Old Moon Yoga

“If you don’t want the shoulder adjustment in savasana, just wiggle a foot at me.” This has become a stock phrase in my finishing sequences recently. It all started after a good friend and accomplished Yogi requested it during one of my classes. This subtle, almost nothing adjustment ,just really worked for her. Adjustments in general have increasingly become the focus of my teaching.

Initially, like many instructors I have studied under (literally for some adjustments), I use to think that deeper was better and that everyone could be adjusted in every pose. Surely it’s just a matter of helping people get deeper? As with most things it turns out to be much more subtle than that.

A good friend and mentor of mine put me on to a really good book about adjustments. My approach has been to pick just one and practice it endlessly. Just the one adjustment for weeks at a time. I have been doing this for about 2 months now with one pose. The most basic of adjustments, forward fold.

Spotting the guinea pig

The key is finding the right candidate for adjustment. Only if you find the right candidate is there beneficial. As I scour the room looking for a potential guinea pig for my practice I see poses ranging from a sort of P shape through to upside down U to L (well L only if they have big feet ) . I make a bee line for any potential Ls, being careful not to step on their toes of course. If there are no Ls I have to curb my enthusiasm and accept there will be no forward fold adjustment practice for me today. “Step away from the Yogis, nothing to adjust here.”

Catch 22

The ideal person for this adjustment is an L or someone approaching an L, (maybe they just have small feet). As the instructor it almost becomes a binary decision. For the Yogis though it must seem odd. I can almost hear them thinking ‘Why does he give the ones that can already do the pose the adjustment, they don’t need it. How can I get better at this if I don’t get ever get the adjustment? She doesn’t need the adjustment anyway she is already super flexible” Sorry the subtly of this adjustment requires that you are deep enough to start with, and anyway what are you doing looking around the room mind wandering, you are supposed to be concentrating in forward fold.

Is it working?

People tend not to give you much feedback so it’s hard to tell. All that pleasurable moaning and groaning you hear from the class immediately stops when the yogi is being adjusted. It’s like the instructor’s hand is an off switch, a mute button for the Yogi. Probably just as well though especially if “the boss” is taking the class too.

“I really don’t like adjustments, they disrupt my focus” I was really surprised to hear this from a Yogi with a very strong practice. We had been discussing the idea of having an adjustments workshop. “Oh I like your adjustments though” she back peddles quickly, obviously seeing surprised look on my face. “ Your’s feel good.” Was she desperately back peddling for my benefit or genuine? I know for a fact that the only adjustment she has ever had from me is the forward fold adjustment. She is an L (with small feet) and therefore an perfect candidate. So what is going on?

“He will just adjust you for alignment” the girl on the desk announces to all beginning students who come to my Sunday morning class. It is true. I just adjust for alignment, trying to push new students deeper than they are ready for does only damage. This holds true all the way through to advanced students too though. My theory is that this is why the advanced student said she liked my adjustments but not adjustments in general. (Darn this ego, I must find a way to get it under control.) We should enhance the alignment only whatever the experience level. It just so happens that for more experienced Yogis that alignment enhancement means getting deeper in the pose too. By enhancing rather than adjusting hopefully it deepens the practice rather than disrupting it. So my criteria are:-

• Pick the letter from the alphabet soup carefully
• Enhance the alignment, subtly

So what is so special about this forward fold adjustment? How is it done? Why does it take 2 months to perfect? Starting by selecting your L Yogi first, position one hand in the sacrum to steady the top part of the body. The other hand goes low on their back. Notice the knee pressing into my hand in the photo. This provides a solid “wall” for the Yogi to push against. At this point I like to suggest they bring more weight into the balls of the feet, effectively leaning forwards into my non-moving lower hand. The effect is very similar to doing the pose against the wall. The Yogi decides how hard to push. They enhance their own pose as much or as little as they like. As my mentor would say “its about them finding their pose, not me trying to get them into my vision of the pose”.

The simple Savasana adjustment, it turns out, meets these criteria for pretty much every Yogi at every level. The letter I am looking for is an “i” shape, the adjustment, very subtle. No one has ever wiggled their foot at me so far.

So what is next, what do I spend the next 2 months perfecting. I am thinking wide legged forward fold in the next one. Let me know if you want to try this adjustment. I am told it is really good, but I don’t bend enough yet to get an instructor’s attention.

I learned a new pose this week, pretty exciting. It was sort of an arm balance/handstand using your chin pose. Well it’s yoga what did you expect? Yoga is full of surprises it seems. Coincidentally last week I started writing the thoughts for this blog down. My plan was to talk about teaching crow, another arm balance. This week, it turned out, was arm balance week. The classes I went to taught it and I taught it too.

“I want to be able to do crow by the end of the year” a regular to my morning class suggested. This was at the beginning of the year. A year seemed more that enough time so I confidently said “no problem”. Of course since then they have becoming much less regularly so the end of the year seems like it’s approaching fast.

So why is crow so hard for some Yogis? Is it just a question of balance? “What are you blogging about today?” Dawn just asked me. “Crow” I replied. “Crow, I hate crow” is her immediate reaction. “Why?”. “Because I find it so difficult”. Actually she said a bit more than that, a 5 minute explanation with accompanying demo and sounds effects followed.

In the end we discovered a slight adjustment in her feet and leg position would take pressure off of the groin when coming forward. Hey presto crow pose. It was the fine tuning. Everyone is different and a minor adjustment here or there can make the difference.

The first question of balance though, is how many and how often. As a teacher, how often do you introduce arm balances into a the class? Then how long do you spend focusing on them? I used to go to yoga classes at a fitness center where every week we would practice some form of arm balance. The problem is that the longer you spend in class doing the pose the more of a spectator sport the Yoga becomes. Each person has their own unique adjustment that will make the pose work for them if they can’t find it they become a spectator because they “find it too difficult”. So here is the catch 22. As a teacher you need to spend individual time with each yogi, but you can’t spend much time with anyone or it becomes a spectator sport. What to do with all those spectators? It’s Yoga, there a pose for that “please take couch pose.”

To answer my first question, I think two attempts at crow, at most, in a class then move on. I don’t like to practice it every week either, that is more because I like to mix the class up a bit though, nothing deeper than that. I prefer to spend time after class with someone if they have been struggling. Helping to find the simple change that can make the difference between fight and flight.

So what are these subtle adjustments that make crow possible. It can’t be that hard after all, a child can do it

Old Moon Yoga’s guide to crow

Notice I said crow not crane. Crane is the harder variation where the knees are close to the armpits and the arms are straight. Here are some basics and some finer points I have discovered when teaching the pose.

• Start in a squat position, feet facing out (duck feet) hands in prayer position at the heart. The elbows are pushing into the thighs about half way down the thighs. The thighs are gripping tight to the elbows.
  Is this hurting your groins? Take your feet further apart.
  Can’t get your arms back in there? Take your feet further apart.
  Can’t get your heels down? Don’t worry they will be in the air in a minute!
• Start to tilt forward. As you do push your elbow out more into your thighs.Leg keep slipping off your arms? Make more of a shelf with your elbows for your thighs. The elbows outwards.
• Look forward, way in front of you. If you look down that is where you are headed, face plant! Imagine you have a flat back, even a dog tilt. Keep looking forward and bring your weight forward. Don’t pick your feet up.Can’t bring the weight forward enough? Bring your elbows back in closer to your groins. The closer they are in the closer you are to a balance point.
• Don’t pick you feet up. Shift the weight forwards until the feet just loose contact with the ground. Look forward, reach forward with the head.Too much weight on the wrists? Don’t stay “flying” to long. Build up the wrist strength with down dog and other poses that don’t use all the body weight.
• Once your feet leave the ground you can tuck them up. Pull up the undercarriage.Feet don’t leave the ground, only one briefly? Bring the weight more forward and don’t try to lift the feet let them float up.

Once you are there you are into the world of Yoga arm balances. There are lots, 20 or more. Crane, side crow (4 variations of this one at least) and from there its party poses all the way.

So I offer this solution to struggling crow’ers. Find a blogger who is mid blog struggling to writing about crow and tell them what you think.

The class is looking confused, we are on the home straight, class seems to have gone well but it’s always so hard to tell. I try again “From plow, roll your shoulders under, support your back with your hands and raise your legs up to vertical” Typical instructions for shoulder stand. The problem was I kept calling it bridge.

I roll out the time tested excuses of course. “It’s early I am still waking up’, “it’s been a long day” and they have their usual affect. Might as well have kept my mouth shut. Advice I should have given myself a little earlier.

This started me thinking of the strange things we say, see, hear and do in Yoga classes. The problem is the more classes we go to, the less bizarre it seems.

Imagine that aliens have been monitoring planet earth for some time now. They have lived amongst us developing a deep understanding of our human nature. The English language was now fully within their grasp. It was time to move closer and begin to explore more of the culture on this planet. Yoga appears to be something popular throughout the globe. Important to a large cross section of the planets inhabitants. This would be their first foray into understanding humans at a deeper level

Being no larger than a small insect it was possible for them move about us unnoticed. The proverbial fly on the wall at any Yoga studio.

Alien #123232A reports back-

The purpose of these gatherings was not immediately clear. The mating ritual theory has to be abandoned. There is much that resembles the courtship rituals of other species on the planets. They are attended by the more physically fit of the species. The males often remove excess clothing to “strut their stuff” in front of overwhelming numbers of the opposite sex. However courtship does not appear to be the purpose of these Yoga gatherings.

Basic Instinct.

For the longest time we believed that basic abilities were natural for humans, not something that had to be practiced and honed. One of the main purposes of a Yoga gathering is to learn how to breathe. This explains why it is practiced world wide in growing numbers. Listen to this recording from the start of a class of advanced practitioners.

“Take a big inhale…………exhale…………inhale…….”

this recording goes on for 5 minutes. In some classes students are encouraged to breathe like their favorite film heroes, emphasizing the need to practice this basic instinct.

“Breathe like Darth Vader.”

One startling discovery is that if a human is struggling with breath others can come to their rescue. Many times the command

“breathe for the person next to you”

was heard.

Conclusion, Overtime humans forget how to breathe and have to be constantly reminded.

Note:. We have reviewed our basic understanding of the human anatomy and can find no evidence to support the notion that humans can actually breathe for each other much less the whole room which was also requested.

Use of language

The use of language in these gathering is complex. A combination of English and Sanskrit was observed. The instructors and students become so adept in both languages that often a sentence or even description of a pose will be described using elements of both languages. Our studies could not determine on what basis the language was selected. For example

A pose called “Pigeon” was always called “Pigeon” never Eka Pada Rajakapotasana

One theory advanced was that the shortest name was always used. However consider this simple example.

Reverse Namaste the full English translation is Reverse prayer, clearly shorter and with no need to switch languages half way through.

Conclusion: This is advanced training for humans looking become bilingual.

Animal Instincts

These humans are looking to advance their previously lost animal instincts. It starts with the establishment of territory. Each Yogi bring a mat to define their space. The gaps between the mats are then evenly distributed ensure that each yogi has the maximum amount of territory available to them for the given conditions. A late comer to the class can cause a ripple effect on the spacing which though some mysterious group calculation is immediately re-calibrated such that all mats are once again equally spaced. Is there some kind of advanced group mathematics at play here?

Anatomy lesson

Once happy with the territory the real class begins. These Yogis believe they can transform their bodies in ways that conflict with our research Here are some excerpt to support the case

• “ground with all four corners of your feet” – research has shown most human feet do not have 4 corners
• “It’s an inner spiral, now apply an outer spiral” – our research suggest that spiraling the hips in and out at the same time is not anatomically possible
• “Breathe in through the right leg and out through the left.” – We can find no evidence to suggest that these humans can breath through either leg
• “Close your eyes to see more” – We are aware of the expression “eyes in the back of the head” but can find no examples of this in our research even amongst this special set.
• “Take in the whole room” – This command is odd. Nothing seems to happen after this command is issued.

So what is the real purpose of these gatherings?

The only conclusion we can draw is that these humans are not happy with their bodies abilities. They practice poses that remind them of animals and strive for what appears to be physically impossible. Being able to put both legs behind the head and walk around the room on their hands has been lost to all but a few, yet this select group dutifully attempts get closer to this feat on a daily basis.

So it is not clear what the purpose of these gatherings is. Other group gatherings for physical exercise appear to be much more demanding on the body. Only in Yoga though is it necessary to take a long rest at the end. There is clearly something unique and complex about these gatherings that we were unable to determine. As one teacher was heard to remark

“This is no small thing we do here”

The secret of Yoga remains with these Yogis. It seems the only way to find out what is going on is to join them.

The morning class started ordinarily enough, simple side stretches to wake the body up gradually. As we moved towards our first down dog a new Yogi, obviously young and very fit, took child’s pose. I always like to think a couple of people in child’s pose a some point means that I have judged the class about right. Not too easy, and not to hard. But even for me this seemed a little soon. The natural “Sherlock” instinct in me suddenly took over. “Something was amiss here” I thought.

After a quiet chat with her I understood, she had an injured shoulder and could not do anything that required using the arms for strength. This was going to be interesting. In the past I have asked for any special request and someone had suggested jokingly “no down dogs”. If I was to make this class work for everyone, no down dogs was what I would have to teach. Just to put this into perspective I attended a vinyasa flow class this morning and lost count after 35 down dogs.

My morning class members vary in experience from “ relatively new to Yoga” through “super advanced, should really be teaching the class and letting me sleep longer in a morning”. The one thing we have in common is that we like early morning Yoga. Yoga that usually involves a number of sun salutations and vinyasa flows to heat the body up and keep it warm. But today it was time to scramble and come up with a plan that worked for everyone in the room. That meant no down dogs, no up dogs and no vinyasas, or at least only optional ones.

At teacher training class we are told to plan for the unexpected. You never know who will be in your class. What we did not get was training on that. How do you train for the unexpected? I visualize various scenarios in an “advanced teacher training” class. It’s like a scene from Project Runway or some other reality show where they spring the killer surprise on you, just when you think you have things under control. Picture the scene, the group are asked to prepare an advanced class with plenty of blood pumping power building flow for 10 recent Olympians. The next morning Heidi introduces the surprise – the Olympians all bring their grandmothers too.

Not quite my scenario granted, I have a young and very fit, if a little injured Yogi to weave into the class. None the less I have to “Make it work”. Of course any Yogi nursing an injury always says “don’t worry I will modify or take child’s pose if I can’t do it.” But to ignore them seems wrong to me. What kind of class would it be if you could only manage half of it?

So my class plan changes on the fly. After the seated side stretching and spinal twists I usually do several sun salutations to heat up the body and core. Today though, we did that warm up standing. Heavy use of Utkatasana (Chair Pose) and Utkata Konasana (Goddess pose). Followed by a long series of standing poses.

Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I Pose)
Humble Warrior (Sanskrit any one?)
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (Standing Split)
(Optional vinyasa)
Repeat on the other side

Padangusthasana (Big Toe forward fold Pose)
Pada Hastasana (Hands under feet)

Samasthiti – Equal standing pose – (a little savasana mid class at the end of the warm up)

I usually try to make the first 30 minutes a gradually intensifying warm up. With a little pause in Samasthiti allowing a refocus before the next phase. Deeper stretching.

This class the stretching was pretty much all the standing series poses I could think of, starting with:-

Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II Pose)
Reversed or Dancing Warrior
Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose)

Inspired instead of the regular triangle, must have been thinking about the shoulders, I decide to do triangle in the traditional style with the upper hand reaching forwards. From here it is usually Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) Today however I change it to shooting star. I have not taught this pose before and only ever done it once in a class.

It was great, I was impressed at how well everyone did in the pose. It is not easy. This influenced the rest of my week’s classes. I taught shooting star at each of them. Funny how things work out, but here is the final twist. In the class I took this morning we did, for the 2nd time in my 8 years of practicing yoga, shooting star. What a strange coincidence.

So something great came out of my need to change the class on the fly. For the second morning class this week I was better prepared. I had a number of gentle shoulder openers planned to blend into a “no down dog” warm up. You guessed it, my latest inspiration did not come to class.

Well time to plan for next week, no wait that’s a waste of time. I think I will put my feet up instead. Mmmm inversions next week