yoga is for girls

refining the obvious

2010-05-14T05:22:00.000-07:00

If you work on all fours, with an awareness of the distribution of weight between the hands and the shins, you can move backwards to child. but coming forwards, if you keep 'weighting' the shins, the front of the knees, and begin to take the pelvis forwarsd towards the wrists, you move into something that is on its way to being cobra/up dog.

now what is interesting here is that there is a point where the lower back feels really open.

and a point beyond this where the lower back starts to feel compressed or compacted.

I owe this exploration to the scaravelli-inspired teacher catherine annis, and her version of this teaching is more hers, and more refined but as an exploration i think it is interesting.

and I enjoy this one sweet point where the lower back feels long and open before you go any further. As the shape becomes more like cobra/updog then its interesting to add the classical alignment points of these poses - shoulders back, pit of belly lifted, heart lifted - is there also some work with the legs that I haven't mentionned - but even with these 'alignment points', as the pose becomes more like a deep cobra, up dog, the lower back is still, compresed, although these alignment points feel (to me) like tools or weapons which we can use to counteract this compression - the pose is a battle (perhaps) between the more open feeling in the lower back and the compression.

again. any thoughts or responses very gratefully received.

xxx

the obvious

2010-05-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

a brief conversation with a passing osteopath reminded me that osteos, or this particular one, noted that pain in the lower back, which is linked to hypermobility in the lower back and also weakness, may be linked to stiffness in the upper back.

now this may be kind of ultra obvious to all of you but it was worth hearing, again, for me.

i map this awareness on to the differences between a low cobra (where really just the shoulders are involved in the posture) and a upwards facing dog (which is, according to another osteopath friend of mine, more or less acheiveing 'compaction of the lumbar vertebra').

I am sure there are ways of practicing upwards facing dog without compacting lumbar vertebra. There may even be a case for compression and compaction of lumbar vertebra - and please someone get in touch to help me with that understanding - but....this particular awareness takes me (as a teacher) to a place where I would rather teach my students the lower cobra (and also practice this posture myself) than upwards facing dog.

and if i want to squeeze and release the lumbar vertebra to feed the discs, then there are cat stretches.

over and out.

Back to Life

2010-01-03T03:49:00.000-08:00

It is time to bring this blog back to life. Forgive me for long absence.
Sometimes it is hard to even think of anything to say. Or be in the right frame of mind to communicate

But something to go on...

An intention for downwards facing dog.
The intention to explore is to suck or draw the upper arm bones up into the body and similary suck the thigh bones up into the body....and then to think about lifting the spine, as if each vertebra was attached to a tiny hook or wire from the ceiling, so the entire spine is lifted up and almost ouf of the body, then to stretch the front of the body, to lengthen the underneath of the torso...

just something to play with if you are interested in long holds in downwards facing dog and already know enough to hold the pose safely, with awareness of what is happening in your lower back and shoulder joints.

peace and love in 2010. sorry for the long, long absence.

Seated Forwards Extension, the Paschimottanasana issue

2008-11-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

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

totally recommend YOGAsimple they are a really great agency supplying world class teachers for private classes in london in homes and offices.

farewell to jah,,,,

2008-10-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

first post in ages.

just saying farewell to joey who hosted his last mysore at triyoga in primrose hill this morning.
it was so beautiful. lots of regulars, joey played music - bob marley' exodus', soft electronic dub, jolly chants...it was gorgeous to hear bob marley after we chanted the ashtanga mantra; such a sweet take on what can be such a severe, serious practice...

joey had been looking after mysore in primrose hill for 7 years. he's moving on. but he'll be missed for both the softness and the seriousness of his touch and approach; a rare balance.

also just remembering how great yoga is when there is a sense of community; when the same people regularly come to practice, when you find the same person on the mat next to you and you don't compete with each other!!!! you actually support each other with the generosity of your energy and the open spirit of your own practice.

living in warmth and love today then, even though it was a cold morning in london but the warmth of the practice and the love that was in the air made everything beautifully sweetly hot.

xxx

been so long...

2008-04-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

sorry its been so long but you can get lost in your practice

well i only practice ashtanga once a week and i totally skip the poses that hurt and numb my knee
thats it.

i also throw in extra poses to keep the juice flowing and close the practice early around mari c...

i know think ashtanga is too long, too achievement oriened and too strenuous...paul girlly said it had the highest dropout rate of any yoga....i can see why poeple like it, and i can remember why i used to love it but leaving it behind has been way way easier than i expected even though i have had to study a lot more, read a lot more, think a lot more now that i practice a more aligned hatha practice

and interesting i breathe and flow into my more aligned hatha practice...it is still dynamic but often i find myself lookig for a pluse in the pose and ways to feed and grow and pulse the pose with breath...more on this later...

peace.

ashtanga knee. oh woe.

2007-10-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. What can you do with astanga knee? And why do so many ashtanga teachers just assume that you aren't, unless you tell them, in pain or difficulty. They set up a culture in the class that is quite macho or achievement oriented..its not we'll work this out slowly and safely...and I guess its my fault as a student for not stopping or even questionning that ethos but me knee now hurts so much in the ashtanga practice that I have decided to stop the practice.

So I have gone back to Iyenger and Dona Holleman influenced Hatha at home with a lot of sun saulations and vinyasa (the ashtanga influence) inbetween asanas and also chucking in Shiva Rea sequences and Simon Low's Shiva Rea and Shadow influenced Dancing Dragon sequence...which is a great flow sequence. And none of these stress my knees like the ashtanga half found Lotus forwards bend but give me heat and sweat and strength and open-ness...which is what I really really want.

I might drop into ashtanga again but I will insist or at least ask for 'mods' as in modified poses for those knee-killers. And I won't even think about attempting lotus...

landscape and practice

2007-07-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

the bliss of summer

I was recently on holiday in Greece, on an island called Hydra which I recommend for June - it was hot, edging towards thirty degrees but no hotter. There are no beaches (which means no sand and not so many families) but there are rocks to dive off and also flat rocks where you can practice. And in the daytime people might sunbathe and swim off these rocks but by about 7pm (the sun set at 8.30pm) everyone had left to get ready for dinner so the flat rocks, landscape, sea and setting sun become a discrete practice place.

It is obviously beautiful to start your practice just as the heat of the day fades. The air is still warm and a cool breeze comes off the water. The view is magical from such a place, there no buildings or signs, just the sea and rocks, clouds and space - in fact there is no 'just' here because if I wanted to collect all the details from this apparently 'empty' landscape, they would probably be numerous. But its a landscape we take for 'empty', a landscape that gives peace or that soothes.

To find this particular place you turn left at the end of the harbour and walk for about fifteen minutes then take the steps down the sea.

The experience was about 'allowing'. I allowed the landscape call the practice or sequence into being. It seemed right, for example, to start with tree pose for twenty even thirty breaths - and time without counted breath - a response to the stillness of the distant rocks and mountains on the far edge of the sea.

The lanscape, the space, the air and the time ask for a long, still, deep practice. I just reached out (or perhaps reached in) to see what the next pose would be. It was interesting. My body, my knowledge of asana, the landscape, time and the changing light called a sequence into being. It was a very beautiful and very interesting experience. I suppose I should write this sequence down...I think I can just remember it...I dont know. Maybe my body will remember it. Maybe I'll forget it until I return to that place.

Travel notes: Hydra is a small, attractive Greek island. There are no cars on the island and no package holiday tourists. Leonard Cohen either has or used to have a house here. It is about 90 minutes from Athens on the hydrofoil. Food isn't as cheap as other Greek islands. In June certainly, it is very quiet. It is a good place for rest, yoga, swimming and long walks. Even if you stay in the very centre of the town (which is tiny) you can quickly walk to somewhere remote and beautiful. Average double room price are 60 Euros a night for something basic but comfortable with its own bathroom.

and back in town still have time for YOGAsimple they are a really great agency supplying world class teachers for private classes in london.

2007-05-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

More on Savasnana

When I first started to practice ashtanga I used to spend most of my savasana planning breakfast.

My breakfast meditations were quite detailed. I would run through options from eggs and haloumi (which is the closest vegetarians get to bacon) to porridge, maybe with honey and banana. I would work out possibile breakfasts using complex formulas that included the contents of the fridge, desired extra items in nearby shop, cost of shop items versus personal budget and distance to shop times effort of putting on clothes and current weather conditions.

It was a while before savasana became something more like sinking into dark, warm water. Or even experiencing radiant light, but that has only happened once. Its hard to recall the contents of all my savasanas, early and recent, but I am aware that when I first started to practice I didn't really know how to approach savasana. But I think a handful of teachers have pointed me in the right direction. So a big thank you and many blessings to...

Danny Paradise who said savasana is when you should lie back and let your practice soak into your body (but not in those exact words, I paraphrase). And if you fall asleep - well fine. I love the word 'soak' in this context because ashtanga, for me anyway, especially if I practice in an overheated studio, is tres sweaty - so at the end of the practice, when I reach a stillnesss, my body is wet and then I can feel the moisture evaporate from my skin as the yoga, somehow, sinks in.

Anna Ashby (who teaches at tri-yoga, London)- during her extremely subtle, careful guided meditations at the end of her regular Restorative class, has talked about finding the space inbetween thoughts. I love her guided meditations - and this can be a really difficult area, I imagine, but she is very careful with her words, nothing flowery or Edenic, her words are always quite hard, cold, simple. I am sure they are coming from experience. And I love that phrase of 'finding the space between thoughts'. I find that really helpful in terms of not listening to my thoughts, of looking for a vacuum or darkness between sentences and individual words. And entering or embracing that space.

Reading Sri Swami Satchidanada's commentary on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I've probably misread or misinterpreted his teachings but reading this book on the bus to yoga every morning has continually hammered into my head the possibility that I don't have to (and perhaps shouldn't) listen to the 'I' voice in my head. What I used to think of as being 'me' is just mad babble, an appalling radio station and I really don't have to pay attention. Or at least just listen to it and sigh, as if I was overhearing someone else's conversation, rather than let it dominate and drive 'me'.

Jules Paxton (a great American teacher) who teaches an alignment technique and has told me, repeatedly, that I am not in alignment (or centred or fully alive) most of the time because (and not only for this reason) but because 'you think you are who you think you are'. And apologies to Jules for my usual distillaton and probable misreading of everyone's teachings - especially as I'm just extracting a line from his way more sophisticated body of teaching but its still a line that works for me (if we must use 'me'). I don't know if I can refer to myself as 'it' yet. Although its tempting.

A quick detour. This breakfast vs meditation dilemma has reminded me of reading Homer (which I did after seeing 'Troy'). For most of 'The Odyssey' both Homer and Ulysses curse the 'bellies' of men, the real and metaphorical appetites that take our eyes off the real goals in life (or the spiritual ball) and bring about hubris, pride, ego and ruin. The 'cursed belly of man' is a strong and consistent theme in 'The Odyssey'.

I can't imagine anyone is still reading this ('How I learned to fall into nothingness and stop thinking about Eggs and Cheese') but again I want to thank these teachers - Anna Ashby, Sri Swami, Danny Paradise and Jules Paxton - all of whom at least prodded me in what I hope is the right direction.

and again can't praise the private yoga teachers i've been getting from YOGAsimple they are a really great agency supplying world class teachers for private classes in london.

a day in the life

2007-05-17T05:09:00.000-07:00

things i love about ashtanga

I have noticed that the ashtanga practice is like a day in minature. It is a regular, routine cycle that begins with sunrise and the salutes to the sun and ends, after a 'day' of work, with a moon-like nightcalm as you settle down in Savasana and maybe even sleep.

I love the completeness of this cycle. As a metaphor it is a day in the life and also an entire life, perhaps, from birth to death.

And also I have been struggling with Mari D (again) so if the practice represents a day or even an entire life then it can be just as frustrating and difficult as life. Although it ends, calmly (for me anyway) with inversions, the corpse and a final surrender of the self to deeper currents, to the space inbetween thoughts, perhaps to forces outside and beyond the self.

And also that surrender acknowledges that there are poses I can't achieve and perhaps will never achieve. Every day, every morning I have to face that. Every morning I confront the limits of my ability and have to stop and face the finishing sequence which I imagine represents (or is) death and prayer and sleep.

Is the practice a useful metaphor for life...we work, we struggle, succeed/fail, reach a point where we have to stop (the pose you just cannot achieve) and then surrender, blisfully (we hope) to the finishing sequence.

I am wondering if my life will be like that. Will I work and work and work and then finally, admit defeat or exhausation or completion and surrender, as a real corpse (or just about to be corpse), to a deeper, darker current that dissolves the self.

What a thing to face every morning! Every morning you run through the day and your life in minature...I think that is very beautiful.

John Stirk workshop. Deconstructing Yoga.

2007-05-07T13:28:00.001-07:00

John Stirk workshop at Triyoga.

Now this was interesting. I have been taking classes for a while at Triyoga that describe themselves (loosely) as Scaravelli influened yoga as inspired by John Stirk (or some similar relationship).

And what that means is a kind of slow-motion, exploratory yoga. Stirk’s workshop was titled ‘Deconstructing Yoga’. It was interesting and is certainly like no other yoga class. And its hard, on reflection, to know where the two hours went as we only did about six or seven poses. Maybe eight but it felt like six or seven.

Stirk talked about Iyengar and the possibility that the spirt can be found or perhaps reached through the body – or at least that is my crude paraphrase of John’s teaching. He also talked about the feet, about the ‘Oriental foot’ and the importance of being able to move all of our toes, even the little toes and to work the whole foot, stretching from the centre.

So there was some work in ‘mountain’ just working the foot. And typical of the class was the way John took us into supta padangusthasana and supta padangusthasana II which was…slowly, very very slowly.

So we entered the poses slowly and stayed for minutes…ages and ages…during which time he asked us to think about the areas or places in the body that we weren’t working…perhaps not sinking the shoulders back, straightening the leg, flexing a toe…whatever…

He talked about tension and adrenalin. He said that where you had fear or tension in a pose (which was probably also where you resisted working) this created adrenalin. He wasn’t saying this was a bad thing. He just said this happened.

He also told us that we should keep our minds calm and our faces calm and peaceful in the pose. No matter how much adrenalin/tension we were feeling. And no matter how hard we were working a knee or shoulder that didn’t want to be worked. The face and mind must be calm. I tried to make mine blissful. Which was very revealing/explosive/beautiful and interesting…its something I’m going to hang onto in all of my practice.

And what he finally said was that the adrenalin would resolve itself or turn into endorphins and the tension would resolve itself or become love…and we would all feel love.

And that is what I felt. An overwhelming bliss or love. I apologise if I haven’t transmitted John’s teachings as he teaches them…I guess I am giving you my experience of his teaching. And I hope I get to work with him again. I understand he teaches a regular weekly class in London (you can find details on his website) but I have also been told there is a waiting list to attend.