I so rarely feel discomfort in my wrist, particularly with yoga, so when they were a bit cranky this week I wondered what was up!
Many yoga postures require extension at the wrist such as plank, downward facing dog, upward facing down, it is only when my forearm extensors are stiff and tight do I notice. It really got me thinking… What caused the muscles around my wrists to be sore? What can yoga do to help me through? The first answer is relatively easy. Or so I think. I was on my bike a substantial amount of time the past week. More than I normally do. So the most logical explanation I can come up with is that I was putting more force on my wrists while gripping my handle bars. The second answer is not as simple. Off I go to the world wide web to comb over some articles. I went straight to the heavy science first. Nothing like a Cochrane Reviews to bring home the research evidence. Interestingly, what they report is that yoga can provide short-term benefit for conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome. Unfortunately, I know I don’t have carpal tunnel (no direct comparison) and the summaries never give the specifics of what exact yoga poses were done in the summarized studies. So on to another source, maybe not as rigorous with its science but nonetheless more practical… Yoga Journal was able to fill the void. Expertly written, Julie Gudmestad, trained physical therapist and yoga instructor provided some insights into what one can do when wrists are the limiting factor to practice. She suggested that shifting the position of the hands to minimize the extension at the wrist such as in hands and knees position can help reduce the irritation. What about props? Of course, using something to assist your poses is crucial. She suggests using a chair for modified versions of downward facing dog and plank pose. Or propping feet up on blocks in downward facing dog to minimize the sharp angle of extension at the wrists. As a aspiring yoga teacher, knowing how to modify asanas will be crucial to help class participants feel comfortable in practice and not irritate areas of tightness. The wrists being a very likely place of discomfort for some! I’m not going to lie. I thoroughly enjoyed my practice with Fiji McAlpine. So much so that her final words in savasana hit home...open the palms to indicate you are ready to receive. This practice gave me insight into an area of discomfort that I rarely have. What a great opportunity to think it through and be open to new ways to practice, LW
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Is there someone in the world you want to meet?
I’ve always thought to myself that ONE day I would like to meet Wayne Dyer. Maybe at one of his talks or workshops. I have always appreciated his writing and views on the world. His teachings have helped me out of some unhealthy situations and I wanted to thank him for his ever inspiring advice. Well, that dream (yes - it was a daydream!) will not come true. In August of 2015, Wayne Dyer passed away suddenly. The same thing happened again this week. I experienced the same disappointment in realizing that I wouldn’t meet another person who was on my “meeting list”. Let me explain... I picked up my recently arrived Yoga Association of Alberta newsletter. Hot of the press, I scanned through the pages to see what I had to look forward to once I found some time to read. On first flip through, I missed it. Yet, on my second pass through, it caught my eye. The “it” was a half page notice indicating the death of one of the most recognized modern yoga teachers in the world. TKV Desikachar Just to the left of me sit his book, The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice. It was probably purchased 6 months ago or more and it sits and waits for me. I suppose the rational person in me realizes that Desikachar was in his later years of life and at the rate of my “formal” yoga certification (read: slow) I probably would not have a realistic chance to learn from this man. I had been wanting to learn more about the history of his life and what I currently know is that he is part of the T. Krishnamacharya lineage. T. Krishnamacharya is is father. Disappointing. Saddening. Yes. Silver lining… It is quite likely that I will someday have a chance to learn from him. It might just be from his books and other teachers who have trained in his lineage. But what he shared with the world still lives. As with Wayne Dyer, his message, his legacy is still available to me anytime, any place. The beauty of the world we now live in. With all this being said, my weekly morning practice continues with some struggles. I Am Awake seemed like a helpful practice to start the day with. It was a simple practice that was slow and purposeful. During practice, my mind drifted to the future (which is never good when working on a yoga asana!) and I had to pull myself back in to the present moment. Mindfulness baby! Yet, with the current news of Desikachar’s passing, it hammers down the point of how important time is. Each moment comes and goes yet time is in some regards infinite. To more practice and learning, LW What did the preschooler say to his mom at 3 am, 4 am, and 5 am? You ain't gonna be up for yoga at 6:45am! That was my night before my planned yoga this week. Funny how my preschooler has no idea what my yoga schedule is the next morning! Needless to say, I squeezed in my yoga session during the day while the kids had some quiet time. Remarkably, I was able to enjoy a 40 minute session without one interruption…only the pitter patter on the floor above me! I was drawn to the Yin/Yang Yoga for the Shoulders and Upper Back from Do Yoga with Me as I really enjoy the combination of the two. I seem to get excellent results from the balance of the two styles of yoga. Last week’s practice also demonstrated to me that my neck is super tight so a focus on the shoulders and upper back was a welcomed focus for the week. So much cycling, it takes a toll on my upper back and neck! Sarah Jane Steele led the session with the Yin practice first. We completed three Yin poses that were meant to open the body, open the body's meridians and likely open the mind to practice. She commented that, …the essence of Yin is to get deep below your superficial muscles, get right down to the fascia, the area around the joint and the meridians of your body. So the more you can just released your face, take all the muscular energy out of the shoulders and the chest, the more you will be able to release into this posture. Love it! We proceeded into our Yang practice. As I’ve noted before, Sarah Jane has challenged me with new sequences that gave my practice a boost. This week was like no other. As she directed me into the “threading the needle pose”, I thought, “I got this!” Surprisingly, my main take away was an easy way to intensify the upper back stretch in this pose. No equipment needed, except for my hand. Let me explain… In hands and knees position, we pressed our hips back to our heels while keeping the arms out stretched in front of the body. Slowly lifting one arm up to the sky, rotate at the torso for a nice opening, then slowly lower the arm and tuck it under the outstretched support arm. Weight of the body is now on the outside of the bottom or “threaded” arm. So - the same movement as usual. But then… I was cued to actually manipulated the scapula. How you may ask? By grabbing ahold of the opposite scapula with the “threaded” arm’s hand and gently pulling away from the mid line of the body. By doing so, the extra pull provided a traction to really open up between the scapula. All I needed was to use my hand to further open the distance between my two shoulder blades! As you can imagine, 40 minutes of focus on my shoulders and chest has really helped to open my upper body. I do still feeling tension in the base of my neck and of course down by that pesky left hip but at least a little bit looser in between my scapula!
That, my yoga loving friends, was pretty cool. I've never done that before and the most self-care for the shoulders and back that I given in a long while! LW The continuation of yoga in the morning has been a delightful way to start the day but poses (no pun intended!) some challenges in writing about them after the fact.
This week’s practice I was in a state of sleepiness. I closed my eyes for the majority of the first 10-15 minutes of practice. Lovely as it sounds and great way to come into the morning, I hesitate with my recall of the practice. Thank goodness for voice memos on my phone to save my thoughts at the end! I chose this week’s practice, as it sounded well-suited to my morning self. Or at least my anticipated morning self. Late night and early morning only speaks to the practice title, Deepening Relaxation. I also noted that I had yet to participate in any of Satiya Channer’s Do Yoga with Me videos so I was looking forward to a new voice, new method and new type of practice. It fit EXACTLY what I needed. The practised eased in with a comfortable pace where we focused on openers for the hips, leg and shoulders. But initially a much needed focus on the neck and breath was so appreciated. I find not many yoga practices focus on the neck. I haven’t run across any particular “neck asanas” and wonder do they really exist? The varied breath work definitely helped guide me through the tension my neck possesses. The slow start led to a very relaxed practice yet with concentrated effort. It allowed the body to let go. Don’t know how that happened but it was blissfully welcomed. Points of tension cropped up somewhat unexpectedly. My neck, side body and back really talked back. Maybe it was the relaxation that allowed my body to unraveling. Staff pose was difficult. I sensed that my pelvis was out of alignment and noted to myself, “it’s best to book in to see my trusted chiropractor soon!” I loved how the practice was calming yet enlightening. Quiet but loud (my body spoke in a very loud tone at times!) And peaceful and grounding. Who doesn’t want to start your day like this? LW Oh, the little gems I pick up every time I go to the mat. This week is like no other… I’ve talked about forward fold and it’s “sister”, half forward fold in the past. I so frequently move through these postures that I’ve forgotten my initial physiological investigation (really?) from way back when. This week’s practice, again, shot me back to my thoughts on what is happening between these two poses. Recall - okay - guessing you haven’t read the post before. Let me recap… My hypothesis is that the half forward fold is used to activate the golgi tendon organ via Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching. The hamstring stretch increases after each subsequent half forward fold as you move back into a forward fold. Still no answer to be found on my end if this is the case. Nonetheless, in this week’s practice I was given the gift of another option in the forward fold position. Adriene’s ("Beach Body Yoga") Balancing Ocean Flow was a sight to be had. The practice was located on a lovely patio looking out onto the ocean. Not clear where it was but absolutely a gorgeous view. If you don’t feel like practicing, watching the waves may be just all you need! We worked through three variations of the half forward fold, primarily changing the placement of the hands: 1. The half fold with the palms of the hands on the thighs, upper arms parallel to the torso to find length in the spine. 2. The palms stay lower and rest on the shins. Still encouraged to lengthen the spine yet the arms are given more space and the hamstrings are taxed, or shall I say stretched a little bit more. 3. The final version is what left me to ponder even more. Adriene directed me keep the hands on the floor yet lift the hips by plantar flexing the feet or shall I say in more entertaining words, coming up on my tippy toes. I almost stopped the video so I could keep trying the half forward fold from the tippy toes. I had never done this version before. Adriene alluded to the fact it was more of an ashtanga version so I’m left guessing it is more dynamic and thus likely found in an ashtanga practice. Not sure on that one either… But it did get me thinking about my hypothesis above. AND it made me realize (duh?) that forward folds are not just about the hamstrings but the calf muscles too! Essentially, coming up on the toes contracts the calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) and in effect the same mechanism of the golgi tendon organ is working. Contract the muscle to then relax and let it be stretched further in the full forward fold. Brilliant! Care to chime in on my hypothesis? Feel free to leave any and all insight below in the comments! I’ve got so many questions and a few answers. More to learn, LW I love having unique and novel practices. From time to time, yoga sequences can be so similar that you can almost shut off and not bother thinking about it (read: sun salutation after sun salutation or Warrior II into Triangle Pose). Yet, this week caught my attention from the beginning! Yin/Yang Yoga for the Spine, from Do Yoga with Me, was a quick, half-asleep pick at 6:30 am Tuesday morning. I was looking for a longer practice but didn’t want anything that was so focusing at that early morning hour. You know, I just roll out of bed, hit the bathroom and head down to the basement to practice. I didn’t recognize Sarah Jane Steele’s name from a previous session so I was game to try another new yoga teacher. Right away I was in for something different. The “warm-up” so to speak, was not like something I’d done before. She directed me to fall into a sun salutation from mountain pose and dynamically we moved into chair pose with rotation. What felt like a short moment later, I was instructed to move back into a low lunge. This sequence was repeated on alternate sides of the body for a total of three times each. Boy, that woke me up! It was the perfect way to get the early morning yoga juices flowing. Once more, Sarah Jane threw me into something new. Bird of Paradise pose… Say what? That’s a new one for me. Let me be honest, I stopped dead in my tracks to watch my computer monitor for this one. From extended side angle pose, we transitioned into a bind. The bind consisted of placing the top arm overhead and behind the lower back while bringing the bottom arm underneath the front thigh. Catching the fingers together (peace sign fingers!) and holding. Whew! Just typing that made me recall the difficulty of holding THAT pose. But oh no, that is not the final destination. Sarah Jane proceeded to walk her straight leg into towards the bent leg and slowly straightened it into a standing, balance position. IT BLEW MY MIND!
I was in compete awe of how Sarah Jane was able to hold this position. The competitive side of me wanted to try it but clearly the bind in extended side angle pose was my challenge that morning. Needless to say, I repeated the name of the pose ferociously in my head so that I’d remember to look it up later! Here are the details of this pose… Bird of Paradise (no sanskrit name to be found) is a challenge of balance in the rooted strength of your standing leg with a blossoming openness and flexibility in your torso and extended leg. It requires both strength and flexibility to be successful. Now, since I wasn’t able to try it, I don’t have words to express how it felt. Yet, I have a new pose that I want to try soon! Maybe a yoga strap could help with the bind… Coming soon...Bird of Paradise is something to aspire to! LW This week I tried something different... With the kids not napping or shall I say napping shorter, I've come to the realization that for my yoga practice to happen on a weekly basis, I will need to start a morning practice. Don't get me wrong, I love morning workouts BUT I'm not at my peak intellectual self in the morning. Well, what does that have to do with it? My mind, body and spirit love the practice yet my brain isn't ready to write or even contemplate the practice like I do in the daytime. Hence, it will take me a bit more effort to compose a blogpost after a relaxing and nourishing practice before I *actually* wake up! This week I thought it was suitable to practice an actual morning practice - Greet the Day Yoga. And thank you Adriene! I love sequences. Maybe its from my step aerobic days or even further back, my synchronized swimming days. Each asana has a particular order it follows and they usually stay in that sequence. But when they DON’T, it really can be a shake up. Like I said, my brain is not in high gear so when Adriene threw an alternate way to sequence the asanas, I really had to stop and think it through! Let me explain… Moving on the sagittal plane, I followed the direction into the low lunge transitioning into an overhead arm position. The first sprinkles of the frontal plane movement began as we moved into half moon-like arms. The lower body maintained the sagittal position while the upper body was moving on the frontal plane. Okay - done that before… But what was different was how we moved the lower body into a frontal plane. Now simple as it is, it really changes the sequence of the asanas. No critique here, only a reflection on how it is possible to move the body in this way. I had never done this before. The arms retreat from overhead with the hand on the same side as the front leg coming down to the foot. The back leg then rotates at the knee, which “forces” the hips to open and the body arrives on the frontal plane. The other arm joins in by reaching overhead in a modified extended side angle pose.
Never once had I moved from a low lunge into an extended side angle pose. It had never occurred to me that that was an option. It was smooth and boy, did I like it! It almost allowed for an alternative way to open the hips while the knee stayed on the ground. Possibly more focus on the upper body too (no longer worried about keeping the leg up and the back foot grounded). So, for a morning practice, I had to have my motor neurons firing! Who knew that such a small and simple change could open my eyes into something new. Contemplating alternative asana sequencing…and switching my hours around, LW Remember those shirts?! No Fear! That was my first thought when I practiced yoga this week. A friendly but in your face brand of the 1990s!
How appropriate to start the 201st week of yoga without any fear? In my case, I try my hardest to let go of as much fear as I can but it still creeps into my life. My yoga life, not so much. Why? Probably years of yoga practice can build confidence in the poses. Yet, there are some poses that can be scary, particularly the ones you can fall over in. And that is just what was the challenge in No Fear Yoga. Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III) can be a bit intimidating. Trying to balance on one leg while keep the body parallel to the floor, arms outstretched above the head AND the suspended leg in line with the rest of the body. No small feat! Just like flying is scary for some, Warrior III puts your body into space as if you are flying. It was kind of cool to listen to the birds on the video while in the position. I don’t miss the congruity of the sounds. Warrior III is an excellent balance pose but it also challenges the core and the back body. No fear required to get those benefits! The second pose in my no fear practice was crane/crow pose (Bakasana). Another pose that elicits fear of falling on your face! Perfect for the no fear yoga! It always seems that crow pose is left to the end of practice. This week being no exception. Is this because one has less monkey chatter inside his/her head at this point in the practice? For me, fear seemed to have risen at the end as I had kids tromping around upstairs when they were suppose to be having a nap and quiet time. No fear of the pose, more about fear of my yoga practice ending! Needless to say, my fear got the best of me as I fumbled with crow pose and wasn’t able to settle enough to get into the pose. One foot off the ground, with the tips of the toes of the other foot on the ground. Nothing trumps the thoughts of fear…even though it was a made up fear in my head! Perfect illustration via this pose. Oh well, another day, another chance to suspend myself off the ground with crow pose! Continuously throwing fear by the wayside, LW If you have ever felt your muscles shutter with the shakes, you’ll understand the challenge that is this week’s yoga practice. I was ready for a “yoga workout” this week. I scoured videos and landed on the glorious Yoga with Adriene’s Deepen & Flow practice. It sounded like the right fit as the summary listed “cultivate some heat!”. Heat equals hard working yoga in my world! The practice took me through some challenging low lunges and quick(er) flows of downward facing dogs and planks. I had thought most of the challenge was done when we transitioned into a standing balance sequence. It was unique and novel and I loved it! Let me spell it out… I was guided into chair pose by sending the hips back first followed by bending the knees. It felt like more of a traditional squat but was happy to lower my butt towards the ground. The pose transitioned into a single leg stance with the ankle of one foot onto the thigh/knee of the supporting leg. Kind of like a figure four position or modified pigeon pose. If that wasn’t challenging enough, without touching the raised foot down to the floor, move the lifted foot back by pressing it back into Warrior III pose. Simple. Maybe if you do it once. But we repeated it three times! By having the hips and knees flexed, it allowed the body to be “closed” initially then transitioned into an “open” position into the Warrior III. The gluteus maximus of the support leg plus the core needed to be engaged to allowed the flow of the poses together. And where was the shakes, you may ask? By the third and final repetition, “crazy prana [was] running through the body” and the support leg shook! So much so that the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings all had a fun dance together! I haven’t felt that muscle shake feeling since participating in a Barre class…if you don’t know, that is was happens in barre classes! Fighting it doesn’t work, moving through the shakes is what works the muscles best. Now this sequence was a "full body experience”! It was a combination of balance, strength and stamina all rolled up into one! Something to keep in mind for future teaching as a “simple” way to challenge a class - combine three poses into one and repeat, repeat, repeat. I know I sure got the work intended! LW Lift your arches. I've heard it. I've processed it. But let's be honest, I've never really got how to do it until NOW. This weekend I was privileged to attend multiple sessions with yoga therapist, Suzette O'Bryne at the Provincial Fitness Unit of Alberta's Fit Rendezvous conference. I was happy to get up at 6:15 am on Saturday morning as I headed to the first conference session, Yoga Therapy: Restoring Function. Suzette led the group through multiple body compensations that are common in practice. Although there were many excellent insights from the session, the one I grabbed onto was the whole idea of lifting the arches. Let's be frank, my mountain pose always needs work. I try my hardest on standing straight but over the years of shifting my weight towards one hip, it is a constant struggle to get my posture correct. I've practiced narrowing my focus to my feet, it's my foundation no doubt. Yet, never could quite get HOW to use my arches along with my toes. No more questions now! Drum roll please….it’s the talent of the big toe! It's amazing to me how textbook knowledge, when not practically applied is lost. I went straight back to my anatomy to figure out just what was going on with my lifted arches. To my surprise, when I found the muscle at work, flexor hallucis longus, it made total sense! Of course when pressing down on the big toe (hallux) I would be using a flexor! Did I remember that fact from Anatomy 100? Nope. But now it has application! Essentially, Suzette had us watch our arch when we pressed down or flexed the toe into the ground. Flexor hallucis longus can be seen moving upwards in the arch. Tension can also be felt. Now go on and try it! I continued to be curious, as all good students of anatomy are, to ponder what other muscle groups are at play with the arches of the feet. Low and behold, tibialis posterior is at work to help keep the arches lifted. I chuckled to myself when I found this information because I’d always wondered how to activate my tibialis posterior. Interesting, as I wear orthotics to support my arches. Maybe my tibialis posterior is lazy and needs some work! All and all, what a fantastic start to my conference weekend! I constantly was activating my arches all weekend long…on the indoor cycling bikes, during lectures and while throwing around a moveBALL. To make my week complete, I capped it off with Yoga for the Feet (from you know who, Adriene)! Keep on lifting my sweet dear arches, LW |
Aspiring Yoga TeacherI've practiced yoga since I was a pre-teen and have always found it to keep me centered. I will be a teacher one day and this is my journey to discover teaching and practice. Archives
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