Focus on shoulder loop and inversions

The main theme of the class was chit ananda. The reason we or at least I practice is to learn more about myself. In this learning about myself I see what my strengths are and what my weaknesses are. I see where I need to make a shift in my life with regard to my habits, behaviors, people and situations. These shifts allow me to align more fully with the flow of life and as a result I experience more happiness and bliss.


Shoulder loop
We tend to roll our shoulders either forward and down or forward and up. Try this. You’ll notice your heart sinks away as the shoulder blades disconnect from the back of the heart. Keeping this position take your hands to your trapezius and feel them...Do they feel hard? Engaged? Yes they probably do. When we hold our shoulderes in this position we are actually cultivating more stress, pain, and tension in our neck, head, and life. When we hold our shoulders like this we also strengthen our trapezius which I also call the “disconnect from heart muscle” because the traps pull the tips of the shoulder blades away from the neck.

This is the chit part of chit ananda. We learn about our self “oh yeah. I do hold my shoulders in this position a lot and that explains why my neck always hurts and I have pounding headaches”

Then we apply the knowledge. Now lengthen the side body, draw the shoulder blades up to your ears take the head of the arm bones straight back and slide the tips of the shoulder blades toward the heart. The tips of the shoulder blades actually assist in curling the heart more open. Do this and feel your trapezius muscles again. Wow! They aren’t engaging, the neck feels long and lengthened. How cool. When we do this we are working and strengthening the rhomboid muscles which I also call the “connect to the heart muscle”.

This is where the ananda comes in. Ananda is bliss. SO from learning how to align the physical body in a way that doesn’t cultivate pain leads to us being happier...CHIT ANANDA!

We did lots of fun little exercises that helped the students feel this plugging into the heart and using the rhomboid muscles we also did this in contrast of unplugging so the students could feel and compare the difference. I really enjoy being able to teach a skill with a few simple steps in multiple poses like tadasana, uttanasana, plank, chaturanga, AMS, AMK... I saw the light bulb go on in many of the student’s heads.

Inversions
Inversions are any position where the heart is over the head. Really common inversions that are in just about every asana class include Down Dog and Standing Forward Bend. More advanced inversions include handstand, forearm balance, headstand, and some backbends. I really enjoy inversions because they allow me to find another perspective and another vantage point. When I feel stuck in my life, or have a problem, or just need more clarity I find holding some of these inversions for a longer period of time to be very beneficial. After inversions I feel more clear, grounded and more ready to respond appropriately to the situation that life hands me at any given moment.