Focus Post Three: Getting Low - Chatarunga Dandasana

One of the most outwardly noticeable benefits I've gained from my yoga practice is toned arms. I've had a few people come up to me and ask what am I doing that has made my arms the way they are - the answer is simply yoga! My yoga practice includes a lot of sun salutations as is the tradition in ashtanga or power styles of yoga. After running through several sun salutations I will have done up to 10-20 chatarunga dandasanas or four point positions. Needless to say that's a great upper body work out right there. Besides the aesthetics, weight bearing exercise is necessary for building and maintaining healthy bones as we age.

Upper body strength can be a real challenge for some of us and it's important to do our poses with safe and proper alignment. Using full awareness and acceptance of where you are at physically will help you to choose your pose for any given moment in your practice. Of course we would all like to be able to instantly perform the hardest variation of a pose but the reality is, you must start from where you ARE before you can go somewhere new. I will include variations and options to lead up to a full chatarunga dandasana.

Begin in a solid plank pose. This means you are making one long straight line with your body, hands under shoulders, toes on the floor, just like the top of a push-up. Whenever you are in plank check that your hips are not sticking up in the air higher than your back, or sagging down to the ground. Hold your belly up and in towards your spine. Ideally, for chatarunga now all you have to do is bend your elbows! Sounds so simple. Of course it's a lot of work. Chatarunga should also be a straight line with the body but now your shoulders and elbows are level with each other. It can be tempting to dip the shoulders down lower than the elbows in this position which I didn't realize I was doing for some time until I checked myself out. So take a quick glance if you can or use a mirror for the first few times to get a sense of how low or not low that feels for you. When you bend your elbows, bend them straight back and not poking out to the sides, otherwise you are doing a push up. Imagine hugging your elbows against your torso.To help your upper body hold your weight so close to the pull of gravity think of reaching out through your heels and extend your knees so the legs send strong energy out through the lower body.

Now if you are in plank and the thought of bending your elbows is bringing images of face planting in the floor, then you are not yet ready for chatarunga. But don't despair, there are options as always! From plank, touch your knees down to the floor like a modified push-up. Keep your weight forward over your hands and simply lower your body down the ground WITHOUT sagging your hips down first. Keep that straight line feeling in your body and just lower straight down. Again keep energy in your toes, reaching out through the heels and don't let your feet fly up off the floor. If you want to try the next harder option before chatarunga, then start by touching the knees down, keeping your weight over your hands. This time as you bend your elbows (hugging them beside your body) keep your butt exactly where it is so that your chest touches down to the floor. If it helps, you can think of sticking your bum out slightly at the same time that your elbows bend. Now your toes, knees, hands and chest are touching the floor. By the way, don't forget to look forward for this one so you don't face plant. This may look a little awkward but the added challenge of lowering your chest down before the hips will build the strength you need in your triceps, chest and shoulders to prepare you for a chatarunga. Or, again, if you are aware of what your body is doing and you notice that your belly wants to sag down, then work on lowering straight down from the modified plank position.

If you truly want to build your upper body strength and develop a fluid transition between poses then practice your plank to chatarunga (or other option ) to the floor as often as you possibly can. If you are moving from downward dog to plank, lower down through your chatarunga option to your belly and then either push straight back up, or move into a cobra or up dog. Play around with variations until and above all stay present with your self. Find your point on the fine line between doing a pose properly and giving yourself just enough challenge to grow and build.

Focus Post Triangle - or Ninja Skills Training

Triangle pose, a.k.a trikonasana, is a fundamental pose in the library of yoga postures. It's a tricky one in the sense that it is tempting to cheat the pose and not gain it's maximum benefits. It requires an honest approach and a strong internal focus.

To set yourself up for Triangle take a wide stance facing the long edge of your mat. Turn out your right foot to point to the short edge of your mat, leaving your left foot, the back foot, where it is. Take a moment to solidify your legs- meaning they are going to remain straight so think of pulling up your kneecaps to activate your thigh muscles and stabilize your legs.

Now take a full breath in and open your arms out to the sides. As you begin to exhale reach your right fingertips out past your right toes by leaning from the waist - not by bending the knee. This reach will get the length on the sides of your torso established and then you can rest your right hand on to your right leg. This is the point where utmost honesty is required! If your knee desperately wants to bend, do not take your hand so far down your leg. Perhaps rest on your upper thigh, or mid thigh, or knee, or if you can reach your shin or a block or the floor! There are tons of options as you can see. The hard part is being patient and kind enough with yourself to recognize where you should be without letting your ego dictate for you. Now, once you have settled where you can reach your hand to (for this moment - of course it could always change) the left arm reaches straight to the ceiling. This upper arm needs as much attention as the bottom, don't let your shoulder sag into your ear. Keep imagining space between your shoulder blades.

If you have an injury or issue with your shoulders however, do NOT take your hand to the ceiling. Just bend your elbow and rest your hand on your hip paying attention the space between the shoulder blades. You also have options with your head. Usually the eyes gaze up to the thumb but if you have neck injuries or issues, stay looking straight out or even down at your foot.

Now, Triangle is not only a fantastic stretch and release for the torso, inner thigh and hamstrings, but it is very strengthening for the hip rotators and thighs. To get this maximum benefit of the stretch and strengthening you must find your inner ninja. Say what? Yup. Once you are in your triangle pose imagine you are a ninja trying to sneak your way through two walls, or for the modern day ninja, between laser sensors. Your butt can not stick out. Your chest can not fall forward. So avoid those walls or sensors, roll your top hip (in this case the left one) back as you send your bottom hip forward and line up your torso over your leg. You want to feel as if you are attempting to flatten yourself out.

And there you have it, some ninja training, some side stretch, some hip and leg strengthening, some ab tightening, some shoulder stabilizing and - breathing! Right! Of course right.

This pose can also be used for warming up in a flow or vinyasa sequence. If you want to make the pose dynamic set up your legs, inhale your arms out, exhale leaning all the way down to your triangle shape and inhale yourself back up to standing. Keep the legs as they are and just repeat the body action. Lower on exhales, rise up on inhales. To make a longer sequence alternate between triangle pose and warrior two. The set up of the feet is exactly the same so you could inhale the arms out, lunge into warrior two on the exhale, inhale to standing, and exhale leaning out and down into triangle, inhale to standing and repeat.
This combination is great for building some heat and getting circulation going if you are feeling particularly stiff or cold before attempting to hold the posture alone. Once you feel warmed up work up to holding your triangle for 5 easy breaths. Easy meaning not gasping and not rushing the breath. If you have difficulty making an easy breath that's the sign that your ego took over and made you go farther than is right for you. Always make sure you can breath. It may be effort but it should not be gasping.

Focus Post

Procrastination. There is no excuse. No good reason. That is what it boils down to. Terrible procrastination.

But what a fantastic feeling to break through the procrastination wall and be on the other side that is full of motivation and purpose and forward movement! How did I get here? No idea. Well, small little pushes and shoves from my self and others. Not sure what the magic formula was exactly but I'm not going to analyze it in case it disappears under scrutiny.

So let's get to the point. Here is a Pose/Sequence Focus Post!

I want to begin with one of the most common and popular poses in yoga. Warrior! In this day and age of sitting on couches watching tv, sitting at desks writing and reading blogs, sitting in the car on roads packed with more cars we desperately need some warrior spirit to kick us into gear. Warrior II in particular is such a powerful pose to me that it is the best for invoking a warrior attitude - a can-do attitude - a WILL-do attitude. As you may or may not know my motto is Never Stop Moving. Stolen from the great Luigi actually. He coined this motto. A jazz dancer who nearly lost his ability to walk when hit by a car, but trained himself to dance again and teach others to dance. How warrior is that right?

Warrior II strengthens the legs from top to bottom, opens the hips, relieves issues related to the lower back (such as sciatica) opens the chest and energizes the whole self.
How does this pose do so much?
When you set up for Warrior II  you are standing very wide with one foot pointing to the top of your mat and the other foot pointing to the long edge of your mat. The leg that has the toe pointing to the top of the mat is the leg that bends to 90 degrees (ideally). The bent knee should be directly over the ankle joint and not over the toes, going beyond the ankle joint will put too much pressure on the knee joint. The back leg is long and straight.

The spine is directly vertically above the pelvis. If the hips are tight the body has a tendency to lean forward. To correct this imagine your pelvis is a bowl full of water that you are not allowed to spill.

The arms are extended out to either side of your body with palms facing down to the floor.

As you hold Warrior II for about five full breaths, use imagery to engage your body on a deeper level. Imagine your thighs are wrapping up, back and around the leg bones - this alone will make sure to activate the outer hip rotator muscles which includes the glutes! Next imagine your pelvis is heavy and dropping towards the floor (while still keeping the "bowl of water" level) and at the same time imagine your head is floating up to the ceiling. This imagery helps to create space in the vertebral joints of the spine which will alleviate issues that affect the lower back. Finally, imagine your fingertips are being pulled in opposite directions to further stabilize the rotator cuff muscles (surrounding the shoulder joint) and open the chest.

Once you have arrived in your Warrior II, pay attention to your breath and pay attention to your mind! This is where cultivation of will power enters the practice. Your mind may start to tell you things like - that's enough, my legs are starting to get tired, the stretch is getting intense. As long as you are still breathing you are okay. There is no need to react to those thoughts. A warrior fights for what is right. You can fight for your willpower to go beyond what you think you are capable of and come through the other side with a sense of accomplishment.

Don't forget that your pose is YOURS as well. If you want to come in and out and test the waters first, go ahead! If you want to challenge yourself and add a variation like Sun Warrior, also go ahead! Add dynamic movement by inhaling into sun warrior and exhaling back to warrior two etc. Explore your inner warrior!