What does your split look like?

I had never liked working on splits. I knew that somehow, there was something wrong with my posture that I needed to fix before it really made any sense to work on it. For several years I had developed a flat lumbar spine. It felt like my spine was curved the wrong way and that made it impossible to extend one leg backward and one leg forward into a split. I could do symmetrical poses more easily, but asymmetrical poses just felt like something was wrong.

Here is me last year at the end of the MS City to Shore Bike Ride. It felt so good to hop into the Ocean after riding 75 miles, but I really didn’t want a picture of me looking like this. I hated my posture.

There is this concept of internal rotation of the legs when you are doing almost any yoga posture. It’s not that the legs are actually internally rotated; it’s just that our tendency is to externally rotate them so we internally rotate them to bring them into neutral alignment. It is much harder to maintain this alignment in back bending postures like Cobra, Up Dog, Bridge, Wheel, etc. especially because the back leg is out of sight and out of mind.

Cobra with the legs externally rotated. Notice the “Butt Fist” Too much engagement of the Gluteus Maximus turns the legs out. This creates compression in the sacrum and low back.

Cobra with refined engagement of the Glutes. Notice there is no clenching of the buttocks and the legs are in neutral and they are parallel to each other. This creates a broadening of the sacrum and low back.

I always have appreciated a teacher who would adjust, assist and correct me in my postures. I could tell that I was doing something wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Through the persistent feedback of my teachers and my dedication to working on it, I was able to change my posture and then the poses began to click.

Once I made it a priority to work on the neutral alignment of my legs, my posture actually changed. I developed a concave low back. This is one of the promises of a dedicated yoga practice. It took a long time and it was sometimes painful. When you change your posture, it is a little like orthodontics; the change happens gradually over a period of years. Not only do you change the way the bones line up but you change the muscles and nerves as well. The nerve stretching was the most challenging as it produced sensations of numbness and tingling. Fortunately, I worked with a very calm and reassuring physical therapist who promised me that this was all good.

I first started noticing my posture would change after swimming. Here is me before I swam. Notice my flat lumbar area.

This is me right after swimming. Notice my lumbar curve. I was astonished by this and wanted to learn how to maintain this posture. I felt so much better standing this way. But initially, it was painful.

Once my back shifted, my body began to “understand” postures like a split. But, more importantly, it changed my Tadasana, or neutral standing posture. It used to be painful to stand and I was very self conscious of my posture. It also changed poses like Crescent Warrior, Warrior I and Anjaneyasana. These poses are all precursors, or benchmarks to being able to do a split.  It’s funny, I was looking for “before” pictures of me in Warrior I and I couldn’t find any. I really didn’t want any pictures taken of me then. But, now I wish I had them for comparison.  I never could bend my front leg 90 degrees or straighten my back leg before.

What Does Your Side Angle Pose Look Like?

The Bhagavad Gita gives us 2 very literal definitions of yoga.  The first one is that yoga is skill in action.  BG 2.50.  And the other is that yoga is equanimity of mind.  BG 2.48.

One of the best ways to learn more about your yoga poses is by either practicing in front of a mirror, or having someone take a picture of you in a pose.  This is often very humbling.  We are often not as advanced as we think we are!  But it is a great way to learn.  Awareness is always the first step in growth.  Remember that yoga is equanimity of mind.

Then compare your pose to an example of a well done posture.  Be wary of some of the poses you find online on Facebook or Instagram.  While you may find some very correctly executed postures, there are many more not so well executed.  I recommend looking in Light on Yoga, or online at www.yogajournal.com.  I often refer to the pictures in Yoga Resource by Darren Rhodes.  Unfortunately it is out of print, so it is very expensive to order.

Since Side Angle Pose is a building block towards Bird of Paradise, let’s look at that. Take a picture of yourself in Side Angle pose from the front and from your head side.  Now compare it to this as an example:

How does your pose measure up?  Can you look at yourself critically but lovingly?   Don’t beat yourself up by how bad your pose might look to you.  Instead, look at what you are doing that is good and work to build on that.  Look at where you need to move to.  Knowing where you are helps you move towards where you want to be.

Sometimes students look at a pose and see certain things that they attach importance to, such as the hand on the floor in Side Angle Pose.  While the hand on the floor is a goal, you have to first look at the skill of that action.

The full version of Side Angle Pose is with the front knee bent 90 degrees, the knee over the ankle and the front thigh is parallel to the floor.  The upper side of the body should be a straight line from the outer edge of the back foot up to the tips of the fingers of the top hand.

But, you also have to look at the pose from the front.  The body should be very 2 dimensional from the front.  That means that the outer buttock of the front leg should be in line with the outer knee.  Not winging out.

In this view, you can see that my buttocks are winging out and my chest is facing slightly downward rather than shining out to the side.  This usually happens when a student prioritizes getting the hand to the floor over the form of the pose.

In this view, I have the outer buttock of my front leg in line with the outer knee and my chest is facing sideways. This is skillful action

If I didn’t have the flexibility to get my hand to the floor, I would be better off placing my hand on a block and turning my chest open.  This is where the second definition of yoga comes in:  Yoga is equanimity of mind. (BG 2.48)  Can I prioritize skillful action?  Can I find equanimity in backing off from grasping for the full pose until I develop the skill to enter the pose gracefully?

12 Basic Yoga Poses. Endless Variations.

There are only 12 basic yoga poses with endless variations on the themes.

By that I mean that there are only a handful of basic shapes that make up the majority of yoga poses.  But you can play with that basic shape by recreating it’s form in different relationships to gravity to get hundreds of different yoga poses.

Let’s start with a basic right angle shape.  If you stand in Mountain pose and bend yourself in half, you will come into a pose called Ardha Uttanasana, or Half Forward Bend.  This version of the shape begins to challenge the flexibility of your hamstrings but in such a way that you are working with gravity to help you fold in half.

Half Forward Bend or Ardha Uttanasana

If you take that same shape sitting on the floor with your legs stretched out straight in front of you this is Dandasana, or Staff Pose.  This challenges the flexibility of your hamstrings even more.  But in this orientation to gravity, if your hamstrings are tight, you will feel yourself almost being pulled backward.

Staff Pose or Dandasana

If you lean back about 30 degrees and lift your feet up off the floor this will bring you into boat pose.  In this version of the 90 degree angle your abdominal muscles are being challenged.

Boat Pose or Navasana

If you turn your Boat Upside Down and stretch your arms overhead, you will find yourself in Downward Facing Dog.  While Down Dog challenges your arm strength, it also continues to challenge your hamstring flexibility.

Down Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana

If you back your Dog up so that your heels touch the wall and then walk your feet up onto the wall so that your legs are parallel to the floor and your arms and torso are vertical, you have Half Handstand.  This version of the 90 degree posture challenges your arm strength.

Half Handstand or Ardha Adho Mukha Vrksasana

And finally, if you are tired after doing all of these 90 degree shapes, you can take your legs up the wall and rest in a restorative pose.  This version of the basic right angle shape is good for resting and refreshing yourself, especially if you have been standing on your feet all day.

Legs Up The Wall or Viparita Karani

Why I don’t consider Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose as a good alternative for Headstand.

Legs-Up-the-Wall: Not an Alternative to Headstand

I don’t recommend Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose as an alternative for Headstand or Handstand. The energy of these poses is very different. Every pose has an energy associated with it. You can look up the effects of each pose in Light on Yoga, or even google it online. But, I recommend that the next time you are in a pose, feel the energy of it. This is mandatory if you are a yoga teacher.

Do Head Stand, if that is in your repertoire (please do appropriate warms ups before just popping up into Sirsasana!) and, after a brief rest in Child’s Pose, do Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose. Compare and contrast the two poses. How similar are they? How different?

Sirasasana I at the wall

Legs-up-the-wall-pose

Head Stand is a fiery, invigorating pose that requires strength, stamina and focus. Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose is quieting, cooling and nurturing. The only thing they have in common is that the feet are above the head and heart.

I know a lot of teachers will recommend Legs-Up-the-Wall as an alternative for Headstand or even Handstand, but I would not suggest that. Read my blog post here for alternative postures for Headstand.

Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose is a better modification for Shoulder Stand Stand because Shoulder Stand is also quieting, cooling and nurturing. After practicing Head Stand you are still in the frame of mind to do poses that are more active. After practicing Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose, you are probably ready for Savasana. Try these two poses: do Shoulder Stand and then come down and rest and then do Legs up the Wall. See how they are energetically more alike?

Shoulder Stand is a quieting and nurturing pose

So is Legs Up the Wall Pose

As a teacher, it is important to make sure to guide all students through the same energy levels during a class. Your choreography and sequencing should raise the energy towards an apex at the middle of a class and then gradually decline towards quiet as you move into Savasana. Having the energy yo-yo back and forth can be irritating to the nervous system. As a student, it is important to pay attention to what modifications you are being guided towards so that you are still working at the same energy level as the rest of the class.

If Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose isn’t a good alternative for Head Stand, then what is? I recommend lying Supine over cross-bolsters (or a bolster with a block crosswise underneath)*. In this pose, the back of the head and the back of the heels are on the floor. Make sure the back of the neck is long and not contracted. The thighs are belted to keep the legs together. The arms are hand-to-elbow overhead with the forearms resting on the floor.

Cross bolsters, or in this case, bolster over a block*. This is a good alternative to Head Stand, especially for people who do not want to invert.

Some of my students immediately question this modification as it is a supine pose. But, again, you have to try it and feel the energy of it. Because it is a back bend, it is more energizing than Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose which falls into the forward bend category because of flexion at the hips. There is also the work of keeping the legs together which is similar to the work you feel keeping the legs together in Sirsasana. And, with the back of the head resting on the floor, it has the same grounding effect as Head Stand. Two students, one doing Sirsasana and one doing this cross-bolster pose will feel more similar afterwards than if one of them was doing Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose. Try it for yourself and see.

Also, please note, if you have your period, you should not be inverting and Cross-Bolsters Pose is a perfect alternative.

(*I sometimes have to be creative with props. If a studio does not have enough bolsters for everyone to have 2, then I will use a block and a bolster. Also, sometimes 2 bolsters are too high for a student. Whenever you are feeling compression in the low back during a back bend, one of the things you can do is to reduce the height of the props. I often use a skinny bolster crossed over a thin folded blanket for those who complain that their back is feeling pinched in this pose.)

Maybe next week, I will address the pose of Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose. There is an important consideration of the orientation of the pelvis in this pose that I often see misunderstood. And, eventhough Shoulder Stand was the pose of the month last month, I can see that I still need to address the modifications for Shoulder Stand: Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose and Supported Setu Bandha (or Supported Bridge Pose).

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to respond in the comment section below. I use the questions for future blog posts.

Also, if you enjoy learning more stuff like this, consider enrolling in my Teacher Training Program. The next one begins in September 2019. Not everyone who enrolls in the program wants to go on to teach. Some students take it for their own personal development. You can always take just the 4 weekends of Foundations where we learn about the postures, or you can take the 4 weekends of Anatomy. However, I personally feel that the best way to learn something is to learn how to teach it. In that case, The Art & Craft of Teaching portion of the program is a must! See me for more details.

Why so many blankets for Shoulder Stand?

Why so many blankets for Shoulder Stand? 

My student teachers often ask why Shoulder Stand isn’t taught more frequently.  The answer is probably because it requires a lot of time and effort to do it correctly.  Salamba Sarvangasana is a challenging pose to teach to safely.  The teacher needs to understand the proper body mechanics and range of motion of the neck and then needs to teach the proper folding and use of blankets and belts to do the pose.  There is also a level of studentship, called adikara in Sanskrit, where the student has to take responsibility for following directions and using the props.  Some students don't want to take the time to get all of the props and use them correctly; they just want to do the pose.

However, the normal range of motion for the neck is only 45 degrees.  If you were to do Shoulder Stand without blankets, it would require the neck to bend 90 degrees, double what it can normally do.  This would put a lot of strain on the last cervical vertebrae and the first thoracic to get those extra degrees of flexion.  This is not good for the discs in the  neck.  We use blankets in Shoulder Stand to make up the difference for the degree of available neck flexion and trying to get the body to be vertical in an upside-down version of Tadasana.  That way the neck is supported in its normal range of motion.

Here is a picture of me standing in an upright version of Shoulder Stand.  As you can see, my neck is bent to its maximum range of motion and it is nowhere near 90 degrees to my torso.  Notice my hands are on my back with my elbows as high as my shoulders.

"Upside Down" Shoulder Stand

If you turned me upside down, as I would be in regular Shoulder Stand, you would have to make up the difference between the tops of my arms and the back of my head.  This is where the blankets come in.  They raise the floor under my arms so that my neck is not over-flexed.

The black line represents the floor. The two arrows represent the difference in height between the floor and my upper arms. The discrepancy between the height of the elbow and the shoulder gets equaled out under the weight of the body.

The blankets have to be folded precisely so that the height of the blanket is consistent from my shoulders to the tips of my elbows.  This gives me a firm platform to balance on.  The other thing is that my upper arms need to be on the sticky mat with no fabric between my skin and the mat.  Fabric tends to be slippery and the skin slides on it.  This would cause the elbows to wing out and then the pose would collapse onto your upper back.  Also, if you raise the arms up with the blankets, you need to raise the floor so that the buttocks are at least the same height as the blankets.  That makes it easier to go up and come down.

Blanket set up for Shoulder Stand

Here is what Shoulder Stand would look like if you did not use blankets.  Since you cannot safely bend your neck 90 degrees, your torso would be angled backwards and your legs would be counter balanced forward. This causes your posture to be "piked".

Notice the tension in my neck to get my torso to bend 90 degrees without blankets.

Now, if your shoulders are tight, you also need a belt.  How can you tell if your shoulders are tight?  Stand in front of a mirror and place your hands on your back as if you were in Shoulder Stand.  There are two things to look for:

First, if you place your hands on your back as if you were doing shoulder Stand, can you draw your elbows towards each other in adduction behind your back to make your elbows invisible to yourself looking in the mirror?  If not, you definitely need to belt your elbows in Shoulder Stand to keep them from winging out and to keep your pose from collapsing onto your neck and upper back.

Elbows winging out. This is why you need a belt!

Elbows hugging in. Even though I can get my elbows to hug in, I still use a belt. My body weight makes it harder to keep my elbows hugging in and over time, as I get fatigued holding the pose, my elbows will start to slide apart. A belt helps prevent that.

Second, if you look at yourself from the side, with your elbows squeezing in toward the midline, can you get your elbows as high as your shoulders without rounding your shoulders forward or bending forward; stay in Tadasna.  If you cannot, your shoulders are tight in extension.  See the picture titled "Upside Down" Shoulder Stand above.

There are 2 ways to go up into Shoulder Stand and put a belt on your arms:  One is to go over into Plough and put a belt on your biceps at your elbow creases and the other is to go up the wall and lift your hips as if to do Bridge and then put the belt on your arms.  Once the belt is on your arms, then you lift yourself all the way up into Sarvangasana.  When you come down, just reverse the action.  Take the belt off at the same point you put it on.  Please don’t come down and lay on your arms with your elbows belted.

Getting ready to go up into Shoulder Stand. Notice my head is on the lower blanket. My neck can "feel" the edge of the two stacked blankets and my shoulders are on the sticky mat, which is about 3 or so inches back from the edge. This is so that when I roll up into Shoulder Stand, my shoulders do not roll off of the blanket stack compressing my neck. I have the belt looped (and measured to my shoulder width) over one arm. This way I can find it and put it on the other arm once I am in Plow.

Going into Plow and putting a belt on both arms. Notice that my hips are directly over my shoulders and my back is as straight as it would be in Tadasana.

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Shoulder Stand, full Pose. Notice how vertical my body is. The blankets under my shoulders help me to achieve that. Also, notice how wide the blankets are. Everything from my shoulders to my elbow must be supported at the same height. My neck and head should be on blanket so they can slide and adjust. My elbows should be on mat so that they cannot slide apart. Plus the belt helps me with that, too.

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Lastly, when you come down, please do not let your head whiplash forward.  Use your abdominals to control the descent of your hips and keep the back of your head down on the floor.  Make sure you have something under your hips so that they don't drop below the level of the blankets.  That is what causes your head to pop up off the floor.

When you come down, come through Plow and take your belt off.  Then unroll and stay there for a few minutes.  I like to slide back so that my head, shoulders and arms are on the level of the floor and my lower back and hips are on the blanket/mat stack.  You can bring your feet together into Cobbler's Pose.  (I'll update this post with a picture of that, soon!) Stay here for at least 5 minutes, or finish in Savasana if you choose.

Questions?  If any of this is not clear, feel free to leave a comment below.  Also, if I need any other pictures to demonstrate any of these principles better, please let me know.

Interesting Questions

In class, we have been working on opening the shoulders in preparation for Shoulder Stand.   One of the postures we have been doing is clasping the hands behind the back and lifting them up while keeping the heads of the arm bones back and the thoracic spine moving deeply into the body.

One of the questions that came up was  whether you should work on getting the heels of the hands together in this position.  The answer is that “it depends”. (My favorite response!) This question also tells me what my students are considering the important part of the pose.  Remember that we always want to move from the big joints first; the hips and shoulders.  If we don’t, then we place too much leverage and pressure on the spine.  In this example, it’s not what the hands are doing that is important.  It’s what the shoulders are doing.

Take a look at these two photos of me with my hands clasped behind my back:

In the first one, the heads of my arm bones are wrapping forward, my chest is sunken in and my upper back is hunched.

In the second one, the heads of my arm bones are staying back, my thoracic spine is moving into my body opening my chest.

In this pose, the important action is that of opening the chest and stretching the Anterior Deltoid, the front of the shoulder, Pectoralis Minor, the front of the chest, and the Biceps.  It is much better for the student with tightness or restriction in the shoulders to take the hands further apart by maybe holding onto a belt so that they can get the chest open and the heads of the arm bones back.  Only after that is achieved can the student begin to work their hands closer and closer together until the palms finally touch.

The Twelve Days of Christmas in Yoga Poses

A Holiday Yoga Practice

Here are the poses for the Twelve Days of Christmas practice that I taught this week.  It’s a nice practice for home and it doesn’t have to take 90 minutes; you can tailor the practice to the time you have. (To make it shorter, skip the repetitions and hold for shorter times.)  I have done this practice several times recently.  It’s a nice well rounded sequence that includes balance poses, core engagement, twists, hip opening, hamstring stretches, back bends and prepares you nicely for the final postures of Dancer’s Pose and Split.

Do this practice if you have trouble getting to your yoga class over the Holidays.  Enjoy!  And let me know how it went in the comments below.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree:
Tree pose – hold for 1 minute on each side.  Try balancing while listening to Cheech and Chong’s Santa Claus and His Old Lady

2 Turtle Doves:
Warrior 2 – hold for 1 minute on each side.

3 French Hens:
Warrior 3 – hold for 5 breaths on each side.

4 Calling Birds:
Plank – hold for 1 minute.

5 Golden Rings:
Boat – 5 times, holding for 5 breaths each time.  Cross your legs and lift up after each one.

6 Geese a Laying:
Pigeon – hold for 2 minutes each side.

7 Swans a Swimming:
Bow – 3 times, 5 breaths each time.  Roll to the right and left for added benefit.

8 Maids a Milking:
Cow Face Pose – hold for 1 minute each side.

9 Drummers Drumming:
Revolved Side Angle Pose – 3 times, knee down with hands in prayer the first time, knee up hands in prayer the second time, full pose with arms (if possible) for the last one.

10 Pipers Piping:
Standing Split against the wall – 3 times.  Start in Down Dog with your heels 1 foot away from the wall.  Take your right leg up, right foot on the wall in Down Dog Split, hold for 5 breaths,  change legs.  Repeat 2 more time getting closer and closer to the wall each time, if you can.

11 Ladies Dancing:
Dancer’s Pose – Use a belt to hold your foot with your arms over head.  Or, simply reach back and do Baby Dancer’s Pose.  5 breaths each side, or until you lose balance – whichever comes first.

12 Lords a Leaping:
Split – 3 times, 5 breaths each side.

I used to teach this sequence in typical "12 Days" fashion: pose 1, pose 2 - 1, pose 3 - 2 - 1, pose 4 - 3 - 2 - 1, ...  It was hard and sweaty and extremely repetitious.  Plus, form suffered!  So I changed it to do 12 poses inspired by the song without counting down each time.

Happy Holidays!

The Plateau

Yoga is experienced mostly on a plateau.

When you first start your yoga practice students often experience immediate results. What you are doing now is so different than before that you can’t help but notice the shift. You may initially be sore in places you never felt before. But then you fall into a routine. You may have a habit of going to class 3 days a week and once your body adjusts to that you have a new normal. You tend to be there for a while. It feels good. You are stronger and more flexible than you were before.

But then you want more, you crave the feeling of that initial shift. You want the next level of insight, that deeper feeling. Now is the time to practice patience. It takes a while for your body to completely remodel itself from the inside. We have to marinate in this new state for a while.

This is the first of many plateaus. You need to be content on the plateau as your body remodels itself. But then something needs to shift. Exercise physiology tells us that we need to change up our routine every 8 weeks or so, otherwise we fall into a rut, we become acclimated to doing the work. So what needs to shift? Either frequency, intensity, or alignment/insight.

Can you change the frequency? If you only practice yoga by taking classes, then you may not be able to change the frequency. You may be limited when classes are offered and by your time and ability to get there. At some point, if you want change, you need to start practicing yoga at home. This may allow you to practice more frequently as well as allow you to practice the things that you want to work on. Plus, by practicing at home, you save the commute time.

Can you change the intensity? One of the obstacles to moving off of the plateau and into the next level is that we start to go on auto-pilot. In class, I have been asking people not to rest their elbow on their knee in Side Angle Pose. If you always rest your elbow on your knee in this pose, you will never go any deeper. Your hamstrings won’t get the extra stretch and your quads will get used to the level of demand you are putting on them. If you have to reach to a block, you might be reaching a little bit further and this little bit can be the thing that moves you off of the plateau. I know that putting your hand onto the floor or on a block is harder than resting your elbow on your knee, but that is part of the effort or tapas that can move you to the next level.|

How about insight and alignment? If you can’t seem to be able to get your hand to a block or onto the floor in Side Angle Pose, it is time to look at what you are doing in the pose. Is your front knee bent 90 degrees, or does it just feel like it is? Look in a mirror, or have a friend take a picture and look at yourself objectively. You may be surprised at what you are doing as opposed to what you think you are doing. If you take a picture of yourself in a pose, compare your pose to a pose in a book like Light on Yoga. How does your pose differ from the picture? What would you have to work on to make it more similar?  Are you in alignment?

As you dive deeper into yoga, you may start to pay attention to the other seven limbs: yama (how you treat others), niyama (observances for yourself), pranayama (breathing practices), pratyhara (withdrawal of the sense), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (absorption). Physical progress can be halted by not attending to the other aspects of our life and health. These other limbs of moral and ethical behavior, as well as paying attention to the breath, concentration, self-study and meditation have a subtle, but profound effect on the physical body.

It is also important to allow yourself to be on a plateau. Maybe you cannot commit any more time or effort into your yoga practice. You may find yourself in a good spot and you just want to maintain that. That is fine. Stay there and marinate in your practices. YOu may find that, even there, things eventually begin to shift ever so slightly.

And finally, “Yoga will never work if we just do it for ourselves, it has to be for something bigger.” - From How Yoga Works by Geshe Michael Roche.