|
|
| okay, I am still struggling with understanding internal rotion of the legs in forward bends. For example, in pascimottanasana I am having difficulty knowing what is "supposed" to be happending with the upper, inner and outer thighs, when I fold forward. When I fold forward my upper legs tend to become light on the floor and my outer thighs shorten compared to the inner thighs. This is all very subtle. If you were just walking by you might not recognize it. I don't uderstand what muscles need to be engaging to keep the thighs rolling in toward one another while coming forward. I seem to have a better awareness of this rotation when I'm sitting straight up in dandasana but when I come forward it's a completely different story. |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| aaron - I understand what you are saying and you are getting into some pretty subtle territory! The outer thigh should not shorten. I think it should move toward the floor. Have you done down dog in the ropes or had someone adjust you by putting a strap in the hip crease and pulling up and back? That is the action you are looking for. Just this week I have been having my students take a strap and press the top thighs into the floor while in dandasana to get a taste of that. Bascially any time you can describe something as shortening you need to adjust, since length is the name of the game  Let me know if this helps! |
|
| |
|
| I'm glad I'm not the only one trying to get to grips with lengthening the inner legs whilst shortening the outer legs whist lifting my innner groin whilst bringing my buttock crease in whilst bringing my naval back whilst lifting my knees whilst pushing my inner knee out!
Least I hope that's what my Iyengar tutor actually said else I'm in real trouble!!!!!
Fee
Edited by Orbilia 2005-12-13 4:55 AM
|
|
| |
|
| Tourist- you are right. This is some subtle stuff. I've reading my anatomy book over and over to try to get a good visual in my head. What I think is going on is that the muscles across the back of my butt (periformis, gluteals, etc) are tight and so when I come forward it forces the outer legs to shorten. Almost like the toes want to separate and point out - like Charlie Chaplan feet. This action causes the inner hamstrings and back of the inner knee to over stretch. And I know it's over stretching because they're SORE. Not as bad as they used to be. It's getting better as my awareness gets better.
My teacher has told me that the tops of the thighs need to be heavy on the floor. That this is where the feeling of being grounded in this poses is. Right? I am thinking of getting a sand bag to place across the tops of my thighs just so I can get an idea of what this is supposed to feel like.
So, then here is my second question. What is the role of the arms in pascimottanasana? How much muscle strength should I be using to pull my trunk forward?
|
|
| |
|
| Tourist - just reread your post. When you have your students use a strap in dandasana you are having them place a strap across the thighs and press them down? is that right?
|
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Yup - just like a really tight seat belt. Sand bags would help or flat weight plates. If your toes are coming apart then yes, your glutes (I think) are tight. Try a whole bunch of pavanna muktasana with one knee up at a time and some supta padangustasana. I gotta get back to you....running away.... |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| OK - I'm back from the basement  You should also do lots of parivrtta trikonasana and ardha matsyendrasana. That should stretch the right spots
Arms in paschimottansana - I think of them more as anchors than anything. Reaching forward (or upward to start, really) helps elongate the torso, helps bring the shoulderblades in to the back etc. but it really just anchors the upper body so you can use the legs to anchor the other half and between the two you l-e-n-g-t-h-e-n. My usual instruction is to pause as you go down and lift the ribcage up off the waist and elongate forward. One of my big breakthroughs came when my teacher said out of the blue, "bring the back ribs forward."
Let me know how that works and please ask more! This is really good for my brain   |
|
| |
|
| Tourist - these are all great suggestions! I'll work on those poses and some others I've got stored away and get back to you. I've also been practicing the sequence for hip opening in Yoga Journal this month. It was while practicing that sequence that I realized just how tight my outer hip have gotten. I can really feel it when I do down dog with one leg up. That'll get you in the outer hip! woa!
I've got so many questions...you have no idea. I'll keep 'em coming.
|
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| aaron - Iyengar yoga is ideal for someone with the sort of mind that likes to analyse and work out ways to solve problems this way. As someone recently said, it is much like the math mind but I still don't do math if I can help it!
Think of all the poses that are really just dandasana but flipped around a bit. Down dog, half uttanasana, half plough (feet on the chair or wall), half headstand, legs up the wall, even plough, although that is going more into pascimottanasana. Now think about all the instructions you get for those and how your body responds, depending on the relation to gravity in any one of the poses. That can help your understanding of all of the poses immensely. As I progressed in my practice and especially as I was training to teach, I realised that there really are not that many instructions to remember. Thighs pretty much always move back, the sacrum moves in (yes, even in forward bends) and the shoulderblades move toward the waist and into the body. But sometimes you are upside down and sometimes you are not |
|
| |
|
| Tourist - This is exactly why I LOVE Iyengar yoga. I get to think and feel.
I am discovering this same thing in my own practice. That all of the postures are basically the same, in that the basic principles are so similar. What I can get caught up in is how different I feel emotionally in each pose. Sirsasana vs. Tadasana, for example, are very similar poses but my psychological reaction to them is VERY different. Some of my prinicples go out the window. I also have a tendency to want to over complicate things. Thanks for reminding me to keep it simple. That takes some of the frustration out of it.
I am just started teaching this year. At first it was in a non-profit, for the staff, once a week. And I did privates here and there. Classes for friends at my house. This week I start teaching at a REAL studio. I just can't believe how much yoga has changed my life, how much I love it, and how amazing it is that I am actually going to be teaching. It is such a gift.
|
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Great aaron - I would love to hear about your teacher training.
Do you think maybe tadasana and niralamba sirsasana feel closer to the same pose?  |
|
| |
|
| Tourist - I haven't done a lot of formal teacher training the way people think of it in other traditions. I have apprenticed with a certified Iyengar teacher, taken several teacher training workshops and studied with many senior teachers. Most importantly I have been practicing with consistency for some time. I am currently waiting to apprentice with my teacher, the senior teacher, at the studio where I study. Right now he has three students apprenticing with him, which is his limit. I hope to begin apprenticing next year some time but it's really up to him and his schedule. If that doesn't work out I have some other ideas up my sleeve. One is to sign up for Patricia Walden's teacher training but that doesn't begin until 2007. There's one other in my area. I'd rather apprentice with my teacher here so I'm going to wait.
What was your training like? |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I live in an area with a very large and active Iyengar community. I went to classes at my local rec centre and at the time they were 100% Iyengar. I went to class anywhere from once to three times a week for several years and eventually started teaching my friends, which was when my teacher suggested I start TT. We spend 8 - 10 weeks observing our mentor teacher and taking notes then start assisting in class. We have a set curriculum of 8 or so papers to write in each of 3 years, plus a TT paper that all teachers write for the monthly teacher's meeting. If the mentor teacher or others in the TT committee see some weakness in understanding, we can be asked to write more papers - I had to write one on strength in my first year (since physically I don't have much of it!) We also have an annual intensive - one week in the summer - and are expected to attend as many of the visiting teacher's workshops as we can. That is usually 2 or 3 a year at least. After the first year we get our own class and the mentor teacher observes frequently and offers feedback, in the 3rd year if all goes well you get to teach Level II (headstand, backbends etc.) and start training like mad for assessment! OVerall mine took closer to 4 years due to a slowish start and having to wait a bit until I got a space in assessment. People from out of town (we have teachers in remote areas such as the Yukon who train with us) take longer usually because they have less contact with their teachers.
I think the big thing with Iyengar TT is that you can't just walk in off the street and sign up, pay your $ and do it. You have to be practicing, your teachers have to know you and you have to be mentored. I think that really helps with the quality control. It is great that your teacher has a limit to the number of apprentices he can have. That keeps the quality up as well, although a pain for you to have to wait  |
|
| |
internal rotation
