Hanumanasana or Split.

The feature pose this month is Hanumanasana, or a yoga split. The pose is named after Hanuman, a monkey god from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.  We will be discussing Hanuman’s story as we work on our splits.  Hanuman is a devotee of Prince Rama whose wife, Sita is abducted by the demon king Ravana. Hanuman makes an enormous leap across the Indian Ocean, from the Southeastern tip of India to Sri Lanka, in order to rescue Sita from Ravana. His devotional leap is memorialized in this yoga posture.

Hanuman

It seems that yogis are divided into 2 groups over this pose, those who can do the pose and those who can’t. The first group generally likes it. Not so with the second group. Groans will be heard from those who don’t like it whenever this pose is being practiced in class. Notice I said practiced and not performed. One of the keys to any pose is practicing it, not coveting it and not avoiding it. Hanuman didn’t care how he looked as he stretched his legs to Lanka to rescue Sita. And since he did rescue Sita does it matter whether he took one leap or several?

This first week, in Hanumanasana let’s just take a good look at where we are in the pose. It doesn’t matter if all your split is a runner’s stretch (back knee on the floor and the front leg straight). In fact, you will still be reaping the benefits of the pose as long as you work honestly where you are.  Remember, one of the signs of an advanced practitioner is one who knows how to modify his/her pose.

Stages: Working where you are.

Stages: almost there

According to “Light On Yoga” this pose: …helps to cure sciatica and other defects of the legs. It tones the leg muscles, keeps the legs in condition and if practiced regularly is recommended for runners and sprinters. It relaxes and strengthens the abductor muscles of the thighs.”  Let’s practice this pose together for a month and see what happens.

What Does Your Side Angle Pose Look Like?

The Bhagavad Gita gives us 2 very literal definitions of yoga.  The first one is that yoga is skill in action.  BG 2.50.  And the other is that yoga is equanimity of mind.  BG 2.48.

One of the best ways to learn more about your yoga poses is by either practicing in front of a mirror, or having someone take a picture of you in a pose.  This is often very humbling.  We are often not as advanced as we think we are!  But it is a great way to learn.  Awareness is always the first step in growth.  Remember that yoga is equanimity of mind.

Then compare your pose to an example of a well done posture.  Be wary of some of the poses you find online on Facebook or Instagram.  While you may find some very correctly executed postures, there are many more not so well executed.  I recommend looking in Light on Yoga, or online at www.yogajournal.com.  I often refer to the pictures in Yoga Resource by Darren Rhodes.  Unfortunately it is out of print, so it is very expensive to order.

Since Side Angle Pose is a building block towards Bird of Paradise, let’s look at that. Take a picture of yourself in Side Angle pose from the front and from your head side.  Now compare it to this as an example:

How does your pose measure up?  Can you look at yourself critically but lovingly?   Don’t beat yourself up by how bad your pose might look to you.  Instead, look at what you are doing that is good and work to build on that.  Look at where you need to move to.  Knowing where you are helps you move towards where you want to be.

Sometimes students look at a pose and see certain things that they attach importance to, such as the hand on the floor in Side Angle Pose.  While the hand on the floor is a goal, you have to first look at the skill of that action.

The full version of Side Angle Pose is with the front knee bent 90 degrees, the knee over the ankle and the front thigh is parallel to the floor.  The upper side of the body should be a straight line from the outer edge of the back foot up to the tips of the fingers of the top hand.

But, you also have to look at the pose from the front.  The body should be very 2 dimensional from the front.  That means that the outer buttock of the front leg should be in line with the outer knee.  Not winging out.

In this view, you can see that my buttocks are winging out and my chest is facing slightly downward rather than shining out to the side.  This usually happens when a student prioritizes getting the hand to the floor over the form of the pose.

In this view, I have the outer buttock of my front leg in line with the outer knee and my chest is facing sideways. This is skillful action

If I didn’t have the flexibility to get my hand to the floor, I would be better off placing my hand on a block and turning my chest open.  This is where the second definition of yoga comes in:  Yoga is equanimity of mind. (BG 2.48)  Can I prioritize skillful action?  Can I find equanimity in backing off from grasping for the full pose until I develop the skill to enter the pose gracefully?

Should the palms be together when the hands are clasped behind the back in Yoga Mudra?

What’s Important?  What’s not Important?

This past weekend I was a guest teacher in anatomy for a Yoga Teacher Training Program.  Sunday’s class was about the shoulders.  We were doing a Standing Forward Bend with the hands clasped behind the back in Yoga Mudra. There were a couple of students who had tight shoulders.  Instead of clasping their hands behind their backs, I asked them to use a belt to get more width between their hands and more stretch in their shoulders.  Some of these students with tight shoulders could not lift their hands off of their sacrums at all.  Instead of stretching their shoulders, they were rounding their backs and caving in their chests.

Some of these teachers-to-be were astonished to see that I suggested that students with tight shoulders take their hands wider apart.  One commented that she thought that the goal was to not only clasp the hands, but to press the palms together.  Now it was my turn to be astonished.  I could see that these teacher trainees were confusing what is important in a pose with what is not.

It is always important to keep the spine in mind and move in the big joints first.  That means that we need to cultivate movement in the hips and shoulders.  If the hips and shoulders don’t move, then the spine is put under a lot of pressure to move.  Each vertebrae in the spine contributes only a few small degrees to the overall movement, but the hips and shoulders are capable of a great range of movement.

In the case of the hands in behind the back in Yoga Mudra, you have to look at the shoulders and upper back.  If the shoulders are wrapped forward and the upper back is rounded, then there is no movement in the shoulders and the person will have trouble clasping their hands behind their back, let alone pressing the palms together.

In that case, it would be better for the student to hold a belt between their hands and separate their hands until they can squeeze their shoulder blades together and lift their hands off of their back.  What you look for is the ability to draw the spine into the body instead of it rounding outward.  The idea here is that space creates freedom.  With the hands apart, you create space.

Once the person can start to stretch the front of their shoulders and the spine is no longer rounded, then they can start to work their hands together.

Just For Fun - Word Play

Just for Fun: Word Play!

For years, an email has been circulating about the “Washington Post's Mensa invitational,” which includes a very clever list of words made by changing common words.

The most recent email circulation listed the “2009 winners.”   Those of you who have received this email probably noticed it was very similar to the “2008 winners.”  In fact, they’re also very similar to many of the 1998 winners!  (UPDATE: The very same "2014" list is now in circulation – check Google!)

So, many, many years ago, someone ran a contest and it’s been circulating on the internet ever since.

But hey, it’s a good idea.  And it's really funny!

Here are the winners:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

 The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent, adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the best known and important texts of Indian literature. The words of the title mean “Song of the Lord”.  The teachings of the Gita are presented in the form of a dialogue between Sri Krishna, whom the Hindus regard as the Lord Himself and Arjuna; a warrior, an archer, the leader of the Pandavas who are in a battle against their cousins the Kurus for control of a kingdom.  Arjuna is the good guy and the bad guys are the blind King Dhrtarastra and his hundred sons.

“The Gita can be read as history, but it lends itself to being an allegory.  In this mode, Arjuna represents the individual soul and Sri Krishna the Supreme Soul that dwells in every heart.  Arjuna’s chariot is the body.  The blind king Dhrtarastra is the mind under the spell of maya, or ignorance, and his hundred sons are man’s numerous evil tendencies.  The battle is an eternal one that is always going on between the powers of good and the powers of evil.  The warrior who listens to the advice of the Lord speaking from within will triumph in this battle and attain the Highest Good.”  From the foreword of the Bhagavad Gita as translated by Winthrop Sargeant.

The following verses contain one of the main teachings of the Bhagavad Gita: (Stephen Mitchell version)

You have a right to your actions
but never to your actions fruits
Act for the action’s sake
And do not be attached to inaction

Self-possessed, resolute, act
without any thoughts of results
open to success or failure
This equanimity is yoga.

Action is far inferior
to the yoga of insight, Arjuna.
Pitiful are those who, acting,
are attached to their actions fruits.

The wise man lets go of all
results, whether good or bad,
and is focused on the action alone.
Yoga is skill in actions.  (B.G. II.47 – 50)

Since Arjuna is an archer, the following lesson from is an appropriate follow up.  One of Arjuna’s concerns that we all share is wanting to know the outcome.  What if I win?  What if I lose?  Krrisna’s teaching above is reflected in the wisdom of The Way of Chuang Tzu, as translated by Thomas Merton

The Need to Win

When the archer shoots his arrow for nothing, he has all his skill.
When he shoots for a Blue Ribbon, he is already nervous.
When he shoots for a prize of gold, he goes blind and sees two targets.  He is out of his mind; his skill has not changed, but the prize divides him - he cares.  He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of all his power.

Can Yoga Cause a Stroke?

Can yoga cause a stroke? Apparently so.

My yoga classes were buzzing last week with the story of a yoga teacher who suffered a stroke. Some of them just wanted to talk about the story and some of them were concerned for their own health and safety.

I had heard about the story, but I hadn’t looked into it. At first I assumed it was one of those random events where somebody had something inside of them that they didn’t know about: a ticking, internal time bomb that could go off at any time. When I looked into the story, I realized that was not the case. And that this story was not what I typically associated with a stroke. This was more of a preventable accident. The woman actually tore the carotid artery in her neck while performing a yoga pose which caused a blood clot to travel to her brain.

Rebecca Leigh was an Instagram star, posting pictures to her 26,000 fans. She suffered an injury while she was doing a pose called a hollow back handstand. It seems that she was working hard in the pose to get it perfect for her many fans and she pushed herself too far.

Rebecca Leigh in the hospital and performing a hollow back handstand

This incident happened in May of 2017. I’m not sure why it is making the rounds now, but it is a good cautionary tale. Any activity, including yoga, can be dangerous. Some of it depends on your health history. You know that saying about consulting your doctor before you embark on any exercise regime, right?! How many of us do that? Some of the conditions that predispose you to stroke are obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. If you have any of these conditions, check with your doctor to see what you should or should not be doing, not your yoga teacher.(Although, please let me know if you have any of these conditions.) Once your doctor has cleared you to do things, or suggested you don’t do certain things, that’s where your yoga teacher comes in. I can help you build towards a pose over time if appropriate, or find a suitable modification for a pose that you shouldn’t do.

While she survived the ordeal, Ms. Leigh still suffers the consequences of what she did. She has trouble speaking and suffers headaches. She cautions people not to push themselves in yoga, to take their time, go easy, be patient. This is always the advice in yoga, but our ego can get in the way and sometimes we want to go just a little bit further to try a little bit harder. We often want our results now.  It is important to work on maintaining good alignment from the beginning in any pose.  Start with the foundation and work gradually and intelligently from there.  Often students think that they are more advanced than they are and just want to achieve the pose. This story is a dramatic reminder to be patient and work within your abilities and limitations.

In the book How Yoga Works, Miss Friday asks her student The Captain to try to touch his toes while standing up. He bends forward and his fingers are about a foot off the ground. She grabs some stacks of paper off of his desk and puts them on the floor under his hands until his fingertips reach the top of the stack. Then she tells him to practice this pose every day, but that he can only remove one sheet of paper a day. The Captain gets dejected when he looks at the 1,000 or so sheets of paper that are stacked up under his fingers. He reckons that it will take more than three years to touch the floor. But really, what’s the hurry? There are no prizes for achieving a pose and there certainly are consequences for pushing ourselves too far.

One of the things I thought was interesting, and scary, is that despite having trouble with vision and the use of her left arm, it took this woman 2 days to get to the hospital to be looked at. This story is a good reminder that it is better to be checked out right away than it is to sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning. Fast treatment can lessen the brain damage that stroke can cause.

Here are the warning signs for stroke. The CDC uses the acronym F.A.S.T. to help you remember:
Acting F.A.S.T. Is Key for Stroke

When someone is having a stroke, every minute counts. Just as putting out a fire quickly can stop it from spreading, treating a stroke quickly can reduce damage to the brain. If you learn how to recognize the telltale signs of a stroke, you can act quickly and save a life—maybe even your own.

Acting F.A.S.T. can help stroke patients get the treatments they desperately need. The stroke treatments that work best are available only if the stroke is recognized and diagnosed within 3 hours of the first symptoms. Stroke patients may not be eligible for these if they don’t arrive at the hospital in time.

If you think someone may be having a stroke, act F.A.S.T. and do the following simple test:
F—Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
A—Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
S—Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is the speech slurred or strange?
T—Time: If you see any of these signs, call 9-1-1 right away.

If you want to read more about strokes, here is the link to the CDC pages.