yogalila

fancy footwork

Leslie's mention at e-sutra of a New York Times article about running shoes and feet has got us talking about yoga and feet.  Feet are a big deal in yoga - being the foundation of all the standing poses. 

The first yoga workshop I ever did was with Gioia Irwin, who is a student of Dona Holleman.  Dona has described what your feet should be like in yoga as "pada bandha". It is almost like your feet are like suction cups.  There are three arches in your foot - the large inner arch, a smaller arch on the outside of your foot, and the transverse arch which goes from the ball of the foot over to the pinky side. Anchor your heel and then lengthen your foot, spread your your toes wide and then place the ball of the foot down followed by the toes. If any of the toes are curled in or lying on their sides, straighten them (manually) so all the toenails are looking up. Now try to engage the three arches of the feet.  Look at your feet as you do this - are the toes bending at their knuckles? - you don't want that. Are the tendons that go from each toe to the foot bulging up? - you don't want that. Work to engage the pada bandha without straining in the toes.  Harder than it sounds.  But is is amazing work - Gioia brought before and after pictures of her own feet after working this foe a couple years. They were impressive.  Good feet go a long way to good alignment in all the standing poses.

Other good things to do with feet - sit in badha konasana and interlace your toes. Then interlace them the opposite way.  Sit in  lotus prep pose with one foot resting just beyond the opposite knee, then interlace fingers of one hand with toes and rotate the foot both directions and also move it up and down, pull it towards the body and push it away from the body. In Uttanasana, try to lift each toe independantly - use your hands to hold the other toes down when necessary.

Jill remembers that a big "aha!" moment for her was when she realized that supination and pronation are not limited to walking: "I supinate (and have bunions - the two are often linked), and I had horrible ankle pain in poses like triangle, because I would roll out on the back foot. Planting the inside edge of the foot and drawing up on the arch and outside of the ankle did wonders for me."

And don't forget the power of massage. There are lots of balls out there designed to roll your feet around on like these nubby ones, or some people just use a plain old tennis ball.  Aadil Palkhivala uses small diameter (less than 1 inch) wooden balls at his studio that can really pinpoint a specific area on the foot.  Also, a good number of yogalilans rave about Yogatoes and have gotten relief from various foot issues by using them.

Apparently, in less shoe obsessed societies the feet are amazingly sensitive and versatile, but we constant shoe-wearers need to work to bring life back into our neglected, misshapen feet.

More about feet from two of my favourite teachers:

Aadil Palkhivala adresses a question about painful feet

Tias Little goes in depth on the feet

doga (courtesy of ann's hounds)

Brutus is working on his dogtoral thesis, "Common Alignment Corrections for Humans in Restorative Yoga Poses." Here, his assistant, Trillium, counterbalances Jerry's shoulder while Brutus makes the adjustment.  (click pic to enlarge)

congratulations maggie!

Thanks to all of you who commented this week - all your names were put in a hat and Maggie's name was drawn as the winner of the book prize.  Maggie - check your email.  We will be doing this again soon.

talk to us- win a book prize

We are getting upwards of 150 views a day.  We'd like to get to know some of our readers, so if you leave a comment this week on any of our posts, your name will go in a draw for Yogaflows. Winner will be announced next Monday morning. 

upside-down june

Once again, courtesy of Loretta, guidance on the June inversion focus:

Inversions are a fairly small but important group of asana. Looking through Light On Yoga there are really only a few poses and their variations. But just to underscore their importance in your yoga practice, it is interesting to note that while Mr. Iyengar devotes between one half to one page to most of the other asana, he devotes a full 27 pages to sirsasana and the sirsasana cycle and 32 pages to sarvangasana and the sarvangasana cycle.

As important as inversions are, they also come with lots of precautions. Here is the list of advantages and precautions from Yoga: The Iyengar Way:

The inverted poses revitalize the whole system. They take the weight off the legs, relieving strain. By inverting the inner organs, they activate parts that are sluggish. They improve circulation and tone the glandular system. They help concentration as blood is brought to the brain, and are a marvelous aid to sleep. Sirsasana in particular activates the pituitary gland. Sarvangasana strengthens the nervous system and the emotions; it activates the thyroid and parathyroid glands.

There should be no strain in the head, eyes, ears, neck, or throat. As the head is delicate, Sirsasana should always be done on a blanket. The blanket should be firm, not spongy. It is not advisable to repeat sirsasana as this irritates the brain and nerves. The variations may be learned once the balance is steady.

In sarvangasana, the neck should always be soft and relaxed. If the posture is done flat on the floor, there is a tendency for the neck to collapse and to feel pressure. To avoid this, the shoulders and elbows should be supported on folded blankets, the height of which should be varied according to the length and suppleness of the neck. The above arrangement may not be suitable for those with neck injuries or conditions such as cervical spondylosis. Other methods need to e tried, after consultation with a qualified teacher. Sarvangasana variations are easier if the blankets are not too high.

Although sarvangasana is learned before sirsasana, once the latter is learned it is practiced first: sirsasana after sarvangasana could injure the neck. Sirsasana, if practiced by itself, can produce a feeling of irritability, which is soothed by sarvangasana, so should always be followed by it.

Cautions: Do not do inverted postures during menstruation.
Do not do inverted postures if suffering from high blood pressure, heart problems, detached retina, or ear problems.
If suffering from neck injuries, seek advice.
During pregnancy, sirsasana, sarvangasana, and ardha halasana may be done with support, provided there is no discomfort or medical contraindication.
Remove contact lenses

OK did that scare you? While it was not my intention to do so, I do hope that no one will start an inversion practice without consulting a qualified teacher or at the very, very least consulting a good book. It’s almost impossible to teach everything that needs to be taught in a video, so I would suggest doing video inversion practices only if you have first done them with a live teacher.

The list of poses is a short list this month, but of course, it can be a lifetime practice to learn this short list. I’ve placed them in the order that I would normally practice them.

1)Adho mukha vrksasana (downward facing tree, AKA full arm balance, AKA hand stand)
2)Pinca mayurasana (peacock feather pose, AKA elbow balance, AKA forearm balance)
3)Salamba sirsasana I (supported head balance, AKA head stand)
4)Salamba sarvangasana (supported shoulder balance, AKA shoulder stand)
5)Halasana (plough)
6)Setu bandha sarvangasana (supported bridge pose)
7)Viparita karani (while not a full inversion, this is a lovely, semi-inverted pose that everyone can do and a great way to end your practice)

Here are some suggestions from the book Cool Yoga Tricks for working up to these inverted poses:

Prep for adho mukha vrksasana:
Right angle handstand, AKA half handstand, AKA crazy dog. Place your hands a leg length away from the wall and walk your feet up the wall behind you until your body forms a 90-degree angle. Hold to your tolerance. You may need a buddy to tell you when your legs are at 90 degrees, until you get used to how it feels. If you do have a buddy, he or she can provide support by putting their hands on your shoulder blades. That helps you to avoid the feeling that you might tip over backwards (don’t worry, you won’t!) Once you feel comfortable you can experiment with raising one leg at a time.

Preps for pinca mayurasana:
a) Everyone’s favorite, dolphin pose. This is a great one for both stretching and strengthening your shoulders for the inversions and for things like urdhva dhanurasana (upward bow, wheel)
b) if you are ready for the next step, you can try crazy dolphin, which is the same as crazy dog, above, but your arms are in dolphin position.

Preps for sirsasana:
a) Traditionally pinca mayurasana is considered a prep for sirsasana, but many people find it more difficult because of tight shoulders
b) If you are not ready to use pinca mayurasana as a prep, you can start with dolphin with your hands clasped. Most people find this easier than dolphin with hands apart
c) the intermediate phase is the same as crazy dolphin, but with the head on the floor.
d)In Light On Yoga, Mr. Iyengar also suggests prasarita padottanasana (wide angle forward bend) with the head on the floor as a substitute for sirsasana, for people who can’t support their weight on their head and neck.

Preps for sarvangasana:
a) you can start with your feet on a chair and your shoulders on two or three folded blankets. Use the feet on the chair to press your hips up and get your weight up onto your shoulders. You probably will not be able to hold this for very long. But it’s good for practicing the set up for shoulder stand
b) the next step is to set up near the wall and walk your feet up on the wall to get up onto your shoulders
c) supported shoulder stand can also be done on a chair. There are excellent instructions for this and a really good picture on pages 118-119 of [I]Yoga: the Iyengar Way[/I]. You can also do halasana with your legs supported on a chair.

*Prop note: for those of us with bigger breasts who feel a bit smothered in shoulder stand or people with tight upper backs and necks or longer necks, you may try using a higher stack of blankets. Some people find it nice to reverse stack the blanket so you kind of have a little set of stair steps going up. It’s best to experiment with your set up to find the one that works the best for you. I find that I prefer 4 blankets, except for some of the variations.

Variations:
For those of you who have experience and are comfortable in shoulder stand and want more juice, here are some variations you can try, also known as the sarvangasana cycle. One reason for doing variations is to increase your time in the pose. You can start in the full pose for a minute or more, then when you are ready, move into any or all of the variations. Again, there are excellent pictures and instructions for these in [I]Yoga: The Iyengar Way[/I], pages 111-115
1) eka pada sarvangasana (one legged should stand)
2) parsvaikapada sarvangasana (sideways one-legged shoulder stand)
3) karnapidasana (ear pressure pose)
4) parsva halasana (sideways plough pose)
5) supta konasana (supine angle)
6) parsva sarvangasana (sideways shoulder stand)
7) baddha konasana in sarvangasana (bound angle in shoulder stand) (not pictured in the sarvangasana cycle, but it is similar to the pose in the sirsasana cycle page 104)
8)upavista konasana in sarvangasana (wide angle in should stand)(not pictured in the sarvangasana cycle, but it is similar to the pose in the sirsasana cycle page 104)
9)Urdhva Padmasana in sarvangasana (lotus legs in shoulder stand)
10)Pindasana in sarvangasana (lotus legs with arms wrapped around them in shoulder stand)
11)Parsva urdhva padmasana in sarvangasana (sideways lotus in shoulder stand)
12)Parsva pindasana in sarvangasana (sideways pindasana in shoulder stand)
13)Setu bandha from sarvangasana (dropping legs down into setu bandha from sarvangasana, you can start out by dropping them down to a chair)

For those of you who have experience and are comfortable balancing in headstand, here are some variations you can try, also known as the sirsasana cycle. Although it won’t work for all the variations, it is not a bad idea to go back to the wall the first few times you try the variations, even if you are comfortable balancing away from the wall. These are pictured and described on pages 102-107 in Yoga: The Iyengar Way:
1)parsva sirsasana (sideways headstand)
2)parivrtta eka pada sirsasana (revolved one leg headstand)
3)eka pada sirsasana (one leg headstand)
4)parsvaika pada sirsasana (sideways one leg headstand)
5)baddha konasana in sirsasana (bound angle in headstand)
6)upavista konasana in sirsasana (wide angle in headstand)
7)parsva virasana in sirsasana (sideways hero in headstand)
8)urdhva dandasana (upward staff pose)

Vrshikasana (scorpion pose) is also a variation of pinca mayurasana and sirsana and it throws in back bending as well.

Media practices:
There really are not a lot of videos or other media that include inversions, probably for good reason. Again I would suggest that you not start an inversion practice, except under the supervision of a qualified teacher. If you have already had live instruction and want some media to help your home practice, here are some suggestions:

Rodney Yee’s Yoga for Intermediates
Shiva Rea’s Yoga Shakti
Yoga Journal’s Step-by-step Volume 3, this one also has a good instructional section that’s worth watching. It also gives good modifications.
An oldie but a goodie that has some good preps for inversions is Rodney Yee’s Yoga for Strength (not Power Yoga for Strength, that one is better for arm balances)
All of Ana Forrest’s media include dolphin pose, which is a great prep for inversions
Senior Iyengar teachers John Schumacher and Felicity Green both have audio practices that include excellent instruction on inversions: Schumacher's Foundations CD and Green's Advanced Beginner's Yoga Series II

Erich Schiffman's Backyard Series: Inversions

Internet resources:

About.com Sirasana instructions

Teacher Ingela Abbott credits Felicity Green with passing on this technique for kicking up into arm balance.
• Bring the body into downward dog with the fingertips two inches from a wall.   Decide which leg is the “pusher” leg  and which is the “swinger.”
• Look to the thumbs for courage, and  to bring strength into the torso. 
• On an inhalation, lift the swinger leg,  and lengthen through the spine.
• On the exhalation, fling up, with no thought of coming into the pose. (In fact, Ingela  forbade anyone to come into the pose.)
• Repeat three times, then rest. 
• Next, work with the action of the pusher leg. Hold the swinger up in the air, lengthen through the spine on the inhalation.
• With no help from the swinger leg, push off the ground on the exhalation.
• Repeat three times, then rest.
• Come into downward dog, fling with the swinger and push with the pusher. In time, and with regular practice, you’ll find yourself in arm balance.
• When should you work at kicking up with the second leg? Ingela recommends getting comfortable with the easier leg first, then working on the “slow” side. 
                - from the June 2002 Iyengar Yoga Vancouver Newsletter

Everybody Upside Down

Barbara Benagh on Salamba Sarvangasana

Setu Bandhasana

Erich Schiffmann's Setu Bandhasana or bridge pose instructions.

Strike a Royal Pose by Aadil Palkhivala

John Schumacher on Salamba Sirsasana (Headstand)

The Royal Couple by Kelly Andrews - lots of great pictures accompany this article.

learning to roll with it

First of all, the disclaimer – not all exercise is suitable for everyone, consult your health care practitioner, wait 4 hours (large meal) or 2 hours (small meal) before practicing, do not operate heavy machinery, do not immerse in acid, yada yada.

With that out of the way, we can address one of the topic yogalilans often discuss: fear in arm balance and inversions. Most of us have had to confront, at one point or another, the obstacle of fear in arm balances like crow, where we’re likely to do a face plant, or headstand in the middle of the room, where falling is a very real possibility. Of sirsasana, or headstand, BKS Iyengar says:

“The best way to overcome fear is to face with equanimity the situation of which one is afraid. Then one gets the correct perspective, and one is not frightened any more. To topple over while learning headstand is not as terrible as we imagine. If one overbalances, one should remember to loosen the interlocked fingers, relax, go limp, and flex the knees. Then one will just roll over and smile.” ( Light on Yoga, pg. 146, Thorson 2001)

Wow! Those of us who have read those words, or heard similar ones in class, are thunderstruck at the simplicity and audacity of this concept. The idea of conquering fear by accepting falling as inevitable, and learning to do it, is both humbling and empowering. This is especially true for practitioners coming to yoga somewhat later in their adult lives, without benefit of gymnastics or similar training in their youth that eliminated fear of either falling, or being upside down.

Learning to roll out of sirsasana in a somersault requires any number of things – an ability to trust, relax, laugh at yourself - and some sort of padded surface. It might be worthwhile just to practice somersaults for a while, just to remember what it feels like, if you haven’t done them since you were a child. And from there, it’s a progression. One could set up for sirsasana, and perhaps experiment with rolling out just as one walks the feet in towards the face. Then rolling out as the knees bend and tuck into the chest, eventually working to rolling out from full headstand.

Rolling out can be done from arm balances like crow, as well. Andrey Lappa’s Universal Yoga DVD gives great demonstrations of this. (Again, padding helps)

When the fear of falling is overcome by practicing the art of falling in a controlled way, one more obstacle is diminished as we continue to refine our inversion and arm balance practice. Just one little thing to keep in mind, as Loretta prepares our syllabus for Upside Down in June.