Musings and ramblings -- yoga classes aren't often "one-size-fits-all"

One of the beauties of Iyengar Yoga is that it can be adapted for specific needs so that most people can practice and benefit from it.  Under the right circumstances, and with the right skilled teacher, I believe that anyone who is interested can safely practice this system of yoga. 

That's not to say that any particular Iyengar yoga class will be able to accommodate anyone who comes to that class.   Certain classes will focus more on general beginning level skills, while others are geared toward experienced practitioners of Iyengar Yoga.    Some classes may be structured for yoga students who need a more gentle and supported approach to the practice of yoga poses, while other classes may be very vigorous and difficult.

The classes aren't "one-size-fits-all" classes.   They can't be.   Beginners need to learn basic elements of this practice before moving on to higher level classes, and more developed students need the opportunity to go deeper into their practice, under the watchful eye of a good teacher.  Students with physical difficulties, disabilities, or chronic health conditions do better with a more careful approach to the practice of yoga.

A teacher can't do justice to all of her or his students if the range of abilities and needs within a class is too wide.  Of course it wouldn't be fair to a new beginner with mobility issues to be expected to keep up in a class of a vigorous sequence of jumpings, arm balances, and long inversions.  But it also wouldn't be fair to more experienced students to have a new student who's not experienced in a particular style of yoga, such as Iyengar Yoga, expect to join them in an advanced class while not knowing the basic elements of that system.

If you're new to yoga and want to take a class, check the requirements for the different classes.   If you have yoga experience, but want to try a different style of yoga, also check the class requirements.     You may be very skilled, strong, and flexible in a certain yoga practice, but you may not know enough to do well in a higher level class of another yoga system (and you might not know enough to realize you're not doing well...).  Yes, a good teacher can handle a wide range of abilities, but you'd be doing the rest of the class a disservice if the teacher has to focus most of her attention on helping you because you don't have the required background for that class.   You might even look a little foolish if you're in over your head and don't know it.  Ask the teacher if you're not sure if a certain class is appropriate for you and your experience level.  Don't feel insulted if the teacher wants you to take a lower level class at first.  Ultimately you will be more grounded in the basics of that yoga system, rather than superficially trying to practice at a more advanced level.

Different styles of yoga have different expectations in classes.  Do your homework to get a good sense of these expectations, especially if you're thinking of trying a style that is new to you.  Be humble and don't expect to jump into the highest level class, even if you are very skilled in another method.  You will ultimately learn more this way.

Think of it this way -- a fiddle player will have very different skills from a symphony violinist.  They both may be excellent in their area of practice, but they wouldn't expect to be able to switch venues without going back to a more basic practice first.

How well do you know your yoga pose names?  Do you remember their English names?  Do you know them in Sanskrit?

Some time ago I created an online page, Quiz Yourself on Yoga Pose Names, with three short Yoga Pose Quizzes.   Each quiz is only 8 questions.

• The first quiz is English Names of Yoga Standing Poses
• The second quiz is on the English names of 8 more poses
• The third quiz is on the Sanskrit names for 8 poses.

The first quiz is the easiest, while the second and third quizzes are a little more difficult.  Test yourself to see how well you know your yoga poses!

As I mentioned on the page, they can be "open book" quizzes.

You can search the web for different sites that show yoga poses and their names, such as YogaJournal.com .

Or you might have your own yoga books that you can check for the English and Sanskrit names for yoga poses.

My suggestions for good books for learning more about yoga poses, including their English and Sanskrit names are any of these excellent Iyengar Yoga books:

• Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar
• Yoga: A Gem for Women by Geeta Iyengar
• Yoga: The Iyengar Way by Silva, Mira, and Shyam Mehta

Head forward position causes strain on body

One of my Facebook friends posted this image last week, and I figured that I needed to show this to all my yoga classes.   Some of you saw it, and it made quite an impression on a number of you!

This image shows that the further forward we keep our heads, the more it feels like it weighs.  This puts strain on the rest of the body.

This common condition is given its own name, Forward Head Position (FHP).    I'm sure you've seen many people with this condition, and there's a good chance that many of you exhibit this condition too.   It's very common in our society -- many of us sit hunched at a desk in front of computers for hours at a time, or slouched while driving or walking.   We're not taught to stand up straight like many people were taught to 50 - 60 years ago.

The article Forward Head Posture and the Pain it Causes tells us the effects of FHP on the whole body.  The human head weighs between 8 and 12 pounds.  When it's balanced well on top of the rest of our body, it doesn't feel like it weighs too much, but for each inch forward it comes, the "relative weight of the head over the body doubles" due to the effect of gravity.

When the head stays forward of the shoulders, the rest of the body has to compensate:  The upper back rounds out more and the hips tilt forward.   All of this puts stress and strain on the body, and results in all sorts of problems.

Of course there's much more stress on the neck, shoulders, and back from FHP.  The article mentioned above lists a number of health conditions that can be caused or made worse from Forward Head Position including:

• Headaches, migraines
• Tempero-mandibular joint pain (TMJ)
• Asthma and allergies
• Poor sleep
• Fibromyalgia
• Reduces lung capacity and blood flow
• Spinal degeneration

If all you get out of your yoga classes is improved posture with the head balanced evenly on top of your body, you'll be ahead of the game!

Many of our yoga poses require an upright posture to do the poses well.   We learn a good upright posture first in tadasana (mountain pose).   Chest up, shoulders and head back, shoulder blades in, buttocks down so the low back doesn't over curve. 

See you in class!

Yoga Home Practice Ideas for You

While Harmony Yoga of Ann Arbor is on break next week, April 2 - 7, 2012, that doesn't mean that you need to go without yoga.

Yes, you know I'm going to tell you to practice at home!

Some of you already do -- wonderful!  Keep it up!   If you don't have a home practice, consider starting one now, even if it's for just 10 - 15 minutes a day, a couple times a week.   

Many of you commented that the classes I taught this past week were difficult -- some backbending work with an emphasis on arms, shoulders, and upper backs.

Backbending poses are often difficult for most people, and they don't get any easier if we don't practice them, or practice the elements that will lead to more open shoulders, stronger arms, and more flexible upper backs.

Consider practicing a few Adho mukha svanasanas (downward facing dog pose) and also stretch your arms overhead with a few of the different arm positions we practiced this past week.  Remember Gomukhasana arms?  (clasping hands behind you, one arm up and back, one arm reaches down and back)    Lie over a rolled blanket or rolled towels to help you open your chest and create more mobility in your upper back.   Then practice Salabhasana (locust pose) and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (upward facing dog pose).   Do you remember the leg work we did with these poses?   (roll thighs in, tailbone down, to stabilize the low back)   Those of you who can, do Urdhva dhanurasana (upward bow pose...the backbend where you push up from the floor).


Other practice ideas:
IYNAUS (Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States) has practice sequences available for you to print out, courtesy of The Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York.   There are four Level I sequences and four Level II sequences in pdf form.
IYAGNY Sequences for Practice

For inspiration, and for ideas for starting your own home yoga practice, read The Importance of a Yoga Home Practice.


Books I recommend:
If you're serious about your own practice, these following books are useful resources.   I have most of these at the studio -- you can take a look at them there.

You might be able to find these books at Crazy Wisdom, Nicola's Books, or Barnes and Nobles in Ann Arbor.  Also, of course, on Amazon.

Yoga: The Iyengar Way by Silva, Mira, and Shyam Mehta
How to Use Yoga: A Step by Step Guide to the Iyengar Method by Mira Mehta
Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar
Yoga: A Gem for Women by Geeta Iyengar
The Tree of Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar

The first two, in my opinion, are the most accessible for beginning students, and will be useful as you progress. The second two, Light on Yoga (B.K.S. Iyengar), and Yoga: A Gem for Women (Geeta Iyengar), are invaluable for the serious Iyengar Yoga student, and The Tree of Yoga, by B.K.S. Iyengar, will give you an easy-to-read overview of the philosophy of yoga


Yoga DVDs
I really wish there'd be more Iyengar Yoga DVDs, but there aren't that many that are strictly Iyengar Yoga.      Here are a few DVDs to consider:

Yoga for Beginners with Barbara Benagh
A.M. Yoga for Your Week with Rodney Yee
Flexibility Yoga with Patricia Walden
Yoga for Inflexible People
Yoga for the Rest of Us with Peggy Cappy

Barbara Benagh (first DVD) has a background in Iyengar Yoga, but also from other styles of yoga.  Same with Rodney Yee (second DVD).   Patricia Walden is one of the top two certified Iyengar Yoga teachers in the U.S.  Yoga for Inflexible People has three disks.  The first disk shows poses taught and modified in the Iyengar Yoga style.  Yoga for the Rest of Us is accessible to the "average" person who may be older, stiffer, and a little weaker :-)

Virabhadrasana II -- Warrior 2 Pose

Virabhadrasana II (from iStockPhoto.com)

Last week most of our classes were practicing Virabhadrasana II, or Warrior Pose 2 (shown left), with an emphasis on keeping the trunk upright and the sides evenly extended.  

Of course the legs and arms are important too -- the bent leg at a right angle, the back leg firm and straight, and the arms extended horizontally.  But we were focusing more on keeping the trunk upright and the shoulders and hips squared off with each other.

As many of you experienced, it can be very difficult to keep all aspects of this pose (or any pose!) going.  

I found a couple of photos online that represent two common variances to the upright trunk position (and made them into line drawings, to keep the people anonymous!).

These are reasonable poses -- not bad -- but compare them to the photo at the top.

This first line drawing shows what many of us do -- we don't quite get the full right angle bend for the front leg, and the trunk is leaning a little over the front leg.  

The second line drawing shows a good bend for the front leg, and the shoulders are mostly over the hips, but the right side of the torso (her bend leg is her right leg) is longer than the left side, because her hips are tipping to the right; her right hip is lower than her left.

Still, it's a pretty good pose.   Both drawings show that the hips are a little tight.   This is very common to many of us!

What does your Virabhadrasana II look like?   How can you tell?

This is where a full length mirror can help you.   You might feel that your trunk is upright and your front leg is in a right angle, but the mirror may show differently.  

A point of focus is at the upper outer thigh where it meets the hip socket for the back leg (the straight leg).  It has to hinge inward more than we think.  We rarely use our legs that way, and the hip will be unfamiliar with that action.    Keeping an awareness of the hips directly under the shoulders, and the shoulders directly over the hips as you bend your front knee is also necessary. 

Yoga training, 1968 Bombay, from Louis Malle's documentary Bomaby 1969

This is a fascinating video of B.K.S. Iyengar teaching yoga in 1968, in Bombay. Look at the mix of younger and older students (there's at least one child, and at least one rather old man). Look at how they're doing Sirsasana (headstand) in the middle of the room. And look at how the neck is extended in Sirsasana in the man shown at 2:30. He's not going to hurt himself in headstand. (I'm of course thinking of that recent NYT article saying how people will hurt themselves in scary poses such as headstand and shoulderstand -- not if they're taught well!)

Even back in the late 1960's, Iyengar and his students show such wonderful extension through the arms, legs, and trunk, keeping their chests open and well-lifted.

There's a vibrancy to the poses as taught in the Iyengar Yoga method (and as shown in this video) that I don't see in many of the other "styles" of yoga that are commonly taught today.

I can tell when "experienced" yoga students come to Harmony Yoga for the first time, whether or not their experience is in Iyengar Yoga. If their yoga background is from another method, there's rarely the extension and vibrancy that we see in poses from experienced Iyengar Yoga students.

(P.S. Iyengar gets his "right" and "left" instructions confused in this video, while he's "mirroring" Virabhadrasana II -- as many of us yoga instructors also do from time to time!)

Good Explanation of "What is Iyengar Yoga" -- Iyengar Yoga in South Africa

This is a well-done 9 minute video of South African Iyengar Yoga teacher, Judy Farah, explaining what Iyengar Yoga is. She talks about the philosophy, history, and benefits from practicing this style of yoga.



Judy mentions that she has been practicing yoga since she was quite young, but it was when she was about 40 years old that she experienced Iyengar Yoga for the first time, and she knew this was the style that she was meant to continue with.

Her characterization of Iyengar yoga is that the practice of yoga asanas (postures) in this method is more precise than in other methods, and the poses are held for longer.

Judy gives a good overview of why B.K.S. Iyengar introduced the use of props in this method of yoga:
B.K.S. Iyengar was seeing that people were doing the postures incorrectly, and often injuring themselves, but if they were made to use props for support and assistance, people were able to develop better alignment in the poses, with less chance of injury, and with greater benefits.

Judy also reminds us that the practice of yoga is not just physical. This practice affects us on all levels of our being.

If you've been taking Iyengar Yoga classes for awhile, probably none of this is new to you, but it's a nice overview of this powerful method of practicing yoga.