Alignment Theme for July

This month we will focus on the upper body. Due to the way we habitually live our life, the upper body tends to have certain areas that are chronically tight, which can be called "locked short" and corresponding areas that are chronically stretched and weak, which can be called "locked long".

• locked short muscles: pectoral muscles, anterior deltiod, upper trapezius and levator scapula.
• locked long muscles: rhomboids, serratus anterior, posterior deltiod, neck flexors. 

To bring balance to the upper body we need to strengthen what is weak/ "locked long" and lengthen what is tight/ "locked short". 'Tis the month of freedom, so I remind us: this is our choose! We are free to choose to stay stuck in our habits that bring us dis-ease, injuries, stress... or we can choice with our freedom to co-participate with life by mindfully aligning our body, mind and heart.

Inbody Yoga Academy

This month I taught alignment and biomechanics for InBody Yoga Academy. We discussed how as a yoga teacher I believe the goal is to facilitate our student in moving toward optimal alignment within their body, mind and heart. We are fluid being and we are always moving toward optimal alignment or away from optimal alignment.

Optimal alignment is the state of being in balance physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Moving toward optimal alignment= more EASE, heal old and prevent future injuries in the body, focused and stable mind, peaceful and joy filled heart.

Away from optimal alignment= more DIS-EASE, injuries and discomfort in the body, foggy and unstable mind, heavy heart.

We find optimal alignment (sattva/ just right) = dynamic balance between STABILITY and FREEDOM (three gunas)

To much stability (tamas/ to little)

Body= stiff, uncomfortable, negatively influences physical alignment. Distracts from a clear mind and happy heart.

Mind= slow/ stuck on one thought. Addiction. Hard to be vibrant in heart and body.

Heart= stuck in an emotion, little energy. Hard to be focused in mind and enjoy body.

To much freedom (rajas/ to much)

Body= hyper mobility, negatively influences physical alignment. Distracts from a clear mind and happy heart.

Mind= over-activity, lack of direction, stress. Hard to experience vibrancy in heart and body.

Heart= depleting, instability, rapid changes in mood. Hard to be focused in mind and enjoy body.

We did lots of journaling and exploring of what it feels like when we are moving toward optimal alignment and what it feels like when we are moving away from optimal alignment. This concept transformed my life as a yogi. Realizing that every action I take or do not take brings me either towards my goals of health, happiness and harmony (optimal alignment. sattva) or sadness, anxiety and fear (away from optimal alignment) and that I am free to choose my actions and I can choose to co participate in this process so I can continue to move toard optimal alignment!

Saucha: cleanliness

After focusing on the yamas, the first limb of Patanjali’s eight-limbed yoga system which focus on our ethical conduct with others, now we are moving on to the second limb the Niyama (observance) which focus on our conduct with ourself.

 These practices involve the internal environment of body, mind and heart helping us maintain a positive environment to grow, and gives us the self-discipline necessary to progress along the path of yoga.

The first Niyama: Saucha often translated as cleanliness or purification. Many of the yogic techniques are aimed at removing impurities from the body, mind and heart, as well as strengthening their capacity to maintain a pure state of being. There are two main contributing factors to these impurities. Those that are external including friends, work, environment, drinks, food... And those that are internal including thoughts, organs, muscles, and systems of the body.

In anusara yoga we talk about optimal blue print. This is based off of the anatomical position and is the best posture for your body. The closer your body is held in optimal blue print the more healing that occurs and the further the body is from optimal blue print position the more dis-ease happens in the body, mind, and heart.

We can think of this in terms of purity or cleanliness by comparing our alignment to a lake. Let's say we have a body, and we will pretend its a lake, that has never been taken out of optimal alignment (which is never the case) then the lake would be crystal clear with no pollutants or dirt or anything clouding the waters. This creates a clarity connecting the body, mind and heart. Now let's say every time the body moves away from optimal alignment it causes impurities to enter the lake. The dirty the lake gets the harder it is to connect mind, body and heart. And let's face it a dirty lake in not such a joyful experience to visit. Now let's start moving back toward  optimal alignment that would be like adding a filtration pump to the lake to take out some of the filth that has been acquired from moving away from optimal alignment. This is just like the body. When it is heldmore toward optimal blue print injuries are healed, we experience more ease in the body, freedom in the mind and clarity in the heart. When we move out of this alignment depending on how long and far we are away from it depends of how dirty our body gets with injuries, how frustrated our mind gets and how clouded our heart feels.

Optimal alignment isn't ever attained it's not one specific position that is the same for each person. Instead it is a ruff posture that we are ether moving toward or moving away from. In asana we can begin to see what is out of alignment and we can use our breath and muscles to being out body more toward this clean alignment of not causing any injuries and healing old ones.

In every yoga pose we can practice alignment principles to bring us I wars optimal blue print. I remember my first teacher training 9 years ago we learned pose counter pose. The idea being that's how you kept yourself in balance. Practice a big backbend and follow it with a forward fold. However in anusara yoga when we are in a backbend we are still practicing the actions of a forward fold pulling the tailbone in and in a forward fold we are still practicing the actions of a backbend extending the spine backwards. In this way no matter what pose we are doing we can move toward alignment, toward clarity, toward purity.

Anusara
Principles of emphasis: outer spiral, organic energy. Optimal blue print
Theme: saucha: purification, cleanliness
Antidote: a lake

Tadasana
Uttanasana:
Lunge - parsvotonasana 2 blocks
Lunge- short lunge- fire glute- L
Eprk prep create curve with is/tl then fire glute with os
Active Eprk
Kneeling mod. Parsvak
Kneeling ardha chandrasana
Mod. Parsvak- ardha chandrasana
Parsvakonasana- vira 2 - ardha chandrasana
Low lunge quad- trikonasana- ardha chandra chapasana
Scandasana- ardha chandrasana - parvrita ardha Chandra chapasana- Standing pigeon
AMV up wall one leg lower, both legs
Wall-hanumanasana
Standing quad stretch
Eprk quad swivel hand
Eprk myrmaid
Partner Eprk strap
Blanket roll uttanasana 2 blocks
Supta fish crunches
Supta femur bone rooting
Supta twist





FUNdamental
Back leg straight. Front knee over ankle. Spine lifted.
Abaya mudra

1/2 sun 3x
Tad:
Lunge
Lunge
AMS:
Mod chat. 3x
Anjaneyasana
Tree wall
Standing pigeon wall
Wide leg forward fold
Vira 2
Vinyasa
Mod. Parsvak
Vinyasa
Vira 2
Vinyasa
Low lunge quad- trikonasana block &blanket
Lunge
Tadasana 1/2 moon stretch
Pigeon
Bridge 3x
Supta baddha konasana
Twist

Cervical Curve Support

 I love this DIY trick with a swim noodle. Cut it short to about a foot long. Then cut in half lengthwise. If you are smaller make it a little thinner if you are bigger make it a little thicker. Then lay it under your neck. Instant cervical support. So often we stick our head forward causing our cervical curve to flatten. This causes lots of dis-ease in the body. I sleep on this when my neck, shoulders feel out of alignment. I will have conversations laying down so I can get my #alignment on. This has been great being a new mom, all the holding, nursing, pushing causes my shoulder and head to come forward, this is a great re alignment fix that I am in LOVE with

I have also loved wearing my baby with a woven wrap on my back. Wearing Sage like this is actually helping my, by moving my arm bones back, as opposed to wearing him on my belly or pushing him in a stroller, both which draw my arm bones forward.

Heart Openers for Breast Feeding

Our beautiful baby boy arrived October 22nd (birth story to come). It has been so amazing having him out of my belly and in my arms. When he was born my heart expanded to make room for all the love I have for him and the new love I have for my husband seeing him in his daddy role. I want to lift my now bigger + fuller heart up. However holding and breast feeding baby Sage puts my body in a position that hides my heart, tightens my upper neck and pec muscles while over lengthening and straining my back muscles. Ouch. I have been doing these gentle stretches to keep my body somewhat in alignment. 

Holding a baby and breast feeding takes my body into horrible alignment that creates more stress and tension in my life. I am so happy to do it and LOVE all over my baby. But I don't want my body to forget optimal alignment, the alignment that creates more harmony and happiness in my life. 

The main alignment actions I am reminding my body of during this sequence are:

• Side Bodies Long + Inner Body Bright
• Arm Bones Back  + Shoulder Blades Together
• Chin Up + Palate of Mouth Back

my favorite thing to so with a strap to help integrate arm bones back. start with the strap horizontally behind back under shoulder blades, bring the tails of the straps in front, over and behind the shoulders, cross the tails behind your back forming am X, tighten strap and grab each strap and pull forward. Lengthen from hips up through arm pits and into the sides of the neck. Expand your ribs and broaden the collar bone opening your chest. Watch that the floating ribs don't stick out causing a collapse in the kidneys. If you notice this is happening pull the floating ribs in toning the abdominal muscles. Lastly check your head, is it sticking forward? Lift the chin to horizontal and slide throat back until the palette is over the spine. Once in this pose you can do some neck lengtheners: take chin to chest, and then one ear to one shoulder and other ear to other shoulder, then back to center

I like to start with a strap and pull up as high as I can and then pull down as far as I can. then I take the full pose by bringing my hands together. Just like in the sequence above: lengthen your side bodies, expand your chest opening your heart, draw arm bones back, squeeze shoulder blades together, draw floating ribs in, extend from pelvis into floor and from pelvis up through crown of head. I like to hold these shoulder stretches for 2 minutes.

Start with a block on the 2nd level horizontally placed below cervical vertebrae 7 (to find look toward belly button feel the back of your neck. That boney vertebrae that sticks up is C7) and slowly wiggle your way down stopping between each vertebrae from C7 to T12. Keep floating ribs pulling toward pubic bone to avoid kidney collapse. With each breath lengthen from hips up side bodies and draw arm bones back hollowing arm pits out. I like to hold each place for 2 minutes.

Optimal Alignment

Our physical experience is directly linked to our emotional and mental state. When the body is in pain we experience sadness, anger, frustration and hopelessness. When the body comes out of pain we experience happiness. relief, joy and gratitude. This shows the important role yoga can play with the physical mental/emotional relationship. Its awesome to know that if our phyiscal bodies are well aligned it can take the body out of pain and bring with it a shift in attitude and mood.

I taught last Saturday and talked about optimal blueprint. Optimal blueprint is the best alignment for your unique body. When the bones and muscles are held in this place of alignment so much healing takes place. I was explaining to the students how it feels for me to be in a pose and use the universal principles of alignment to adjust and how I experience a *ahhhh haaa* as if I can feel ,my blood, breath, lymphatic fluid, prana..all flowing through me and that's my sign that I am in good alignment.

It is hard to explain what it feel like when you move from just being in a yoga posture to being in optimal alignment. Its like trying to explain the experience of eating really good chocolate. Everyone has their own experience and their own words of explaining.

After attending this workshop my husband (who is not big into yoga but comes to support me says), "when we were doing natarajasana I felt my leg bone click into place. Like it has been out of place for years and something clicked and it was like *wooooshhhhhh* I could feel all this energy flowing through me it felt so good. This is why I love Anusara yoga." Oh how I love when he talks yoga to me. Another great alignment qoute from my husband happened this weekend after he came home from a 120 mile bike ride. He said "I'm glad I have learned good alignment from you, it makes biking more fun!"

During a private I was teaching the other day my student, who has really connected with the principles of alignment made several comments about her experience of optimal alignment. I wish I recorded our session so I could quote her because her words wore so elegant and perfect. "I just cant believe how good the pose feels when it do the alignment. Nothing hurts. I don't want to come out of the pose I just want to stay in it and enjoy".

I really enjoyed Jessica Jennings description of optimal alignment:

"Muscles and bones have an optimal direction they want to go. We know this instinctively – for instance, the shoulders ideally move back, instead of rounding forward.

What many of us aren’t aware of is that these common misalignments cause joint instability, pain, bone spurs, cartilage and disc problems, and many musculoskeletal difficulties that we all experience.

We develop habits – often to avoid using our core strength – that over time, cause certain muscles to be hyper-tense, and certain muscles to weaken. When we do yoga WITHOUT understanding optimal alignment, we can simply be strengthening our misalignments.

When we do yoga WITH an understanding of optimal alignment, we can be doing something similar to physical therapy for our aches and injuries: helping muscles and bones move back in the direction they want to be. In the process, we lengthen the muscles that are too tight, and strengthen the muscles that are overstretched and weak."