Pose of the Month for March – Focus on the Core

Yoga is a balance of strength and flexibility.  We need to be strong but not rigid.  Being strong gives us a firm foundation and clear boundaries.  Being rigid keeps us stuck, frozen in one place, unable to change and grow.  In being flexible, we need to be resilient, able to go with the flow, but not so flexible that we can be pushed over.  This is as true in our yoga postures as it is in life.

We will begin this month developing our strength by working our core.  Our core connects our upper body and lower body together.  This is so important in keeping our spine healthy and strong especially as we reach and stretch our extremities in different directions. A strong core is helpful when you are reaching in the back seat of your car to pick something up, or if you are practicing arm balances in your yoga class.

Psychologically our core represents our sense of self esteem and integrity.  This is the home of the third chakra.  Tapping into our core means tapping into our internal guidance system.  Can you remain true to yourself as you weigh outside influences?

There are specific exercises that work on the core such as Boat Pose, Plank or Intense Stomach Churning Posture.  But, every pose that we do has some aspect of core engagement.  Your abdominal muscles should be engaged to integrate the actions of the upper body and lower body in poses like Warrior II, Tree or Half Moon.

In any yoga pose there are any number of points you could focus on: the feet, your gaze or drishti, the breath or even the sensations in your skin.  But this month we will focus on the core.  Be prepared to get stronger, but also be prepared to be challenged!

This month’s question: What causes “clicking” in my back during certain twisting movements in yoga?

This clicking noise often happens when you twist.  Twisting involves rotation of the spinal vertebrae.  Each vertebrae has a couple of degrees of possible rotation.  The vertebra in the neck have the most movement at an average of 7.9 degrees for each vertebra.  The thoracic vertebrae average only 2.9 degrees each.  The lumbar vertebrae have the least amount of rotation at approximately 1 degree each.*

Each vertebra touches the vertebrae directly above and below it with a part called the articular facet.  There are four of these parts, two on the upper part of the vertebra and two on the lower part. These facets help keep the vertebrae aligned.  (There are also many muscles and ligaments that keep the vertebrae aligned, so there is no danger of them slipping entirely out of place!) But in certain twisting actions these facets can slip against each other making this clicking noise.  I know I felt these same slight movements and heard these sounds and in my own body.  While these sounds are relatively harmless when they happen occasionally, they are not something that should happen every time you twist.

It is important to not use a lot of leverage when you twist.  The arms are used in most seated or standing twists and gravity is used in most supine twists.   You need to be judicious in the use of the arms to let them add ease to the movement of the twist and in the engagement of the muscles rather than being aggressive in forcing the body to twist further.  This over-rotating happens at certain vulnerable points in the spine, such as at the juncture of T-11 and T-12.

This is especially important in supine twists where gravity is pulling on the weight of the body.  If the oblique muscles are not strong enough and you allow your body to drop over into the twist as opposed to lowering it into the twist, you can create a lot of shear force between the vertebrae and those facet joints will click against each other trying to hold the spine in good alignment.  When twisting with gravilty, lower the body part slowly and with control.  Make sure you are keeping your abdominal muscles engaged as you twist.  For example, when you are lying on your back and twisting your legs to the right in Jathara Parivartanasana, as you lower your legs to the right, turn your navel to the left.  If you only go as far as you can slowly and with abdominal control, and your opposite shoulder staying on the ground, you will find that your back no longer clicks.  You also may be surprised that you don’t go very far!  This is ok.  Build your strength and range of motion over time.  Flexibility without strength creates instability.

If you sit in an easy cross legged pose and rotate to the right, slowly without using your hands or arms, you may find that you do not go very far.  This is the limit of your range of twisting using your muscles.  Try twisting to the left to see if there is any difference between one side and the other.  You probably don’t get that clicking noise when you do this upright twist. Take this knowledge and awareness into twists where you use your arms and/or gravity and twist mindfully.

There are two other things that are important in twisting, one is to keep your spine long and straight.  You don’t want to increase the leverage on any given vertebra by bending it as you twist it.  The other thing is to draw your belly button towards your spine and engage your muscles in the opposite direction of your twist.

You want to develop your core muscles in twisting and to only twist as far as you can go without that clicking noise.  Your strength and range of motion can increase over time.  Try these exercises and see if that stops or reduces the clicking in your spine.  Let me know how it is working for you, or if you have any further questions by leaving your comments in the space below this post.

*Mel Robin, A Handbook for Yogasana Teachers:  The Incorporation of Neuroscience, Physiology and Anatomy into the Practice.

The Yoga Sutras – 1.33– 1.39 Examples of Practice to Still Your Mind

We think we know the nature of our minds, but by reading through this first chapter of the Yoga Sutras, it is clear to me that unless we understand how the mind works, we are at its mercy.

My foray into the Yoga Sutras has been very enlightening.  I see this text as the origin of a lot of the tidbits of information I know about yoga; things that I say and often believe in, but never knew exactly where this knowledge came from.   It is interesting to see where I am on the path of yoga and validating to see how far I have come.  It is also humbling to see the stumbling blocks that these threads so clearly expose!

This part of the Sutras is a continuation of the practices to help you develop a tranquil mind.    In summary these practices include:

1.33  Being pleased with others who are happier than ourselves, compassionate toward those who are unhappy, joyful with those who are doing praiseworthy things and undisturbed by the errors of others.  This is one of those simple but not easy practices!  Some of the rest of these practices are things that you actually have to do, like meditate or practice pranayama.  But all you have to do to practice this sutra is to live your life and be out in the world among others.  Can you be happy for those who got their power back before you did after the snowstorm last week?  Or maybe even be really happy for those who never lost power in the first place?  Maybe you notice how irate you get at another driver who is doing something “wrong”.    Or, there is the German word schadenfreude which means to derive pleasure from someone else’s pain.  All of these things cause our minds to lose their tranquility.

1.34  Pranayama or regulation of the breath.  The breath is the greatest indicator of the state of the mind.  It is connected to both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system.  This means that your breath is both part of your conscious and unconscious mind.  By focusing on the breath you can relax your mind and by noticing the breath, you have a reliable witness to your state of mind.

1.35  By truly being present with whatever experience you are having, focusing on your senses and your direct experience.  In other words, don’t multi-task. Try being present the whole time while peeling an eating an orange.  In his book, Into the Magic Shop, author and neurosurgeon James Doty writes that we are not present and lose our attention on average 6 times a minute!

1.36  By meditating on the creative expression of peace/God/love/light/oneness within you.  This is the practice of connecting to something higher than yourself and seeing our inter-connectedness as a whole.

1.37  By contemplating enlightened sages who have walked this path before us, or by simply emulating a person you respect and admire.

1.38   By paying attention to your dreams. Dreaming is another state of consciousness and it is possible to harness the power of your dreams. Practitioners of lucid dreaming say that you can use this technique as a tool for problem solving, self-healing, and personal growth.

1.39  By meditating deeply on one thing, it is possible to extrapolate about other things.  Here Patanjali gives us permission to study and meditate on any object of our choosing,  One of my yoga students once told me that a teacher told him that he was meditating wrong.  While he may have been meditating in a different way from that teacher's lineage, I don't believe that, if you are meditating, you can be doing it incorrectly.  Patanjali also counsels us to stick with whatever method of meditation we have chosen and not waste time by trying many different things.  This is the concept of digging one 100 foot deep hole rather than digging one hundred 1 foot deep holes.  This sutra relates to the concept of mastery being the equivalent of putting in 10,000 hours of work and study.  It also counsels us to practice restraint by being aware of  the arrogance that can come along with the great gift of knowledge and practice.  This means that just because we can perform advanced asana or we don't eat certain things, that we should not hold that out as our being superior over others.

The Single Best Therapeutic Yoga Pose for General Knee Problems

Last week I talked about some general reasons for why knees can hurt and I gave you some simple exercises that you can do on your own. You can also do these at the beginning of class if you get there a few minutes early. There are certain simple therapeutic exercises that I do every day for my own issues.

Also, I’d like to invite any of you with knee problems who do come to class a few minutes early to let me set you up in a basic supportive posture for your knees. All you have to do is ask!

Yoga Sutras 1.33 – 1.37 The Yoga Sutras on Examples of Practice

These sutras teach us about how to practice.  One of the important concepts to be aware of are the qualities of nature and of the mind.  These qualities are called the gunas; they are cosmic energies that pervade all of nature.  There are three qualities of nature: rajas, or the energy of activity, change, evolution and development.  In the mind rajas is the energy attachment, wanting, grasping and desire;  it is the fight of the fight, flight or freeze response.   Without rajas we would never get anywhere.

The next quality of nature is tamas which means inertia or lack of movement.  In the mind it is stubbornness, resistance to change, apathy or a feeling of being “stuck”.   Tamas represents that tendency to freeze, the reluctance to trying something new.

Sattva is the point of balance between rajas and tamas.  At the level of the mind, sattva is a balance of clarity and light.  Sattva is a feeling of peace, balance and harmony, a sense of being enough, doing enough and having enough.  If our practices are too rajasic, they will be too harsh and austere.  If too tamasic, they will never get off the ground; we will be too lazy, or we won't try something new because we "have always done it that way".  One way to tell if our practices are working is if they create a sense of sattvic balance.

Y.S. 1.33 Maitri karuna mudito peksanam sukha dukha punya apunya visayanam bhavantah citta prasadanam

Maitri – friendliness
karuna – compassion, mercy
mudita – gladness, joy
upeksanam – to be indifferent and apathetic, to look at things without interest
sukha – happiness
dukha – sorrow
punya – virtue
apunya – vice
visayanam – regarding an object, concerning a thing
bhavantah – conception, remembrance, infusion, recollection, thoughtfulness
cittaprasadanam – graceful diffusion of the consciousness, favorable disposition

In daily life we see people around us who are happier than we are and people who are less happy.  Some may be doing praiseworthy things and others causing problems.  Whatever may be our usual attitude toward such people and their actions, if we can be pleased with others who are happier than ourselves, compassionate toward those who are unhappy, joyful with those who are doing praiseworthy things and remain undisturbed by the errors of others, our mind will be very tranquil.

What this means in our daily life: If we can be happy when others are happy, then we can experience happiness more frequently.  If we can overlook the mistakes of others, then we know that our own transgressions can be forgiven.  Also, the act of doing good is its own reward.  We do not need praise or recognition for doing the right thing.

Y.S. 1.34  Pracchardana vidharana abhyam va pranasya

Pracchardana – emitting, sending forth, discharging, expelling, exhalation
vidharanabhyam –restraining, maintaining, supporting, executing
va – or, an option, also the power of choosing correctly, selection, alternatively
pranasya- of breath

When we find interruptions in mental clarity:
The practice of breathing exercises involving extended exhalation may be helpful:

One should inhale and exhale slowly and pause, maintaining the retention for as long as is comfortable.  This practice ensures a state of consciousness which is like a calm lake.

What this means in your daily life:  The breath is the greatest indicator of the state of the mind.  When the breath is not smooth and regular, something is disturbing us.   Find out what that is and deal with it and the breath should be able to return to a smooth and regular rhythm.

Y.S. 1.35  Visayavati va pravrttih utpanna manasah sthiti nibandhini

Visayavati – related to, attached to object, that which is perceived
va - or
pravrttih – moving onwards, advancing, progressing, contemplating, devoting, applying
utpanna – born, produced, acquired, accomplished
manasah - mind
sthiti - state
nibandhini – origin, basis, foundation, binding together,

By regular inquiry into the role of the senses we can reduce mental distortions.  Or, by contemplating an object that helps to maintain steadiness of mind and consciousness.

What this means in your daily life:  Use a tool to help you meditate.  It can be a mantra, your breath, an altar on which you set meaningful objects and symbols of your devotion or the ritual of lighting a candle.  But do set up a routine that helps you turn inward on a regular basis.

Y.S. 1.36  Visoka va jyotismati

Visoka – free from grief, sorrowless effulgent light
va  - or
jyotismati – luminous, bright, shining, possessed of luminous bodies, a tranquil state of mind

When we inquire into what life is and what keeps us alive, we may find some solace for our mental distractions.
Consideration of things greater than ourselves helps us put ourselves into perspective.

Here, the concentration is on the innermost core of the heart, wherein alone the sorrow-less, effulgent light glows.  That is the seat of the soul.  The mind is guided in such a way that it becomes engrossed and penetrates toward its source.  Movements in the form of thoughts in the mind are waves, and citta, or the seat of consciousness, is the ocean.  The sadaka, practitioner, must learn to keep the citta motionless and thoughtfully silent, without creating waves of thought.  This effort or stilling and silencing the citta brings forth the sorrow-less effulgent light of the soul.

What this means in your daily life: You are sitting to meditate and there is some noise outside, someone is working or mowing the lawn and it is disturbing your meditation practice, or your peace.  In reality, this is not someone who is doing something to you, they are simply mowing their lawn.  It has nothing to do with your meditation practice, or your peace.  In fact, the noise is part of your meditation practice.  You can choose to meditate later, or you can welcome the sound of mowing into your practice.  The problem is that we want the world to operate according to our personal agenda and when it doesn't, we get upset; it distracts us mentally.   We blame the noise on our inability to concentrate, when in fact the noise is simply a test of our concentration.

For those of you who are interested in the texts I have been using, I base my commentary on The Yoga Sutras from a combination of several texts and one app:
The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar
Light on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda
And an app on the Yoga Sutras developed by Daniel Levine

Yoga Sutras 1.29 – 1.32 – The Obstacles on the Path to Enlightenment

Y.S. 1.29 Tatah pratyakcetana adhigamah api antarya abhavah ca
tatah – then
pratyakcetana – individual soul, introspective mind
adigamah – to find, discover
api – also, too
antarya – obstacle
abhavah – absence
ca – and

Meditation on god with the repetition of Om removes obstacles to the mastery of the inner self
Chanting and surrendering to a higher power helps you tune into that cosmic power. By that turning inward and tuning in you imbibe all of those qualities, get the cosmic vision, transcend all of your limitations and finally become that transcendent reality. Normally you are limited by your body and your mind, but by holding something infinite you slowly raise yourself from the finite objects that bind you and you transcend them. Through that you get rid of all of the obstacles and your path is made easy! Ah, but what are those obstacles? Patanjali tells us in the next Sutra:

Y.S. 1.30 Vyadhi styana samsaya pramada alasya avirati bhrantidarsana alabdhabhumikatva anavasthitavani cittaviksepah te antaryah
Vyadhi – disease
styana – mental laziness
samsaya – doubt, indecision
pramada – intoxication, carelessness
alasya – physical laziness
avirati – lacking in moderation or control
bhrantidarsana – living under illusion
alabhdabhumikatva – missing the point, inability to hold on to what is achieved
anavasthitavani – an unsettled state
cittaviksepah – a scattered mind
te – these
antarayah – obstacles, impediments

These 9 obstacles can be divided into physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual categories:
Physical
a. disease
b. lack of interest or sluggishness, physical laziness

Mental
a. Lingering doubt
b. Pride or carelessness
c. Idleness, mental laziness
d. Sense gratification, lacking moderation or control

Intellectual
a. Living in a world of delusion

Spiritual
a. Lack of perseverance or not being able to hold on to what has been undertaken
b. Inability to maintain the progress attained due to pride or stagnation in practices

These obstacles are like a chain: the first obstacle is physical disease. We all know that if you are not healthy, everything else is difficult. Disease makes you dull and a dull mind will doubt everything because it doesn’t have the energy to penetrate something in order to understand it.

When there is doubt, there is a carelessness, lethargy and laziness. When the mind loses interest towards a higher goal, it has to do something else so it will slowly descend to the sensual enjoyments. These obstacles could be summed up as the qualities of tamas which means inertia or dullness.

One of the main obstacles is slipping from the ground one has gained. This one obstacle is a big impediment for many people. A beginner will practice with intense interest. Everyday she will feel more and more interested and feel she is progressing steadily. She may even be proud of her progress. All of a sudden, one day she will find that she has lost everything and slipped down to rock bottom.
This happens to everyone. If we know it is a common occurrence, we won’t get disheartened. Otherwise we will lose all hope and interest and stop practicing all together. But this is just a test. Please know that this is common in the case of every aspirant. The mind can’t function on the same level always; it has its highs and lows. If there is going to be steady progress always, there will be no challenge, no game in it.

Y.S. 1.31 Duhkha daurmanasya angamejayatva svasapprasvasah viksepa shabhuvah

Duhkha – sorrow, pain
daurmansaya – mental pain, despair
angamejayatva – unsteadiness of the body
svasapprasvasah – inspiration and expiration
viksepa – scattered, causing distraction
shabhuvah – concurrent

Sorrow, despair, unsteadiness of the body and irregular breathing further distract the citta

These are symptoms that we all experience from time to time and they prevent concentration and focus. This is where we have to take care of day to day activities by taking care of our physical body with movement, our associations with others and with our forms of entertainment, diet and rest. We should not allow the body and mind to be tamasic (heavy and dull). They should always be in a sattvic (balanced and light) condition This cannot be created all of a sudden. We always have to take care of these things in our daily life. A sickly body can never be fit to sit; it will not allow the mind to meditate quietly. Weak nerves will always cause tremors. When some people meditate, they tremble an perspire. These are symptoms of physical weakness. But such things will not happen if we keep our body in proper condition by right diet, exercise, proper rest and if we do not allow it to become lazy and dull.

Y.S. 1.32 Tatpratisedhartham ekatattva abhyasah

Tatpratisedhartham – for their prevention
eka – one, single
tattva – a real state, reality, truth
abhyasah – practice

Adherence to single-minded effort prevents these impediments.

The point here is that we should not keep changing our object of concentration. When you decide on one thing, stick to it no matter what happens. There’s no value in digging shallow wells in a hundred places. Decide on one place and dig deep. Even if you encounter a rock, use dynamite and keep going down. If you leave that to dig another well, all the first effort is wasted and there is no proof you won’t hit rock again. Before you start digging, analyze well. And find out which spot is good. Then, once you decide and begin, you should not question it further. Go right at it, because it will be too late then to think whether it is worthwhile or not; you should have done that before.

Even if it is a long route, your perseverance will make it short. Our aim is to make the mind steady, so it is immaterial which object we take. Anything can take you to the goal, because you are not concentrating on the object for the sake of the object but for the sake of your goal. We should always remember this: all of our ideas, objects or even mantras are just symbols to hold onto as aids towards the goal. Behind the objects you should always remember the goal.

Tastes, temperaments and capacities differ, so you should not criticize another person’s object of meditation because you have selected another. He is approaching the same goal through his object. Just as you have confidence in your object, he too has that confidence in his way. We should not disturb the other person’s faith, nor let ourselves get distracted from our faith. Stick to one thing and forge ahead with that. Why should we have this one-pointed concentration? To make the mind clear so you can transcend it. You are not going to cling to the object but just use it as a ladder to climb up. Once you have reached the roof, leave the ladder behind.

For those of you who are interested in the texts I have been using, I base my commentary on The Yoga Sutras from a combination of several texts and one app:

The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar
Light on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda
And an app on the Yoga Sutras developed by Daniel Levine

Yoga Sutras 1.25 – 1.28 The Sutras on Objective Enlightment

Y.S. 1.25 Tatra nitratisayam sarvajna bijam
tatra - there in (God)
niratisayam - unrivalledsarvajna - all knowledge
bijam - seed, an origin In that consciousness there is the seed of all unsurpassed knowledge.

In the previous sutra I used the illustration of a circle drawn on a piece of paper. The circle represents the finite. This is also a representation of us, a single person, drawn out of the infinite that surrounds us. In order for us to be finite, and each one of us different, there must be an infinite around us. In this infinity (god, or supreme consciousness) there is infinte time, space and knowledge.

Y.S. 1.26 Sa esa purvesam api guruh kalena anavacchedat
sa - that
esa - Purusha or God
purvesam - first, foremsot
api - also
guruh - master, teacher
kalena - time
anavacchedat - unbounded, unlimited
In the very beginning there were also teachers since truth is not limited by time.

Y.S. 1.27 Tasya vacakah pranavah
tasya -Him
vacakah - signifying
pranavah - the sacred syllable AUM
Of this, we refer to the entire experience as AUM. (pranavah translates literally to humming)
This refers to the practice of chanting.

Y.S. 1.28 Taj japa tadhartha bhavanam
taj - that
japah - muttering in an undertone, whispering, repeating
tadarthabhavanam - its aim, purpose, identification Repetitive chanting of the Name will lead to a deeper meaning.
When you listen to “yoga music” you are listening to songs that are really chants extolling the virtues of god, by using the various names for god: Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, Ganesha, Saraswati, Kali, Durga, etc… Krishna Das, one of the most well known kirtan singers, began as a devotee in India, sitting at his guru’s feet chanting the holy name, trying to reach enlightenment.

In the chant “Om Namah Shivaya” The Om is that humming. Everything is contained in that Om as it is said to vibrate inside of us tuning us to the same vibration of the universe, infinite or god. The word Namah means I bow to. It comes from the same route as Namaste. Shiva is one of the names of god, but the “ya” on the end is reflexive, turning it back into yourself. So, Shivaya refers to that aspect of god, Shiva, the infinite, that resides inside of you.

While many people make pilgrimages to holy lands and special teachers, the real journey is into the inner self. To touch that divine spark inside of your own Self.

"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." – T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

A scientific note about Om:*

“It is recently reported that the Earth undergoes free oscillations with a period of between 150 and 500 seconds, as determined from an analysis of seismic data. The most probable force driving this bell-like ringing of the Earth arises from variations in atmospheric pressure alternately pressing inward and outward on the Earth’s surface. Note that though we speak of this ringing of the Earth as a “sound” it is at far too low a frequency (2-7 millihertz) to be heard by the middle ear, which has a low frequency cut-off of 20 hertz. In several experiments people do report “shivers down their spines” when exposed to sound waves below the 20-hertz cut-off; however, it is not clear that the sensations involve the ears. Is it possible that these two scientific discoveries have anything to do with the sound of the universe as reported in the yoga texts as the all-permeating “Om” when in deeply meditative states?

For those of you who are interested in the texts I have been using, I base my commentary on The Yoga Sutras from a combination of several texts and one app:
The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar
Light on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda
And an app on the Yoga Sutras developed by Daniel Levine

*A Handbook for Yogasana Teachers: The Incorporation of Neuroscience, Physiology and Anatomy into the Practice. Mel Robin

Yoga and Your Knees

If you have chronic pain in your knees, if they “snap, crackle, and pop” when you bend or extend them, or if they tend to hyperextend, you may have improper tracking or “dislocation” of the kneecap. This misalignment causes the most common kind of chronic knee pain and damage to the knee joint, which develops slowly over time. Yoga knee therapy might be able to help.
The most common source of knee pain is due to improper tracking of the knee cap or patella. The patella is a bone that protects the knee and helps to increase the contracting action of the quadriceps muscles in straightening the leg. It is supposed to slide in a groove in the femur as the knee bends and straightens. If this movement is not smooth and the kneecap goes off track (and it can), it can grind away at the cartilage underneath, destabilizing the knee. The ensuing pain is the most common reason for knee replacement surgery because people think that the cartilage is totally gone. It might not be completely gone and it can grow back, although it does so very slowly. However, if the mechanics of the knee is not improved, the rate of wear and tear will outpace the rate of healing.

The knee cap can move out of balance when there is an imbalance in one of the four muscles that make up the quadriceps group. All four of the quadriceps muscles connect to the kneecap and through a common tendon to the top of the lower leg, or tibia. It is a common occurrence for the inner quad muscle, vastus medialis, to be weaker than the outer one, vastus lateralis. When this occurs, it causes the kneecap to be pulled sideways by the stronger muscle.

To counter balance that, there is an exercise you can do:

Sit on the floor with your legs stretched straight out in front of you. Place a rolled up blanket or a mat under the back of the painful knee. In this supported position, the knee will be bent. Externally rotate the foot a few degrees so that the inner arch is facing towards the ceiling and the inner thigh is rotated up to the ceiling. This will focus your efforts on the inner quadriceps muscle called the vastus medialis. Smoothly contract the quadriceps to straighten the leg. Hold the contraction with the heel off of the floor for about three seconds before gently lowering the heel back down to the floor. Repeat this for 10 reps. Rest and repeat this exercise 3 times. If you have access to a gym and a leg extension machine, you can do this exercise that way, too. Sometimes the weight in the machine is not light enough if you are in pain, in which case do the exercise over the rolled blanket until your knee becomes less painful and it gains strength.
How does this relate to your yoga poses? The first way is your ability to straighten your leg and lift the kneecap in straight leg poses and the second way is to pay attention to the alignment of your knee over the ankle in bent knee poses.

For the straight leg version, this can be done in stages. First, do the exercise above where you straighten the leg over a rolled blanket or mat. Then try to straighten the leg while sitting in Dandasana, or staff pose. Place the leg straight against the floor and contract the quad, straightening the leg. Make sure you keep the heel grounded otherwise you are hyper-extending the knee. Can you lift your kneecap? This is the easiest way to learn to lift the kneecap. Next try to lift your kneecap in Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide Legged Forward Fold) Then try it in Trikonasana, (Triangle Pose). It is harder to lift the kneecap of the front leg in Trikonasana but it can be learned and it is a safer way to practice straight leg poses.

For the bent knee poses it is important that your shin is vertical. It doesn’t really matter how deep of a bend you have. That is dependent on your strength and flexibility. It is more important that you knee is over your ankle. This needs to happen in two planes: the front plane and the side plane.
In the front plane:

These three images show the relationship of the knee and the ankle. The picture on the left shows correct alignment with the knee lined up over the second toe. The picture in the middle shows the knee pulling to the pinky toe side of the foot. This works the outer quad, vastus lateralis, which does not help strengthen the inner quad. The picure on the right shows the knee caving in toward the big toe side of the foot. This creates wear and tear on the inner knee and further weakens the inner quad, vastus medialis.

In the side plane:

From the side view, the knee should be over the ankle. Often the knee is behind the ankle which creates compression in the knee joint. Rarely is the knee past the ankle as this is harder to hold and it creates a lot of pressure in the knee.

As you can see, practicing yoga can be very beneficial for your knees if you pay attention to your alignment. It is important to have a teacher who is aware of these subtleties and can help you work to enhance the natural therapeutic benefits of the poses.

Yoga for Your 50’s, 60’s and Beyond!

Surrender is often the hardest spiritual practice.

We have to constantly learn to let go of things, especially as we age. This is as true in yoga as it is in life.

This is certainly something I am thinking about as I have just turned the corner on 60.

I know that I am quite strong and flexible for my age. I am fortunate that I have always been interested in being physically fit and active. That means in some ways it is easier to maintain what I already have achieved. I also started doing yoga in my 20’s when a lot of physical things were easier than they are now. And although I was not very flexible when I started, I became flexible with dedication over time. These two steps of dedication and time are important to a yoga practice no matter the age of the practitioner.

Y.S. 1.14  Sa tu dirgha kala nairantarya satkara adara asevito drdhabhumih
It is only when the correct practice is followed for a long time, without interruptions and with a quality of positive attitude and eagerness, that it can succeed.

My yoga practice was much different when I was younger. I was more interested in the physical workout than the internal one. As you can see by my quoting of the Yoga Sutras, that my interest has shifted, I am still interested in the physical practice, but I am now much more interested in the mental, emotional and spiritual practices. This is a typical pattern followed by many aging yogis before me.

My practice and even my teaching has changed as I have gotten older. Although I started off in the Iyengar tradition, I practiced and taught other forms of yoga that provided more of a workout during my 30’s and 40’s. Perhaps it was age, or maybe it was the slight physical imperfections of scoliosis combined with arthritis and injuries over years of being physically active that have impelled me to look again and return to the therapeutics of an Iyengar practice. I am less and less interested in moving fast through poses and more interested in spending time and finding balance and equanimity in the postures. I am more interested in developing my buddhi, rather than my booty. I am very interested in the benefits and subtleties subtleties of the poses, revisiting them and deepening them over time. Every pose changes over time as your body changes and your understanding, proprioception and ability changes.

I am still interested in a strong yoga practice, one designed to build strength, stamina, flexibility and equanimity. And I believe that it is possible to do so at any age, no matter if you have been doing yoga for many years, or just starting in retirement. The key to a sustainable yoga practice is working with what you have, being dedicated to practicing, keeping curious about what you might be able to do, being patient with your progress and moving step by step.

I'll see you on your mat!

Yoga Sutras Ch1. 21 - 24 The Effects of Effort and Surrender to God.

These first two sutras are still about our efforts  and their effects towards the goal of yoga.

Y.S. 1. 21  Tivra samveganam asannah
The rate of our progress is relative to the rate at which we practice and our enthusiasm for the work.

Y.S. 1. 22  Mrdu madhya adhimatravat tato’pi visesah
The various forms of devotion are mild, middle and intense. The more intense the faith, the closer the goal.

The next couple of sutras talk about devotion to a higher power.  These can be difficult for a lot of people because the word god (ishvara) is used.  This is not the same god, or being, of Christianity or Judaism.  Ishvara is more of a primordial source, a state of consciousness from which everything in the universe emanates, a state of “is-ness” called Purusha in Sanskrit.

Swami Satchidananda explains god this way:  “In other words, he is all knowing.  He is knowledge itself.  The cosmic knowledge is called the supreme soul or purusha.  How can we imagine or visualize it?  Imagine a circle.  You can see the space within it nd the space outside it.  The inner space is finite and the outer is infinite.  If you accept the existence of a finite space you have to accept an infinite one.  Without infinite there can be no finite.  The moment you say, “I am a man,” there must be a woman.  If you say “left” there must be a right.  The thought of one implies the thought of the other.  We feel that our minds are limited and finite.  So, there must be a source of infinite knowledge beyond that. “

Y.S. 1. 23  Isvara pranidhanad va
Devotion and surrendering to a higher power will lead to Samadhi

Patanjali recognizes that attempt to change our mind to a state of yoga is fraught with obstacles that vary in potency.  But for those who have either an inborn faith in god (ishvara) or are able to develop it over the years, the state of yoga can be achieved.

Y.S. 1. 24 – Klesa karma vipaka asayaaih aparamrstah purusa visesa isvarah
Consciousness is not affected by causes, reactions, pain or karma (Hint – but our ego is!)  I’ll talk more about this in the next group of sutras.