The other day, a friend who is starting to teach in the evenings asked me how I make the shift from stressful work day to being in a good space to teach.
Without hesitation, I said: “meditation.” I then qualified that by saying it is anything that gets you quickly and effectively connected, centered, and grounded. I don’t know anything that would be consistently effective than meditation.
I attended a Zoom restorative yoga workshop led by my friend Suzanne. Maitri played sandbag and also provided a back massage while I was in child’s pose. Taking photos was tricky.
Sequence shown:
Supported supta badha konasana
Balasana
Viparita karani
During one of the sessions at the workshop last weekend in New Jersey, John Friend made a passing reference to the difference between receiving and taking. He did not go into any detail because it was not central to the theme of the class, but it led me to contemplate on my own about the difference between taking and giving in the context of yoga practice. In so doing, I thought about the concept of prasad — which is food that has been blessed and is offered to those who have participated in worship (puja).
When offered prasad, one does not take it. Instead, the cupped palm is turned up to receive the prasad. The recipient does not get to pick through the basket and choose which sweet looks the biggest or the tastiest, but simply receives with gratitude the sweet or fruit that is infused with the intention of spirit. The active part is the showing up with openness and receptivity to the offering, the blessing, the nourishment being offered.
Coming to yoga class or doing our own practice (asana or meditation) should be, I think, like preparing to receive prasad. What is primary in the practice of Anusara yoga is being open to grace, but we can no more force openings or enlightenment (grace and insight always elude grasping), than forcing any particular physical posture or goal really yoga practice. The point of effort in yoga to improve and expand alignment and knowledge is to enable the practitioner to receive more fully all the potential gifts and grace of practice, and then in turn make fuller and more complete offerings to others.
Below: offerings at the Chelsea Farmers’ Market
Before an afternoon of volunteer work at the Bryn Mawr Book Shop, I took a pleasant walk down by the river.
A key therapeutic alignment principle is “curvature before length.” This in essence means that we want to get our skeleton into the basic form of its “optimal blueprint” before trying to create length or extension. Making sure the spine has the four curves it is meant to have — the sacral curve is convex, the lumbar curve concave, thoracic curve convex, cervical curve concave — does not only alleviate issues stemming from the spine, but helps the thigh bones fit better into the hip socket and the arm bones into the shoulder sockets.
How do we get curvature before length? It is just doing the Anusara principles in the sequence we are taught them: inner or expanding spiral, as it takes the thighs back, out, and apart, enhances the curve in the lumbar spine. We do inner spiral before outer spiral, which in addition to toning the low back and gluteal muscles, lengthens the low back. We do shoulder loop, which in addition to integrative the shoulders and hugging the shoulder blades onto the back of the heart, provides curve for the cervical spine. We only do skull loop, which lengthens the cervical spine, after we have done the integrating and curve-enhancing action of shoulder loop.
If you think about the shape of the body from that perspective, it makes perfect sense that you would want to shape and integrate before pulling, stretching, or extending. It is very hard to create a curve or integrate something if it is already pulled or stretched to or beyond its limit. In its broadest sense, “curvature before length” serves us the way “start with the foundation” serves us. We get into the right space and shape before going full out. With the open attitude fostered by “first principle” (remember, first principle is always first no matter what is the focus of your class, your practice, or whatever you are doing on or off the mat), the basic alignment must come ahead of striving to expand further into a pose. With curvature before length, we heal and grow. If we try length before curvature, we might feel stretched for a moment, but may feel worse afterwards or will only have temporary relief.
