Category: Yoga Pose

When You Think Of Your Body, Do You Think Of It In Pieces Or As A Whole?

When You Think Of Your Body, Do You Think Of It In Pieces Or As A Whole?

reneeinnerbreathyoga

By Renee’ Fulkerson

When you think of your body, do you think of it in pieces or as a whole? Imagine a puzzle that always needs putting back together, especially after an injury. Or a pulley system that engages entirely when the body moves or stands upright. 

I used to think of or refer to my own body in pieces. I can think back to exercise, yoga, and fitness classes that almost always separated my body parts during practice. What does that mean exactly? Phrases like today is a leg day or, we are only going to work on these muscle groups today. Does this sound familiar to you? I never realized how disempowering these phrases and movement programs were. 

And, then I was taught to view my body as a whole and not in pieces. I cannot tell you what a game-changer moment that was for me. I went from pulling my body apart to its end range like Stretch Armstrong, a toy of my youth. Who, by the way, does not always go back together so quickly after so many pulls. To putting myself back together in what we refer to in YogAlign as a full-body stretch. The end range can be very misleading for most people, especially those who tend to be hypermobile. Just because you can doesn’t always mean you should.

I have a student who is hyper-mobile in her hip joints but not necessarily strong in this area. Does hyper-mobility affect strength? From what I have read and seen while teaching there, is sufficient evidence that hypermobility may be associated with strength deficiencies. An injury waiting to happen would be for her to continue to pull herself apart just because she can. We need to think about how this affects the body as a whole. Hip strength is necessary for the stability and prevention of injuries. 

My goal is to guide students through full-body movements creating balance, health, mobility and, strength. By reprogramming your movement patterns from piece to, whole we get the benefits of all body support, balance, strength, and mobility. Hanging in joints and ligaments to go a little deeper may feed the ego for a moment but does nothing for the rest of the entire body. Cons outweigh the pros in that movement programming or regular practice. 

A lunge, Ashta Chandrasana, or Crescent High Lunge Pose is a posture when hanging in your joints or ligaments can happen. I cue students to identify this possible hanging by checking in with the pelvic floor during a lunge. Is it hanging down like a hammock? With no support? To go deeper or closer to the floor. Are your shoulders lifted to your ears, making it hard to breathe? Is your ribcage flaring up, creating a backbend? In practicing this, way you are compromising pieces of the body and not benefiting the whole. Now let’s take that same posture and tweak it a bit.

  • Step your right foot forward and wiggle your back foot to get balanced between front and back bodyweight.
  • You will know if you are balanced by checking in with your hip alignment. Is one hip twisting to accommodate the unbalanced spread?
  • Make sure you are high up on the toes of your back foot.
  • Check-in with the pelvic floor. Does it feel unstable (hanging)?
  • If, so engage your inner thighs slightly and get the glutes firing. In doing, so you will feel to the touch your IT band fully engaged.
  • Again check hip alignment and think of your hip bones as two flashlights shining forward.
  • Draw your arms down and out into a V shape on either side of your body. With your palms facing forward and fingers spread.
  • And slightly press your hands forward like you are pushing against a wall firing the back muscles. 
  • Draw the sternum slightly down if the rib cage is starting to flare up.
  • Eye gaze is eye level and straightforward. Look side to side and stick your tongue out, relieving your neck of any extreme tension.
  • Once you are in the high lunge, bring your attention to the space on your sideline. Between the floating ribs and the top of your hip or Iliac Crest. 
  • There is a good amount of body real estate between these two bones. Easier to see on an anatomy skeleton but, you can feel it with your hands. We do not want to lose this space (collapse) on our exhale.
  • Recap – the back foot lifted, inner thighs slightly engaged, firing the glutes, arms in a V, palms facing forward, fingers spread, pushing against a wall, hips aligned, released neck a shoulder tension. 
  • Now SIP in like you are drinking through a straw fill the diaphragm muscle with air (engaging the core muscles). Make fists with your hands and tense your entire body. Pause at the top for a moment (neck and shoulders relaxed). Start your S-hale like a snake with your teeth together, then open your hands and don’t collapse by controlling the exhale. In other, words to the naked eye, from SIP inhale to S-hale there would be no change in your whole body posture. You would maintain your gift of lift, spacious sideline and, not collapse in your S-hale. 
  • Repeat 3, more times, and then change sides and repeat.

In practicing the YogAlign Method Lunge, you begin to move and relate to your body as a whole. Receiving and retrieving all the benefits moving and thinking in this way has to offer. You get to reclaim some of that precious real estate and space back into the whole body without having to pull it apart into pieces. 

I will leave you with this thought you use 200 muscles to take one step (Human Bones, Joints and Muscles Facts).

Aloha

Imagine The Possibilities In A Body You Can Trust.

Imagine The Possibilities In A Body You Can Trust.

reneeinnerbreathyoga

By Renee’ Fulkerson

When I think of trusting my, body one of the first things that come to my mind is balance. 

Balance – an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady. “she lost her balance before falling”

Similar: stability, equilibrium, steadiness and, footing.

First, of all how and where does balance come from in the body?

The vestibular system (inner ear balance mechanism)

The balance system works through constant position detection, feedback, and adjustment using communication between the inner ear, eyes, muscles, joints, and the brain. The brain sends messages to the muscles to make any postural adjustments required to maintain balance. 

Balance is crucial in our everyday activities like walking, standing, and going up and downstairs. And more important to reduce the chances of falling or even injury. Often we are not fully aware that we may have weak balance until we try balance exercises. Anytime at any age is the best time to improve and maintain strong balancing skills. 

Yoga and everyday life provide many opportunities to practice and improve our balancing skills. Walking, biking, standing, and climbing up and downstairs, to name a few. Funny, the things we need balance for in everyday life are the same things we do every day (well, sort of). 

  • Have the tires on your bike gone flat from not riding it?
  • Are your new walking sneakers still in the box?
  • Do you take the elevator to avoid the stairs?
  • Are you standing up often once you have sat down?

And then there is yoga and Tai Chi. I have not done a lot of Tai Chi, so I will stick to what I know. And that is yoga postures to improve and maintain optimum balancing skills. There are many yoga postures to choose from, simple to extreme. I prefer to keep it simple. Work smarter, not harder. Here are a couple of balance postures I would like to share with you. I practice these postures with my students (one of the many yoga posture balance options).

Heron or Kickstand Posture:

  • Come into a heron posture or kickstand position by placing your right heel up and against your left foot. Make sure not to dump into your hip like you are holding a baby on your hip. If you start to feel wobbly, ever so gently engage your inner thighs to fire the glutes muscles and check that your knees are not turning too much inward or too much outward.
  • Draw some weight into the heel of the standing leg, in this case, the left heel. And then lift your left arm straight alongside your ear while keeping your shoulder down. The palm of the left-hand faces inwards with your fingers spread. 
  • Lift your right arm bending at the elbow and hook your fingers into the little valley right below the bulbous part of the back of the head. You can massage the area, which can hold a lot of tension, making sure you can see the tip of your right elbow at all times.
  • Now take your SIP to inhale like you are sipping through a straw and keep your shoulders relaxed. Pause and make a fist with your left hand and pull down like on a rope. Start your S hale sounding like a snake with your teeth together, release your fist back to spread fingers, and create a bit of traction with your right hand in the valley. Remember not to collapse in your S hale keep, the space between the floating rib and the top of the hip bone (Iliac Crest).
  • Practice this posture two more times on this side of your body. And when finished coming back to heron or kickstand posture starting position moving right into Tree Pose or Vrksasana (on the same side).

Tree Pose or Vrksasana:

  • From heron or kickstand posture left foot is still anchored with weight in your heel. And your right heel is up and against your left foot. 
  • Arms come out on both sides of your body in a V. Palms facing forward with your fingers spread. Like you are pressing against a wall turning the back on.
  • SIP inhale like you are sucking through a straw and slowly slide your right foot above or below the knee. I suggest staying below your knee when starting this practice. Pause at the top of the Sip inhale and feel your ribcage expand (shoulders down and relax).
  • Fist your hands and then S hale like a snake with your teeth together (don’t collapse). Open your fingers and continue standing tall.
  • Repeat two more times on this side and come back into heron or kickstand starting posture 

Try not to judge yourself when it comes to practicing balance postures, remember every day is different. Stresses, distractions, and even a poor night’s rest can cause you to feel a bit more unstable than usual. 

Aloha

The Yoga Mat Of Shame.

The Yoga Mat Of Shame.

reneeinnerbreathyoga

By Renee’ Fulkerson

Let’s start this blog by becoming familiar with the definition of shame by Merriam-Webster: Shame – a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.

Yikes! The thought of wrong or foolish behavior in some yoga classes could send chills down your spine. (lol) Especially in the minds of folks new to yoga or someone who tends to be a perfectionist. I agree to go to a yoga class for the first time can be intimidating and, yet, on the other hand, it could feel like the perfect fit.

I recently had a conversation with a gentleman regarding expectations. Expectations when attending a yoga class versus expectations of going to get a massage. This guy did not consider himself a spiritual person, had never been to a yoga class and had received a gift certificate for a massage. He had concerns about feeling humiliated or distressed with the idea of attending a yoga class or using his massage gift certificate. Which then turned the conversation topic from expectation to participation. I got the impression he felt he needed to be a spiritual person to participate in a yoga class. He started to then speak with an example (the what-if): What if a guy has no idea what he is getting himself into when he thinks of attending a yoga class? I replied: This guy you speak of would have to have lived under a rock to not have any thoughts or ideas of what would be entailed in a yoga class or massage (he laughed).

At that point, as a yoga teacher, mother, and human being, I knew he needed to have the yoga talk. I could only speak for myself and the way I teach the YogAlign method. I do my very best to put new and existing students at ease. I let them know, please stop me if you do not understand what I am saying or asking of them. I let them know this is their time and not mine to stand on my soapbox. He seemed intrigued and, even his body shifted to a more receptive posture. I continued by explaining that I did not take a spiritual approach to teach YogAlign (I feel spirituality is very personal). That is not to say the student may or may not connect with something/ someone outside themselves during their practice. My approach for a new student is purely physical. I know everyone can take one hand and touch their arm. That makes perfect sense but, not everyone can go into or believes in a meditative state. I explained when we move through the physical YogAlign practice we begin feeling more comfortable and relaxed in our breath and body. Feeling more joy physically lets us feel more joy mentally. Which in some cases can lead to a meditative place of peace without even realizing it is happening. At this point, I could see the gentleman becoming even more at ease with the thought of participating in a yoga class. He was starting to loosen his grip on the idea he would do something foolish or wrong (shameful) on the mat.I never want a student of any level to feel they are standing on the yoga mat of shame in my classes and, yet it happens. I have seen the frustration in a long time YogAlign student when she could not do a properly aligned push – up. I reminded her other postures will give the same result we are looking for in the push up. My job is to support students in feeling empowered not, shameful.I also see new students struggle when watching other students who can move their arms more from their back and not from their shoulders (like they keep doing).

Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations when they feel they may not measure up. When the shame starts to creep in I see students shut down, start giggling and get hot/ sweaty. These and other cues let me know a student may feel they are standing on the yoga mat of shame. I want to shift that perception immediately or, that could be the first and last time they ever try yoga again. We all create a story about something we have never tried. Sometimes that narrative may even come from what we have heard or seen on television. Whatever the expectations we have created for ourselves or the experience. Once we decide to make that appointment and show up for that class, proves we are willing to participate. A willingness to fall on your face, but you need not fall into the shame game.

Take some time and research what yoga class/ style would create favorable conditions for your success. I teach many mixed-level classes meaning beginners would need the class taught to them. And to long-time students who need more of the practice (moving through the postures), not all teachers/ styles of yoga can accommodate that type of experience. Remember falling on your face is not always a bad thing that is one way we can build self confidence. Resist the temptation to compare and compete in a yoga class. After all we as teachers should be holding space for your yoga experience to unfold in a safe and supportive environment.

Aloha