Tag Archives: alignment

Strong and Soft

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Maple leaves in Chautauqua county NY
(c) 2012 barefootphotos

6AM: woke up and since I had done supta padanghustasana 1 before falling asleep,I drew up both legs for urdhva pascimottanasa for 3 minutes,  then Happy Baby. Thought about the relationship of HB and Supta 2 with the outer rotation of the leg in the hip socket.

Then a series of twists: supine cross- legged, crocodile, revolved belly, half supine virasana, gentle bridge 3.

Was going down to the studio at 7:30, but then S. skyped me from Poland. People first. Karma yoga in action. LOVE. Asana Practice could happen later.

After our call, I cleaned the studio and picked, prepping for the 10 AM class.

I’ve been reading student meditation journals most of the afternoon, so still have not returned to an asana practice.

This evening, though, I took a break and meditated with one of Susan Piver’s 20 minute guided practices. susanpiver.com If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you subscribe to this very accessible meditation teacher’s online OPEN HEART PROJECT. Susan’s got me thinking about the soft front body and the strong back body in meditation posture. How there is no boundary. How they exist simultaneously. How awareness shifts from one to the other. How difficult it is to hold them BOTH in awareness. But in a strange way, it’s comforting to know they are both there. Both.

10 PM In the studio for a two hour session. Pigeon (still difficult on left side as it activates the sciatica), Half handstand,  Wide angled seated forward fold with twists, cobbler pose, Downward facing dog pose,sphinx, bow, camel. Really paid close attention to camel as I looked up several articles online regarding alignment. Kept repeating as I played with alignment.Headstand for 4.5 minutes, Child pose with close attention to maintaining hips resting on heels and releasing spine into front of body.   Shoulderstand and a quiet Legs Up The Wall, hips on the shoulderstand stack of blankets. Connecting the soft front of the body with the strong back body.Comforted, I was satisfied and went to bed.

How to Practice Yoga, How to Practice Life.

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In class, many of you have asked me about home practice. I sense much insecurity about practicing :”the right way.” Some have expressed fear of doing IT WRONG, worried that they’d hurt themselves.

Maybe some of this comes from over-emphasis on CORRECT alignment.

Correct alignment needs to come from inside the student.

ONLY YOU KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!

The BEST teacher in the world can only make an educated, experienced GUESS as to what is happening inside YOUR BODY.

The first thing we do in class is sit and listen. Listen for when to begin. Listen to an inner urging to point you towards the first asana. Listen with your inner ears tuned up to how deep and long to hold the pose. Listen to how you feel before, during, and after the pose.

This listening is a type of meditation.

Try to incorporate listening into your practice and you’ll have taken a major step in understanding yoga and if you can begin doing that in your life off the mat, you’ll have leaped into becoming YOUR SELF.

Here is a short video of master teacher, Erich Schiffmann.