they meet your torso. This is exactly the place where many of us need to stretch out to help those deep back bends.
Be safe and enjoy your practice. If you have any doubts, then please consult your yoga teacher and get them to have a look at you.
