apple blossoms (carolyn grady photo)

Saturday, May 14, blossomed cloudy and rainy – a fabulous day to drive through the vineyards into Westfield NY’s brilliant yoga studio PANTERRA for an afternoon exploring standing poses with teacher, Dariel Woltz. If you missed the poem I posted regarding my classes at Panterra, you may wish to read “body heart and soul” first.

Here are some idiosyncratic notes that I took during the afternoon:

We folded into UTTANASANA with bent knees, what I call the tucked ski jump position, this time with arms stretched forward so we could really feel the spine lengthening. ** Then we hugged our calves while resisting with the inner thighs until we could feel the pelvic floor open. ** After that occurred, we straightened our legs and hung, allowing the belly to soften and release deeply with every exhalation. ** The weight here is on the front of the heels or further forward for a bigger stretch. ** When ready, push into feet to come up.

ARDHA CHANDRASANA : A general measure for the hands is 6 inches forward and 8 inches out to the side. **The NAVICULAR bone – bone on the inside arch side of your foot – should lift in the complete pose. ** If you turn your front foot in, you are more likely to get a cramp in the outer hip. ** If over-arching, go lower, no block, so you don’t compress the kidney so much. ** When teaching this pose, always look at your student from the back of the pose.

TRIKONASANA : Counter-bend the upper torso BEFORE going down and continue to think about being in extension on the top rib side while going down.  ** Make sure stance is wide enough; if it’s too short, it will limit hip action and the student will never get to the floor. ** When the right leg is forward, the right hip socket has to move back and away from the right big toe….the back hip must be allowed to move slightly forward.

ALL STANDING POSES Begin and End in TADASANA. Only once you step your feet apart do you tend to lose your back curves.

WARRIOR TWO : Front shin aligned from knee to ankle…knee pointing at 2nd and 3rd toes. Front thigh parallel to the floor…hip socket in line with knee. To find hip socket move finger inward and up a bit from the greater trochanter.

TICTACTOE: all aligned on front leg: knee – hip socket of front leg – sit bone of back leg

Watch for back knee – have it bend down first and then straighten it. Beginners tend to lean forward so practice pose with heel and fingers on wall.  In the pose let the back pelvis face slightly forward.

FREE THE PELVIS from the legs!! See Eric Franklin’s Pelvic Power: Mind/Body Exercises for Strength, Flexibility, Posture, and Balance for Men and Women.

PARSVOKONASANA: Use block instead of elbow to get more revolution in upper body

Keep chin in and look at armpit…not off into space

3 Point Adjustment by teacher: Knee goes behind sitbone or thigh….Hand goes through forward arm and holds thigh towards arm…Back arm externally rotates back thigh

Heel to heel alignment OR front heel to back instep.

OTHER VARIATIONS: Ball or chair under front thigh…can put blanket on chair if chair too short

ROTATOR CUFF issues: make sure the shoulder blade goes down the back THEN revolve arm…can also leave top arm on hip!

For this as well as Trikonasana and other standing poses, try palms UP to externally rotate shoulder instead of internally rotating. Most folks invariably rotate inwardly when they raise their arms.

UTKATASANA: lightning bolt or chair pose….knees and heels are apart without rolling onto inner feet. Push into feet to come up. Try to sit with sit bones.

Practice with hands on hips first. No flexion in this pose! Can practice with block between thighs.

SEAT OF POWER POSE AT WALL: for knee and thigh strength….Excellent for warriors and Utkatasana….Place block between thighs…feet facing forward….use big bolster lengthwise on floor below for a landing pad. Try to go at least two breaths beyond when you think you should come out of pose.

PRASARITA PADOTTANASANA: Come out of pose as if in Tadasana…Practice Dog and Cat tilt in half pose….

WARRIOR 2 with mula bandha for more seasoned practitioners…think of energy coming through feet and into the pelvic floor and through head and out…For Beginners say “Try to spread the mat”

WARRIOR 1: Tuck tail, lift thigh…If there is low back pain, the groin is not opening…If student is jamming low back, have them take their torso slightly forward….If balance is an issue, go for a wider stance…

PRACTICE AT WALL: #1: with toes on wall

#2: with foot on angled block at wall without grounding back heel

DON’T LET CHEST CLOSE!!!! KEEP HEART OPEN!!

WARRIOR 1 TO WARRIOR 3 – use chair in front of short end of mat…try not touching the chair as you shift your weight fore\ward…then touch chair….Start in Warrior 1 with arms overhead…it’s actually easier in long run than to try to keep weight steady as you lift the arms from hanging position

Practice Supta Padanghustasana 3 to achieve pelvis position (dropping) in Warrior 3…That will stretch the ITT — ILIOTIBIALTRACT ….you can massage the ITT on roller or with hand—-it is related to colon and helps with related issues.

Also practice Salabasana to gain back strength for WARRIOR 3.

Bridge Pose with Mula Bandha also helps.

Dariel assisting Deb in parvritta parsvokonasana at wall (ckg photo)

In full pose:  Front hip a little high to revolve from belly then drop down….

The afternoon ended with a glorious “stonehenge” savasana. On the way out to the car, I noticed glorious freedom in my fifty+ year hips! My pelvis had been freed Standing poses can do that to you ….

Related posts:

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body heart and soul

I could not hope

to touch the sky

with my two arms

(Sappho # 129)

I descend

the slippery drive

into Panterra—

a green cleft in

earth’s crust—

smitten with the song

of om,

driven by a guttural thirst

to expand,

condense,

invert my vision.

she waves me in

to truth,

I rise from the illusion

of the rickety ride here,

into

the company of others

who lay aside the bare

existence of the world,

to drop as a hungry babe,

sighing release —

the present tense,

joining the melody

of birdsong and

skittering ants on the skylights,

the awesome rising stars and moon

shining feral light

on this little life.

I begin in the plural,

walk to my mat as one

of many energies

theirs—mine—hers,

each of us opening

into breath

the soft heart of prana

singing in our limbs,

we move

breaking old patterns —

the separateness of lives

and then we exhale

into a single vibration.

she guides us

into positions

where we might

feel the flowing

stream —

the one life.

in this place land rises

soft with fern

and berries on

either side of

the yoga shala —

there is the sky,

an expanse of deep glory

above and within

the clay and stone of this earth

calling us to lay

down our ambitions,

and offer ourselves

to the primordial

home – stillness.

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Since I am on a roll, thinking about my teachers, and because some of you have asked me about teacher training, I thought it would helpful to post a poem I wrote for Francois at the completion of the Essential Teacher Training of Open Sky Yoga in Rochester NY. A link to his monthly newsletter is on Laughing Yogini’s Article Recommendations page.

A Little Light At the End of the Day

Silently we crept to the opening circle

in the hall where Buddha

in padmasana beamed larger than life

and the big blue bell hung

over the stairwell. Trying to look calm,

we were so nervous that when asked

to name our favorite movie, we could

barely find a voice. Yet, when we sang

OM, the sound grew like a great wind

among us.

Our broken bodies,

over-fired minds, erratic emotions,

and our simple spirits fell

into your cupped palms-

the wonder of us all made you pause-

and the snow kept shifting

out of the great open sky.

Some days fluttered by

like dreams,

some days the sweet movement of our bodies

defining space in this world became easy-

our limbs flew off our spines-

then you’d say,

“I’m not convinced of that,”

so we’d push harder against old patterns

until collapsing from the effort,

laughing at our little limitations.

While explaining some detail

of lordosis, or deep fascia release,

or the way sandbags can help vata,

your gray eyes would scan the room

trying not to betray your disappointment

that half of us were watching the snow drift,

the other half fluttering eyelids close to sleep.

We were hungry students:

you fed us ginger crisps, blue chips, and oranges;

we’d slip out to Java Joe’s

before class, beg for breaks

long enough to linger,

lunch on foccaccia, pita pockets,

or granola from Montana Mills.

It was never enough.

Talking asana, doshas and gunas,

pranayama, then shifting topics

to father ghosts, wedding dresses,

Van Morrison, or the Dalai Lama,

we were ravenous for so much more than bread.

You taught us to nurture ourselves

from within.

Not always the best of students,

but with our journals, mountains of texts,

home practice assignments fit for BKS himself,

we eventually learned something

about long steady exhalations

and how our own breath

can deepen any given moment.

We will take these lessons with us:

flexibility, patience, strength, humor;

others we’re still working on,

such as teaching in the first person;

many lessons we won’t “get”

for a long long time-

but when we’re standing in front of a class,

stumbling over words

your voice will drift in,

“description, not prescription”

and we’ll set to work once again.

Winter’s snows blew into April and melted.

Now, sunlight plays on the maple;

the magnolia’s ripe leaves hang dappled,

and the new fence gate swings open

without a sound.

We gather once again finding joy, steadiness.

And when our lives bloom

crazy and humble,

we’ll remember a cedar room

where white candles glimmer

in a sand bed,

where pale shells lie rearranged

with a great deal of lovingkindness,

and your voice channeling

through us, holding

us in a firm embrace.

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