Alignment of knees = more Harmony

In massage school I learned that the joints of the body represent our flexibility in certain areas of our life:

• Feet: Your ability to move forward in life.
• Knees: Your willpower.
• Hips: Your ability to stand and hold yourself up in life.
• Shoulders: Your ability to handle difficult situations.
• Hands: Your ability to handle the details in life.

I thought this was interesting. Lately a lot of new students have been coming to my classes with knee injuries as a result of lateral movement or hyper extension of the knee. In my Friday 4:15-5:30 class at The Yoga Center I focused on knees this week. When the knees (or any part of our body) are in pain or discomfort it is distracting and makes it much harder to experience harmony. However by using our will power to align our knees (or any part of body) optimally over time we will experience more and more agreement in our body/mind/spirit.

http://www.womentalksports.com/items/read/651/1269909

The knee is a hinge joint and thus only meant for extension (straightening the leg) and flexion (bending the knee). A hinge joint does not assist in lateral moment of the knee. We do not want our inner or outer knees to get flexible, and that is what happens when we move the knee joint medially (to the mid line) and laterally (away from the mid line.)Me and my sister both played a lot of soccer and so many friends have blown out there knees (ACL, MCL..)  In the picture on the left you can see that if the girl in the red kicks or moves the blue players knee to the right that lateral movement will most likely tear her ACL ligament.


One of the many cool things about asana practice is we can use our will power to align our bodies to move in optimal therapeutic ways and practicing these alignment principles over time will retrain the body to function. Harmony is different than instant gratification. Although I often feel a little better and less stressed after a yoga class. I think when we practice steadily over a long period of time with alignment and intention that we expeirence more harmony to our body/mind/heart. For example, taking one yoga class might not make your knees feel instantly better or if it does that feeling wont be permanent, however if you tend to laterally rotate your knees and you work strong Shins In Thighs Out in your practice to stabilize your knees, over time with this your knees will feel better more often and for a longer amount of time. Same goes if you hyper extend your knees letting them bow backwards past optimal extension. If you practice strong Muscular Energy especially in the back of the legs (I like to press into the ball of my foot like I'm pressing on the gas pedal this engages my calf muscles then I isometrically lift and curl my heel up towards my sit bones, the heel doesn't move but the back of my knee and hamstring engage). When the back of the leg is toned you learn to straighten the leg keeping the stability and over time this alignment will probably make your knees feel better more ofter and for longer amounts of time. Since the knees contribute to the positioning of feet, hips, and shoulders all these joints will either find more optimal alignment or less optimal alignment depending on the position of the knees. (this stuff fascinates me) 


Harmony
When tones, thoughts, or feelings, individually different, combine to form a consistent and pleasing whole, there is harmony. Harmony is deeper and more essential than agreement; we may have a
Synonyms: harmony, accord, concurrence, consistency, uniformity, accordance, conformity, consonance, union, agreement, congruity, symmetry, unison, amity, consent, unanimity, unity, concord
Antonyms: antagonism, contest, discord, hostility, schism, battle, controversy, disproportion, incongruity, separation, conflict, difference, dissension, inconsistency, variance, contention, disagreement, disunion, opposition, warfare

Remembering my capability

I am going back to massage school on Monday and my husband and I are buying a home (closing in middle of April). I find myself thinking "I don't know if I am smart enough to do school" "I don't know if I will be able to handle school" "I don't know if I will be good at giving my home TLC" "I don't know if I can handle owning a own". I have thought very much about buying a home and going to school. I do really want these, and I am in a great place in my life to go for them, but my silly brain is frequently telling me I am not capable. In fact my brain often has me doubting my ability to do things.

It makes me think of a Hanuman myth: Hanuman had Gods as parents so he was no ordinary child. He was energetic, inquisitive, and super strong. When he was young he created some chaos for example once he mistook the sun for a ripe fruit and leaped into the sky attempting to grab it. The other Gods knew how horrible it would be if there was no sun so they called Lord Brahma to solve this problem. Brahma put a curse on Hanuman removing his knowledge of his powers. His powers are always available to him he just forgets and doubts he has them. Thankfully his friend Jambavant often reminds him which inspires Hanuman to do some pretty awesome tasks like growing big in size and leaping over an ocean, shrinking in size to defeat a demon, carrying a whole mountain on one hand back to Ram....

I like to believe that I have this same curse. That really I have the ability to be SO strong, smart, brave, loving, and patient but this darn curse makes me afraid to apply myself fully because my head fills with doubt. I try to have faith and believe that I really am capable of so much.

I love seeing this in my yoga practice. There have been so many poses that I was just positive I could never do. However, showing up on my mat and continuing to do my best even when it didn't

Definition of Capable:

having ability; able to do things well; skilled; competent

Having capacity or ability; efficient and able

Having the inclination or disposition

Thread

Karen Sprute Francovich shared a wonderful poem, The Way It Is on her blog the other day. I absolutely love this idea of the thread. The thread to me is remembering Grace and staying connected no matter what. In Anusara lingo it could be described as opening to grace and using muscular energy so you don't lose that openness. It sure is a hard task, but no one said it would be easy. All the great teachers who have gone deep on the path have openly spoke about their struggles but they continue to reveal how amazing + profound their experiences are. To summarize Christina Sell 'no one comes back from these deep places in meditation or practice saying "that sucked" they do talk about obstacles they encounter but always say it was worth it!'

To me this is holding tight to the thread. That remembrance of the divine even in the hardest times to hold on to.

The Way It Is

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

~ William Stafford ~

Beginners Mind

This week in my personal practice I have been working with a beginners mind. Every time I place my hands on the mat, squeeze my legs, lift my rib cage, breath... I imagine I am doing it as a beginner. After practicing for so many years it can be a habit to just move through the motions, actions and poses. With this "expert mindset" I miss so much. And although I have probably done over 10,000 second warrior poses, not one of them has felt identical to the other. Although my clever mind tells I've been there, done that so instead of paying attention I can tell myself little stories during my practice. But when I use my beginner mind I am in a place of receiving and I can learn so much about myself and this practice.


"In the beginner's mind there is no thought, "I have attained something." All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can really learn something. The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless. Then we are always true to ourselves, in sympathy with all beings, and can actually practice." Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
"All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thoughts on achievement, no thoughts of self, we are true beginners. Then we can truly learn something" Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
"Strive to achieve a beginner mentality at all times. Because in the beginners mind all things are possible" Buddhist Teaching
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." Buddhist Teaching

I taught a yoga class at The Yoga Center yesterday using some of this information. The class was great. Slow moving, the students were very open, and there awareness was present and full of curiosity.

Kidney Loop

Yesterday at The Yoga Center I taught kidney loop. This is a loop I don’t specifically teach to often but I have been seeing lots of collapse in the low back and kidney area. I felt on fire teaching because kidney loop has been a refinement I have been working on for so long. I got to share all these little "secrets" and tid bits of information I have found with this loop.

For example, I had the students move to the wall and stand in tadasana with their back against the wall. I explained the loops here and the students got to feel kidney loop and got a good way to measure if they were doing it correctly. IT was probably only 15 minutes into class when one of the students exclaimed "this is hard". Then we moved through some basic poses: lunges, utkatasna, vinyasa's, uttanasana... but in every pose I waited for the students to cultivate a puff and broadening of their low back.

To me when I don't do kidney loop and I stand normally (collapsing) I feel like I am losing my energy or like my power is leaking out of me. When I engage this loop I feel like I put on my wonder women harness and I feel strong and super powerful. I could see this in the students as well. When they had they super yogi harnesses on (kidney loop) they would extend out more, they had more control over their bodies, and they had more confidence and strength in their eyes. This is probably one of my favorite gifts of teaching yoga, getting to watch students realize they are strong, and powerful or calm and clear and can do things they didn't think they can do, or feel a way they didn't think they could feel.

I told briefly the story of Hanuman, of how he had so many powers but that he was mischievous with his powers when he was young so the Gods got together and decided to cast a spell on him that he wouldn't remember that he had these powers. After this Hanuman needed to be reminded. One of my favorite parts of this in The Ramayana is when Hanuman is getting ready to leap over a giant ocean to rescue Ram's wife. But Hanuman doesn't think he can leap over it, he forgot he was powerful that he could grow giant and leap far and his friend had to remind him of his power. This is one of the gifts of the community is we can remind each other that we are powerful, we can even remind our self we are powerful. Hanuman Story

At the end of class the women were saying to me and talking to each other about how hard the class was. I was talking to a student later and she said, "it was so hard pulling our stomach in and opening our kidneys in every pose, but I liked it".

picture of Christina Sell teaching Kidney Loop

Practice.

I have been practicing a lot lately. As my head and my heart have felt heavy with gossip on all social mediums regarding Anusara. Practicing has helped a lot. It gets me out of my head, off the computer, into my body, and into the practice that has transformed me in so many ways. I try to remind myself that the universe doesn't give me more then I can handle, and as long as I walk through the many feeling instead of around them I believe that this process will continue to teach me and assist in my  healing. It almost feels like a test can I still practice the principles: open, hold fast, go in, anchor, and extend out to help others during these trying times. 

My practice on the mat has been full of passion. Passion to hold steady, to go deep inside and remember why I practice and the many blessings that has happened as a result. The way I have taught this week has also been full of passion too. I want so badly for the students to be able to move past the labels, the confusion and instead move deep into the practice.

The hardest thing for me has been to see so many of the senior anusara teachers that I have studied with on-line via blogs, yogaglo, tele-courses... and local anusara teachers who I have learned the method from leave. I have also seen so many teachers come together together, it has encouraged people to turn inside, because although we can stand together we each have to individually turn in and see what is right for us.

Certified Anusara Teacher Abby Tucker's write on face book "I feel this with all I am. Anusara is a Shakti. It is not a man, not an organization, not even a method. It is a pulsation of energy. Align to that!"

This past week I subbed three classes for my teacher Adam while he was in Montana teaching an immersion. I felt really confident teaching for him and got lots of positive feedback all the classes. I have been studying, practicing, reading, journalling... all these things i have been doing are improving my teaching and people can tell!

Universal to personal.

I took a class from Jen Hecht and Bob Hoffa with in a day of eachother last week. As both Ansuara teachers taught to the universal I felt like it was directed at me personally. I love when this happens. When  a teacher says something universal and the other students and myself each feel like it relates to something specific that we are going through.
That is a skill.