Forward bending
Mar. 18th, 2009 06:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muck_a_luckA person whose name I will not mention because I don't know if it's OK to broadcast her medical issues, commented to me recently that she had read that yoga can lessen the symptoms of menopause and she was interested in hearing about 1) how different poses make me feel and 2) how long it takes to build up to more difficult poses.
I thought I would try to respond, starting with my favorite thing, forward bending.
More than one of the instructors on my group of discs has mentioned that forward bending is "soothing to the nervous system."
Poses like Gomukhasana, Double Pidgeon, forward bending over a half lotus, and Seated Forward Bend make me feel very calm and centered.
Gomukhasana and Double Pidgeon also hurt. They are hip opening poses, and as you bend foward over the legs in these seated postures, you can feel the energy and tightness in your hips. But also, you can feel that stress loosen and give as you breathe into a deeper forward bend, "directing" your breath into the tight places, helping the muscles or tendons or whatever to loosen and relax.
Realted to the question of how long it takes to build up to the more difficult postures, these are fairly simple postures to execute, but my range of flexibility in them is very low. The instructor always lays out practically flat on the floor. Particularly in Double Pidgeon, I can barely lean forward over the stacked legs at all. But I can still feel it! I've been working on getting deeper into the posture for about a month, and I can feel the hips opening, but still, "progress" is very slow. Shiva Rea comments on this point: "Gradually, over time, we open up on all levels." She also talks about "finding your intelligent edge." And Brian Kest goes on an on, thoughtout the entire routine, about how your yoga practice is for you. You have your own genetics and life experience that have brought you to the point you are at today. As long as you are "feeling something," you should not compare yourself to somebody else. As he comments, cajoling you to put your hands all the way on the floor in Standing Forward Bend, "So your legs are bent? Who cares?! Just get some length." Anyway, it does seem to be true that as you attempt to do the poses as best you can, you do get into them more deeply, and perform them "better" over time.
Seated Forward Bend is more about the hamstrings. When I do it right, it also hurts. But I can also feel how relaxing it is to be in that posture, how calm it makes me.
That is part of the dichotomy of yoga for me. A lot of yoga is challenging. Even the most simple seeming postures can have your muscles burning, your wound up muscles and joints and tendons hurting. But at the same time, you feel stronger, calmer, more open when it is done. Seated forward bends capture that feeling for me the most of any part of the practice.
I thought I would try to respond, starting with my favorite thing, forward bending.
More than one of the instructors on my group of discs has mentioned that forward bending is "soothing to the nervous system."
Poses like Gomukhasana, Double Pidgeon, forward bending over a half lotus, and Seated Forward Bend make me feel very calm and centered.
Gomukhasana and Double Pidgeon also hurt. They are hip opening poses, and as you bend foward over the legs in these seated postures, you can feel the energy and tightness in your hips. But also, you can feel that stress loosen and give as you breathe into a deeper forward bend, "directing" your breath into the tight places, helping the muscles or tendons or whatever to loosen and relax.
Realted to the question of how long it takes to build up to the more difficult postures, these are fairly simple postures to execute, but my range of flexibility in them is very low. The instructor always lays out practically flat on the floor. Particularly in Double Pidgeon, I can barely lean forward over the stacked legs at all. But I can still feel it! I've been working on getting deeper into the posture for about a month, and I can feel the hips opening, but still, "progress" is very slow. Shiva Rea comments on this point: "Gradually, over time, we open up on all levels." She also talks about "finding your intelligent edge." And Brian Kest goes on an on, thoughtout the entire routine, about how your yoga practice is for you. You have your own genetics and life experience that have brought you to the point you are at today. As long as you are "feeling something," you should not compare yourself to somebody else. As he comments, cajoling you to put your hands all the way on the floor in Standing Forward Bend, "So your legs are bent? Who cares?! Just get some length." Anyway, it does seem to be true that as you attempt to do the poses as best you can, you do get into them more deeply, and perform them "better" over time.
Seated Forward Bend is more about the hamstrings. When I do it right, it also hurts. But I can also feel how relaxing it is to be in that posture, how calm it makes me.
That is part of the dichotomy of yoga for me. A lot of yoga is challenging. Even the most simple seeming postures can have your muscles burning, your wound up muscles and joints and tendons hurting. But at the same time, you feel stronger, calmer, more open when it is done. Seated forward bends capture that feeling for me the most of any part of the practice.
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Date: 2009-03-19 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-03-30 02:26 am (UTC)this eyesight thing sucks! It means I have skimmed way too much on LJ and missed posts I wanted to see!
yes! those poses make me feel like I have released all the toxins from the large muscle groups in my upper legs and hips. if I start with basic sun salutations and then add the poses listed above (or others like them) and finish with breathing and meditation, that really works for me