While learning Eka Pada I got the right foot behind the head. And then I pushed the chin up with both hands. I felt a sharp pull along the QL, a knife stabbing me somewhere near the spine. I could feel my toes. But I was aware that something wasn’t right.
In this Mysore practice not much is said. Exam inhale, arms up . . . We aren’t told to, ‘Inhale, activate the quads, soften the gluteus, retract the abdomen, don’t let the low ribs lift, soften the traps, lift the chin away from the shoulders, fix the eyes on the thumbs. Dve . . .’
That gets figured out later, when we need it, maybe by a teacher, maybe not. Mysore isn’t a self-help book. It’s not a band-aid.
Have you ever been in intense physical pain and then adding insult to injury you get some emotionally devastating news? Do you let it stop you? Or do you rise up agains it?
The first time I went into the mysore room after fracturing and dislocating the clavicle, I was afraid, scared, sad, and confused. I didn’t know what I was going to do.
I unrolled my mat and stood at the top. I closed my eyes and surrendered.
Ekam - Inhale, arm up
Dve - Exhale, lower
Trini - Inhale, head lifts
Catvari - ( I can’t lower down, I can’t jump back, I can’t . . .)
My head was filled with I can’t. And that would have stopped me. But I wanted to figure it out. I was determined not to let an injury take this away.
If this practice is for anyone and everyone, then the injured can do this practice too!
Read how to modify your practice to fit your injury HERE
Because of our increasing food choices in developed countries, we are seeing more food intolerance, commonly referred to as allergies. But you need to stop confusing the two!
Around this time of year everyone seems to have advice. Everyone seems to have a New Year’s resolution.
I propose you create a New Year’s excuse.
“I can’t do (blank) because of (blank)”
No one forces you to eat anything as a grown adult. No one MAKES you follow the governments recommendations for nutrition. And those recommendations are based off of a FOR-PROFIT industry anyway. They make money off of you eating what they tell you is OK. And then they make money off of you when you get sick.
I know you care about your health! I know that when we are sick we don’t always have clear, level headed thoughts.
Every doctor, nurse, physician, tech, janitor that I have worked with, the good one’s at least . . . know that they don’t have all the answers. We turn to each other for help.
Compiled below is a list of websites that I and fellow colleagues turn to for help.
Practice and all is coming . . . I seldom hear, practice and stress is coming. Practice and fear is coming.
But they come.
Fear and the fear response has been preserved throughout evolution because it ensures our survival by generating an appropriate behavioral response, fight or flight.
Student Question: Why don't we drink water during class?
Have you ever gotten a cramp during a run? Muscles used for peristalsis (the movement of food along the intestinal tract) are locking down trapping food that produces gas. When running your heart can’t keep the necessary blood volume up to digest food AND give blood to the muscles engaging in a fight-or-flight response. The primitive part of the brain takes over and shuts down the entire GI system. The brain thinks it’s being chased by an animal and going to die.
The Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series is about moving forward. Moving forward into your best possible self; healthy, flexible in mind and body, and strong. The muscle groups that primary series targets are the hamstrings, abs, chest & shoulders. The muscle group that most people use as an excuse and hold themselves back from trying a yoga class, tight hamstrings. The standing sequence and standing asana’s of primary series lengthen the hamstrings, among other things.
