First off a couple of reminders.
1. Remember my friend’s Moroccan Retreat at the end of June? Well she’s offering a last minute booking price of £650 so if you’re still interested, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Emma.
2. Don’t forget the yoga giveaway for 2 weeks free unlimited online yoga classes. If you haven’t entered, why not! You’ve got until tomorrow evening (8pm GMT)
And also I’m being interviewed over on A Greenspell about giving up the car and using two wheels instead of four. Read Part One here!
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This week at The Gaiam Yoga Club we focussed on backbends.
As the regular reader will knowI have an upper thoracic C-shaped scoliosis as well as swayback (Nadine wrote a brilliant explanation of swayback here). Which all in means backbends are my nemisis because I tend to hinge from my lower back rather than opening the whole spine, while my upper back has very limited movement. You can see this in a backbend as simple as Warrior 1.
However, as a wise yoga teacher once said to me, those poses we avoid are the ones our bodies need the most. So I started the week of backbends determined not to slack off just because something was hard.
I’m not going to lie to you, dear reader, it was haaaaarrrrdddd! Camel and bow pose are always a struggle – a struggle to find the balance between strength and softness, a struggle to keep breathing – and upward bow (or crab) will forever be a dream for this yogini.
But… but….with patience and a ton of props I began to feel movement in my upper thoracic spine, and that was a beautiful thing and also a lesson. A lesson in patience but also a lesson in not continually avoiding those things we find hard, because even the smallest advancement is a huge achievement.
The huge advantage to doing these backbends with an online class is that I was slowly talked through each pose, rather than trying to rush through backbends to get them over and done with. My only complaint is that although many modifications for backbends were shown I didn’t feel there was enough time to always get in and out of the poses when you (like me) use a lot of props!
Question of the Day: What yoga pose is your nemisis? What non-yoga thing do you avoid doing because you find it hard or you don’t like it?
And here is a little backbend sequence for you to try at home. Try to keep focussed on the spine, it’s natural curves, an opening in the chest. Keep breathing and hold each pose for 5-10 breaths.
1. Start with 3-5 sets of sun salutations, any style you like.
2. Trikonasana to each side feeling the chest open.
3. Come to hands and knees for cat/cow stretch.
4. Come onto the stomach for cobra.
5. Bow pose
6. Downward dog.
7. Child.
8. Supported bridge pose with 2-3 blocks under the sacrum.
9. Camel.
10. Supported bridge pose.
12. Seated forward bend.
13. Supta Padangusthasana sequence as featured in La Gitane’s Guest Post
14. Savasana.
The Gaiam Yoga Club is currently running two memberships – US$25 per month or US$65 per quarter (which saves you US$10). Both packages include a 10 day free trial period.
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Question of the Day: What yoga pose is your nemisis?
A) The pose I currently consider my nemisis is Kurmasana and supta kurmasana.
It is in the Ashtanga primary series and currently where I practice up to when doing mysore. It is sooooooooo hard for me! My upper body isnt open enough to get my shoulders under my knees. So it is difficult!
What non-yoga thing do you avoid doing because you find it hard or you don’t like it?
A) I suppose this is non-yoga and yoga related. I am having difficulty sticking to a new schedule… and creating my home practice around my work schedule. I could say I am avoiding discipline and also acceptance and kindness towards myself. Instead of sticking to a daily routine and being disciplined; when I fail I find myself going back to bad habitual behavior or berating myself or feeling guilty.
I guess it would be avoidance to an extent.
Congrats on your retreat!!!!!!!
I dislike Warrior I because I have the hardest time squaring my hips while keeping my back foot planted. I used to be very scared of Wheel, but about two weeks ago I was able to push up into it for the first time ever and feel much better about it now. I was quite surprised to find myself upside down.
This is really silly, but right now I’m avoiding selling my wedding dress. It’s been hanging on its hook for a year, and I really need to put up ads for it online because it’s lovely and in perfect shape, but I keep procrastinating. On a macro level, I hate cleaning and organizing. Going through my old things makes me terribly anxious.
Arm balances are my big drama… backbends I LOVE with a deep passion although I also have scoliosis (that’s one of the main reasons I started yoga) and have to be careful not to just hinge from my lower back and my loose shoulder joints… but I love them, they present a challenge I can work with… intellectually I understand them, my body enjoys them and speaks very clearly to me when I’m not really present with it in these poses more than any other and energetically they just make me happy happy happy.
Arm balances, not so happy and then I fall into judgement and excuses and crawl into a corner whimpering… in my personal practice they just lead to much cursing… you’d think as a teacher I’d know better than to approach them with such aggression and I do know better but yet… handstand, forearm balance, bakasana etc… all of them make me cringe and scowl.
Off the mat, I’m in a pretty tansitional space and there’s a whole pile of stuff I find myself avoiding – big life change things and little day to day housekeeping things. It could probably all be interpreted in a general body-speaks-your-mind sense as stemming from an overall lack of trust in myself when things are upside down and a fear of falling/failing… I’m quite happy bending over backwards in my own happy, safe space but not so interested in the risks that come with major shifts. So, which will come first, handstand or huge change… hmm… fascinating!
i would agree- backbends. I can do a few, but i have a really weak lower back that doesn’t seem to be improving even after months, especially since my job wreaks havoc on it! (dental hygiene). So, I usually don’t do every single backbend in a class but I try to omit different ones each time.
Non-yoga avoidance… cleaning my room!! haha
Revolved triangle. It used to totally make me cringe and still kinda does. But, my teacher, who is a student of the anatomy genius Judith Hanson Lasater, taught me something about yoga and anatomy that has revolutionized my practice! No shit. She teaches two things differently: 1) to pick up the heel. Already you can feel more movement. 2) on the same leg that you pick up the heel, rotate your thigh internally (down toward the mat). Hello revolved triangle! I should do a Vimeo of it and post it to my blog. This internal rotation has forever changed my practice. In triangle and warrior ii and warrior i and extended side angle. Root down through the inside of the back heel thus turning your thigh toward the mat…you will feel a steadiness and a strength unlike anything before! Whew. Rant. Sorry.
Babs – I believe that is the Anusura way. I tried it in a workshop once and suddenly it made much more sense. There is a viniyoga way too where the feet and hips stay parrallel (as though you were to come into Padottanasana) and you bring the arms to shoulder height. As you exhale bring the left hand to the right foot and twist inhale back to centre and repeat the other way. Much less strain on the pelvis!
one yoga teacher once had us wrap a “yoga blanket” around our neck in camel. it was tremendous.
im not a fan of locust pose with the hands under the body. my legs barely come off of the floor. in life, instead of facing the people i find troublesome or who bring up things for me, i prefer to be cold to them and ignore them. not terribly compassionate or loving, but this one person is particular im thinking of is like a tripwire for super angry emma. yes, they even make me talk in third person.
babs— im confused… which heel? which foot?
Because I am rather busty, I’ve never found shoulder stand to be a particularly exciting experience. I always feel like I’m being squashed by said boobs. Even when they are strapped in as tight as I can possibly manage!
Also with Shadow Yoga, I’m currently struggling with vahni, but I’m gonna talk more about that on my blog soon
What non-yoga thing do I avoid doing? Ummm, whatever it is I’m meant to be doing. If I’m meant to be going swimming, I’ll clean the bathroom. If I’m meant to clean the bathroom, I’ll find something else I “have” to do. Drives me batty!
Parsvottanasana. It makes the front of my shins feel like they are so tight (which they probably are.) And all the revolved poses.
Shoulder stand is my favorite, despite my bust issues.
The non-yoga thing I avoid doing? Going to court (I’m an attorney) because it scares me. Thankfully there is plenty to do without going to court, but I’d like to go even if I’m afraid, because I know it will get easier.