Class extras for rexburgyoga.com

Moving up the body from the feet, knees and legs, we will learn about the structures of the sacrum and hips.

The hips, sacrum, pelvis, low back area is moving into the 2nd energy center with the most concentration of energy in the pelvic organs and systems. The message of this energy center is one of partnership, creation, choice, and ethics. We create new life, we create money and wealth, and partnerships in marriage or business.

The metaphor in every joint of the body is one of accepting and embracing change. The hips are the largest and most powerful joint so the metaphor is about having fear or faith concerning making the major decisions of life. Pain or illness in the hip area is a message that there is fear concerning a major life decision, or that it feels as if there is nothing to move forward to.

Those major life decisions usually have to do with money, career, family, marriage, basic ethical beliefs and the ability to make the choice for yourself in these areas.

Think about the major decision of life – marriage, career, schooling, a new business, a new baby, retirement, to stand up for your beliefs or prostitute your beliefs for money. These are the messages in the 2nd energy center. Partnership, creativity, ethics, choice.

The article that we are drawing from this month on knees comes from Yoga Journal

We will be learning and doing chair and eagle pose as our featured poses for the month.

It is possible to injure or slow down healing in the knees practicing yoga. You do that by practicing mindlessly, and without care or by greed. A greedy practice would be wanting to go farther in a pose than is appropriate or trying to look like someone else in the room. In addition to being moderate and practicing with care here are the 8 ways to protect your knees during a yoga practice.

1 Avoid hyperextending. When joints are overly mobile and flex too far back, they’re hyperextended. In the knees, hyperextension often occurs in poses in which the legs are straightened, such as Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) and Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend), putting an unhealthy tension on the ligaments. If you’re prone to hyperextension, keep a slight bend in the knees during standing poses and keep your weight evenly distributed among the four corners of your feet. In seated forward bends, place a rolled-up sticky mat or towel under the knee of the extended leg or legs.

2 Start with your feet. Proper alignment through the feet is the key to building strength evenly in the ligaments on both sides of the knee; when all the ligaments are equally strong, the kneecap glides effortlessly up and down and the cartilage doesn’t get worn down. Separate your toes and press actively through the four corners of your feet in every pose, even inversions. If your feet are out of alignment, your knees are going to suffer.

3 Keep your knees in line. When moving into deep knee bends, such as Virabhadrasana II (Warrior Pose II) and Parsvakonasana (Side Angle Pose), first align your bent knee over your ankle, then draw your kneecap in line with your second toe. Maintain awareness in your back foot, pressing down evenly, while lifting up from the arch of your front foot. “If you let the arch drop, the knee falls inside the big toe, and you’re set up to suffer a number of different kinds of overuse and acute knee injuries,” says Angela Smith, a professor of orthopedic surgery.

4 Tune in to subtle signals. “Oftentimes, the knees don’t give immediate feedback,” explains Iyengar teacher Joni Yecalsik. “Only later do you realize you’ve gone too far. When it comes to the knees, the sensation that would normally proceed the red flag is the red flag.” If you feel achiness when you come out of a bent-knee pose, you may have worked too hard.

5 Build strength by balancing. Balancing poses, especially those that require moving through a bent standing leg, such as Garudasana (Eagle Pose), are especially beneficial. “Very dynamic balancing protects the knee against future injury by training the functional alignment, not just working the muscle,” Smith says.

6 Be prop-friendly. When it comes to seated asanas, nothing makes a tight knee happier than a bounty of props. In Virasana (Hero Pose), try raising your seat with blankets or a block. Anytime the knees are deeply bent, such as in Balasana (Child’s Pose) or Marichyasana III (Pose Dedicated to the Sage Marichi III), pressure can be relieved by placing a rolled-up washcloth as far into the knee pit as possible before bending the joint.

7 Warm up with hip openers. “If your big joints aren’t open, your small joints will always take the stress,” yoga instructor Sandy Blaine says. “Many people hurt their knees doing Lotus when their hips aren’t ready.” She recommends warming up with hip stretches like Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose) and Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose).

8. Lift the quadriceps muscle on the front of the thigh. This pulls the kneecap right into place and stabilizes the knee joint. Do this in all standing poses where there is a need for that stability but also in seated,reclined and supine poses, so the leg muscles can be strengthened isometrically.

The focus for Yoga for Optimum Wellness this month is legs and knees. Muscles surrounding the knee joint must be both strong and yet flexible to properly align and stabilize this sensitive joint. Mindfully practicing yoga can accomplish both over time.

A quote from Healing Keys says

Our legs move our body forward and backwards. Our legs symbolize foundation and moving forward in our life.

Problems with our legs signify feelings of not ‘having a leg to stand on,’ with no support, strength or foundation, and having nothing to build on or to go forward toward.

The knees are the shock absorbing joints in the leg. They allow the legs to bend for walking and they articulate with the tibia and the femur.

The knees represent making decisions, charisma and commitment.

Problems with our knees indicate that we are having difficulty with decision-making, that we are ‘weak kneed’ and that we are finding it difficult to move forward in a new way.

We believe that our needs will not be taken care of if we move onto the next step, or that we won’t succeed.

Problems with the knees symbolize trying to get our needs met, rather than fully giving ourselves in commitment, which is truly fulfilling.

Knees represent pride and ego. Problems with knees can be inability to bend, fear, & inflexibility.

The metaphors we use in our language help us to clearly see the energetic message and meaning in our legs and knees:
The problem bought him to his knees,
She is knee deep in tasks,
He went weak in the knees just thinking about the future.
That idea has no legs.
Let’s hit the ground running.

Achieving a balance between strength, but not pride; between flexibility and commitment is the message in the legs and knees.

The feet will be the focus in January 2010.
Quick Facts about feet!

The feet are our foundation. In the course of a lifetime we will have walked 115,000 miles, 4 1/2 times around the planet.

The average American takes 8-10 thousand steps a day, equivalent to a force equal to several hundred tons and spanning several miles.

There are 26 bones in the foot, 33 joints and 7,000 nerves.

The American Podiatric Medical Association says, “Your feet mirror your general health. Such conditions as arthritis, diabetes, nerve and circulatory disorders can show their initial symptoms in the feet…”

Here is an article that covers many of the same things we will discuss and practice in class this month.

The Chinese have a saying, “Aging begins in the feet.” Yoga teaches that the feet are the foundation of good posture.
The feet are the body’s workhorses, and without them our mobility, health and well-being are severely limited.
The use of our feet is crucial to postural health. Each day our feet must adapt to the terrain it comes in contact with. On average our feet can absorb up to millions of pounds of pressure. When our feet suffers our whole body suffers.
“Your legs mirror everything you do with your feet. The position of your feet and the distribution of weight though them will affect the position, function, and flow of force higher up through your knees, your hips, and even your back. If your feet are clenched and tight, your whole body reflects this tension too. Because you can see your feet, it is relatively easy to perceive them. Your weight should be equally distributed between the ball and heel of your foot and the inner and outer foot with all the toes spreading to from a wide base of support.” (Donna Farhi)
The remedy for good foot health is to maintain a balanced foundation In the feet while practicing exercises that bring both strength and length to the muscles.
Come to the wall with knees bent and you can see your feet in your line of vision.
Make your feet spacious underneath by elongating the toes and slowly releasing the pressure on the heels so that you can create traction down through the soles and arches. Stay here for several breaths.
Gently press back into the heel to create“fullness” in your foot print.
Warm-up your feet by rolling a racquet ball or tennis ball across the sole of your foot. Work gently into the tender areas. Do this for at least a minute on each foot.
Hero’s (Hero Pose) stretches the top of the foot and elongates the arch, Also stretches the fascial sheath at the font of your ankles, freeing up these muscles and restoring mobility to toes.
Kneeling on toes upright—pull back and bring pinky toe up This pose lengthens the plantar muscles on the sole of the foot, which, when contracted, can become inflamed, leading to plantar fasciitis.
Kneeling Calf Stretch—bring foot next to sit bone and lean forward to open the calf and achilles tendon
Downward Dog– is a good stretch for the arches. Come onto the toes of the feet as high as possible, then extend the heels toward the floor to work the plantar fascia. Spread and extend through the toes to lift arches.
Wide Leg Forward Fold — Our Pose of the Month
Keep inner heels and balls of big toes grounded. Lift the arches of your feet as you draw energy from the ground up through your knees and thighs.
Tree Pose: To practice foot awareness.
1. Establish the balanced action of your right arch, ankle and toes in Tadasana., lift left leg up.
1. Imagine a root extending from each of the four corners of the right foot down into the earth giving your pose great stability.
2. From that root system, lift up from the arch of the foot through the inner aspect of the leg to the pelvis and from the pelvis through the spine to the crown of the head.
3. Notice that the correct action of the foot literally gives you a strong foundation that helps you balance and sets the stage for your pose to grow upward. This article can be found in the May 2002 of Yoga Journal.

“The whole movement of asana practice should be one toward understanding more deeply the mechanisms that are responsible for our present condition… We learn through the process of conscious movement, to use our bodies more efficiently.  In turn, harmonious and efficient movement prevents wear and tear on the system and dissipates less energy.  Ultimately, we can change habitual patterns, develop new patterns that decrease physical stress and promote skeletal alignment, mechanical freedom and organic unity, and lead ourselves toward optimum wellness.”  Gary Kraftscow

For the upcoming year 2010, the focus will be on improving the function of each of the body’s systems and of those systems’ interaction with each other. 

Here is the upcoming schedule for the year:
January – feet and ankles
February – legs, knees
March – Hips
April – Abdomen, low back
May – Heart, lungs, chest
June-Sep – summertime classes
Oct – Arm and hands
Nov – Upper back and shoulders
Dec – Head, neck, face

The first class of each month will be a somatics inquiry led by Shelly. If you have specific questions about alignment or yoga as it relates to that body part, please email us or ask us in class. We want to give priority to answering questions that class members have.

Remember, however, we are not doctors and will give no medical advice for symptoms. We urge you to use yoga therapy as a compliment to the traditional medical treatments you receive for specific conditions.

Our yoga class highlights the fact that we are not only physical beings, but emotional and spiritual beings as well. In addition to becoming more aware of the anatomy and physiology of each area of the body, we will explore the symbolism and energetics of each system during the month.

Our body is able to give us messages about the life journey we travel and when we are unbalanced or traveling down the wrong path. It does that by creating physical symptoms and injuries. So while an illness or injury is not our “fault,” a message is there for us to glean if we will be still and examine where the pain in the body is located and the symbolism in that body system.

We look forward to sharing this amazing journey towards optimum wellness in body, mind and spirit.

Happy New Year and Namaste!

One of our class members asked today about a practice for sciatic nerve pain. Here is an article that gives good information and details about poses to avoid, and alignment principles to heal sciatic pain. Keep in mind that we are not doctors and don’t diagnose conditions. We take the concerns you bring and help you take responsibility for your health and wellbeing.
Coping with Sciatica article in Yoga Journal

Coping With Sciatica

By Sarah Powers
Which poses are best to avoid for an aggravated sciatic nerve? Are there any poses that are restorative or healing for sciatica?

—Anastasia Coon, San Luis Obispo

Sarah Powers’ reply:Many people have experienced or at least heard of sciatica. This is the condition whereby either compression of the L4-S1 nerve roots affects the sciatic distribution or the sciatic nerve is injured as it exits the buttocks. It can also be influenced by the piriformis muscle, which originates on the anterior of the sacrum and passes under the sciatic notch, inserting on the top of the greater trochanter. The piriformis functions in lateral rotation of the thigh.

Many practitioners with tight hips and/or weak and tight lower-back muscles will find that straight-leg forward bends aggravate or even create sciatica. If the pelvis is unable to rotate forward (flexion of the hip) by the psoas and iliacus muscles, quadratus lumborum, and rectus abdominis, then ante-version or rotation of the pelvis forward will be limited, resulting in the pelvis rotating back (retroversion).

Translation: Instead of bending forward from the hips, the lower spine rounds and bends forward while the pelvis tugs back. This is why you often hear the instruction to “bend from the hip creases” to lift the sitting bones. The action of lifting and separating the sitting bones results in the pelvis tilting forward. If the pelvis does not tilt forward in a forward bend, the result can be either a strain or pull of the sacroiliac (SI) ligaments or sciatica. This happens more often in seated forward bends, where the pelvis is fixed to the floor.

It is therefore important to avoid these poses, as well as any pose where shooting pain develops. Sciatica is often felt on one side only, so instead of taking Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend), try Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Forward Bend). If the pain shoots from the lower back, bring the leg in toward the groin on the side you are not experiencing sciatica. If it is located more in your buttocks, bring in the leg in which you experience the pain. If bringing one leg in still makes you suffer from the shooting nerve pain, avoid seated forward bends altogether.

Using your practice to heal the condition is possible with patience and specific sequencing. It is important to strengthen the muscles around the sciatic nerve and bring circulation to this region. First, I suggest you bend the knees when in standing forward bends and Downward-Facing Dog to assist in the forward pelvic rotation. Also, moving in and out of poses increases the circulation to the area.

Salabhasana (Locust Pose) is the best backbend for healing, because it strengthens the lower-back muscles while bringing circulation to the hip muscles. The best variation is to inhale; lift the chest and legs; exhale there. Then inhale and bring the legs apart (which affects the piriformis also); exhale and bring the legs back together. If lifting the feet aggravates it, then do this with the feet moving along the floor. Repeat this five times before lowering down. This sequence could be inserted within the sun salutations and/or between other backbends like Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) and Dhanurasana (Bow Pose).

Doing Setu Bandha (Bridge Pose) is also helpful. I prefer to alternate the distance between the feet to isolate different muscle groups first with the feet together, then hip distance apart, and lastly with the feet and knees quite wide, keeping the inner thighs (adductors) engaged. For increased circulation, move up and down in the pose before staying stationary for a number of breaths. Stretching the area by folding forward in Pigeon Pose or twisting in Ardha Matseyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose) may also be helpful.

Finally, remember to continue with these poses long after the symptoms have disappeared, while still avoiding seated forward bends because re-injury is very common the first few months after sciatica has healed.

Sarah Powers
incorporates both a Yin style of holding poses and a Vinyasa style of moving with the breath, blending essential aspects of the Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Viniyoga traditions.

The first week of December we did a practice that discussed the red light reflex and poses that help us be aware of the muscles that are involved in the reflex and to notice if we have that hunched over posture in our yoga practice. Here is a nice article if you want more information about the red light reflex.

Shelly also gave some instruction and detail about the root lock or mula bandha. This second week of December Leslie will continue on the theme of mula bandha and here is a wonderful article discussing the PFM (Pelvic Floor Muscles). It is an explanation that is for the western mind and easy to understand and follow.

Here is what Leslie will share with the class and some of the info is taken from the above article:

The mula bandha or root lock contributes to a lightness and lifting action in the yoga postures, but it also contributes to the health and stabilization of the organs and systems in the pelvic region of the body. So when we add the mula bandhas to our practice, it’s beneficial on many levels, physically and energetically.
In English, that means, let’s do it, it’s good for us.

The pelvic floor muscles are a complex structure of both muscles and fascia but I will just refer to the whole structure as the pelvic floor muscles or PFM or mula bandhas. Mula means root – like the root of our spine, and bandhas means lock.

If your pelvis is a bowl the PFM are the bottom of the bowl, so visualize a suction action on the inside of the bottom of the bowl and you are lifting up and into the body. Its basically the kegel exercise or the same muscles you contract if you have to go to the bathroom very soon, but are without a bathroom.

There are two different ways to use the mula bandha during our practice. Tuesday will be this first way that I describe – a held contraction, and Thursday will be a stronger lift but relaxing with each breath.

For Tuesday: The PFM can get fatigued if we contract them strongly over the length of our practice, just like any other muscle would get tired from use. So rather than a strong lock at the beginning, and fatigue at the end, strike a balance by contracting the mula bandha about 25 % during the whole yoga practice.
First contract the PFM as much as you can, then relax by half, then by half again. This is what you want to feel as you hold each pose and breathe thru each posture.

For Thurday: With each inhale, allow the belly and PFM to relax completely. With each exhale, pull the belly in and up, contract strongly mula bandhas. Some postures make this strong mula bandhas very difficult because of the tilt of the pelvis or gravity pulling the belly down.