Having a Moat and Quotes (with commentary) from the Yoga I Embrace

In Poser, My Life In Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, after Claire has lived so close to extended family that she felt she was losing connection with her own little family at home, after she and her little family have moved away and learned freedom from intertwining with each other and nature and learned the lack of having to always be good, and, when they finally decide to move back closer to extended family because that is home to them, one important decision is to live separated by a moat, so that they are not too close but only a boat ride away. I really like this moat thing and feel that I must apply it in my self and in my home for my own sanity. Not running away from others but none the less having a watery space that allows me to be alone with my little family and at the right times, crossing the mote and being with others. It's one of those balance things I am learning...


Quotes from Poser, My Life In Twenty-Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer:

"Their yoga seemed to be about not trying, about finding the most efficient, least effortful way possible to do a pose. They did not link poses very often, It was like they were scientists, and the studio was their lab, and the poses were their experiments: What happens to the outer hip of the standing in bird of paradise? What about the vertebrae C3 and C4 in bridge?

They had weird ways of isolating and relaxing secret muscles, muscles heretofore undiscovered by people who dwelt beyond the strip mall [the studio location]. You would lie supine at the wall, gently twist your legs overhead in some surprising configuration, and grow slowly bored, wondering when the action was going to start. Then you would try to move, and discover that you had somehow Rolfed yourself. Surprise!

They were big on the thoracic spine. This is the fancy term for the middle of your back, which they felt didn't get enough attention. They seemed almost to have taken a political stance on this. They felt the thoracic spine had unfairly been exiled, and needed to be repatriated into the rest of the body. They were, in fact, obsessed with skeletons. They wanted us to forget our muscles and remember and trust our bones. "Do this pose with your skeleton!" was their refrain. "Let the muscles go and trust the structure." The idea was to stop gripping yourself into place with your muscles; instead, find a skeletal alignment that was sustainable, that didn't need muscular support to be held for some time."

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As Claire does wheel (backbend) with the skeleton approach..."And there, for a split second, I had it. My muscles released. In fact, they did not release themselves. I released them. I let go. It was scary. But for a second I trusted that everything was fine. The structure was sound. It would be OK. And it was heavenly, like my muscles were syrup pouring over a rock."

The bones...I have learned from my husband the importance of bones being in their place so that they work optimally for you. When he pops my back or my toes, the feeling of release is awesome! I love Claire's description of muscles pouring over the bones like syrup. And I am wanting to take my yoga sequence, the one where I focus primarily on the mind and on the spine, and practice over and over, like a scientist, becoming intimate with each pose and the position of my bones, experimenting with my body in these poses. I think, I will add one pose to my basic set each week or two...like right now I really want to practice tree since I am so shaky when it comes to balancing poses. My daughter goes to the local community college and I would like to try and take a yoga class from there and an anatomy and physiology class as well. I really like that I have personalized a sequence that targets the points in my body most in need of release. I am going to try and help my daughter find one for her...she has a lot of back pain and my gut response to this is twists...I am going to research yogajournal.com for knowledge about this. 

Asanas

Points to Consider in Vanda Scaravelli’s System of Practicing Yoga Postures (Asanas):

• take your time and let go of ambition
• the posture will emerge as tensions and imbalances clear from the body
• there is no need to "muscle"
• find the roots of the posture in relation to the ground (feet, sitz bones, hands, knees, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, spine, pelvis, etc.—whichever part of the body connects with the earth)
• keep the body soft as you drop into your "anchoring"—the body part that touches the earth
• always give attention to alignment by beginning from the ground up
• during your inhalation be passive (remain still)—then move on the exhalation
• once stabilized and secure in your posture, watch for the exhalations to begin to trigger
ripples of release in the spine
• sense the dropping action of the sacrum, which precedes the multi-stage releasing of spinal curves, and which occurs at the end of each exhalation
• as the sacrum, lumbar and pelvis release, let the exhaled breath release you from the waist up
• the resulting wave will clear the upper spine and neck of tension and imbalance
• spontaneous, dynamic movement may surprise you! It brings life to the pose
• wait until you can do the pose well in this method before deepening it or practicing a more challenging variation
• once you are grounded, postures evolve through awareness of the rhythm of the breath and the lengthening of the spine
• “scooping” the pelvis while standing helps with discovering the sense of a wave of release
• long natural curves in the spine are desirable as balancers of front / back weight distribution
• flat-backed students benefit; as the deep pelvic tensions release, a curve grows
• know that while you are in transition from a more "muscle-dependent" style of practice, your muscular corset begins to change and you are temporarily more vulnerable to injury
• when you are ready, there is no fear, and the posture arrives easily
• have "infinite time-and no ambition"

"Do not kill the instinct of the body for the glory of the pose."

~ Vanda Scaravelli

from: http://www.namasteusa.us/asanas.htm

Just reading through Vanda's ideas reminds me so much of what I learned in voice. I am actually going to send this blog to my voice teacher, David, as the technique of being free and riding the wave of the body so links itself to the way I was taught to sing with freedom. It took me a loooooong time to finally be free enough in my body to simple speak connected words on pitch with emotion...although this sounds simple enough and it is, being so caught up in my own insecurities caused me to not just let go and be a bird singing free. Teaching children through music and ten years of reviewing David's simple, yet profound, technique over and over in my mind finally set me free! Now I love to sing and this yoga as Vanda said is the continuation of music...through the movement of the body!