spine

yoga seeds #25 – A home practice – 2/ What do I do?

| María Ferrara

There are many approaches to building a sequence, so the question is very legitimate! If you’re regularly attending someone’s class, your body has very probably already internalized some of their sequences. A possible approach is to just let your body lead you. It is likely that it remembers more than your mind. That’s how I started practising at home :) You could also decide beforehand what you’re going to do, based on how you feel or on a certain long-term focus that you’re working on. Start your session connecting to your breath, make it balanced by including the five movements of the spine -forward bend, backbend, side bend, twist and elongation (this one should be there transversally, in everything)- and finish lying down to relax and integrate (savasana). If you’re working on an asana, you can approach its component parts in the previous asanas, starting with the least challenging . I try to signpost my classes, so that you know what each thing is for. My intention is that, with time, you can play with these building blocks yourself and combine them in different ways. Give it a go! You might be surprised how much you’ve already in-corpo-rated.

Thanks to all my students at Yoga Hub Berlin, who inspire me with their practice.

Visit the Yoga Seeds index to go straight to what you’re looking for.

yoga seeds #20 – The hip way to your back

| María Ferrara

Last week somebody told me how wonderful their body had felt after the class the previous week. They suffer from ongoing back pains and they all seemed to be gone as they woke up the next day. The current theme block I’m working on is backbends and on that specific session we had focussed intensively on stretching the front of the hip. What does the hip have to do with the back? A lot! The hips are the gateway between our core and our connection to the earth through our legs. If the trunk is not sitting how it should be on top of the legs, the spine will be thrown out of its beloved natural curves into a strenuous shape in order to keep us balanced and in relationship with the world. The ubiquity of the chair in our society, both for work and for leisure, means that our hips spent a long time flexed forward. If we don’t stretch our hip flexors to counteract this, they will be permanently pulling together the abdomen and the thighs. If the muscles cannot open this angle when we stand up, this will pull the top of the pelvis forwards. To compensate and also so that we can look ahead of us, the spine will need to curve backwards. The easier points where the spine can do this are the lower back and the neck. What a coincidence… two very usual spots for tension! Of course, back problems can have many other origins. However, if you spend a long time on a chair, do treat your back regularly to some hip low lunges (anjaneyasana) and high lunges (ashwa sanchalanasana). Your back will thank you for it!

Thanks to all my students at Yoga Hub Berlin, who inspire me with their practice.

Visit the Yoga Seeds index to go straight to what you’re looking for.

yoga seeds #12 – Valsalva manoeuvre

| María Ferrara

Here’s a wonderful term that you can casually drop at your next social get-together to impress friends and relatives alike! As sophisticated as it sounds, this action is what makes the throaty grunt that sometimes accompanies a big physical effort like lifting or pushing a heavy load or even a move during yoga class… Achtung! It’s not the best way to rise up to a physical challenge. It’s not a matter of aesthetics but pure physics. Here’s an explanation.

The organs in the abdomen are surrounded by liquid in a closed hydraulic system. If you press on one part of it, the pressure will be transmitted through the rest of the region, like in a closed toothpaste tube. On the other hand, the thorax is a pneumatic system filled with air with an opening at the throat. When the glottis is open, the system is at atmospheric pressure, but if we inhale, close the glottis and use the intercostal and abdominal muscles to press in (the relaxed diaphragm will transmit the “tooth-paste tube” pressure from the abdomen to the thorax), we can increase that pressure. Why would we want to increase the pressure in the trunk? To support the very mobile and loaded lumbar region by creating a taut unit that will not bend and to spread the vertebrae apart and relieve strain on the discs. The thing is that, when we do a Valsalva manoeuvre, the increased pressure in the thorax immediately increases our blood pressure. How can we get around this? Use only the abdominal pneumatic system by pushing down your diaphragm as if you were inhaling and

keep your glottis open while you gather your abdominals in and your pelvic floor up.

This not only avoids a peak in blood pressure, but also strengthens your core muscles (respiratory diaphragm, transversus abdomini and pelvic diaphragm in this case). Of course, resort to a Valsalva Manoeuvre if you need to rather than hurt yourself but, otherwise, keep the air flowing and your core toning!

Thanks to all my students at Yoga Hub Berlin, who inspire me with their practice.

Visit the Yoga Seeds index to go straight to what you’re looking for.

yoga seeds #11 – Sitting up straight…

| María Ferrara

… is actually not sitting up straight at all but, rather, sitting up curvy! Our spine is happiest with its natural curves (towards the front at the lower back -lumbar lordosis-, towards the back at the ribcage -thoracic kyphosis- and towards the front at the neck -cervical lordosis-) and that’s when it’s most efficient in terms of managing loads, absorbing impact or staying still. If we’re starting to sit for longer periods to meditate or do pranayama it’s very common that our unaccustomed back muscles start to complain. First of all, make sure that the spine is in its optimal position. Sit on a folded blanket or a cushion to support the pelvis in staying upright and make it easier to drop the weight of the knees. Ground the sitbones by pressing them down and you will notice the spine waving upwards. Check your lower back with your hand to make sure it’s not curving backwards. Check that you’re not leaning forwards: the head is right above the ribcage and the ribcage right above the pelvis. Make space at the front, back and sides of the trunk. Rest your heart back onto your shoulderblades slightly. Make sure that the chin is not pulling up. Even with an optimized position, we might need to be patient as the muscles gain tone, and fatiguing them will not take us faster to our goal. Just persevere in building the position from the bottom up, finding your natural curves and rooting into the earth so that you can rise up high.

Thanks to all my students at Yoga Hub Berlin, who inspire me with their practice.