When is it the right time to begin second series?

So my teacher James said I should start the intermediate series next week. I panicked a little as I can't even jump back properly (when I say properly, I guess i mean 'float' back) and still cannot jump through with straight legs (I can do crossed legs now).

I'd been held back for over a year with knee pain, knee clicking etc. but once it seemed to have got a lot better (they're not perfect and don't think they ever will be)  my practice has just taken off! Thinking about what I've achieved in such a short space of time seems amazing... padmasana, mari d, supta kurmasana, tittibhasana, bakasana with jump back and drop backs, all within 9 months. I can't come up to stand from back bend unassisted, (I managed it once but it has evaded me since :) but I'm dropping back at home most practices, the Lino Miele way (walking hands back down legs then letting go). So my question is am I ready for the second series?

I'm trying to think back to when I started the primary series... did I think I'd never be able to do them? Yeah, I guess I did, I certainly didn't think I'd ever jump through to sit, let alone get into supta kurmasana and dropping back into a back bend. I remember watching the teacher demonstrate jumping through and thinking, 'yeah right!!'. lol. It's funny how quickly things change. The time's gone by in a flash.

Kino MacGregor says that if you can hold UHP without any stumbling, bind in mari d, bind and get legs behind head (with help is fine) in supta k and drop back and come up in your backbends, then you may be ready for intermediate series.

So now I find myself here with the David Swenson practice manual open half way through and feel like a complete beginner. Again. But it's exciting. Very exciting. A new journey! New postures to work out, new pain and discomfort to experience!!! So today I finished purvottanasana then began the intermediate section. It all seemed to be going fine until laghu vajrasana.
 

OMG, it was hilarious, 3 options to choose from from David's book, and I still couldn't work out which one to do!! I think that'll be one to do with a teacher. It was like, 'if I bend here? No. If I do it like it this? No, that doesn't work. Maybe like this? No never going to happen!' LOL.

Kapotasana I managed to do option D I think, taking the hands back to the wall, but oh dear, I think my back has a LOT of work to do! I have a very flexible lower spine, but my upper/thoracic spine is so stiff it's unbelievable. The back bends left me thinking, will I EVER be able to do them?!

I guess I just have to look back and remember seeing tittibhasana or supta kurmasana for the first time!!

When I started ashtanga I really didn't know what I was letting myself in for. Before I'd even finished, sorry, even seen the whole primary series I was already booked up for David Swenson's retreat in Goa! It wasn't until I got there and was half way through the first morning's practice when I thought, wow this is long, I don't remember this posture...or this one for that matter! Complete shock. This time, I know exactly what I'm letting myself in for, I have books, DVDs and practice manuals and sheets to remind me! To remind me of how far I have to go, how long the journey's going to be and how much work I will have to put in every practice.

Luckily for me I can do the first 8 postures, I can even bind in Pasasana! And I'm looking forward to getting to grips with all the rest!

Backbending and the shoulder blade bandha revisited - 15 steps

I just read a really interesting piece in Gregor Maehle's book Ashtanga Yoga Practice and Philosophy about back bending. The main tenet of the piece was about what needs to be done once you have lifted into backbend.

The main thing seems to be releasing the tension on the muscles that got you into the posture and then to engage their antagonists. So around the shoulder girdle you release trapezius and deltoideous and instead engage pectoralis major (in the chest) and latissimus dorsi (down the sides of the back as if you are pulling your shoulder blades down your back).

Along the trunk you engage the abdominals, especially rectus abdomens and at a the hips release gluteus maximus by engaging psoas (in the front of the hips) and in the legs releasing the hamstring by engaging the quadriceps.

We want to make sure that we are not pinching the spinous processes of the vertebrae, so we need to lengthen the spine and back. This action is therefore performed by engaging the psoas, rectus abdomens and pectoralis major, all in the front of the torso.

We need to be protective of the lower, lumbar region of the spin as it is the softest region.

Tips to achieve a deep backbend:

1: Maintain the support of the muscles that got you into the posture then engage their antagonists.
2. Make a swiping movement with your hands towards the end of the mat (one by one I guess!) This action brings the sternum towards the wrists or beyond.
3.Walk your hands in towards your feet.
4. Engage the quadriceps as if you want to flex the hip joint. They cannot flex so they will instead work to straighten the legs.
5. Bring the hands closer to the feet (more space should have been made by the flexion of the hips)
6. Come up onto your tip-toes and lift your chest high above the shoulders. Bring your heels back down.
7. Engage your rectus abdominus and thrust your entire torso up to the ceiling. Engaging the Abs draws the spinous processes of the vertebrae apart, creating length and space within your back.
8. Ensure that your armpits, thighs and knees have a slight inward rotation.
9. Drishti is always to the nose (especially when dropping back).
10. Feel how the exhalations open the rib cage and the front of the body.
11. Drop the crown of the head and lengthen the neck.
12. Engage the latissimus dorsi to extend the arms, this will draw the shoulder blades down the back, opening the heart.
13. To stay open behind the heart, release the rhomboids and engage serratus anterior. This muscle sets the shoulder blades wide whenever weight is borne into the hands, also a key muscle in downward dog and arm balances.
14. So in all of these postures the shoulder blades need to be depressed (lats) and abducted (serratus anterior).
15. Beware of the inward rotate of the humorous (arm bone) as the inwards rotation lets the armpits flare out to the sides, an action that allows the shoulders to move up to the ears which ultimately decreases the backbend. This action needs to be counteracted by infraspinatus.

Unfortunately GM's description fails to describe how to engage the infrapinatus! If anyone knows, please feel free to advise. :)

Drop the sitting bone!

The new and amazing revelation this week has been through dropping the sitting bone in Utthita Hasta Padangustasana, or UHP as I like to call it :)

The above photo shows the A version, where you try to bring the chin to shin. You then bring the leg out the side for B, then back to centre for C, then release the leg, point the toe and hold leg elevated in the air for D. All need a great strength in the psoas muscle located at the been of the top of the thigh and the front of the hip.

UHP is a balancing posture first and foremost. My balance has always been ridiculous, ever since I started the practice. Balance is a funny thing, sometimes it's all right, a bit wobbly, other times I'm surprised I can even stand up on my own two feet it's that terrible! I personally put it down to focus, but also the time of the month has a lot to do with it, the moon cycle.

For ages I've just tried to rush through this posture, but because there are 4 elements to it it's hard to rush without your teacher spotting you! The first advice I had on how to hold UHP was from V, who said 'drop the hip back into the socket'. This did make a difference, but I'd find myself physically drawing the leg up, holding it steady, then letting it drop into the socket, which whist had its benefits, on its own used to put me off balance slightly. So I continued hopping around on the mat, putting myself and anyone around me off their balance!

But last Sunday I asked B to give me an adjustment / assist in UHP, which was amazing! Firstly he said 'drop the sitting bone', which whilst not sounding dissimilar to 'drop the hip into the socket', made a complete difference. This is where physical cues are important as I obviously wasn't 'getting' 'drop the hip'. B physically put his thumb in the crease of my outstretched hip/leg and pushed it towards the ground whilst holding the leg up. It brought the awareness to the sitting bone, equalising the force of the sitting bones drawing towards the ground in both the straight and the lifted legs. By pushing the sitting bone of the lifted leg towards the ground it immediately gave stability, from which you could then move the ball of the hip within its socket. Even from A to B, keeping the sitting bone dropped enabled me to get a massive external rotation in B and when brought back to centre for C and D, the strength was already held in the muscles around the hip joint to hold the outstretched leg higher for longer!!

The difference between dropping the hip into the socket and dropping the sitting bone is that with dropping the sitting comes an engagement and straightening out of the sacroiliac joint, which enables you to stand up straighter (coccyx to crown) and attain an overall better posture. You may even get an extra contraction of the anus increasing mula bandha strength.

Hoorah - another posture nailed. Give it a go, it's all about dropping the sitting bone. Think APANA VAYU, the downwards force, drop everything from the navel downwards towards the ground and its opposite force lifting everything from the navel upwards towards the sky. Great place to start for all standing AND sitting postures!

Kukkutasana - what?!

So although I've been practicing for the past four years, I've only managed to nail padmasana (lotus posture) in the past 10 months. It's getting easier, very slowly mind you, but it is, the hips are working more on their own accord to move the knees closer together, feet staying on tops of thighs. I was in class today and B noticed that he'd never seen me do kukkutasana, although I've recently been doing garbha pindasana  (only the rock and roll bit) in padmasana.

Why have I never even attempted kukkutasana? It's just never been part of my so called "full" primary series! So B demonstrated how to slide the arms through. He said that sliding the arms through diagonally also makes it easier. So I gave it a go and managed to get both arms through quite easily, albeit with my leggings on, think I will have to start wearing shorts now, (damn, note to self - must start shaving / tanning legs more) and wetting the arms for an easier entry, as it were! Apparently kukkutasana is a great posture for releasing the hips but protecting the knees by keeping the pressure off with the arms inside. It kind of makes sense. It felt a bit strange but great at the same time.

Backbends are getting deeper all the time, the drop backs definitely speed up the process somehow. Today I managed to move my hands in towards my feet three times, about 2.5 hand spans. I came up onto my toes, but it felt right to do that, like it gave me more momentum to come up on the inhale. Bendng the knees sure helps too when you walk your hands in. I will have to play with that on my own, I've only managed coming up once on my own, haven't given it much time since. Whilst I love the morning practice, I still feel like I'm rushed, even though I have a good 1:45 if need be. I might try Sharath's led DVD tomorrow morning. That's if I can walk by tomorrow morning....

Yesterday I went to a dance mets yoga workshop where the woman was getting us to prance across the room in a style which was akin to the warm up we had to do called "corner to corner" at gymnastics when I was young. My body is not used to doing things like this. It didn't like it and by the end I'd pulled my right calf muscle badly and my left shoulder!! I am also bruised head to toes from rolling around on the floor like I was ten. Safe to say I don't think I will be partaking in any further yoga meets dance performances, even if you do get to perform at the Olympic torch ceremony in Birmingham in July! I've been hobbling around all day like old man Steptoe. Great.

Shoulder blade bandha?!!

Along with finding my sitting bones this week I have found the wonder which I call the "shoulder-blade bandha"!!

Now, I don't know whether this is actually a bandha, but, the impact on my posture by engaging this bandha has been incredible!

Ever feel like your arms are just floating in warrior II? Squeeze shoulder blades together, it opens your heart and you feel the benefit!!! Ever had your teacher come behind you whilst in upward dog and roll your shoulders back? Answer: Squeeze the shoulder blades - engage SB bandha! How a simple engagement can transform certain postures never ceases to amaze me. Forward bends, especially the Marichi sequence - engage the SB bandha. It opens the heart completely, "turning on the lights of the posture", as RF likes to remind us.

Talking of Richard Freeman, I see he is starting an interactive pranayama course. It's quite reasonably priced also, I might sign up, although it's at 2:30 am GMT, so I'd have to watch the recordings, but think it would be really helpful given this year in the BWY course, we have to do a pranayama diary. AND I've felt my breath being quite shallow recently, so anything that can build my breath to access the full range of it would be so helpful.

6 day a week morning practice..one month in....

I haven't written for ages, but I've learnt so much this past month, so I thought I'd share some of it...

So that morning practice is going really well. I have stuck with the program, bar one morning when I had to swap practice with A&E after a minor car accident and a sore neck. (I think I can excuse myself on that one :) The dedication and knowing that the morning practice is there to be done is really important to me. It's changed my outlook on the way I'm living my life, I have more time in the evenings, decisions about my spare time are easier to make, it gives me focus and I don't find myself beating myself up about not doing practice, I just do. It's working out for me.

Recently I have found my sitting bones.

Hidden beneath my buttocks funnily enough ;)

So in one of my last posts I mentioned aswini mudra, the contraction of the anal sphincter muscles to give a deeper forward bend.. especially in the konasanas. Still working well for me btw. But I've worked out that it's more than just the mudra, its contracting those muscles but at the same time pushing the sitting bones into the floor. Can't believe for the past 4 years I have not been planting them into the earth, seems so simple, I just don't know how I have missed it?!! Guess that's the beauty of ashtanga research. Pressing down on the sitting bones grounds you, activates apana vayu and from there allows you to rise up and out of your pelvis, straightening the spine to its full potential. Feels so good.

Its improved all of my forward seated bends. The konasanas. Ubahya padangusthasana, urdva mukha paschimottanasana. Unbelievable.

But yesterday, REVELATION!

I've been struggling with navasana since I started practicing. 4 years later and I'm still in exactly the same place as I was when I started. How crap is that..? But now I've got all this time to practice I decided to research navasana. See whether there were other postures similar in the series which use the same muscles and try and work out why it is not working for me. So I tried ubahya pandangustasana (with newly found sit bone press and bandha engagement, stayed a breath or two in it to engage the psoas, released the grip, pointed the toes and......OMG it worked! Legs straight, feet a bit more pointing towards the ceiling Kino-style than eye level, but got it, Navasana - DONE!

Can't rave enough about a daily practice. And awareness. And body RESEARCH. It's all about the research! Research on!

Basti, basti boy!

"Sitting in utkatasana, navel deep in water, insert a tube into the anus and contract the anus. This cleansing with water is called basti karma." (Hatha Yoga Pradipika - Verse 26, Chapter 2)


I began 2011 with a 3 session colonic hydrotherapy course, performed by a professional. The results were phenomenal. I had suffered from excess wind after eating *everything*, thought I had food intolerances, bloated when eating, just feeling that eating in general was a real bind, because the after effects were just hideous, ruining my social life and making me generally miserable.

I had my first colonic after Christmas. I felt amazing afterwards. My skin glowed, I could think more clearly, remembering more and felt more fluent in my speech. My 'wind' problem completely disappeared, the sole reason for me trying colonics.

I didn't realise until recently that colonic hydrotherapy was an ancient yogic cleansing technique which they called a 'kriya' and part of 'shatkarma' which is essentially cleansing the body from impurities before the beginning of asana, or yogic postures.

The HYP states that the by practising 'Basti' the appetite increases, the body glows, excess doshas are destroyed and the dhatu, senses and mind are purified. It completely washes the bowel and removes excess bacteria, old stool, threadworms and heat from the lower intestines. Most importantly it pushes apana vayu upward. Basti cures digestive disorders and is particularly effective in removing constipation, stimulating sluggish digestion, controlling nervous diarrhoea and strengthening the solar plexus. When the body is purified the chemical constitutions are in balanced proportion and the brain functions are simultaneously influenced and altered. when the body is pure the mind becomes stable, emotional reactions to external stimuli are altered and you will respond in a more relaxed manner.

I had my now *yearly* christmas / new year colonic yesterday and feel equally as good. I know it's probably not for everyone, although I always go on about it and probably in the most inappropriate of circumstances. i.e at the dinner table, but I confess... I'm a huge fan!

As a side effect, the colonic cleanse is an aid to kickstarting a more healthy diet and lifestyle for a lot of people. This year I gave up eating cheese and meat and it made a massive difference to my digestion. I recently started back on both but can feel the difference immediately and so I need to make tat choice again, to look after my colon. I don't care what anyone says, the colon is unbelievably important overall bodily and mental health, I completely believe in this. If you have any digestive problems just Google 'colonics' or 'yeast infections' or 'candida' and you may be amazed. I'll leave it there. I'm not saying it'll be great for everyone but if you have an issue that is ruling or ruining your life, then wouldn't you want to try everything to make that issue better?

Even if it means sitting in the middle of the Ganges with a piece of bamboo stuck up your arse??!!!! (I joke..  :)