Ashtanga, pressure points and more energy channel stuff...

I don't really know how to start this post, I've had the concept of a post in my mind for a while on pressure points and utilising them in a yoga practice, especially since being 'Rolfed' and since my Mysore experience, but having very little experience and knowledge on pressure points and body work in general, I kinda felt I didn't really have enough knowledge to be able to explain my experience in a useful way. Nevertheless, its something I'm gonna just throw it out there and maybe I'll get some positive (or negative) feedback, and either way it'll be helpful :)

So, having been someone who came to yoga with very little (if any at all) body awareness, the journey towards becoming aware of what's going on in my body has been a long one. But also, a very interesting and enlightening one. I started my ashtanga practice off going to a David Swenson retreat at Purple Valley, having only practicing a very tenuously linked style of ashtanga yoga at a gym! What a shock! At this point I couldn't even do chaturanga, The concept of chaturanga evaded me, to the point when David was explaining it I put my hand up and said 'but what it you just can't hold your belly off the floor?!'. David was like, 'Don't worry it'll come!!'. On my return home I sent the best part of an afternoon practicing going from downward dog to chaturanga, possibly around 65 times, until my arm muscles learnt what they had to do to hold chaturanga! To this day I still can only hold it for a short length of time…anyway, I digress…

It's only been since I have had the '10 series' of Rolfing that I have actually felt energy in body and as I have said before it's changed my life and especially changed my outlook on yoga and the 'energy body'.  My Rolfing experience has enabled me to notice specific energy lines in my body and where they aren't working properly. It's really hard to explain in generic terms but I'm going to try and explain where certain concentration on certain pressure points in the body help in certain postures. OK, here goes…

Dropping back: Before dropping back, going up onto your tip toes seems to energise the correct muscles in the front of your legs. Slowly coming down whilst still engaging these muscles gives a firm foundation in the legs and abdomen to be able to drop back. After all, it's all about the foundation.

Kapotasana: There's a tiny point on the inside of your kneecap which is a bit fleshy, haven't a clue what it's called.. anyway, when setting up for kapo, pressing this part of the knee into the mat, which I feel creates an internal rotation of the femur and engages the front thighs, enables the thighs to remain engaged enough to be able to drop without collapsing in the lower back. It's useful to mess around with this in your practice, I know if I rush kapo without sorting the knee position out I tend to not be able to engage properly.

Paschimottanasana: The one holding your toes - always hold with two fingers and a thumb. Krishnamacharya obviously had a reason for this kind of bind. I haven't read anywhere why it was so important, but I have a suspicion it was because of energy lines. There's something going on in that little fleshy bit between the big toe and the second toe which when pressed creates energy though to the groin area (if you haven't got blockages in rest of your legs). Always hold on tight, point your toes to create an opposition and don't interlink your fingers like I tend to do without noticing!

Urdhva mukha svanasana - upward dog - pressing the base of your big toe into the mat will engage your leg muscles correctly, if you don't do this your heels will splay and your lower back will suffer. Many students tend to outwardly rotate their feet and 'sink' into their lower back. Hamish Hendry teaches this slightly different by flexing your ankles so the topes of your feet/toes engage, but I don't think you have to necessarily go this far to protect your back. (My opinion)

Actually, all postures where you grab your toes, make a point of pressing through the base of the big toe/second toe, so utthita hasta, urdvha padangustasana etc. Same in the Janu postures and baddhakonasanas.

In Baddha konasana pressing into the big toe/second toe area seems to automatically outwardly rotate the femur at the same time as pushing the thigh away from the midline, then you can work on outwardly rotating it down, by using mula bandha (squeezing the anus).

I must have more tips in this vein, but I'm tired, so I'll leave you with these for now and hope they'll help you in your practice :)

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear...

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear….

This was the line Vijay came out with following an attempt at catching my heels on my own in chakra bandhasana a few days back.

He’s been working with me on it daily, one day with him assisting me into the posture the next day I have to do it on my own. One day I fell to my elbows after I lost balance when my hands were really near the heels…he was crouching next to me and as I fell all I heard was an, “Ouch!” from Vijay. I was pissed with him as he was there and watching and could see it happening and instead he just let it happen, let me fall. OK, so I didn’t die…didn’t even break an elbow thank God, but the fear, you know, the fear was there, the fear is still there. But I guess it’s a little less now, knowing nothing bad can happen. He does stuff like this. A lot. To me.

But this day, I was walking, walking my hands in and it was the first time I could see my own heels and I could see how far my hands were away from my heels…and it was about a hands-span away. After I came back up and jubilant and all, he said, “Good” and I said, “Yeah I was only a hands-span away from my heels” and he shook his head and said, “Noooo…you were 1 inch away from touching!! What does it say on those rear view mirrors??...Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear!!” and walked off…

Vijay’s comment resonated with me. It reminded me of how little self-confidence I have in my practice. I could see my heels, but still my mind was saying, “It’s not good enough”. The mind playing tricks on me again. You can’t do it, you can’t do it. Then Vijay comes along and acts as the true reflection of my capabilities. He knows what I can do before I even know myself. He’s like the purusha to my prakriti…the stepping stone between my reality and the truth…

“It is only in still water that we can see.” (Taoist Proverb)

Vijay is my still water.

The truth is you need a good teacher. If you’re anything like me, a little too laid back, a little tamasic maybe and maybe a little kaphic, you need a good push in your practice. You don’t believe in yourself? It’s probably just fear manifesting in a bit of a sloppy practice, which was fine before I came to Mysore, but it doesn’t wash! The practice reflects your fears, your weaknesses, it breaks you down and then builds you up again, stronger than before. I used to think that this was just on a physical basis, but it works on so many levels. You think you have it? Nah….think again…there’s a Buddhist saying that goes something like, ”Nati, nati, nati” (I may have spelt this wrong)…not that, not that, not that. Never assume you have it, there’s always another level, another layer to peel away. But this is a good thing. It means your practice should never get boring, that if the primary series doesn’t bring on a sweat anymore that there is something more that you can give to it, another level to find in it, one that brings on that sweat, that heat, that tapas to burn away through another layer, bringing you closer to the truth.

Coming up to stand from Urdhva Dhanurasana 'just happened'!

For a few weeks now my teachers have told me that 'they've hardly had to do anything' when assissting me to come up to stand from dropping back. I obviously didn't believe them, you never do, do you? But last night it actually happened and was completely unexpected. Firstly, it happened in a class (Mysore) situation; see previous blog post on dropping back and the ego for my thoughts on this. Secondly I tried it when most people had gone or were in savasana (see previous ego post ;) 

I stumbled the first time, Digby (my teacher) walked back into the room as stumbling was happening and asked 'what was that?!'. And I yelped with glee - 'I've just come up to stand!!!' Gave him a big hug and he then said, 'well I missed it so you'll have to do it again'. Great! So I did, and the second time I did it even better, not a stumble in sight. Hooray! I was amazed. 

Now, I'm not sure whether my back was more open and that made it easier, but it seemed that it was finding a 'sweet spot' engaging around the pubic area which allowed me to come up kinda effortlessly. Suffice to say I'm excited for my next practice. And I'm gonna be trying it at home every time now and also at the shala. No more ego, just more right intention... :)

Reviled to revered... 10 steps to dropping back

A year ago, if there was one posture which I would do as quickly and pathetically as possible was my backbend.

And hope that my teacher wasn't watching....

Yesterday I dropped back from standing, on my own, for the first time (According to D!) And it felt gooood! I've been working on dropping back for a relatively short amount of time, so I'm amazed at the progress I've made with back bending. In fact it's probably taken 15 practices (with a teacher) to get to this stage, which again, I find amazing, seeing as my back bending felt so alien, so recently.

So what's made the difference? I'd put it down to these points:

1. Pushing the pubic bone toward the ceiling in preparatory backbends.
2. Straightening the legs in prep backbends to strengthen/"switch on" the quads
3. Pushing the knees forward over the feet on the way up to gain a fuller arch and to create more work (in prep bbs)
4. When dropping back pushing the pelvis as far forward as you can before lifting the sternum and ripping back
5. Curling the tailbone under as much as you can as you drop
6. Lift out from the pelvis and upwards to maintain the arch as opposed to just bending from one point of the back (usually the lumbar region)
7. Imagine you are holding a pea in your navel when dropping back (whilst doing all of the above ;)
8. Lift your heels very slightly, to remove the fear of your feet sliding out from under you
9. Practice with walking your hands down the back of your legs, you'll be amazed at how quickly you will reach your ankles
9. Once you reach your ankles, push into your legs and toes, release hands and drop into place.
10. To come up, push away with an exhale, come up on an inhale, draw your arms down towards your thighs and keep your head back until your body is vertical.

Practice this and, to coin a phrase, "all is coming" ;)