The beauty of the lifted sternum

A quien es mas macho?

As I study for my teacher certification, I am reading Geeta's Preliminary Coursebook. The book has "elementary" poses designed for teachers who are working beginning students up through sarvangasana and sirsasana. It is not implicit in the text, but when you deeply read this book, you find a great deal of emphasis to develop the upper chest muscles. These are the muscles that lift your sternum. Why would so much go into teaching how to work this part of the body? Below the sternum are the heart and lungs, only the two most vital parts of your body. The space created in doing asanas correctly give your heart and lungs rooooom to keep you alive.

I notice many men in Janu Sirsana want to crank their head to their knee (like the name of the pose implies). See our guy on the right. In a great percentage of yoga studios, this guy is doing the pose correctly. I betcha he's even shaking to get that head down! Now look at our modest woman to the left. She is far from perfecting the pose, but she light years ahead of our guy on the right. Why? Use your yoga x-ray vision to visualize the heart and lungs of the guy on the right. Compressed! Strained! Now view the woman's heart and lungs. Open! So many people do the posture like the guy on the right, it took me 17 pages of googling to even find the woman on the left.

We all want to bring the head to the knee, touch the floor, and be unfettered by anything that limits us. But by having this attitude, we limit ourselves far beyond the simplicity of what the asanas are supposed to bring us.

Peace Within,
Yogiromero

Doing asana vs. doing yoga

Yoga has lost a lot of its meaning in modern times. Peruse the yoga section at any bookstore and you will find "Yoga For Dummies" "Yoga for a tight butt" "Power Yoga" "Gentle Yoga" etc etc. I am not at liberty to even try to define yoga. The more I attempt to do, the more the definition starts to encompass everything in my universe. In Geeta Iyengar's book "Yoga, A Gem For Women, she refers to Patanjali's definition of yogascittavrttinirodhah -- yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the consciousness. Even with my Masters in Psychology, I continue to have difficulty wrapping my mind around that definition.
The definition of yoga is not an intellectual question, but an experiential question. See the woman at the pottery wheel. She does not to appear to have any fluctutations in her consciousnesness. She may have never even set foot in a yoga class.
My personal defintion of yoga now is when I do asanas, I have glimpses of how I can align my body to some deeper truth that is not yet appearent to me. Tucking my tailbone in tadasana is hard, but in working it I see more clearly how I have always had a tendency to stick my buttocks out when I stand. By guidance of a good teacher, one can have many of these moments in class. But its the ability to recognizes them and integrate them into your practice which is the yoga. I would say I do yoga 1% of the time in class if I'm lucky.

Peace Within,
Yogiromero

How Much Is Enough Yoga?

When I first started doing yoga, it was in the park with a teacher named Das. He continues to teach yoga in his 70s with intensity. He would say "once a week is not enough...twice a week is not enough..." He would continue to number days making all of us feel guilty for missing just one day of his teachings. He would finally conclude with "seven days a week is not enough--its never enough, its never enough." Although I have not studied with Das for many years, he taught me more about the nuts and bolts of yoga than any other teacher. He taught about the yamas and niyamas, the gunas, yantras, the Bhagavad Gita. All the stuff you hunger for when hearing about how to lift your knees more.
Every now and then, life hands us pockets of time when we can have unfettered yoga practice as often as we want. When I have these times, I feel two intermediate 1.5 hour classes usually gives me a satisfied feeling. Luckily in Hawaii, we have enough teachers to accommodate that type of schedule.
Aparigraha means non-greediness. Can we be too greedy with our yoga practice? It depends on your responsibilities, your career, your relationships, your dharma, your karma. After watching the film "Leap of Faith" about BKS Iyengar's life, one truly realizes what he sacrificed to do his yoga. He had a wife and several children. He would ride his bicycle 20 miles to teach a class to 7 people, then ride back. He went hungry for many years. He is still hungry for knowledge. Using Iyengar as the standard, it's never enough, it's never enough.

Peace Within,
Yogiromero

Class before a class

There are many things you should and should not do before stepping into a yoga class. Here are some helpful tips for those new to yoga on what do for your first class.
First, fast at least 1 hour prior to class, but 4 hours is best. When you begin to do twisting poses after a heavy meal, you WILL feel nauseated and acidy. Try to evacuate before class if possible.
Secondly, try to be at least 5-10 minutes early to class. This will allow you to tell your instructor about any injuries that may affect your practice. You can also get a good spot in class and get the props you like if you are early.
Third, avoid heavy perfumes. Being next to someone who is heavily scented is like being in a gas chamber while doing asanas. Most will agree even being next to someone who has bad BO is better than someone who is trying to cover that BO with eau d'toilet. If you are concerned about how you smell, take a shower before class.
Fourth, if you are going to bring a cell phone--turn it off! It is best to leave it in your car if you drive to class as many phones have a ringer silencer, but still ring when you get a text.
The fifth is for women. If you are menstruating, it is best to simply tell your instructor at the beginning of class these magic words: "I am not going upside down today." That will give the instructor a heads up on how to give you alternative poses when taking the class into inversions.
Fifth, please don't talk to your buddy in class while in session. It makes me feel un-yogic to treat adults like children by having to separate them in class.
Lastly, avoid all the yoga drama. Don't breathe loudly unless asked, or OM indiscriminatly. If you want to see how ridiculous this is, please view "The Inappropriate Yoga Guy."

Peace Within,
Yogiromero

Why do we use props in yoga?

There is nothing sexy about using props. When I teach at a local healthclub, I get dirty looks when I bring in a large bin of straps and blocks. Many of the students are used to "flow yoga" going in and out of poses held for one or two seconds as the enlightened teacher plays the latest Enya hits on the CD player. It sounds like a great new age experience being unfettered by straps and blocks and chairs. There is only one problem--most people in the flowy classes end up like the lady on the left.

To the untrained eye, she looks like she is doing a good pose. Notice how her chest is facing the floor at the expense of getting her hand on the floor. Look now at the student using the chair. He is humbled, but has a much more open and vibrant posture. His kneecaps are lifted, his chest is open. His hips are in the same line. Blur your eyes and notice the 2 postures with your peripheral vision. He now looks 20 years younger than her.

The moral of the story: props will help you do asana the way they are supposed to be done. When asanas are done the proper way, you get all the benefits. When you don't do asanas the right way, you can hurt yourself.

Peace Within,

Yogiromero

Yoga Anatomy, Know Your Psoas

The psoas (so-azz) muscle is vital to most asanas. It is a deep muscle which connects your lower back to your thighs. It actually runs through your abdomen. This allows it to lift your legs when you are walking up the stairs. The psoas is so deep you cannot feel if you are flexing it with your hands like you can when you are flexing your quadricept (front thigh).

One asana that utilizes this muscle quite assertively is Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana seen in the upper left icon. Legs are heavy! And anyone who has done this posture for more than 30 seconds will quickly know why strength in the psoas is vital for progressing to more advanced postures.

Peace Within,

Yogiromero

Sutras on Asana

One of the aspects of yoga taught by BKS Iyengar that I truly appreciate is his attention to scholarship. Deep study into the Patanjali Yoga Sutras will reveal many of the secrets behind this practice. Here are the sutras that refer to asana:

I.33 maitrikarunamuditopeksnam sukhaduhkhapunyapunya visayanam bhavanatascittaprasadanam

The effort begins in cultivating consciousness so as to become favorably disposed, serene and benevolent through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, gladness and indifference respectively, towards joy and sorrow, as well as virute and vice.

II. 46 sthirasukhamasanam

Perfection in asana brings firmness in body and benevolence in mind.

II.47 prayatnasaithilyanantasamapattibhyam

When the effort to perform becomes effortless, perfection in asana is acheived.

II.48 tato dvandvanabhighatah

From then on, the practitioner is undisturbed by dualities and is fit to begin pranayama.

III.47 rupalavanyabalavajrasamhananatvani kayasampat

The practitioner acquires unsurpassed beauty, grace, strength, and lustre

It is best to not only learn the meanings of the sutras, but to try to repeat the sanskrit as it was written to be recited.

Peace Within,

Yogiromero