Teacher Training Practicum

 
In 2011, I took the 200-hr Yoga Alliance-certified Teacher Training with Kimberly Dahlmann at Yoga East. She's been my teacher for 12 years now, and I've taught consistently at Yoga East for more than 5 years. Even with all my teaching experience, as it is with yoga, there is always more to learn. So I opted to take part in her first teacher training (and will do it again this coming year as an alumni). What an amazing experience to grow close with all those wonderful yogis!

A requirement of the teacher training was that you complete 25 some hours of a practicum. Most of the trainees offered a free class to the community. One of the other Yoga East teachers wrote an excellent book on the Vajrasanas (maybe I'll describe those someday, until then, reference Chip Walker's 'Baring Our Soles'). Well, me, I felt I needed to do something different too, something significant, because I already taught in the classroom 2-3 times a week. 

Kimberly recommeded some ideas to me and nothing came to fruition. I procrastinated forever and finally decided I'd enjoy making a couple yoga youtube videos. Oh, that should be fun & easy! Well, not so. Rather than having someone tape me, I set up a tripod and went for it solo. I was motivated and excited; wrote some pretty interesting scripts; and then tried to put my scripts to the silent videos. Let me tell you, video-editing is no small task. And after watching them over and over, trying to sync up my words to my movements (much harder than syncing breath and movement), I became completely annoyed and disheartened by hearing my voice and watching myself on screen. It was a project I couldn't seem to finish and left me slightly unsatisfied.

But, I needed to finish SOMEthing! So here it is, one year later-- four posts of a blog that I hope to maintain beyond my practicum hours. The next 2 posts include 2 out of the 4 videos I attempted. Then you will find a loooong entry describing my approach to teaching a private client recovering from spinal surgery. 

In the future, I hope to include philosophical and technical tidbits passed down from those who have treaded this path before me, and more intimately, to offer musings on my own practice. I've never blogged before, but I see people do it and it interests me. I used to keep journals, still have them all, and I like the idea of recording some of my written and pictoral history. I hope it becomes something I look back on fondly when I'm old.

Truly, this is for you yogis that know me and know yoga. I am blessed to have such a wonderful community of friends who understand that this is a 'Life Practice' in two senses of the word. One, we work towards living a yogic lifestyle daily and two, we maintain it for our entire life.

supta kurmasana (took me 12 years to get my arms back their and clutch my fingers like that, the curse of the short arms)!

Most pics of me on this blog are credited to Erika Peace, who has a pretty sweet blog herself... http://peacelifehappiness.blogspot.com/

Surya Namaskar A

This second video I created focuses on fundamental technique that anyone learning ashtanga yoga learns first. The asanas that make up Surya Namaskar A (Sun Salutation A) serve the purpose of lubricating the spine and opening the nervous channels with the alternating forward bends and back bends. The "breathing with sound" creates heat, or agni, in the body, for the purpose of purification. The breath also helps to calm the mind with its unchanging, meditative rhythm.

Really the Sun Salutations are all you need to know, and can be a wonderful daily practice on their own (add that to The Four Purifications for more benefits). It's common yoga knowledge that it is better to do 10 minutes of yoga a day than 1.5 hours of yoga a week. Sometimes daily life needs to come before getting on your mat, like for those with small children and other such responsibilities. Guruji always believed and taught that most yogis should also be providers and homemakers. This is where learning to set aside at least 15 minutes a day and not being attached to getting 1.5 hours of practice in a day becomes the real yoga. 

Gaze up on an exhale and step or hop to your hands on the inhale :)

Surya Namaskar A is made up of 9 vinyasas, or breaths attached to a movement. In an ashtanga class, it is common that the vinyasas are counted in sanskrit (ekum, dwe, trini...). Sanskrit was used to write many spiritual texts, which pretty much take a PhD to translate. According to the Epics (Shastras), the practice of Surya Namaskar is necessary for spiritual development. It brings happiness, health and sunlight to the spirit. But if that's all too heavy, you can think of it as a warm-up exercise. I won't mind. I also found this fascinating description of the language (Sanskrit Sounds). 

"The word Sanskrit itself means 'refined, well done.' The alphabet is perfectly designed for the human vocal apparatus, and is pronounced phonetically...Ancient India had a very advanced culture intellectually and spiritually. The sciences of yoga, medicine (Ayurveda), astronomy/astrology (Jyotisha), mathematics, botany, etc. developed over thousands of years, and the accumulated knowledge was recorded in Sanskrit, both aurally and in writing. The sounds of the texts being chanted has been carried along with the written even to this day."

This video goes into a lot of detail. It should be used as a reference and not a video to practice to. Memorize the movements of the sun salutation, including when to inhale and exhale, take some pearls of wisdom from the video, and practice it to the sound of your breath. You will quickly feel how this practice of saluting the sun is much more than a warm-up exercise. 

Video Transcript: Surya Namaskar A

Hatha Yoga Nusasanam, that is what your mind should say each time you step onto your mat to begin a practice.  Right here, in this moment, I am so lucky and should be grateful to be alive.  We are receiving an invitation.  We are inviting ourself to the table, to feast on this delicious yoga.  Ah yes, we are so blessed to have this food for the body and soul.  By developing a relationship with the self,, we can access freedom in our bodies, love in our hearts and clarity in our minds.  Yoga is work, there is no doubt about that.  we have to exert effort to find relaxation.  Laziness is our biggest enemy.  We must move energy to maintain and build energy.  We must breathe deeply to enhance the quality of our lives.  We practice yoga to undo our past and unlock our future.  By accepting who we are in this moment, we can truly let go of whatever holds us back and move forward towards contentment.

Samastitih – Big toes and heels together if possible, but inner ankles apart.  Press the big toes forward and down and keep space between all of the toes.  Feel the ball of the foot and heel ground down, and feel the arch of the foot lifting. So much information exists simply in the feet!  The feet give us insight into our pelvis, so pay attention.  Symmetry in the feet will indicate a balanced pelvis, and less lower back pain.

Every pose carries the same patterns, and a lot can be understood in your body by observing your stance in samastihih.  Are your knees locked?  They should be soft.  Engage your quadriceps instead and lift your knee caps up.  Your pelvis should be neutral, not tilted forward or back.  Can you imagine the groins pressing back and the pubic bone lifting? Can you slightly tuck your tailbone so it points downward?  Notice your floating ribs now, keep them in so that the lumbar spine can press back, the kidneys lifting and maintaining just a slight arch in the lower back.   We want the natural curves to our spine to exist, but we don’t want to overarch the spine in any direction either.  Moving up to the chest cavity, your heart is lifted without tension.  You shoulders should relax down the back.  And the head, is it stacked directly on top of the spine, or pushing forward with over-ambition? Keep your chin slightly tucked and the back of the neck long. 

So much to think about!  Now that we’ve aligned our spine, just breathe – fully, freely, long and even, without pause--listening to the sound of the ujayi. 

Chataranga Dandasana– ahhh, such a difficult pose!  It takes such strength and alignment to hover above the floor and honestly take our full exhale before initiating the inhale we need to move to upward dog.  Lets try not to rush chataranga, because there is so much to learn.  Find that perfect 90 degree angle with your arms.  Shoulders remain back and chest lifted.  The head faces forward, not down, and the gaze is at the tip of the nose.  The forearms should be in line with the side of the body, very close to the bottom ribs.  Your upper arm will be inline with the spine.  Of course, we strive to keep our elbows in close to the sides.   As you exhale and lower, your belly should move back towards the spine, engaging uddiyana bandha – this will keep you feeling light, and keep you from sagging in your back as you lower.  Keep the same integrity in your spine as you had in samastitih.  Press back with your heels and keep the legs strong, you will need them for upward dog!

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana - And once the exhale is fully complete, the inhale begins… before you even start pressing into upward dog!  Upward dog, or urdvha mukha svanasana starts at the feet.  You roll over the tops of the toes (symmetrically, not one at a time) keeping your ankles stable.  It is important to not let the feet sickle in our out.  Press evenly into the toe bed, even your pinky should press down.  We have to use the floor as a prop to help combat the gravity, press down to go up!  This pose is much more in the legs than it should be in the arms, although arm strength is necessary to build too.  Again, we don’t want the lower back to sag or overarch, so use that energy in the legs to lift the pelvis up!  Mula bandha is lifting here, again creating lightness.  Press through the inner hands to lift the chest, trying not to lock the elbows or put too much pressure in the base of the hand which will lead to wrist troubles.  Grip with your fingertips.  Check the alignment of the arms-- the shoulders should stack directly above the wrists, not in front or behind.  Bring the shoulders back to open up the heart.  Let the head go back but do not crunch the vertebrae in the neck.  This is more about extending upward than arching the spine.  Your gaze is still at the tip of the nose, although it can be towards the third eye, I find the nose dristi to be more peaceful and inward-seeking.

Adho Mukha Svanasana - Once your inhale is complete, the exhale begins as you transition to downward dog, addho mukha svanasana.  Again, roll over the toes evenly, with stable ankles, we always start at the feet.  Press the hips up and back by extending fully with the arms.  Ahhh, our first inversion, putting our heart above our head.  This pose is essential to yoga, and once you’re able to find the balance of weight between the hands and feet, it becomes such a relaxing, restorative pose that can be held upwards of 5 minutes or more.  Of course, it’s another very detail oriented pose too.  Remember, we go back to samastitih to understand the directions of the spine.  We want to get those natural curves to transfer to all the poses.  Start at the feet.  They should be hips width apart, heels turned slightly out in line with the pinky toes.  You can step the feet up towards the hands a little, but this should not become habitual.  Eventually, you want to keep the spine long, so even if the heels don’t ground, keep your feet where they land after upward dog.  Soften the knees, so you can find the fronts of the legs.  Lift the kneecaps and engage your quads.  The base of the sacrum is the highest point in the pose, imagine a string attached to the sacrum that is pulling you upward.  Bring in your belly without creating tension in the breath and visualize both uddyana and mula bandha engaging.  Sits bones lift, but tailbone points down towards the heels.  The floating ribs stay in and the lumbar spine should puff upward with the breath.  Shoulders roll away from the neck and spine.  Inner elbows face each other and the middle finger points straight ahead.  Other fingers spread even distance from each other, press through the point in the web of the hand between the thumb and index finger, keep the pinky side of the hand light. 

Take 5 breaths or more in downward dog and complete the sun salutation.  As you raise your arms up to the sky reach through your fingers and press your palms, but leave your shoulders down.  Gaze up to the thumbs.   And come back to samastitih.

Modified – If you are still just developing your strength, it’s ok to add in some modifications.  For one, bend your knees as you fold forward, and simply step back to plank.  Come down on your knees first and then all the way to the floor instead of hovering in chataranga.  For  upward dog, just press your chest up, leaving your pelvis down.  In downdog, bend your knees a lot to find length in the spine.  Feel your body first before jumping around in your vinyasas.  Each day will be different than the next.  Some days we need to protect and preserve, other days we need to break down and rebuild.  Yoga is about letting go of your expectations.  Remember abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah – to succeed in yoga we must take on two things:  consistent practice and non-attachment to the results!

The Four Purifications

Hypothetical: You've been practicing yoga a while now, maybe a year, and you've committed to going a couple times a week. Your practice improved quickly at first, it was a steep learning curve, and then you hit a plateau. You want more but really can't commit more time. What to do?

Well, remember, the asanas we do in class are only one part of the equation. There are 8 limbs to be practiced, and the first 4 are very attainable. The yamas and niyamas are our ethical principles off the mat. They include tenets like nonviolence, honesty, purity, and belief in a higher power. There are many ways to incorporate them into our daily lives to enhance our yoga practice (which is really a Life Practice).  Asanas are the physical part of yoga, we use our bodies to access the mind and heart.  What comes next, or goes along with it, is pranayama.

Pranayama are breathing exercisies. Prana, the life force that coarses through our bodies, is what we really want to investigate and have a connection with. Maybe our prana runs freely, maybe it is abundant, or maybe it is sluggish or uncontained.  By controlling our breath, we increase and harness our prana=energy.  There are probably hundreds of different pranayama techniques. The four I show in this video are accessible to anyone, particularly the first one, nadi shodhana.  The other 3 just take practice. I show you the method and introduce more background in the video below. I copied the script below the video for your reference.

Four Purifications Transcript

Prana, the life force or energy that is concentrated in the central channel of the nervous system of the body, tends to get dilute and scattered.  Pranayama aids in the concentration, organization and distribution of that energy.  Pranayama can be thought of as breathing exercises, but in reality prana is not breath.  Instead, breath can helps move prana from the central nervous system through energy channels called nadis to be absorbed in other parts of the body, like in the mind and heart.  In most people, the nadis are clogged due physical and emotional experiences that create fear, aversions, and tension, which all block pranic flow. 

In order to prepare the gross body for the work that a yoga practice offers the subtle body and mind, it is helpful to take pranayama before your asana practice.  The subtle body is made up primarily of the chakras (energy valves or centers), the pranic currents called vayus, and the network that transfers prana – the nadis.  When the subtle body is left unattended, it can grow dormant, as does the pranic flow.  That is why yoga and pranayama make us feel so energized!  Because they get the prana flowing again.

In this video, I will show you a practice called the four purifications, which are safe for all levels.  This method includes four separate techniques (type on screen): Nadishodhana, Kapala bhati, Agnisara dhauti and Ashvini mudra.

First, nadi shodana, which translates as purification of the nadis, but you might know it as alternate nostril breathing.

Tuck your pointer and middle finger into your palm of your right hand.  Bend your elbow and bring your hand to your face, with the elbow lifted away from the heart.  Place your thumb of your right hand over the right nostril and take an inhale in through the left.  Always start with an inhale thru the left.  Then close the left nostril with the ring and pinky finger and exhale through the right nostril.  Without changing the hand, inhale through the right nostril, then close the right with the thumb again and exhale through the left.  That is one round.  A round always ends with an exhale through the right side.   Take 10-15 rounds of nadi shodana.

This practice harmonizes the solar and lunar sides of our subtle body, our masculine and feminine energies. Our feminine side is the left nostril (which connects to the right brain), and it offers creativity, relaxation, compassion, and cooling temperatures.  The right, masculine side (connected to the left brain) builds our confidence, rational thought, and motivation.  It warms us internally.  With careful attention, you can feel the heating and cooling temperature in the wind that passes through the nostrils.  It’s also interesting to notice if and when one or the other nostril is clogged.  This indicates imbalance between the masculine and feminine energies in your body.  This pranayama truly creates a calm and relaxed, focused energy and can be done at any time if we feel off center, anxious, or lethargic.

Kapalabhati or breath of fire is the second of the purifications.  In this practice, the diaphragm acts as a bellows that fans the internal fire that burns within all of us.  Our diaphragm is located right under the front of the ribcage.  It is a pranayama used specifically to burn up the vrittis or vacillations of the mind, to calm our busy thoughts.

The practice is done by taking a full inhale breath, exhaling slightly to ¾ full and then taking short forceful exhales while allowing the pump of the diaphragm to create involuntary, quickened inhales.  This is all done through the nose, not the mouth.  It is difficult for most people to understand the non-active inhale, and so often the forceful exhales will cause you to lose your breath entirely.  You can try to put your hands on your diaphragm to get the feeling of the pumping.  On the forceful exhale the diaphragm puffs out and to get the inhale to come in, relax or bring the diaphragm back in.  Start slow with maybe only 10 forced exhales before letting the rest of the breath out, work up to 30, but more than 60 might be overdoing it.  Take 3-5 full rounds of kapalabhati.

The heat that this practice is similar to that created by ujayi pranayama, it is used for purification.  In chemistry, reactions and movement of molecules occur with heat.  In the same sense, the chemicals in our body need heat to get moving, either to be absorbed where needed or simply flushed out through elimination or sweat.  Just like prana moving through the nadis, it’s important that our glands and organs have the ability to complete their natural cleansing processes and are not left cold and dormant.

Another way to get the organs into action for the purpose of digestion is with agni sara dhauti, the third of the purifications.  Agni is that internal fire.  Sara is cascade or washing and dhauti is cleansing.  In this practice, we learn to let go of tension held in the abdomen, and to create movement and action in the belly. It is performed on the retention of the exhale breath.  Again, we use that heat created with the breath to purify. 

Take in a full inhale, opening the mouth, stick the tongue out and exhale all the breath out forcefully.  Round the spine and lean forward.  At the base of the exhale hold the breath out.  Start to pump the belly gently at first and as slow as you need.  When you need to take your inhale do so, but work up to 20-30 belly pumps.  Take 3-5 full rounds of agni sara dhauti.

This practice can be done sitting down, but it might be easier to try standing up, bending the knees slightly and bringing the hands to the knees on the exhale, leaving them there to pump the belly.

The last of the purifications is ashvini mudhra, translated as gesture of the horse.  We won’t get into the details of why a horse, but instead let’s get into the description of the practice, and maybe you’ll guess on your own!  This practice is performed on the retention at the top of an inhale.  You will take in the breath and at the top, drop the head back slightly, opening the throat.  With the tip of your chin draw an arch down to the chest.  Try to grab a tiny bit of flesh with the chin and pull up to seal jalandara bhanda, the throat lock.  Holding this, you will begin to contract and release the anal sphincter.  There should be no movement in the body and this might be hard to feel at first.  Try to count the times you contract and release and increase this with practice to around 30.  Take 3-5 full rounds of this last purification method.

By holding jalandara bandha, the Amrita (the nectar of immortality formed in Sahasrara chakra) is kept from dripping down and being consumed by the fire in the navel region.  By contracting the anal sphincter we are able to seal in the area where prana likes to leak out – at the base of the spine near manipura chakra.  This helps develop mula bandha which is extremely beneficial in the ashtanga practice.

This practice can also be performed by taking three full rounds of all four (5 rounds of nadi shodana, 1 round each of the others).  I’ve seen it taught both ways.  Remember, that when we commit to any spiritual practice such as a pranayama practice like this, we will see the best results if we are consistent with it and do it for a long time.  I suggest starting any practice on a new moon, and trying to take it daily for the entire cycle of the moon.  Feel free to email me with questions, concerns, or success stories.  Namaste.

Yoga for Recovery

This is a long post. It's mostly for Kimberly to read so that she can confirm my practicum hours. ;-) But if you are interested in the details of teaching yoga therapeutically, read on!

You've heard it before... Yoga is for every body. I'll preach that for my entire life after seeing so many students overcome fear, disease, depression, and pain by dedicating themselves to this practice. I met Bill and his dog Levi walking through Vaughn Woods in April of this year. He had been recovering from a pretty serious spinal surgery in his late 40's, but longed to get back to the active lifestyle he once lived. Six months prior he had the lowest vertebrae in his lumbar spine fused together, L4 & L5, and this was the first time he was out walking his dog since then. His doctor told him he was ready to start light exercise again, and his friends recommended yoga as a way to heal his body. Bill felt that meeting me in the woods that day was fortuitous, and so a month later we agreed to meet for our first private yoga lesson.

Lucy Joy & I on a hike last October. The woods are our happy place.

When you go through what Bill did, there is a lot of fear held in the body; that can manifest as pain or tightness. He told me that even long before surgery, he was nervous about straining his lower back because it was sensitive or weak. Avoiding the inevitable, he spent a lot of time hunched over on a bike and not much time worrying about the health of his spine. But surgery was an eye opener for him, because he had the epiphany that by taking control of his body, future pain could be avoidable! Before he even knew it, he was aware of yoga (e.g., Heyam Dukham Anagatam - Sutra 2.16). 

Prior to Bill and I's first meeting, I sent him some information on how yoga could help bring more flexibility into his spine, strength to his core, and the confidence that, although his spine had failed him once, there was hope for healing it to a point where he wouldn't experience pain. This was the first of many emails I sent to Bill.

 Hi Bill,

I finally got a chance to write this email to you before our first session so that you have a little prior understanding of what I hope to show you during our time together.  You can also indicate to me any questions or reservations you may have before we meet. 

The main goal we will aim to achieve is to expediate your recovery and improve your quality of life again so that you can do the things you used to do without pain.  Before we start, keep in mind, yoga is a health system, a lifestyle, a science, and an art form.  It will benefit you mentally and physically by creating compassion, awareness, and a deep spiritual connection to the self.  It takes years and years of devoted practice to master, but only a short time to feel the beneficial effects. 

There are several areas of the body that I would like to focus on over our four sessions--your hips & pelvis, sacrum and thoracic spine.  Because you are fused in your lumbar spine, you obviously have less flexible there, but what we don't want to happen is for that that inflexibility to start moving into other parts of your spine, pelvis and hips.  You need to learn to access those other places and become more aware of how to move and use them properly.  Since the lumbar is typically the weakest part of the spine anyway, in yoga, we actually focus much more on rotations in the hips and legs, the tilt of the pelvis and sacrum, and twisting and extension from the thoracic spine. 

Forward-bending:
Not being able to touch one's toes is one reason people consider taking yoga.  It's important to be able to do!  But when there is tightness in the hips and immobility in the pelvis, people tend to do it incorrectly and unsafely.  What typically happens is they round into the spine rather than leading with the front of the body.  This results in a collapsed chest and a tucked sacrum.  Over the long term it will cause a hunched thoracic spine and a flattening of the lumbar spine, which can cause serious lower back pain.  In fact, bike riders often get this incorrectly curved spine from leaning forward to ride.  We will work on creating the back and forth tilt of your pelvis, accessing the sits bones when bending forward to keep from collapsing into the lower back, and the leading with your chest rather than rounding forward.

Hip Opening:
The hips can rotate 360 degrees.  Unfortunately, many of us who work at computers or drive in cars lose a lot of the available rotation from sitting so much.  We get tight in the front of the hips in our psoas muscle, tight in our groins, and tend to rotate the legs out, rather than in.  This outer rotation puts pressure on the sacrum and can cause sciatic pain.  When we soften the groins, find the tilt of the pubic bone, and rotate the legs inward, we spread the sacrum and alleviate tension in the lower back.  I will have you do lunges to open up the front of the hips and we'll get into the rotations of the legs with common standing postures I will teach you.  We'll also do a pose called supta virasana, which teaches you about the natural curves of the spine and gets you to separate the legs from the pelvis by opening or freeing the hips.

Twisting:
In a twist, you first need to elongate the space between each vertebra before you rotate.  Each vertebra will twist an equal amount all the way up the spine, except for your L4 and L5 of course.  The breath is very important in twisting, you will always exhale into it and if the breath feels stuck in any way in the twist, that is an indication that you should back out to find elongation.  The sacrum is not meant to twist.  We will take twisting slowly but it is very healthy for the spine and the organs, it is like wringing out the body like a sponge, squeezing out toxins that build up over time.

Breath:
Every movement has a breath, not only any breath, but a smooth, audible, controlled, medium to long breath.  The length of the inhale should equal the length of the exhale.   The inhale usually corresponds to an elongation, an opening up, or a lifting of the body.  The exhale goes along with forward bending, twisting and deepening or grounding.  The breath originates from the diaphragm, which expands downward and out with the inhale and comes in and up on the exhale.  We'll start each session with a breathing exercise, as I see this as the most important way to create body awareness.  This awareness for the breath and body is what is going to heal you and free you from future pain. 

I hope you found that interesting.  Remember, let me know if you have questions or concerns either before we meet on thursday or before we start.  You don't have to remember every detail I discuss above, I will go over it again and again with you so that your body puts it to memory.  Looking forward to our first meeting!

Warm regards,
Deana

In the first session with Bill, I wasn't exactly sure how vulnerable he was going to be. He told me that the muscles in his lower back were often very stiff, but that all other therapies he was trying (chiropractor, physical therapy) were helping and not hurting, and his back was only always getting better and not worse. We started with a long discussion about the breath and I taught him the practice of nadi shodhana. I then took him through some very simple vinyasa and fundamental poses. I just wanted him to start getting breath and movement into his spine. This is  one thing I feel distinguishes yoga from other forms of natural therapy... it places a huge emphasis on the breath. Development of the yogic breath will relax, soften, and create openings and lightness in the body. 

Because he made it clear that the details were helpful to his learning process, I made sure to send him a write-up that he could refer to for his home/self practice.

Hi Bill,
 
I really enjoyed meeting with you yesterday.  Let's not worry about those vayus so much and just focus on breathing and moving energy.  Letting go is a big part of yoga.  Remember, balance effort and relaxation and I think you will be the type of person that needs to focus more on the relaxation part.  Also, there is a time to think about details, and there is another time to just let the practice do the work.  It is quite effective on it's own.  And the ultimate goal is to quiet the chatter of the mind.

Here is a review of what we did yesterday.  I try to be as detailed as possible but don't be afraid to ask any questions.  The info on the pranayama, breathing practice I already had written, so it's a bit long.  But it's good info. 

Pranayama: Nadi shodhana - alternate nostril breathing
Prana, the life force or energy that is concentrated in the central channel of the nervous system of the body, tends to get dilute, scattered and stuck.  Pranayama aids in the concentration, organization and distribution of that energy.  Pranayama can be thought of as breathing exercises, but in reality prana is not breath.  Instead, breath helps move prana from the central nervous system through energy channels called nadis to be absorbed in other parts of the body.  In most people, the nadis are clogged due physical and emotional experiences that create fear, aversions, and tension, which all block pranic flow. 

Nadi shodana translates as purification of the nadis, but it is also known as alternate nostril breathing. 

Tuck your pointer and middle finger into your palm of your right hand.  Bend your elbow and bring your hand to your face, with the elbow lifted away from the heart.  Place your thumb of your right hand over the right nostril and take an inhale in through the left.  Always start with an inhale thru the left.  Then close the left nostril with the ring and pinky finger and exhale through the right nostril.  Without changing the hand, inhale through the right nostril, then close the right with the thumb again and exhale through the left.  That is one round.  A round always ends with an exhale through the right side.   Take 10-15 rounds of nadi shodana.

This practice harmonizes the solar and lunar sides of our subtle body, our masculine and feminine energies. Our feminine side is the left nostril (which connects to the right brain), and it offers creativity, relaxation, compassion, and cooling temperatures.  The right, masculine side (connected to the left brain) builds our confidence, rational thought, and motivation.  It warms us internally.  With careful attention, you can feel the heating and cooling temperature in the wind that passes through the nostrils.  It’s also interesting to notice if and when one or the other nostril is clogged.  This indicates imbalance between the masculine and feminine energies in your body.  This pranayama truly creates a calm and relaxed, focused energy and can be done at any time if we feel off center, anxious, or lethargic.

Cat - Cow: Awakening the Spine
Setting up:  Move to your hands and knees in a table top position.  Place your wrists under your shoulders and turn your hands so your middle finger points straight ahead.  Knees should be under your sits bones rather than the hip bones so you might need to walk your knees back a bit.  Knees hips width apart.  Feet point back behind you. 
From a neutral position:  Inhale to arch the spine, let the belly drop, lift the tailbone/sacrum, head lifts and moves back as chest opens, gaze up.  Exhale to round the spine, bring the belly in, press the upper back up, tuck the chin and tailbone.  Here's a video if you are more of a visual learner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMJLGmOS7QE

SamastithihFirst stand in samastihih and try to think of those directions of the spine without doing much.  Just imagine them while you stand and breath in stillness.  Remember to turn your heels out slightly, press your big toes down, and don't lock your knees.  The directions of the quadrants are:
1. Tailbone tucks, pubic bone lifted
2. Kidney region lifting, Floating ribs down
3. Shoulders drop down back, chest lifts
4. Neck long, chin slightly tucked

Using your Block1.  Still standing take you block and bring it up above your head (the long way), press your hands into the sides of the block and work to straighten your arms.  Bring them back far without letting your floating ribs jut out.  Hold this 3x for about 30 seconds (no need to time yourself though, when you want to bring you arms down, try taking 3 more deep breaths).

2.  Put the block between your legs (shorter width of the block), so that your groins can press into the block.  Take a deep inhale and on the exhale start to fold forward.  Keep you chest lifting and try not to push your hips far back.  Bend you knees if you need.  Think more of extending out through the top of the head rather than folding and rounding your spine.  Keep the integrity of your spine like in samastihih.  Just go as far as your exhale lets you and as you start your inhale, come back up to standing.  Never hold your breath.  Try this 10x.

Sun Salutation
Start in samastihih.  INHALE arms up, touch palms if you can.  EXHALE fold forward at the hips (same as you did with the block). Place your hands on your shins and bend your knees a lot if you need to.  INHALE extend the spine and look up, straighten your arms but keep your hands on your shins.  EXHALE bend your knees so you can put your hands on the floor and step back one foot at a time to a high plank.  Keep exhaling (or take another inhale then start a new exhale) to lower onto your knees and then bring your chest down to the floor.  INHALE bring your forearms to the floor and lift the chest, keeping the hips grounded.  EXHALE use your arms to press your hips back to that triangle position (high hips).  MAKE SURE YOU BEND YOUR KNEES FOR NOW.  Straighten your arms as much as you can.  Take 5 breaths here (try to keep them smooth and long).  EXHALE look up to your hands, INHALE walk your feet towards your hands and look up, extending the spine.  EXHALE fold forward and tuck the chin.  INHALE rise up to standing, touch your palms.  EXHALE hands back to your sides.  Here is a pretty good video, couldn't find the perfect one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij_yFtjTH1E

Don't worry about the modified backbends we did (lifting the hips, laying on the back), we'll go over that again next time for sure.  And this email is getting way too long.

Restorative Pose: Viparita Karani
However, I do recommend doing the pose with the legs up the wall even if you can't fit in any of the above.   Use a pillow under the lower back (make sure your sacrum is on the pillow).  The pillow should be a 6-12 inches away from the wall.  To get up, sit down from the side and swing your legs up.  Stay here for 5-10 minutes with your eyes closed, just breathing deeply.  To come down, be sure to bring your feet flat to the wall with bent knees for a minute before coming out. 


Ok, last thing (if you've even made it through all of this).  I saw this video today and I thought it was a perfect example of how yoga makes the impossible possible.  It's a little cheesy and even ridiculous at parts, but the end really is inspiring.  Check it out when you have a chance!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448&feature=share

Have a great weekend.  oh, and we'll try for wednesday next week then, let's do 2:30 if that's ok (sometimes my boss schedules meetings at 1 on wednesdays).

Be well,
Deana

In our second session, I taught Bill how contraction of muscles is only half of what is needed to increase strength. I could tell Bill was holding tension in his lower back, which was essentially creating weakness. In order to release that tension, he would need to learn how to contract the core (lifting uddiyana bandha) to assist in lengthening (ie.,relaxing) the lower back. But mostly, since his core is already pretty strong, I wanted him to practice counter-balancing contraction with release in that area from the lower ribs to the pubic bone. Cat-cow, which I taught in week one, and agni sara, described in the email below about class two, are both good ways to get movement and release in the belly and lumbar spine.

Hi Bill,
Thanks for your efforts today.  I had a lot of fun!  Hope you did too.  Here goes... recap from today:

1. Breath Awareness
Lay on your back, feet wide, knees touching.  One hand on belly, the other on the chest.  Breath into both hands, expanding on the inhales from the solar plexus, and returning to the center on your exhale as you empty the body of breath.

2.  Agni Sara Dhauti -  Increasing the digestive fire.
From standing, place your hands on your thighs above your knees.  Take an inhale and arch your back, gaze up.  Begin your exhale as you round in the spine (like cat-cow), gaze toward your belly.  Hold out the exhale.  Pump the belly... contract, release, contract, release, etc.  Take your inhale as soon as you need to, don't wait till you are gasping for air.  Take an extra breath in between each round.  Take 3-5 rounds.  Would be good to do this after nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing), first thing in the morning before you put any food or liquid in your body.

3.  Sun Salutations A's - With Full Chataranga (4 limb pose)
Stepping back on an exhale to high plank, keep your feet hips width.  Keep exhaling as you lower (or take a full inhale at high plank and then begin a new exhale, I did not mention this option).  When you lower, press out with your heels, bring your belly in, and squeeze your elbows to your sides.  You can hover for a second, and then lower to the ground (eventually, this is all done on one exhale has you step back).  Move to your forearms for cobra (modified upward dog).  Inhale to lift your chest and press the tops of your feet into the floor.  Exhale to move to downward dog for 5 breaths.  Other think I talked about was finding that extension of the spine as you step up to the hands, all on one inhale, then exhale fold, inhale rise up to standing.A

4.  Lunges at the wall
Bring toes up the wall, step back with one leg, bend other knee towards the wall until it is touching.  Really straighten that back leg.  Use hands on the wall to press torso back, but continue to extend in the spine upward.  If you want to use your thumbs to rotate the legs and balance the pelvis:  on bent leg, take thumb to thigh right below hip bone and rotate down and out.  on straight back leg, take thumb below glut muscle and rotate that leg forward. 2-3 times each side.

5.  Twist at wall
Find something you can step up on (like the multiple block set-up).  Bring the knee up closest to the wall.  Keep pelvis facing the same direction as your toes.  Take an inhale to extend the spine, take an exhale to rotate (mostly from the thoracic) so that the chest faces the wall.  Your gaze can look back towards the direction of your back.  Use your fingertips on the wall, not your palms.  Hold for 10-20 breaths each side.

6.  Sitting up straight!!!
Sit on the floor with legs out and feet against the wall.  Use your strap on balls of feet if it helps.  Pull back on the strap as your press your feet into the wall.  Lift your chest and drive the sits bones into the floor.  Don't collapse in your lower back.  Eventually your hamstrings will soften and legs will straighten.  For now, they can be bent. 

7.  Supta Padangustasana (supta=supine, pada=foot, gusta=big toe, asana=pose)
Lay onto your back with left foot against wall and a slightly bent knee.  Put strap around ball of right foot, keep right knee slightly bent.  As you inhale, straighten the legs any amount as you press into the wall with the left foot and you press up with the ball of your right foot.  Hold for as long as feels comfortable.  You can repeat sides 2-3 times if you're up for it.

8.  Backbends (modified)
Toes up the wall.  Bring hips towards heels until fingertips touch with outstretched arms.  Put block between thighs (mid-width of block).  Bring lower back to touch the floor.  On inhale lift hips and arms over head, on exhale, return arms as you lower hips (make sure lower back touches before hips).  You can also do this by holding for 5-10 breaths and interlacing the fingers underneath your back, shimmying the shoulders underneath you to get the sternum to lift.  Each time you lift, relax your gluts, lift your pubic bone and press your knees towards the wall (they shouldn't touch though).

9.  Savasana (Relaxation)
Remember to take some time to lay down or put your legs up a wall, close your eyes and zone out for a bit after you practice.  This is where you will integrate the benefits of the work you have done.  It's important not to rush off to another task before you take this time to reflect and absorb. 

Enjoy! 

I saw improvement each week, he was definitely practicing outside of our sessions. The difference in his downward dog from week 1 to 3 was astounding. Even his upward dog had beautiful form for someone with a tight back. But we both still felt like his hamstrings were limiting him, particularly with poses on the floor. Sitting in dandasana was extremely difficult. It was interesting to see the connection of tightness in the back of his legs either affecting or affected by tightness in his lower back. Bill has a good connection with the front of his body, but tends to push and hold in his back body. Since forward bending on the floor is not yet accessible for Bill, partly due to his spinal fusion, in class 3 we worked on "box on the wall", paschimottanasana with a strap, supta padangustasana with a strap at the wall, and viparita karani instead of savasana. All of those poses help to soften the hamstrings, and thus use the legs in a forward bend more than the spine. 

Hi Bill, 
Instead of giving detailed instructions about what we did this last week, I thought I'd give you the sequence I hope to do with you next Wed and the one I think you should focus on for the next few weeks/months until you feel proficient with it. 

1.  Virasana for alternate nostril breathing (I don't think I've shown you virasana, but I will next week, it will be the only new thing I show you)

2.  Box on the wall - to get those hamstrings open, simulate downward dog at the wall.  Make sure you are creating a right angle with the legs and the floor (and the legs and the torso).  Lift your sits bones and straighten your legs.  Roll your shoulders away from your neck and let the head drop down.  Inner elbows will be facing, arms straight, hands only shoulder width, middle fingers point straight up. 

3.  Cat - Cow on your mat (you know this)

4.  5-10 Surya Namaskara A - taking it slow with upward dog depending on how you feel (note on upward dog: make sure you are not sagging your hips, that you use the full top of the foot to lift the hips and engage your legs, also try to push so much with the arms that the shoulders are down the back and not up near the ears)

5.  In last Surya Namaskara downward dog, step up one leg at a time for the lunge I taught you.  Use blocks or something to elevate the floor to your hands, until you can eventually do it with your hands on the floor and the front foot between your hands.  Hold these lunges for as long as you can, then take 5 more breaths, then switch. You can also do them 3 times each side.  Make sure to keep dropping your hips and straightening the back leg. 

6.  Prasarita Padotanasana - Open legs wide and face the side of your mat.  Heels in line with pinky toe (don't let heels be turned in).  Hands on waist, take and inhale.  As you exhale, fold forward to a stack of blocks in front of you.  Both hands on blocks, extend out with the spine to keep its natural curves rather than rounding forward.  Let your head go, start to get some bend in the elbows. 

7.  Add a twist - From Prasarita Padotanasana, keep left hand on your block, take a nice inhale and as you start your exhale, lift the right arm up to initiate a twist from your thoracic.  Open the chest to the side, but DO NOT let the left hip drop (keep line of hip bones parallel to the floor).  Repeat on other side.

8.  Parsvatanasana - From Samastitih, step one leg back 3-4 feet.  Turn the back foot out a few degrees and keep the front foot facing forward.  Try to keep your heels in line with each other and your pelvis facing front.  Hands on waist, take an inhale.  Start to fold forward by pressing back with the front foot (from the big toe).  Keep both legs straight and focus on lifting that front kneecap.  Press the weight into your back outer heel.  Fold forward and put your hands on two blocks.  Hold this pose until you want to come out, then take a few more breaths.  As you come up keep your spine in line, chin slightly tucked (do not lift from the head first). 

9.  Vrkasana - Balance on your left foot, bend your right knee and bring the sole of the foot to the calf or above the knee.  Open that right knee up without letting your pelvis turn with it.  Hands in prayer, find a gazing point, find the resistance of pressing the foot to the leg and the leg to the foot.  Switch sides. 

10.  Virabhadrasana A (warrior) at the wall - Facing the wall, bring the toes of one foot up the wall and step the other leg back to a wide stance.  As you exhale, bring the front knee to the wall, so that eventually the front thigh is parallel to the floor (may need to adjust the width of your stance to get it right).  Keep your fingertips on the wall, press the torso back and really straighten the back leg (back heel is up). 

11. Virabhadrasana B at wall - Turn to the side, step leg closest to the wall up onto several blocks or chair (so that thigh is parallel to floor).  Take an inhale to lengthen and an exhale to twist towards the wall.  Use the fingertips on the wall and find the twist from the thoracic, keeping the pelvis facing front.  You can look back over the shoulder.

12.  Dandasana - Sit down and put your feet against the wall.  Wrap the strap around the balls of both feet.  Pulling back on the strap to get the shoulders back and chest open, press the feet into the wall to try to get your legs straight.  Lean back so that you are over your sits bones.  Breath here for a while.

13.  Baddhakonasana - We did this for a restorative relaxation pose last week.  This next week we'll incorporate it into your sequence without the strap.  I'll go over it with you then.

13.  Supta padangustasana - Lay onto your back with left foot against wall and a slightly bent knee.  Put strap around ball of right foot, keep right knee slightly bent.  As you inhale, straighten the legs any amount as you press into the wall with the left foot and you press up with the ball of your right foot.  Hold for as long as feels comfortable.  You can repeat sides 2-3 times if you're up for it.

14.  Backbends (modified) - Bring hips towards heels until fingertips touch with outstretched arms.  Put block between thighs (mid-width of block).  Bring lower back to touch the floor.  On inhale lift hips and arms over head, on exhale, return arms as you lower hips (make sure lower back touches before hips).  You can also do this by holding for 5-10 breaths and interlacing the fingers underneath your back, shimmying the shoulders underneath you to get the sternum to lift.  Each time you lift, relax your gluts, lift your pubic bone and press your knees away from you (lengthen the femur out of the pelvis).

15.  Hip openers on the floor - Cross the legs one on top of each other.  Reach for the opposite ankle or shin with the arms.  Pull back or down with the feet as your press away with the knees.  Feel the IT bands stretch here.  Switch sides by crossing the opposite leg on top.  2nd one - place your outer right ankle above the left knee.  Stick your right arm through the triangle formed in your legs, reach around the outside of the left leg and interlace your fingers behind the knee.  Pull back with the arms and press away with the right knee. 

16.  Viparita Karani (see week 1 email)

By our fourth session we were starting to get more flow into the standing sequence. With private sessions, it's hard to avoid having conversations in the middle of practice. I wanted him to know what it felt like to practice with breath and dristi and without distraction, even though he was supposedly doing this at home. I introduced Surya Namaskar B this time, but we added in some breaths since it was hard for Bill to step up quickly to virabhadrasana in one breath. We added an exhale after he stepped his foot up (with hands still down). And we added an inhale to high blank after he exhaled his hands down from virabhadrasana. That seemed to flow quite nicely, without Bill feeling rushed or losing control of his breath. I also added in some new triangle poses we hadn't done yet, since the standing postures were becoming more accessible and effective for him by this point.

Hi Bill.

I hope you're feeling good after our session yesterday.  You did great.  I am seeing a lot of progression and truly your body might feel stiff in some ways, but other ways it is quite responsive and open.  For example, your downward dog looks amazing and that is not an easy pose for many people.  Your hamstrings are getting longer, like I pointed out in the wide leg triangle that you can reach the floor on (prasarita padotanasana).  That is some serious improvement from when we started!  We will get you in a seated forward bend before long, don't you worry.  Like I said, it is important for you to remember to relax more, contract less.  Most of us do one or the other very well.  You are a contracter.  Remember, it is the balance of both that make us truly strong and injury free.  I'm glad you see this yoga as helpful in your healing process.  There are many amazing stories of how yoga transformed people's lives.  It's all about discipline (at least 3 or more times a week) and letting go of perfection so the yoga can do the work.  There's those opposites again, yoga is full of them.

Here is a video of a woman doing surya namaskar (sun salutation) B.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75i0EdmGFaE  I think this will help, but remember, take those extra breaths when you need them.  Like when you step up to the warriors - inhale step foot towards hands, exhale in lunge position, inhale up to warrior, exhale hands back beside foot, inhale to high plank, exhale lower to chataranga (low plank).

The other new poses included uttita trikonasana and pavritta trikonasana.  In uttita, the pic below doesn't show a block but you would put it on the outside of your front leg foot (where his hand is shown).  The 2nd pic of pavritta is perfect for you.  You can use the block like she is and just begin twisting from the chest keeping the pelvis neutral.  You can turn your head too to gaze over your shoulder (turn it in the same direction as chest).  First one, pelvis faces the side of your mat, second one the pelvis faces to front or back of your mat.  Straight legs in both. 
 


Ok, let me know if you have questions.
Enjoy your weekend!
Deana 
 
Bill is a vata dosha type, which controls movement in the body. From the beginning, he wanted to know all the details and do it perfectly right. It wasn't hard to get him to motivate to do yoga 3-4 times a week. What was a little harder, was getting him out of his head and into his body. I maybe gave him too many details on the first day. I described the vayus and the directions of energy moving up the spine. Maybe I made his head spin that first class, but I did see a spark of intrigue that would last through all of our 8 sessions, and continues to grow into a keen interest on what this system of yoga is all about. 

I had four more sessions with Bill later in the summer but the emails got shorter. I watched him progressing and we were both pleased. As a yoga teacher, there are certain new students you meet, that if guided in the right way, will really take to the practice. What made me most happy was having him in my mysore class last week and watching him integrate and remember most of the sequence I taught him. Bill is a very engaged and inquiring student and I am dedicated to trying to help him with the yoga knowledge and experiences I've saved up over the last 12 years.