Old Moon Yoga

“Hold your ankle and slowly straighten your leg”. Hey what, what is going on here? I had not been practicing Yoga that long. The mixture of Iyengar and Vinyasa classes I had been taking had never got us into the pose this way. Was this right? Was this proper? Did this teacher know what she was doing?

In Iyengar class we would start feet together with the mat width ways. Jump the feet out wide. Then pivot the feet to the left first. Arms in a tee. Stack the hips to the right. Reach out with the left hand as far as possible. Let the hand come down to the left leg. The right arm is now straight up an the head looking up towards the right hand. There we are perfect Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose) , at least that is the theory, what could possibly go wrong?

Recently I have been focusing more on Triangle in my classes. As I look around the room there is so much variation. One has their hand on their ankle, but at the expense of the straight body. The inner side all scrunched up while the outer side of the body is stretched in an arching curve more like a standing side bend. Another Yogi is following suit. Being less flexible they are bending forward to reach the elusive ankle. I resist the urge to give the “You don’t have to be better than everyone else in class, just the people right next to you” line. A regular joke from one of the more challenging teachers in the area.

“Triangles have straight sides’ another familiar line from an early teacher of mine comes to mind. Somehow it does not seem to convey enough information for new Yogis though. As I say it, the arms come straight but the back still looks like an advert for the new VW Beetle. I use the line “It’s more of a back bend that a forward bend” and “open your chest to the ceiling” to help encourage people in the right direction. That seems to help a bit.

But the basic triangle has both sides of the body equally straight. The bend coming from stacking the hips. So should we start here when teaching? “Just stack your hips.” Each time I say that I remember when I first started Yoga. My hips were locked in place it seemed. No stacking ever going to happen, I was lucky if any sideways movement at all would happen. I just could not figure out what was meant by stack your hips. “It must be a guy thing” I thought at the time. “We are not naturally blessed with volatile hips”. Now gradually after many years things have freed up a little, though I am still not quite ready to play stunt double for John Travolta in Grease.

It was a substitute teacher that first got me to realize what the stacking the hips thing was all about. She faced away from the class and demonstrated the action, for me, clearly for the first time. Now I mimic her in class occasionally. “Everyone look at my butt” LOL how many other situations could I get away with that line?

Perfecting the pose

Now we are in a better triangle how can it be perfected? Some styles of Yoga like the peace sign fingers around the big toe. I am not a fan of this as it pulls me a little out of shape. My feet must be too big because I can’t quite reach that toe. I like to :-

• Pull up on both kneecaps to straighten the legs
• Open up the chest to ceiling
• Imagine the arms being pulled apart, no weight in the bottom hand.
• Try to lengthen the side of the body nearest the ground
• Push down with the big toe of the front foot.

Enjoying the pose is easy of course, just breath, but even better close your eyes and relax too. Triangle is a great pose with the eyes shut.

Bound Triangle

There are a couple of ways to bind in triangle. One where the hand at the back wraps around the back looking for the front thigh. I find it easiest to get people into this variation from Warrior II. The great thing about this pose is it is self adjusting. The chest stay upright because of the hand around the back. The perfect pose to teach, everyone gets an adjustment while you, the instructor, just sits back and takes it easy.

The other variation is where the front arm goes under the front leg and wraps around to meet the back hand. This one is easiest to sneak people into from Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose). This bind is much harder of course, the front leg coming straight on only the most flexible Yogis. What I like to do is get people to let go of this bind first and hold their ankle as they straighten the leg from side angle into triangle.

It has taken a while but I have finally become like the teacher in my opening paragraph.

There is no right way to do triangle. There are lots of way, and many variations I have not even mentioned here. Another early influence of mine had it right though. She used to say. “You can never have too many triangles”

The long conversation after class finishes with compliments about the class and a promise to come to more classes, maybe even to try the harder class too. We have talked about many personal things including family, injuries and reasons for doing yoga. A connection seems to have been made. The Yogi apparently likes my style and approach to Yoga. Of course I throw in the mandatory plug for my blog while we are talking.“I will definitely check your blog” they say as they depart. And that is it, it is the last time I see them.

This has happened more than once, what is going on,? Was it something I said? Is it something I wrote? Is this more than just coincidence?

Since Thanksgiving I have been subbing two additional classes and teaching between 8 and 9 classes a week. There has been no time for me to actually attend a class. It’s been all work. This week saw the return of John, the main person I have been subbing for. The timing was perfect for me as I could not teach this weekend anyway. Coincidence, may be not.

For the past 3 months I had not had a problem making the Tuesday night class that I had been subbing. This week I planned to attend as a student. My first yoga class in ages. It was not to be. Apparently some crack team of hackers in Asia decided the computer servers of a struggling start up were the idea place to strike gold. Unless they were looking for a cheap vacation I imagine they were sadly disappointed to hack in and just find 7 million reviews of Hotels. Keeping these “mission impossible” rejects at bay means working late. So I could not get to the class for the first time in 3 months. Coincidence, perhaps. I can’t get to his Saturday class either as I am away this weekend.

Friday was a PTO day for me. I love that US term somehow it feels like its designed to make me feel guilty. “It’s time off, AND you are getting paid”. In the UK it’s just a day off, no big deal, you get 20 minimum there, so they don’t need to be cherished so deeply. So for my first PTO day in I can’t remember how long I take my first Yoga class in I can’t remember how long. It is a great class too, thank you Lauren.

There are two things that strike me about being a student again, repetition and breath. In my classes I tend to stay away from repetition. 3 sun salutations is about the extent of my repetition. Even with the overall class and the play lists I try to change and vary them so that people don’t get bored. But in class today I realized that repetition is fine. It’s more than fine. It is a chance to learn more about the pose, to perfect it. After all we learn through repetition.

The breath is the other big thing that strikes me. For months I have been reminding everyone to breath. Even had a class theme focused on breath. But as a teacher you don’t get to breath with the class. Try saying “breath in” as you breath in. As a teacher you are always doing the complete opposite to the instruction. The more you talk the less you breathe. It feels so good to breath again after all that work.

I am writing this sitting in a strange hotel, away for the weekend. Dawn is calling to me to take a walk. I dutifully leave the “typewriter” and watch as one of over 200 screen savers gets selected at random

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

…
repeats down my screen with a simulated typing cadence. I think back and realize, the roads leading to this vacation spot were long and wound through the mountains. Our room number is 13. Why were those twins staring at me earlier? Was the bartender real last night? Now I learn there were three Yelp reviews saying this place is haunted.

It was over 3 months since I had taken a yoga class with either John or Lauren. I am pretty sure they both know I love their classes. “of course I will see you next time” rings in my mind. Can one really have 3 months of distractions that keep you from class? Apparently. I am just like the student in the opening paragraph. Coincidence has kept me way for 3 months. Perhaps then, over time I will see them all again. Its not me, its not the blog, I am not crazy.

Honey, I'm home!

This weeks blog seems a little dry, maybe because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Dawn is calling to me once more. Is that snow I see falling?

”It’s cold out there this morning” one of my regular morning Yogis announces as the walks into class this morning. He was right, I rode the bike and it did feel a little chilly. “It’s 37 degrees” he continues. What would we do without digital thermometers in our cars. On the bike of course things are a little less scientific. Are my hands numb when I get to class? If so, its a cold one.

As a motorcyclist you dress in layers to stay comfy. Too cold add an extra sweatshirt, too hot take one off. Back in England it was not unusual for me to where 3 pairs of gloves in the winter. No winding up the in car digital thermostat to a cozy 74 degrees here. If you are cold, or hot, you have to stop the bike, get off, add or subtract a layer, then continue on your way. So you ride with the dilemma swirling through your mind and upsetting your concentration. Do I stop mid ride and change, or am I almost there? Ignore the discomfort and keep the flow going.

I have been struck this week by this same phenomenon while teaching Yoga. Women, and to a lesser degree men, tend to come dressed in layers. As we warm up so the layers come off and as we head towards savasana the layers go back on again. Doesn’t this destroy the flow? Though in some of my more intense classes maybe its a crafty excuse to take a welcome break:)

From a teacher’s perspective layers coming off feels like a good thing. “I am getting them warmed up, that’s good for stretching later”. The counter is not true as the layers go back on. “have a slowed things down to early?”, “should I put the heater on?” At the end of the class, usually just before final savasana the biggest disruption occurs. People reach for blankets, extra sweatshirts, gloves, bobble hat …… It’s a good thing of course it’s hard to reach Samadi with your body shaking uncontrollably and your teeth are chattering louder than the music system. Got to be comfy in savasana.

So how does an instructor make this more like a car ride and less like a road trip with the Hells Angels? There is the heater on the wall of course, very similar to the car, in operation. Just dial up the correct temperature and problem solved. I always put the heater on before class to warm up the room a little before we start. But the heating systems these days have a mind of their own. I think they call it “fuzzy logic”. They decide when they will come on and more importantly when they will switch off. Important because the heaters in Yoga studios like to let you know when they are on. The mystery of what all those ex Concorde engineers did, after that deafening aircraft was taken out of commission, is solved. They came to US and now build heaters for Yoga studios.

So here is the dilemma. Putting the heater on at the end class is like taking savasana at the end of San Francisco airport’s main runway. Not putting the heater on means people have to stop during the most important part of the flow to layer up like a motorcyclist.

As a Yoga enthusiast and motorcyclist I see the solution is close at hand though. The Beatles summed it up on Abbey Road. “Here comes the sun”

Yoga with music?

I rolled out a new playlist last week and had more feedback in one week than for all my other playlist put together?  When I look at the list of music there is nothing unusual in it. Some new tunes for sure but a lot of familiar ones from other playlists too. They are just in different order. So what has changed?

The pattern of my playlist is always the same.  Start with some slow stuff, build up the intensity then calm it down by the end for Savasana.  I have been using this basic template now for more than a year. I even have a Michael Jackson playlist working to the same formula. I played that just once, at a tribute. My Elton John playlist does seem to have the affect of loosing Yogis though.  The first time I played it 3 people had to leave before the end.  The last time I played it in class one of my regular Yogis did not come back for 2 weeks

The instrument with which we educate ourselves

Given that, the question should perhaps be, why have music at all? It’s not traditionally Yogic.  Silence is the preferred environment for reaching enlightenment in old traditions of Yoga. But then again those traditions also include being beating with a stick (look up the real definition of staff pose). Reaching Samadi like the Tibetan monks, sitting thousands of feet up a mountain in freezing cold weather, while drying wet towels on my back is not calling to me at this point either. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zBNHGWMju0)  I have enough problems getting in and out of the shower on a cold morning.  Call me weak or westernized but I think I will continue the search for enlightenment with the help of a little Pink Floyd and Stellamara.

Does it perpetrate the slow westernization of yoga to think about matching the Yoga to the music? Talking with one of the regulars this week, she remarked on a previous blog of mine. I had said the people came to be entertained, she thought people came to be inspired.  Whoa! that is a whole different kettle of fish for me to contemplate. I can imagine myself as entertaining. Getting up in front of the class and making light of the situation. That’s just me being me. To be inspiring is way too big a hill for me to climb, I would not know where to start and I am sure it would sound false.

Music to the rescue! Music can conjure up all kinds of emotions, including inspiration.

Recently I have been trying to match my Yoga sequences to the music playlists I am putting together. Slow building pieces, as we slowly wake the body up. Sudden silences to emphasis the transition from busy mind to total calm. Faster “pop” music during the warm up.  Long stretchy melodies during the longer standing poses, etc.

The playlist ends up like a canvas on which to paint a class. Based on the playlist I know where I am in the class too and what we should be doing next. This week one student’s special request was “child’s pose”.  Tells you something about my classes I guess. J  With some of my older playlists this would have been hard to fit in. Try relaxing in child pose while Led Zeppelin pounds out Stairway to Heaven. The newer ones though make it easy. There is a slot for child’s pose, there was a slot for two as it turned out.

A cop out perhaps but if I can entertain and the music can inspire then I am all for Yoga choreography. I think that is why so many people remarked on this week’s playlist. Not for the music itself but because of the relationship between the music and poses.

The only problem now is that these playlist are getting harder and harder to put together. Oh well just have to spend the evening listening to cool music again. Sure beats sitting in the garden with a wet towel on my back.