When I think of the Anusara principle of calf loop, I think of playing with drinking straws as a child. I’d take the straw out of the glass and bend it back and forth. The straw would end up with a horizontal crease where it was bent — not quite a break — but the place where it bulged at the bend would prevent the straw from serving the purpose of enabling liquid to be drawn up through it. When our knees (or our elbows for that matter) are hyper-extended, I think it disrupts the energy flow from the periphery to the core, weakening the pose, and breaking the integrity of the alignment.
As one whose legs started out bowed (though less after over six solid years of working “shins in/thighs out”), my natural tendency is to hyper-extend. I find that using calf loop, I do not hyper-extend. Calf loop (also called “shin loop”) has us draw energy from the base of the shin, up the back of the lower leg, and loop it through the top of the shin and then back down the front of the leg. We wouldn’t ever start a pose thinking about calf loop, but in the flow of a pose, after the major principles are activated, including muscular energy, we can enhance muscular energy and the integrity of the alignment of the knees by focusing on calf loop. When I practice calf loop, I find that it lifts the calf muscle and draws it more firmly into the top of the shin, and moves the top of the shin forward. These actions do not bend the knee, but firm the muscles behind the lower leg, including the calf and the popliteus (which is the muscle behind the knee that flexes the knee) to the bone.
What is tricky — especially for those who tend to hyper-extend, is that getting the knee in proper alignment feels like bending the knee. If we have been out of alignment, changing our stance will feel strange and perhaps “not right” at first. The sweet subtlety of practice (whether trying to expand our ability to do poses, heal and injury, or live in better alignment overall) is learning what is true integrity in a pose and what is habit, what will serve and enhance and what does not.
I stopped to take a photo of the question. This delightful dog would not move and insisted on attention. He finally moved far enough off of it to have it legible after he insisted I rub his belly. I guess I could have gone without a photo, but it was nice getting the canine love. His human was patiently bemused.
Dear Friends,
The end of March is all sunshine and flowers after a turbulent month. I’m hoping for some April showers along with the sunshine, so that my garden greens will flourish. The pulsation between rainy and sunny, cool and warm, is a great reminder of the essential vibration of being!
There will be lots of great yoga opportunities to pulse with the shiva-shakti vibration in the next several weeks:
As always, William Penn House Tuesday classes are on a drop in basis with special pricing to make yoga affordable for public interest workers, students, seniors, and those in between employment. Invite your friends. Special for April, bring a friend new to the class and when your friend comes back for a second class, you or your friend get a class for free.
There are two more Saturdays of the winter session at Willow Street. Registration has already started for Willow Street’s Spring Session. My Spring session classes start on Saturday May 1st — Level 2 @ 8:30; Gentle/Therapeutics @ noon. We love it if you register for the whole session, but drop ins are always made welcome. While you’re visiting the Willow Street web site, check out the article I’ve written for the Spring Newsletter’s “Teacher Feature.”
This Sunday, April 4th, from 3-4:30, come celebrate the uprising of flowering energy at a special $10 community class at Capitol Hill Yoga. 100% of the proceeds benefit City Blossoms.
April’s Serenity Saturday — on April 17th — is certain to be a great way to foster growth of mind, body, and spirit, whether we are getting April showers or summery sunshine. Visit Capitol Hill Yoga to register.
Mark your calendars for May: on Saturday May 8th, when I’ll be leading an all-levels workshop on standing balances — Stand Steady in Your Light — as Willow Street’s Takoma Park’s studio.
Finally, a great thanks to all who come to classes regularly and support the monthly giving. Yoga for Gardeners attendees had a great time and enabled contributions of over $200 for the Youth Garden at the National Arboretum. The March and April classes will also support the Youth Garden.
Wishing a great blossoming to all. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Peace and light,
Elizabeth
