Core stability is inherent to the practice of yoga asana. Though we don't work explicitly on strengthening deep core muscles, the use and support of them are integral to most yoga poses. The core helps us centralize our movements allowing them to be stronger and more stable.

Oftentimes we mistake hard abs for core strength, but in yoga we want to cultivate a deeper understanding and connection to our own core.

Adductors

The adductors are the muscles of the inner thighs. Often addressed in the instruction of asanas, the inner thighs are required to inwardly or outwardly rotate, depending on the pose. Also, they can be pulled up toward the inner groins to assist the deepening of the groins into the body. Adduction moves the legs toward the mid-line of the body; connecting with the adductors helps us draw the action of the asanas into the body's core. When you walk, you may turn your feet out or feel like your moving in different directions. If you bring your awareness to your inner thighs, have the sense of them moving toward the space behind you, your gait feels more centred.

One way to explore this is by lying on your back with the knees bent. Place a block between the inner thighs and guide them in toward the block. Don't squeeze the life out of the block. Although we want to tone the inner thighs we don't want them to get 'grippy'. Now place your fingers an inch in from the pelvic rims. Do you notice a toning of the lower abdomen? The transversus abdominus are deep abdominal muscles that connect the pelvis to the ribs and help with pelvic stability.

If you don't feel the connection, don't worry about it. Just know that by toning the adductors you are connecting to your core, including the stabilizing transversus abdominus, whether you feel it yet or not.



Supta ardha pavanmuktasana

Connecting to this 'core line' is helpful in a variety of poses. Supta ardha pavanamuktasana is an easy way to make the connection to this core line.

Lie on your back in supta tadasana (a reclined mountain pose). Even with both legs extended imagine you've got the block between the thighs. Keep your kneecaps lifting, your buttocks moving toward your heels. Now pull your right knee in toward your chest and hold the chin or back of the thigh. Do you feel how the inner thighs want to splay away from each other? Now imagine the block and travel along the core line as though both inner thighs had a block to press in to. Notice how working that way keeps you more centred and connected to your core. Do this with the left leg.

Do the above actions again with the right leg. Stretch tremendously through the left leg. Pull the left kneecap up and anchor the left thighbone down. Keep connected with both inner thighs. Gather them toward the imaginary block. Then widen your elbows and lift your shoulder blades off the floor as though you wanted to take your heart centre to the ceiling. (If you feel strain in your neck, leave the head on the floor and almost lift off and your abdominals should still engage). Hold for one breath, then lower. Change sides. Repeat three to six times.

Urdhva prasarita padasana

You can also connect with your core in variations of urdhva prasarita padasana. Start with your buttocks several inches away from the wall, so that if you were to put your heels on the wall the legs would be at about sixty degrees. Now draw your knees into your chest and lengthen the buttocks toward the wall.

Take your legs up to ninety degrees. Imagine the block between the inner thighs, gather the legs into the core line. Maintain this connection as you lower your right heel to the wall. When you take the right leg back to join the left make sure the back ribs touch the floor, that the low back does not take the brunt of the work. If you feel it in the back, bend the knees and bring the legs into the body.

Also, feel your abdomen. Is it bulging? Can you keep it wide as you draw the leg up? If not, move a little closer to the wall.

Do the other side.

If working one leg at a time is easy, try lowering both heels to the wall simultaneously. Keep your arms stretched overhead and your back ribs down. Breathe. Again, notice if the work moves into the back at all.


Repeat several times. Each time the heels come to the wall, let the touch be light. Also, connect to your core line. Imagine the block between the thighs and act as though the two legs were one.

When you are finished spend some time relaxing the abdomen. Though we want strength in our abdominal muscles we also want to maintain a softness too. Otherwise, our breathing can become restricted and our abdominal organs constricted. Lying on the back with knees bent and hands on the belly offers you a connection to this softening. Feel how the belly moves with the breath. Widened out on inhalation. Relaxed down on exhalation.

When I was a kid, I started a lot of things. Guitar. Piano. Painting. Gymnastics. In my mind, I could take down an audience with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", play perfect concertos, paint like the Impressionists and flip into a gold medal dismount off the balance beam. When I slammed head-first into the reality of clunky piano notes and awkward stick men, I'd quit whatever lessons I'd been taking and retreat into the silent spell of books and records. If I couldn't do it perfectly, I wouldn't do it at all.

Later, as I discovered yoga, I noticed that I was still afflicted with this idea of achieving perfection. The drive to "get a pose" often informed my practice. "If I move my knee over the centre of my foot, open my chest like the teacher says, then, I'll have it." But then, the teacher would come over and offer some insight into the twist of my pelvis and I'd think: "Damn. I still don't have it"

Someone once said that it is called yoga practice, not yoga perfect. This is helpful to remember, especially if you aren't practicing because you think you'll do it wrong. (A very common concern.)

Practice means we give our attention to our bodies in asana. We nurture them. We explore the asanas with a certain generosity and kindness. If the pose challenges us, we stay. Even if only for a breath or two. Then, we reflect on what the pose has to teach us, whether physically, emotionally or mentally.

And then, we breathe.

BKS Iyengar says: "Change leads to disappointment if it is not sustained. Transformation is sustained change, and it is achieved through practice."

The problem with perfectionism is that it creates a belief that we should feel a certain way. That all planets and stars come together, align like a mobile and then, we'll be struck with enlightenment or wealth or whatever it is we seek.

Practice, however, is incredibly generous. Practice does not wait for the perfect alignment of stars. Instead, it waits for us to dust off our mats. And like a Divine hand, it gives us whatever is here now.

Setu Bandha is one of my favourite poses. It is a pose that can be done in a variety of different ways, depending on your body's needs that day. Last week, as I was recovering from a cough, I used the restorative version of this pose to keep my chest open and stimulate my immune system. Other times, I finish my practice with the version that has my sacrum resting on the block to help open my hip flexors, balance my sacrum and give my spine a healthy opening. And then, of course, there is the straight-up, no props, active setu bandha backbend, which helps strengthen the back muscles, the hamstrings and teaches you to invite the tops of the shoulders onto the floor.

Below, I've described the different ways of doing this Little Bridge pose. You can integrate one or two versions into the Home Practice after standing poses or after the chair twist.

Do not do these poses if you have a neck injury without the supervision of a trained yoga instructor or permission from your physician

Setu Bandha Straight Up

Lie on your back with your knees bent. Bend your arms so that you form a 90 degree angle at your elbows. Connect with the four corners of your feet. Press the feet into the floor, simultaneously pressing the outer shoulder and upper arm into the floor. Lift the pelvis off the floor, lengthening the buttock flesh towards the knees. Take the tops of the shoulders more onto the floor. Now, take the shoulder blades deep into the body so that the chest lifts away from the legs. Breathe. Notice the buttocks muscles. Are they clenching? Keep them wide. Notice your throat and jaw. Release the jaw and see that the throat is wide. Hold for several breaths. Come down keeping the buttocks flesh lengthening toward the knees. Enjoy the breath. Then, repeat two or three more times.

Setu Bandha With the Sacrum on a Platter

This pose serves your sacrum up on a block, asking that it become the fulcrum of the pose. Holding the pose with the support of the block gives you an opportunity to maintain the pose for several minutes. This invites flexibility into the spine, but the holding is like a tonic for the nervous system and the heart and is quietening for the mind.

To come into this pose, begin with the Straight-Up version, though this time, place a wooden brick (or a stack of foams) at the wall. Lift your pelvis and open your chest as you would for the previous version. Slide the brick horizontally beneath the sacrum (the sacrum is the diamond shaped bone that brings the spine and pelvis together) and then release your pelvis down so it is resting on the brick. Then, straighten your legs and place the heels on the brick at the wall. Let your arms rest by your side, palms up.

If you have trouble with the brick at full height, try the next version of the pose (using the chair) or lower the block to a height that works for you.

Setu Bandha with a Chair

Father Joe Periera offered us this version of setu bandha in his workshop last Fall. I find it incredibly helpful for people who struggle to get the chest open enough to slide the brick under the sacrum.  Even if you can do the above version, it is sometimes helpful to experiment with this one, to notice how having the height under the feet helps open the chest and allow the tops of the shoulders to come more on the floor.

To come into this pose you start on your back with your knees bent and the bottoms of your feet on the chair. Press the bottoms of the feet into the chair and lift the pelvis off the floor. Be here for a moment and focus on the lift of the chest. If it is easy for you to interlace the fingers behind the back, do that and then walk the tops of the shoulders more onto the floor, press the upper arms down and lift the shoulder blades into the chest.

If your shoulders are tight and the hands behind the back feels more restrictive than freeing, try gripping the sides of your mat instead or holding a strap. Again, working to get the tops of the shoulders more onto the floor, the shoulder blades moving into the chest.

Once the chest is open, slide the block under the sacrum and rest the sacrum on the block. Straighten your legs, resting the calves on the chair. Hold for several minutes.

To come down, place bottoms of the feet on the chair, lift the pelvis off the block, lower the buttocks. It is nice to rest the calves on the chair afterwards and completely let the back relax.

Restorative Setu Bandha

In this version of the pose all bodily systems are supported -- lymphatic, cardiovascular, nervous, musculoskeletal, digestive and respiratory. It is a great pose for women during menstruation, for convalescing, for times of stress or even after a particularly challenging practice. This pose invites quiet into the brain and most of us could use a little of that...

This pose requires two bolsters or eight foam blocks. You can fashion bolsters with firm blankets, folded in a tri-fold accordion sort of way, though I highly recommend a bolster or two because restorative poses are so beautiful and valuable.

Line your bolsters end-to-end. I place foam blocks under mine for more height, but you can just keep the bolster height until you're used to the pose (and even then, you don't need to add the foams). Sit on one end of the bolster with your knees bent. Strap your thighs together so that they can completely relax during the hold of the pose. You can still have the knees bent at this point. Then, place your hands beside the bolster, press into the hands and feet, lift the hips and lengthen the buttocks toward the knees. Recline back onto the bolster lengthening the waist onto the bolster then opening the chest over the edge of the bolster. Invite the spine that is between your shoulderblades in toward your chest. Bring the tops of the shoulders and the back of the head onto the floor.

If the floor feels too far away, fold a blanket so that it "lifts" the floor up and your shoulders and head are on it. Don't let your shoulders hover above the floor, this will create more tension.

Straighten your legs out over the second bolster. If your low back bothers you, try bending the knees or remove the strap and place the legs in either cross-legs or badha konasana (cobbler's pose).

Stay for five to ten minutes. Breathing and enjoying. Then to come out, bend the knees, lift your hips and remove the bolster out from underneath you. Let the hips come down to rest on the floor.

Do Savasana. Ahhh...

Here's an easy sequence to do. It helps lengthen your back and stretches your legs. You only need about fifteen minutes out of your day to do this... Your back may thank you!

(**Do not do this sequence if you have a series back injury, hamstring injury or are working with shoulder problems. Please consult a physician before embarking on this or any other practice on this website.)

Adho Mukha Virasana
Child's Pose

We don't often think of Child's Pose, or forward Virasana as being a great stretch. Often it is a 'resting' place after holding Downward Dog. But in the series of poses I taught this week, I introduced this pose as a way to create length in the sides of the body, to stretch the back muscles and opening the shoulders.

Sit with your big toes together and your knees apart. When you come foreward, your ribs should touch your inner thighs, your belly free between the legs. Instead of coming head-down to the floor, lengthen the sides of your body toward the wall. Place your hands on the wall with the fingers facing away from the wall, still lengthening the torso. Now rest your head either on the floor or on a block.

As you hold the pose, press your hands into the wall and drop the buttocks toward the heels. Broaden your shoulder blades away from each other by taking the back armpit area toward the floor. Breathe. Observe the length in the torso and the sensations in the back of your body.

To come out, bring your hands beneath your shoulders and push yourself to sitting.

Modified Urdhva Hastasana
Stand facing the wall. Feet parallel to each other and hip width apart. Reach your hands up the wall, fingers pointing away from each other (you can try it a second time with the fingers pointing upwards and note the difference in your shoulders).

Press the palms firmly into the wall, broaden your shoulderblades and step your feet back six inches from the wall. Press the four corners of your feet into the floor. Pull the kneecaps up towards the tops of your thighs and press the thighs back, sending your buttocks away from the wall. Breathe. And observe the length in the sides of your body.

Can you walk the hands higher? Can you come onto the balls of the feet and reach the hands further up the wall? How about keeping the hands there and slowly lowering the heels? When the heels come down, work the kneecaps up. Observe your breath.

Ardha Uttanasana

Standing close to the wall, take your hands to shoulder height, again with the fingers pointed outward. Step your feet back away from the wall, straightening your arms and bringing your chest to face the floor. Again, broaden your shoulder blades, taking the outer armpits toward the floor. Press into the hands and lengthen the sides of the body back toward the buttocks, the buttocks away from the wall. Keep the four points of your feet pressing down and lift your kneecaps. Breathe. To come out bend your knees, step in toward the wall.

You can do this a second time, changing the position of your hands so the fingers point upwards. Or you can lower your hands to waist height repeating the pose but bringing a little more intensity to the backs of your legs. Don't do this if you feel any compression in your back.

Adho Mukha Svanasana.

Begin this Dog pose on the floor and at the wall. With fingers pointing outward, take your index finger and thumb to the wall, press your palms into the floor. Tuck your toes under and lift your buttocks up toward the ceiling. Create the length through the sides of your body the way you have been throughout this practice. Lifting from hands to shoulders and from shoulders to buttocks. Pull your kneecaps up toward the tops of your thighs and press your thighs back. Lower your heels back and down without losing any of the length you've created through your side body.

If you feel tight in the backs of the legs and heavy in the shoulders then go back to the above stretches to work on creating the length and openness you need for this pose.

To come out, bend your knees and come onto the floor into a resting Child's Pose. Big toes together, knees apart. Take the buttocks toward the heels, fold your forearms and rest your head on your forearms.

When you are finished this sequence, rest for several minutes in Savasana totally releasing your arms and legs and softening your back.

Namaste!

It is always good in yoga asana to start at the base of your pose. Often, this means your feet. Interestingly, as you explore the feet in the standing poses, you'll find that the rooting quality, coupled with the action of the legs leads to freeing up the spine.

 Finding the Four Corners of the Feet

Look at the bottoms of your feet (sit down to do this!). Press into either side of your heel bones. These points could be considered the back corners of your feet. The front corners are below your big toe, on the fleshy big toe mound, and below the baby toes. If you place your fingers on the heel corners and connect the dots up to the toe-mound corners, you'll feel a lengthening in the bottoms of your feet.

Tadasana -- Mountain Pose

Stand with your feet together. Look down at your feet and notice their length. Keep in mind the four corners and root the heel corners of the right foot into the floor. Lift the front of the foot off the floor and lengthen the front corners forward and place that part of your foot on the floor. Did you see the right foot get longer than the left?
Do the same on the left. Now spread your toes.

Draw both sides of your kneecaps up so that your quadraceps muscles ( front thigh muscles) engage. Take the flesh of your buttocks toward the floor. Now bring your awareness back down into your feet and notice how your weight is distributed there. Can you balance it over all four corners?

There won't necessarily be a static place to balance the four corners, but in tadasana we're always seeking it out. Imagine little roots descending through those four corners, keeping you connected to the Earth. Notice as the corners descend what happens to your pelvis, your spine, your chest. Did anything happen to your breath?

These are all things to notice and explore over time and with practice. Also, you can take the awareness of your four corners into the Home Practice and discover what happens to them when you do Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) or Virabadhrasana II (Warrior Two).

The great thing, though, about Mountain Pose is that you can practice it anywhere. Grocery lines, bank lines, your kid's soccer game. This pose doesn't need to be restricted to the mat!

On my recent trip to Quebec, I had the privilege of viewing the Bodies exhibit. This, in case you are unfamiliar with it, is an international exhibit that features real human bodies that have been preserved in order to display various aspects of our anatomy.

I do love anatomy. As a yoga teacher, I work with bodies all the time. I'm fascinated by our construct. And the more I learn, the more I realize that the body is as vast as the universe itself. Discoveries are infinite. From a new anatomical term, to the subtle awareness of skin or breath, the body continues to delight me.

So, I was excited to see this exhibit. To see thick bands of fascia that run down the sides of the thighs. To observe the latissimus dorsi and the way it attaches from the low lumbar to the humerus bone. To investigate the beautiful shape of the sacral bone.

The bodies, though, are dead. And though I knew this going in, it became apparent that this window into the human body was limited. Encased in glass, was someone's brain. I looked down into the grey folds and realized that the person who had operated his/her life with this brain was no longer there. The essence of this person had vanished.

As I wandered the rest of the exhibit, it offered me insights into my own body. The lungs are smaller than I imagined. The nervous system, when isolated and laid flat looks like a deveined shrimp. And the blood vessels are as intricate as coral reefs.

My fascination with the human body, though, was in the component that could not be preserved. It resides in the living tissues. In the intelligence. In the harmonious synchronicity of it all.

http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Latissimus_dorsi_.PNG


 
 

Welcome to my website!

Just in time for the Holiday Season too.

As the New Year approaches, so do those dreaded resolutions. We aspire to be better, to eliminate sugar or alcohol, or commit to exercise. One thing I know about practicing yoga, is that it eliminates the need for resolutions. Iyengar yoga is a deeply transformative process that renews your relationship to your body. Over time, unwanted habits or cravings often fall away in favour of healthier choices.

Iyengar yoga offers us a pathway back to our own selves. It teaches the cells in the body to become happy so that we may authentically change our feelings and celebrate our lives and the lives of others.

This a true gift.

Many blessings,

Traci