Our bodies are assaulted by a constant and significant downward force: gravity. It has weighed us down since the moment we were born and it will continue to do so even after we die. We are fortunate to have a rigid structure in our bodies that allows us to be upright, even against the force of gravity - our bones.
Muscles are designed for motion, not stability. Quite simply, muscles move the bones into position so the bones can transfer our body's weight into the ground. The muscles themselves do not transfer the weight. The goal of physical yogic practice (asana) is to optimize the systems of the body so they can function with the least amount of effort - maximum efficiency. One reason that so many yogic traditions emphasize alignment is that an aligned position is the way in which our skeletal structure can most efficiently transfer our weight into the ground. This means that the best alignment is often the position of least effort. To develop our muscles, we can take our bodies out of alignment so that our muscles instead of our bones bear the weight of the body. Good examples of this are Low Plank and Chair Pose. We purposely circumvent the body's weight bearing structure by bending the arms or legs. Then the muscles of the arms (Low Plank) or legs (Chair) become responsible for bearing the weight. These positions are good for short periods of time to build muscular strength. Our heels are huge powerful bones, as are our femurs (thigh bones), tibias (shin bones) and pelvis. These are the structures designed to hold the hundreds of pounds of our bodies upright against gravity. Our toes are not designed for weight bearing. They are small, mobile structures for balance and motion. We can bear weight on them for short periods of time, but there is little value in over-building their strength. The goal of yogic physical practice (asana) is to develop the body to it's greatest natural capacity, not to exert our mental control over its abilities and shaping them to our will. We must understand the natural functions of the body before we begin to practice. Anatomy, physiology and kinesiology are great places to start - learning how the body's systems are designed and what their purposes might be.
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There is much debate over Bikram's "locking the knee" in balancing postures, especially in Standing Head to Knee. There are a couple good reasons to straighten the standing leg, but oddly none of them have to do with the strength of the quadricep or the health of the knee. I will write about those another time.
There are three significant and concrete reasons not to lock the knee, especially for beginners. 1) Locking the knee engages the quadriceps on the front of the thigh which sympathetically relaxes the back side of the thigh, our hamstrings. But our hamstrings actually carry a lot of the weight of this posture. As we bend forward our center of gravity shifts forward. In order to hold the posture, the back side of our body becomes tight to transfer the weight through our torso into the standing leg and then the ground. People talk a lot about hyperextension of the knee, which is a symptom of this hamstring dis-engagement. The hamstrings should actually be engaged and strong in any standing posture. 2) A slightly bent knee shifts the center of gravity backward, centering it over the standing foot and allowing for even engagement of all the muscles of the body. If we try to shift the weight forward, putting the hips directly over the standing foot, we put tremendous strain on the body as it tries to overcome the laws of physics to keep the body from falling forward. If we bend the knee slightly, the hips shift back and the posture becomes much more balanced and effortless. 3) A slightly bent knee allows for easier balance. When the knee is bent and mobile, it becomes another point that can move and adjust to aid in the balance of the posture. Quite simply, if we immobilize the knee, any balance adjustment has to come from somewhere else. We become perched upon a 3 foot rod (our locked leg) that makes balancing very difficult. For this reason, "locking the knee" is one of the most advanced things we can do in Standing Head to Knee. It demands tremendous control and balance. Yesterday Ida and I went to Chicago to take a day-long posture clinic and class with Esak Garcia, the 2005 Bishnu Ghosh Asana World Champion and one of Bikram's senior teachers. We spent the first 5 hours breaking down a handful of the postures, taking them step by step, muscle by muscle, organ by organ. It was interesting to hear such an accomplished yogi talk about the different elements that make a complete posture. I was glad at many points to have the training and practice I have. I understood what Esak was saying from an anatomical and physiological standpoint and also from my own personal experience.
Esak's approach is similar to Mary Jarvis' and also to the Bikram community at large. Squeeze everything, engage everything all the time. This is different from Tony Sanchez's approach. More than once, Tony told us that he tries not to engage anything when doing the postures; that he uses energy instead of muscles. Sometimes I feel like the Bikram school is trying to defy the laws of physics instead of working with them: bend forward without shifting backward for a counterweight, stretch your backside muscles while also engaging them. I was very happy that Esak also focused on stillness, something I have never heard another Bikram teacher (other than Bikram in his books) mention. Esak said that "the posture is holding still for 10 seconds." Simple and clear. But then the dialogue in class is always push, push, push, farther, deeper. It's a bit confusing. After the posture clinic, we did the beginning class. Out of respect and curiosity, I tried the postures how Esak suggests, with complete engagement. It was powerful and very challenging, especially in the heat. Where normally I can practice postures for 5 hours without stopping, I had to rest after about 25-30 minutes, in the middle of the balancing series. It reminded me of my early days practicing Bikram's class: give 100% right from the start and burn out long before the class is done. All in all, it was a great day. It is always inspiring and enriching to discuss yoga and to be around more accomplished yogis than myself. I learned a lot and tried some new things. Thanks Esak! I have been experimenting with the outward rotation of the hips and how that drastically changes the relationship between the legs and the pelvis. When the hips are "straight" with the feet pointing forward, a forward fold largely lengthens the hamstrings and a backward bend lengthens the quadriceps. But when we rotate the hips outward like we do in Pigeon or Lotus, the relationship changes. Think about Pigeon. A forward fold targets a more complex set of mobilizing and stabilizing muscles on the sides of the hip and lower back. It is not so simple and clear cut as a stretch of the hamstrings. And Spider. Straightening the hips targets a very tight and sensitive group of muscles in the groin. This is similar to what we target in Half Lotus Tree, Short Man and Mountain Poses. In Hands To Feet Pose (Padahastasana) we bend the upper body down to lay flat against the thighs and legs, stretching the back of the legs, especially the hamstrings. Ideally, this is not a back stretch. The pelvis should tilt forward as much as possible, keeping the back nearly straight and moving the stretch into the upper hamstrings. (In the picture to the left, you'll notice that due to the tilt in my pelvis, there is gentle rounding in the back. Over time, this rounding should decrease as my hamstrings lengthen and the pelvis is free to tilt forward/down more, so the sit-bones will go higher and the back will be straighter.) In Bikram's class, we are instructed to place our fingers underneath our heels and shift our body weight forward. When we shift our weight forward, the backside of our legs engage - the calves, hamstrings and glutes - to keep us from falling forward. These are the very muscles that we are trying to stretch, so we should relax them as much as possible. Try this: don't put your fingers underneath your heels. Place your hands around the back of your ankles or heels, but leave your feet flat on the ground. Then, instead of shifting your weight forward, shift it slowly backward. See if your hamstrings and calves don't relax, allowing you to stretch them. A response to 6 Reasons You Should Stop Obsessing Over Alignment In Yoga Class by Maya Devi Georg.
1) Alignment Connects the Body and the Mind Before we can become connected to the community around us or to the divine, we must first become unified within ourselves. This is the first separation that Yoga (union) strives to overcome: the separation between the body and the mind. To connect the body and mind we must get them to work together, so we practice Asana. In Asana practice, alignment is simply the mind's way of understanding what happens naturally in the body. When we understand the body’s anatomy and the proper alignment of its parts, we strengthen the connection between the mind and the body. If we ignore anatomy and alignment and teach the student only to be comfortable, the separation between the body and mind will not be broken down. The separation will only be reinforced as the student avoids discomfort and does what makes them feel safe. 2) Alignment Is Necessary To Avoid Injury. If we understand anatomy and kinesiology, which deal with how the body is put together and how it works together, we have a much better chance of distinguishing between what is uncomfortable and what is damaging. There is a right way for our spines to curve when we stand, and there is a right way for our shoulders to move when we lift our arms. When we understand the body and its proper function, we can use it more effectively and more safely. Without a thorough knowledge of anatomy and alignment, how will we know when we, or a student, is doing a posture in a way that will hurt us/him/her? 3) Proper Alignment Will Take You Deeper, Safer When we put our bones, muscles and tissues where they were designed to be, and when we ask them to do what they were designed to do, it is remarkable how they accommodate us. When we align our bodies properly in the postures, the body and mind relax and our energy becomes unhindered. We end up being able to move deeper into the postures simply because we are using our body correctly. It may start out uncomfortably as the muscles try to do what they've never done, but when our body is in alignment, ease and steadiness appear. 4) Proper Alignment Will Allow You To Practice For Your Whole Life We can push ourselves into mis-aligned postures for a while, especially if we are young. Over time, a few years perhaps, this takes a significant toll on our joints and our connective tissue. Our tendons and ligaments will become strained, our joints will become loose and imbalanced. (Our muscles will probably be fine because they can heal so quickly.) Yoga can be a lifelong practice, not just acrobatics for the young. If we intend to practice into old age, we need our bodies to be strong and healthy. We cannot be pushing them in ways they were not meant to be pushed. We must learn how our bodies are designed and work with them using proper alignment. 5) No Two Bodies Are the Same, But They're All Similar We have physical differences, but we are mostly the same. We all have tibias and femurs that connect in a hinge at the knee. We all have vertebrae with discs in-between, muscles that wrap our shoulders, and muscles that run down our stomach. It is our job as teachers to recognize the diverse physicality of the students - where are they strong? where are they tight? - and modify the postures for their bodies. By teaching the students what is happening in their bodies, they can begin to connect with what they are feeling. When they understand both the intent of the posture and the unique limitations of their own bodies, they can modify the posture for themselves. Until then, it is up to us to uphold the integrity of the posture and adapt it to the student's unique body and mind. 6) We Need More Alignment, Not Less With so many bodily variables in mind, we need to consider alignment and anatomy even more deeply and with more complexity. We need to understand each different body and be able to respond to any limitation. While there may not be one single way to do a posture, ignoring anatomy and alignment is running away when we should be staying to fight. As teachers and as yogis we should understand the body, the mind, and the connection between the two with as much sophistication as possible. And we should pass that knowledge on. We must promote an expansion of knowledge instead of an abandonment of it. A fascinating article in the New York Times about the effects of cold and exercise on our bodies. I didn't know that we have more than one kind of fat - white fat and brown fat - that have different functions. Also, we have a hormone called Irisin that acts as a marker for what our bodies are doing metabolically.
If this seems confusing or new to you, join the club. I haven't been this shocked or baffled by an article about the body in a long time. Read the whole article here. From an article in Medical News Today. The whole article is here.
"A new US study finds that yoga can benefit breast cancer survivors by reducing fatigue and inflammation. While yoga has many components, the researchers believe breathing and meditation probably had the biggest impact." "At the end of 12 weeks of yoga classes, a group of women who had completed breast cancer treatment, including surgery and radiotherapy, showed an average reduction in fatigue of 57% and up to 20% reduction in inflammation, compared with a similar group that had not received yoga instruction." Three interesting articles in the NY Times today:
EXERCISE TO AGE WELL, WHATEVER YOUR AGE "A new study suggests that becoming physically active in middle age, even if someone has been sedentary for years, substantially reduces the likelihood that he or she will become seriously ill or physically disabled in retirement." Read the whole article here. A LOOK INSIDE THE PROTEIN BAR "Protein bars offer convenience, but they can also contain as much sugar as a candy bar and the calorie count of an entire meal." Read the whole article here. OBESITY TAKES HOLD EARLY IN LIFE, STUDY FINDS "Obesity is established very early in life, and that it basically tracks through adolescence to adulthood.” Read the whole article here. According to a new study, being inactive can alter the brain's neurons "in ways that made them likely to overstimulate the sympathetic nervous system, potentially increasing blood pressure and contributing to the development of heart disease."
Read the article here. |
This journal honors my ongoing experience with the practice, study and teaching of yoga.
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