Seated Forwards Extension, the Paschimottanasana issue

wow well its been like forever since i posted
and i apologise for the delay. but i've been busy. i've been training to teach and also teaching

anyway the point being. I always feel for people who get stuck in paschimottanasana, seated forwards bend when the teacher blithely says 'oh just come forwards' and all they can do is sort of stick out and crane their heads and bend somewhere around the middle of the back when everyone else smartly folds at the hips....

or that weird habit some yogis have of grabbing their feet and yanking their bodies and backs forwards (which i am sure is like, 'hi go straight to osteopath' manouevre)

so...solutions...one is to teach the seated forwards bend as a seated forwards extension with possibility...the extension is the extension of hte spine, rising high and tall from the body...but then...how do you begin to move....to tease the bend without saying 'oh now come forwards'....what i've been doing and saying is working on the legs....once you are sitting 'tall' then bring attention to legs and feet... be on the centre of the heels, really engage the legs as in a sort of iyengar or anusara tadasana (ligt up through the front of the ankle, down through the heel, energy up along the front of the shin, calf muscle (energetically) moving down to heel, lift kneecaps, squeeze front and back thighs towards each other...all that sort of thing...

and then...now that we've begun to get into the leg area...then the crucial teaching for trying to get at the hamstrings and 'allow' the bend....i would say extend from the knee down to the heel and the ball (and also extend as i accelerator pedeal the foot) and then draw the back of the thigh BACKWARDS from the back of the knee BACK towards the hips...and its this action which, I find, can beautifully initiate the bend for those can bend and for those who can't, we begin to work at the hamstring and at least give them something to do as opposed to sitting down and looking miserable.

this is assuming the major obstacle to a seated forwards bend is hamstrings...i haven't really begun to study obstacles in the hips, groins, pelvis....

more later, over and out. peace.xxx






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