non standing balance

Date: Mar 27, 2008

Yoga friends,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~   ~~~

Which balance postures don't stand us on our feet?
Our day balances between time spent working and not
working. Maybe that's more of a stretch.
There is a life long balance of taking care of family
and doing things for ourselves. Hold that pose.

Balance lets us know where we are.
Entering the spring season, end of last week in March,
on Friday, at the beginning of the evening-
5:30 yoga class starts- in Mt Kisco, in a church,
in a warm room, on our mat,
getting local enough to find that balance point.
All practice narrows itself down to the intersection
of physical space with present moments.
Hand pressing knee, knee onto floor,
eyes hold perspective, a process of anchoring body
and mental focus, finding contact.

Contact gives us feedback, it's conversation which says
"Here I am, where I press my finger against this spot."
Understanding starts from here, extends out from the mat,
outside of the room, beyond the building. It's part of
feeling secure. Contact is needed in order to feel safe.
Good reasons to love balancing.

We might start by balancing from our sitbones, locating
our core body as energy directs out, raising our legs,
extending our torso.
~~~~~~~~~~    ~ ~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   

)ohn :)

Spinal sequence

Date: Mar 10, 2008

This was part of last Monday morning's plan :
1) Start in supine position (lay on your back & relax),
hips on 2 folded blankets, legs up the wall (or knees
bent, feet on floor).
Breathe with a relaxed breath for a few minutes.
Be aware of chest and abdomen moving gently with in-
and exhale. Recognize the feelings to relax further in
these areas. Press hands against the bottom ribcage,
notice the flexibility in the ribs. Leave the hands on
the ribs to sense how they move with a full breath.
2) Slowly, with knees bent, feet on floor, on inbreath,
move hips up, contact moving up the back towards the
shoulders. On exhale, roll back down along the spine.
Repeat this Bridge Pose a half dozen times.
3) Lying with legs up the wall, bend the knees & push
off thru the feet so that the hips lift off the floor,
straighten the torso vertically and bring your hands
to support your lower back. Voila, you are in shoulder
stand. Come out of the posture by bringing the feet
overhead and lowering from shoulders to hips to floor.
4) Away from the wall, still supine, bring both knees in
and hold with arms while gently rolling side to side
with an easy breath.
Then roll forward and back, breathing a little faster
and out thru the mouth.

Namaste,  )ohn

Sunday's final meditation

Date: Mar 10, 2008

Yoga friends,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perhaps I imagined this Sunday's meditation being slightly
different. Was some internal levee holding things back? Once
breached, I could feel an emotional energy flood my heart.
Not that it hasn't happened before. Final meditation has on
occasion made my eyes tear. That's my Mississippi.
Everyone has their own river, sometimes a quiet meandering
watercourse, on occasion seasonal floodwaters.
What happens in body-mind connections when external
stimulation is quiet? Insight springs from an internal aquifer,
breath is not only a warming or cooling stream, but connects
a primal unconscious experience without which there is panic,
within which life continues. It engenders a very basic gratitude.

We began class standing, bending and folding, moving from
the front of our mats into the 12 step Sun Salutation, Surya
Namaskar. The slow, breath prompted sequence enabled the
repetition of movement to free up inner restrictions. We flowed
into a compatible Buddhist bowing routine. Funny that it
incorporates a comparable undulation. Standing bends and
folds to the floor into a child pose prostration.
Bowing taps powerful healing energy.

Namaste, :)ohn

Crossing the bridge pose

Date: Feb 29, 2008

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana) tones & strengthens the spine.
Laying on our backs (supine), with knees bent, feet parallel,
and arms at the sides, raise hips up during inhale.
Pose co-ordinates with breath. Attention to breath encourages
a flow of movement, physical stretching allows fuller breath.
Hold breath for several seconds while fully lifted upward.

Breathing out while moving our spine back down along the mat,
Bridge Pose lets our exhale find depth. Use Uddiyana Bandha
to contract the lower abdomen, slowly exhaling completely
while lowering back down. Hold at the bottom of the breath,
then release, allowing the in breath to rush down our spine.
Continue while each time letting the inhale travel further,
until the we can bounce it off of our pelvic floor.
This may be a revelation all its own.

Namaste,  :)ohn