When I get stressed, and times are somewhat stressful right now, although not in a bad way, it all amalgamates in my shoulders.  This is partly to do with the scoliosis, and partly to do with the fact I spend too much time at a computer.  And don’t we all?  So I thought I’d share a few of my secrets (lovingly put together with the help of my old chiropractor), for when things in the shoulder area just get too much.

1.  Shoulder and neck rolls - these can be done anytime anywhere.  Just sit comfortably making sure your spine is nice and straight and place your fingertips on the tops of your shoulders.  Start to make circles with your elbows, bringing the elbows higher and higher and closer together in front of you with each circle.  After a few circles in each direction, drop the hands onto your lap and allow the chin to drop to the chest on an exhale.  As you inhale cirlcle the left ear to the left shoulder, exhale chin to chest, inhale right ear to right shoulder and so on.  Make sure you do an even number to each side.

2.  Cat/Cow – From all fours begin to practice some gentle cat/cow stretches keeping the awareness on the space between the shoulderblades and on keeping the navel drawn in towards the spine.

3.  Long Child/Thread the Needle – From all fours draw the buttocks back to sit on the heels and bring the forehead onto the floor.  Arms are stretched out in front of you about mat width apart.  Inhale and bring the right arm behind you onto your lower back, keep stretching through the left arm and breathe.  On an exhale thread the right arm under the left and bring the right ear to the floor.  Repeat the whole process to the other side.

4.  Heart opening Warrior 1 – From Tadasana step the right foot forward preparing yourself for Warrior 1 and bring the hands into prayer position in front of the heart.  As you inhale bend the right knee into Warrio 1 and bring the arms out at shoulder height with the palms facing forward opening the chest, exhale straightening the front leg and bringing the hands back to prayer.  Repeat 5 times with the breath and then practice on the other side.

5.  Leg raises – Lying on your back bring the knees into the chest and place the hands on the knees.  As you inhale stretch the legs up to the ceiling, flexing the feet and stretch the arms alongside the ears, keeping the arms straight and the hands about mat width apart.  Exhale and return to the start position.  Repeat 5 times.

I can’t promise that this little sequence will make all your troubles wash away, it will give you a bit more space in which to deal with them!

Love and oms!

Child’s pose or Balasana (or Shashankasana/Hare Pose as it is sometimes known); I’ve been finding myself here a lot over the last few days.  It seems the most comfortable place to be as my sacro-iliac joint continues to play up.  Lying here in Child’s Pose my lower back stretches and releases, my hips open and my spine feels long and straight.

Child’s Pose has always felt good for me, natural.  But it isn’t for everyone.  Lots of people need padding under their heads, under their butts.  Some people find it hard to release tension here and really, without tension release it’s not doing a whole heap of good. People with high blood pressure or herniated discs need to be careful with this posture. For some it might need to flipped over so it looks like this instead.

Child’s pose stretches the back muscles and separates the individual vertebrae from each other and thus helps to alleviate all types of back ache.  It is also good for the pelvic floor muscles, the reproductive organs and, apparently, helps to alleviate anger.  So next time I’m angry at a slow customer in the supermarket queue I shall get down on the floor in Child’s pose then….

How is it for you?

Want to hear something weird?  I write my posts the day before usually, whenever I get a chance.  As I was writing this one yesterday, Emma from The Joy of Yoga posted asking “if you were stuck on a desert island with just one asana, which would it be?”.  There must be something psychic in the blogosphere because here’s my answer!

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Remember these?

My school orchestra was so up itself that we had a triangle player.  Can you believe it?!  One poor girl made to sit through hours and hours of rehearsals just so she could go “ping” on a triangle now and again.  Our music teacher thought he was conducting the Philharmonic and subsequently, when we were coming up for a big show, would keep us rehearsing until 9pm.  If you so much as yawned you got in trouble.  I played flute. Once when I complained about being tired he told me to eat a clove of garlic for breakfast.  This was back in the days before the wonders of garlic had been publicised and before you could get garlic capsules.  At the time we assumed he had completely lost it.  Who knew?

I digress.

The point of all this is my beloved triangle posture.  Or Trikonasana to give it its proper name.  I cannot remember a time when I didn’t know Trikonasana.  It’s one of those postures you learn in your first class, one of the fundamental standing posing of Astanga Vinyasa and the first posture whose Sanskrit name I knew with confidence.  Trikonasana and I go back a long way.

Now most of you probably know the traditional/classical way of doing Trik (as I affectionately call it).  The Astanga way (click here if you have no idea what I’m talking about).  But this past week I’ve been having some lower back trouble.  The lower back trouble is connected to issues with my right hip and I’m conscious, when it’s giving me pain, to keep my pelvis nice and straight.  On these occassions I use the Viniyoga version of Trik, with the feet parrallel and the hips straight.

A good warm up is Swaying Palm Tree.  Stand with the legs apart, feet parrallel and clasp the hands above the head.  On an exhale bend to the right, inhale centre, exhale left, inhale centre.  Repeat a few times on each side.

Viniyoga Trikonasana.  Keep the feet parrallel and stretch the arms out at shoulder height, as you exhale reach out and down towards the right leg, stretching the left arm up.  Turn to look at the top hand if that feels OK on your neck.  Hold for five breaths on each side.

Yes, now, that top arm?  That should be straight.  My left elbow doesn’t straighten since a bad fall as a child on a school trip to the sewage works.  Who takes kids to the sewage works on trips?  Really?  I guess I was lucky I didn’t fall in the sewage although that could have been a better story.

Finish with Padottanasana.

Give this version of Trik a go.  See how it feels.  Notice how different the stretch is.  Nobody says you have to choose one over the other but some days one might feel better than the other.  I actually think this version is more appropriate for a beginner.  Although Classical Triknonasana comes up as a posture in most beginner’s classes it can be very hard to get right unless the hips are naturally open.  What do you think?

Namaste!