notdrunkyogabrain-blog

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Practice Safe Forward Folds

In the first picture, tight hamstrings and straight (as well as inactive) legs places the bend into the mid and lower back. The pelvis is moving towards a posterior tilt (if pelvis is a bowl of water, the water is spilling on the floor behind). The spine is rounding and this places stress on the disks and over time will cause injury and potentially herniation. Not a sustainable or safe way to practice. Also look at her face, not a fun way to practice. In the second picture, the knees are bent to accommodate tight hamstrings. The legs are active/engaged and the pelvis is moving towards an anterior tilt (again if the pelvis is a bowl of water the water is now spilling on the floor in front of the body). The back is straight, the belly is against the thighs, and the bend forward comes from the hips instead of the back. From here she can slowly move towards straightening the legs, while keeping the belly glued to the thighs. This keeps the back healthy and allows the practitioner to safely lengthen the hamstrings and posterior chain (calves, gluten, spinal erectors, etc.). 

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The Breath is the Practice

Start in child’s pose and come into your full belly breathing. Breathe fully, from the bottom of your lungs to the top of your lungs. Breathe into the sides of the lungs, the backs of the lungs, throughout the ribcage. Notice how your torso expands on your inhale, like a balloon inflating. And notice if that expansion doesn’t bring your awareness to any tight spots in your body. It could be your hips, your back, your ankles, you shoulders. At the top of your inhale, at the top of your expansion, where do you feel your breath, where do you experience sensation? In this way, let your breath tell you what is happening in your body. Let it be the tool of your awareness. In yoga, we are literally exploring the different corners of the body with the breath. Inhale fully, my torso expands, I can feel tightness at the front of my hips as I reach the top of my inhale. My breath tells me where my edge is. The expansion of my lungs tells me where the edge of my flexibility is. Where the edge of my body is. Thinking of it this way, the practice transforms into something fantastic. Each pose is a maze to explore, the breath as a guide. Some poses are fun, like playgrounds. Others are meant to be like obstacles; challenging, frustrating, or difficult. Others are liberating. It’s different for every pose, every person. It’s different every time we practice. A pose can change from week to week, day to day, moment to moment. It is through the breath, and our awareness of breath that we learn the intricacies of the asana and explore landscape of our bodies. So when you practice, let the breath guide you into the asana. Let the breath aid you in drawing the map of your body. The breath is the practice. When we use our breath in this manner, we achieve something far greater than physical alignment. By focusing our awareness on our breath and on the way our breathing interacts with our body, we are essentially bringing our mind into alignment with our bodies. Physical alignment (stacking bones, using our muscles efficiently and safely) is a great benefit of a yoga practice, but it is the alignment of mind and body (through breath) where the yoga really starts to happen. Yoga: to yolk. To bring together. This union of mind and body gives us the chance to glimpse something greater in our practice. It brings us closer to the spiritual benefits of yoga and the essence of the practice.  And the best part is that this is accessible to all of us. Despite where we are physically in our practice (who cares how flexible you are), we all possess our breath, our yoga, our practice. 

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Happy Fall