yoga, books, movies, tv & too many crime procedurals – not necesarily in that order
First video attempt – let me know if it’s helpful or what I can do to make it better!
Yoga Journal has added video to their site that goes along with the issues! Check out this master class. Now the awesome is totally conditional: if they start charging for this in addition to subscriptions, it’s whack. That said, I wouldn’t be opposed to them making it subscription only but the best of all worlds is that they keep it free.
I’m not sure when the omnipotent yogafairy decided that Trikonasana was a beginner pose but it’s a decision of epic fail. Keep in mind that my One rule of yoga is that the ONLY way you can do yoga wrong is if it HURTS. Discomfort is up to you but PAIN is bad. Always. It should go without saying that before starting any new exercise regimen, you should talk to your doctor to make sure it’s safe.
I was listening to the Gaiam Yoga Club’s Tadasana/Trikonasana audio lesson and – while the direction was really good if you know what you’re doing – I kept thinking about all the things that WEREN’T getting said. Don’t get me wrong – for a 29 minute file, it did a nice job of taking you through the positions and had some really great instruction about the use of feet. Well, other than ‘broaden your heels’. Seriously? WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN. But I digress.
Triangle is probably considered a “foundation” pose rather than “beginner” but that all seems to bleed together when you’re talking about people who are new to yoga. The problem with this is that, without correct explanation, you can seriously fuck up your lower back in Trikonasana. Personally, I always teach extended side angle (utthita parsvakonasana) first in order to avoid the problems inherent in triangle.
1. Without a strong leg base, including proper knee position, you’re going to be in trouble. The legs provide most of the support in this asana – note that I said MOST because this ALSO involves core strength. Side angle allows you to bend the knee first to check the position before putting the knee into a ‘weaker’ position. Colleen DID make a point in the audio about checking the knee position before triangle in this way, so kudos for that.
2. The idea in triangle AND side angle is that your torso and hips remain in one plane. Now we all know that that’s not exactly how the human body works and without CLEAR explanation of this, people’s asses go poking toward the back of the room. Then, when they lean/fold into triangle, their backs are all out of whack and twisting. Triangle and side angle are NOT twisting poses (though they do have revolved/twisting versions).
The biggest problem with this from triangle rather than side angle is upper body support. With side angle, you can use the hand or elbow to help support the torso and prevent too much pressure being exerted on the lumbar vertebrae while you (or a teacher) correct the stance. Starting with side angle allows you to safely introduce the motion of triangle without blowing out a disc.
3. Both side angle and triangle require core strength because, while you’re lifting with your feet and legs you ALSO have to lift with the torso. The most common problem I see in side angle and triangle is a collapse of the side body toward the leg. By this I mean that while you are standing, both of your sides (or sidebodies) are nice and long and (usually) even. As you lean to the side, there’s a tendency for the lower shoulder to collapse toward the lower hip, so that the side looks like a C rather than a |. A collapsing side coupled with twisted spine multiplied by all of your body weight = BAD BACK.
4. So my key points for triangle:
Use your feet. Spread out your toes. You should be able to press down through the ball of the foot below the big toe and pinky, feel the inside and outside edge of your heel in contact with the floor, as well as press through the outside edges of the feet in order to lift the instep of your foot away from the mat. This is the solid contact base.
Lift with the back leg. Pressing down through the outside edge of the back foot will help, but think about actively lifting with your thighs and glutes. Lift with the front leg. While there should always be a slight bend in each leg (NEVER lock the knees), you want the front quadricep to be active – the kneecap should be drawing up toward your thigh and if you wanted to wiggle it between two fingers, it shouldn’t slide much.
Tuck the tailbone under slightly. This helps to keep the hips in the same plane as the chest and also builds the base of the core lift. Draw the abs in and think about lengthening the spine.
The tricky part to describe: Keeping the chest long and tall, slide the hip of the back leg BACK – this will automatically cant your torso forward. Keep the abs drawn in and think about lifting with the low (leaning toward the front leg) side of your torso. Start by placing your forward hand on your forward thigh. Slide the hand down as far as you can while keeping the side of you body long and your hips and torso in the same plane (as though you were pressed up against a wall).
Initially keeping the back arm flat to your side will help mantain that planar balance – it becomes a physical guide for your thigh, hip and ‘top’ side to stay in line. If you feel comfortably balanced, you can lift that arm straight up toward the sky. The key is that your entire torso weight is NOT in your lower hand, rather evenly balance between hand, torso and legs. That’s what gives triangle a kind of floaty feeling.
5. That’s just the leg/abs part. To make it more even bodywork, pull the shoulderblades down your back and slightly together – this keeps the shoulders active. At the same time, reach out through both sets of fingertips and it will maximize the amount of muscle work you can do. Arm work is always optional and you should ALWAYS listen to your body. You can do triangle without involving the arms at all, if you like.
MOST importantly – Your mileage may vary. I haven’t discussed foot positioning because I really think I could make that a whole post, which leads me to my next point…
I think these things are often difficult to explain in text and I’m thinking about making a video demo of what I’m talking about. In the age of Yoga Journal (which I love) people think they should look like the picture rather than do what the asanas are intended. YJ doesn’t always take the time to point out that everyone’s physical structure is a little different and – contrary to popular yoga verbiage – there are things that you may NEVER be able to do, no matter how long you practice. It all depends on how your ligaments and tendons are built, where they attach and how your joints are put together.
Possibly my favorite thing about the audio so far is that Colleen emphasized not taking it too seriously, enjoying it and being able to laugh as well as NOT getting competitive with yourself. I think every class should start this way. Like I said, if you’ve been practicing – or have been to a class – this would be a great way to start taking apart postures on your own at home.
So in November/December, my Toshiba laptop died and I didn’t have anything so vital on the hard drive that I felt like I’ve needed to spend a lot of time scavenging said hard drive. In fact, because I use a Zune player, all the music I had on the previous laptop is now happily ensconced on my current laptop without any sort of drama or difficulty. What I discovered last night is that it ALSO transferred some audio that I thought I’d lost – a bunch of random yoga workouts, most of which I haven’t even listened to/watched.
So the awesome news is that I now have lots of random yoga workouts to go through and help with some motivation.
Not so awesome, Spouse is sick. He’s actually been sick for several days and doesn’t seem to be getting much better. As a result I’m trapped on the couch watching what is possibly one of the top five worst movies of all time: Land of the Lost. My only explanation is that he’s sick and a bit delusional and that’s what is making this steaming pile of shit entertaining. To him.
Meanwhile, I’ve got TWO DAYS OFF IN A ROW. If I didn’t have a metric asston of stuff to do, it would almost feel like a weekend!
So I’m using the trial membership (which by all accounts means I’m probably in for a month) and thus far I’m… undecided. I think Colleen does good description and then randomly throws in some bullshit woo-woo terms (“curl the tailbone”? What the blue fuck does THAT mean? Your tailbone is ALREADY CURVED motherfucker!). I’ve listened to most of the standing pose stuff and will check out the audio for mountain/triangle this afternoon.
Okay- another peeve maybe. In talking about Down Dog, Yee is all about legs and ignoring the arms. I’ve found if you engage your shoulders, you’re less likely to get arm fatigue and more easily can keep weight out of the wrists. You do that by sliding your shoulder blades down your back (imagine dragging the tips of your scapulas toward your hipbones) as well as imagining you’re holding a golf ball in each armpit. That causes external rotation of the biceps/triceps and pulls the arm into the shoulder socket. There’s more muscle support for the INCREDIBLY DELICATE shoulder joint which helps to prevent injury. It’s also great upper body strength building but FEELS far more solid when you’re lurking in Down Dog. Also, very little emphasis pushing down through the fingers and fingertips rather than letting the weight sit in the base of the palm (bad for the wrist).
Last nit: Dear Colleen, it’s STANCE not STRIDE. Stride means that you’re MOVING rather than STANDING STILL. Thanks. Yg
It’s spring, damn and blast. I don’t care if the snow disagrees. One of the things about living at 10,000 feet is close to 9 months of winter. I don’t really mind it as the snow is light and fluffy and always looks amazing on the trees and mountaintops. We also get more than 300 days of sunshine every year and there’s not a single bad thing about that. Plus the lack of humidity means that it virtually ALWAYS feels warmer than the thermometer says it is. When we moved, I said I could stand as MUCH snow as you want to send me as long as there’s sunshine. Glad to say it’s absolutely true. This is the end of my second winter (!?) out here and I still love it as much as I did on our first visit.
That said, vacation was a kick in the ass. Time to refresh everything all over, albeit without nearly as much rain as Seattle sees, and I started today. Woke up, finished reading a book, cleaned up the kitchen and then started on our bedroom. Dusted and swept everywhere, got up the rugs for washing, stripped the bedding and mattress pad for washing (which it’s doing right now) and as soon as that room’s done I’ll move to the next.
The basement bedroom, like two of the upstairs rooms, has a mirrored set of sliding closet doors. It’s also much larger than any of the other rooms (with the exception of the basement living room and the kitchen/dining area) and I noticed today that I could probably make a decent yoga space in there. It’s got laminate flooring and high enough ceilings that I don’t have to worry about barking my hands or feet. It’s also cool enough (being the basement) and has a fan so that I should be able to work as hard as I like, comfortably. That’s going to be my new spot then, at least until we get one of the upstairs rooms converted into a real workout space.
One of the things I love about yoga is its malleability. I can tailor my workout to whatever feels appropriate at the time, focusing on whichever areas I’d like. Unfortunately that is also one of the things that stumps people about having a “home practice”. With so many options, how do you keep track of where you started or what you’ve done? I think it’s one of the things people really like about Bikram and the ashtanga series – there are proscribed movements in a particular order such that you’ve always got the next step in front of you. While that sounds nice in theory, I think I’d get bored with it.
I generally start with the Sun series and modify it however I’d like. It’s infinite if you add in Warrior II and Chair (Sun B) and can be modified to include almost anything – triangle, side angle, revolved variations of both, twisting chair, Warrior III, pyramid and about a dozen different ways you can modify Downward Facing Dog. I’m tempted to do audio posts about the variations just so that people can try them if they’re interested. Everyone approaches yoga a little differently and one of the reasons I love taking classes is because I can hear how other people change things up.
So I guess MY spring goal is thirty days of yoga posts. If I can squeeze in classes I will, but it will primarily what I do at home and on the road (we’ve got some overnighters this month). I think my plan will be to work through the Eye of the Tiger practice – it’s pretty comprehensive but too long for everyday. I can attack parts of it and digest what I like and don’t.
Below is the Eye of the Tiger workout – I can’t recall what site I found it on but it’s an Anusara practice.
Eye of the Tiger Practice
The Eye of the Tiger practice is designed as an ultimate daily practice routine to maximize strength, stamina, and flexibility in all the major parts of the body. It covers all the main classes of asana including: Surya Namaskar, standing poses, handbalancings, inversions, backbends, hip-openers, forward bends, and twists. The entire practice can take over 4 hours to complete, so in order to abbreviate, perform a few poses in each category moving down through the lists from top toward the bottom. During a week’s practice schedule be sure to attempt the poses that you might have skipped in previous practices.
Invocation
Surya Namaskar – 10-108x or 10-20 min.
Handstand – 1-5 min. ea. 1-3 X
Pincha Mayurasana (feathered peacock) – 1-5 min. ea. 1-3 X
Standing Poses – 30-60 sec. ea./ side
Vrksasana (tree)
Parsvakonasana (extended side angle)
Trikonasana (triangle)
Virabhadrasana I (warrior I)
Virabhadrasana II (warrior II)
Anjaneyasana (crescent lunge)
Ardha Chandrasana (half moon)
Virabhadrasana III (warrior III)
Parivrtta Trikonasana (revolved triangle)
Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana (revolved half moon)
Parivrtta Parsvakonasana (revolved side angle)
Parsvottanasana (intense side stretch/pyramid)
Utkatasana (chair)
Garudasana (eagle)
Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged forward fold)
Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (extended hand to big toe)
Pada Hastasana (hands to feet)
Handbalancings – 1-2x ea./ side
Lolasana (pendant)
Vasisthasana (side plank)
Eka Hasta Bhujasana (elephant’s trunk)
Astavakrasana (8 angle)
Bakasana (crane)
Eka Pada Bakasana II (one legged crane)
Eka Pada Bakasana I (one legged crane)
Visvamitrasana (pose dedicated to visvamitra)
Eka Pada Koundinyasana II (pose dedicated to Koundinya)
Dwi Hasta Bhujasana (two-handed legs over arms)
Bhujapidasana (shoulder pressing pose)
Titthibhasana (firefly)
Parsva Bakasana (side crane)
Eka Pada Koundinyasana I
Eka Pada Galavasana (flying crow)
Kukuttasana (cock posture)
Parsva Kukuttasana (revolved cock posture)
Abdominals – 30-50x ea./ side
Crunches
Criss-Crosses
Navasana (boat)
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (raised stretched out foot)
Jathara Parivartanasana (spinal twist)
Supta Virasana (reclined hero) – 5 min.
Hip-openers – 1 min. ea./ side
Baddha Konasana
Janu Sirsasana
Parsva Upavistha Konasana
Upavistha Konasana
Triang Mukhaikapada
Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana prep.
Bharadvajasana II
Inversions – 30sec.– 1 min. variations
Sirsasana
Parsva Sirsasana
Parsva Sirsasana in Virasana
Eka Pada Sirsasana
Parsvaika Pada Sirsasana
Parivrttaikapada Sirsasana
Padmasana in Sirsasana
Parsva Padmasana in Sirsasana
Pindasana in Sirsasana
Sirsasana II
Mukta Hasta Sirsasana
Baddha Hasta Sirsasana
Prasarita Hasta Sirsasana
——————————————
Sarvangasana
Sarvangasana II
Eka Pada Sarvangasana
Parsvaika Pada Sarvangasana
Halasana
Supta Konasana
Parsva Halasana
Karna Pidasasana
Parsva Karna Pidasasana
Parsva Sarvangasana in Padmasasana
Parsva Sarvangasana
Setubandha Sarvangasana
Backbends
Eka Pada Supta Virasana
Bhujangasana
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana I prep – one leg in Bhekasana
Dhanurasana
Parsva Dhanurasana
Ustrasana
Purvottanasana – bent knees
Backbends with chair
Urdhva Dhanurasana – (5-25x)
Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana
Viparita Chakrasana
Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana (head up)
Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana
Headstand Drop-overs – (5-25x)
Mandalasana – (3-25x)
Urdhva Dhanurasana – drop-backs – (5-108x)
Vrischikasana I – feet on chair
Kapotasana – pigeon droppings – (3-10x)
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana I
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana II
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana IV
Valakhilyasana
Padangustha Dhanurasana
Natarajasana
Twists & Forward Bends – 30 sec – 1 min. ea./ side
Uttanasana
Virasana – twist
Baddha Konasana
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana prep
Janu Sirsasana
Upavista Konasana
Parsva Upavistha Konasana
Agnistambasana
Ardha Baddha Padmasana Paschimottanasana
Marichyasana II
Triangamuhkaipada Paschimottanasana
Krounchasana
Bharadvajasana II
Compass
Yogadandasana
Pascimottanasana
Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana I & II
Ardha Matsyendrasana
Malasana I
Pasasana – one leg
Padmasana
Hanumanasana
Ardha Matsyendrasana II
Marichyasana IV
Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana
Parivrtta Paschimottanasana
Kurmasana
Somakonasana
Eka Pada Sirsasana
Bhairavasana
Chakorasana
Durvasana
Uttanasana
Supta Padangusthasana
Balasana
Meditation – 10 min.
Savasana – 10 min.
Edited to add reference links so you know what I’m talking about.
Piper has decided that she would like for me not to go to work today. While I’m attempting a dash at Google Reader, she’s lying on my chest, getting my sweater chock full of dog hair. Poor puppy. She only has Spouse to keep her company ALL DAY. She’s very deprived.
