RESTORATIVE POSES AND INVERSIONS
Restorative
Long timings Can cause anxiety and physical discomfort. More experience gives understanding of where to draw the line in terms of how much physical discomfort is still OK.
Long timings in restorative week gives a sense of well being afterwards and feeling refreshed.
In restorative poses it is common to be both quiet and busy, to be in and out of concentration, but allowing thoughts to drift past awareness and not focus on any particular thoughts.
Headstand and shoulder stand The modern western person is very busy and prone to stress and nervous disorders, the pace of life impacts on sleep and nervous system.
Headstand and shoulder stand are refreshing to the nervous system and have the greatest impact post yoga.
Headstand Impact on brain and blood supply, imbalance of physical and mental exhaustion, Refreshing glands in skull, head and face Hormonal systems – especially head stand Sense of balance and blood flow to refresh the brain and head Improved circulation – blood to heart, chest and lungs
Doing headstand Protect the neck by lengthening the dorsal spine Block in the back can help initially to help move the dorsal spine, Put the block in the roundest point of the back Alternative feet to wall to teach head stand Progression of teaching headstand – looking at each person assess each individual Soft bodied people can be weaker and more muscular people can be stiff Must use care in assessing capability FEAR needs to be overcome in order to work with inversions
Headstand is easier in terms of fear because it is lower to the ground
Caution – unlike other poses, don’t go to your max timing in headstand It is the only poses where you do not push your timing
Placing your hands The head is inside the cupped hands, elbows apart forearm distance Elbows level with the shoulder? Inner and outer elbows even Wrapping the upper arm around – hard action to isolate but gives space to the back of the neck and collar bone area The bottom side of the hand is extended, both wrist bones are long The crown of the head is on the floor, the pointiest part of the head. When the head is straight the nostrils are level horizontally, the ears are level
Helping get good lift in headstand Can use sticks to help lift the shoulders, head can be slightly off the floor if using the sticks A little further from the wall is helpful for people working with necks Sticks provide shoulder life to educate the correct position of the back of shoulders well lifted
Chair headstand alternative – good for people working with neck issues Takes neck out and hold by shoulders Try using the small back benders instead of the chairs, head hanging between.
Aiming for 7 minutes inversions as a start but ten minutes is better when more experienced
Headstand in the ropes Can help get longer timings once used to the feel of the ropes The lumbar spine is straight when the rope is in the correct part of the sacrum Putting the stick across the thighs to keep the legs straight - ? not sure why Do this only once comfortable getting in and out of the ropes
Be careful of low blood pressure when coming up
Free balance headstand is better for the spine, more even, more concentration is required as well
HANDSTAND More integration and a stronger pose. Can get strong from practicing handstand, holding body weight Energises, opens the chest and wakes you up Practice at the beginning of class
SHOULDER STAND Headstand and shoulder stand are the king and queen of yoga, but you can practice shoulder stand on its own, but headstand must always be followed by shoulder stand or one of its alternatives
Do in the right order, shoulder stand has more calming energy
Jalandhara Bandha – chin lock in shoulder stand. More support, more solid, more contact with the floor
Getting good lift in shoulder stand Back rib area in, buttocks in, more mobile bodies work harder to stack the spine Use props to get lift in the upper back C7 spine and neck area Keep legs together Stiff shoulders and cant get elbows down – can us sticks for more lift If balancing too close to the head, need to use more props for extra height
Halasana – keep light in the toes and high in the hips, buttocks over shoulders, rotate outer arm down and keep C7 part of the spine lifted
Alternatives to Shoulder stand Shoulder stand on the chair Setubandha Sarvangasana – try 4 bolsters across and lie on it like a bed or a t-bolster set up
More passive alternatives to headstand Cross bolsters Lying over the back bender Viparita dandasana Viparita karani
The head hangs Head and neck like setubandha
INVERSIONS Reverse the effects of gravity and reverse the flow of blood moving around the organs
The Power of Inversions
Why does the invocation bring us together as a group? Chanting together means we are breathing together.
Yoga is 3-4000 years old and the invocation is an acknowledgement of yoga's history and lineage, connecting us back to Patanjali. Yoga is older than most of the sciences we know, and the invocation connects us to that.
Simon: Last night's practice (Geeta's Sequence 10, Chapter V, Basic guidelines for teacher of yoga) gave us plenty of time to transition and to do each pose. It is probably the longest restorative practice you have done. Discussion around how to stay in the long timings (Lisa: hard to manage the mind in the long timings), adjustments we can make to deal with physical discomfort. The simple sequence and stripped down poses get you quickly to the internal. For some people being quiet is difficult. 'I have to fight my personality all the time, leave me alone'. In a led practice you are left alone with yourself, there are fewer instructions to hold onto. Simon: a long savasana allows the mind to have that busy moment and get through the restlessness.
How you felt in the poses, how you went during the practice, doesn't mean you don't benefit from the practice. Afterwards you benefit anyway, that night, or the next day. You can come into one of these sessions and use it to check in where you are – rather than get caught in it. eg. If you know you're busy, look at it, not get in it.
Being still is getting harder for all of us, our nervous systems are becoming more and more disturbed. (See clip by Stephanie on Facebook post). It is not surprising because how we are living is not how the body was designed and it suffers. Disturbed sleep.
The poses we are doing this weekend are refreshing and quieting the nervous system. The two most important poses are head and shoulder stand. Even if you are very busy you should still try to get them in to a practice. You will feel better/different/change and they have the most impact, having a balancing effect on the nervous system.
Headstand – works on the head, the brain and the glands in the skull and the throat and brain. When you feel tired, but not physically tired, it has a refreshing effect. Glands control the hormonal system – creates balance. Headstand works on the circulatory system, the organs are revitalised through circulation as there is more blood to the head and the respiratory system.
Handstand and elbow balance do connect to prepare for headstand. Prepare for headstand by doing poses which integrate the limbs. For example you can see if someone is ready for headstand from their dog pose.
Brick in back preparation The preparatory pose with the head off the ground moves shoulders away from the neck, gives lift and the brick allows you to stay and moves dorsal spine into back. The brick goes into the roundest point of the back and this depends on the person. No lift can be from strength and/or from stiffness.
Stages to Headstand 1. brick teaches about dorsal spine, keep people in this pose for 1 month 2. then start raising one leg at a time 3. then brief time with head on the floor, will squash the head so only brief 4. in India teach with head on the floor, legs up the wall, Simon doesn't teach it, western bodies are stiffer 5. Then in position taking one leg up, then the other 6. then people start to encounter fear. 7. Take people up the first time and hold them. Don't like people to stay as long as they can. 10 sec, then 20 sec, then 30 sec – don't stay too long because you'll feel it afterwards. There is no better way to go up in the beginning, one bent leg, one straight leg, two bent legs.... Have a progression for a good quality headstand, work up to 5 minutes and then gradually build it to 7/8. You want to be able to do 7 minutes for the first stage and then build up to 10 minutes including variations.
- top wristbone sits on top of bottom wristbone • elbows as wide as the shoulder tips • lower wristbone needs to be able to extend • The advice has changed over the years, but last time Geeta said the head has to go into the hands a little bit, soften the head into the hands.
Where do you rest on? Crown of the head. People tend to go to the front or the back of the crown. Certain people, when they are up, then need to go to front of crown, if they have a rounded upper dorsal spine, to get the thoracic spine in, there are no absolutes btw, little variations front and back. Beginners won't understand too much in the beginning, but you look at these variations as you progress. The outer upper arms move towards the front of the body. Full arm balance and elbow balance very important for shoulder action of headstand, to help get the lift in the arms Classically the tips of the ears should be horizontal – Mr Iyengar used to go around and adjust the back of people's head – the nose should be level.
Props – these two are particularly used for remedial Tripod/sticks (though not in favour at the moment – showing us how they can be used) Can not drop your shoulders if using this. Make the tripod wider, take it out further if there is an issue with the neck. If you have a problem with really lifting the shoulder area this will re-educate the area. You do not want to keep using it. They touch the shoulder area and the back of the shoulder, gives the neck a lot of room, the sticks are forcing the shoulders up. They teach you what is meant to happen.
2 chairs For a problematic neck – no weight on the neck, a lot of length. Held up by shoulders, shoulders pushed up (different to headstand in the ropes which has a hanging action of the neck) quite a bit of padding using blankets hold chairs, they may slip give help going up once up relax arms over the chairs It feels like someone is holding the shoulders, neck lengthening/traction, you can feel what it is like to have length in the neck. Can also use two of the little backbenders instead of chairs
Headstand in ropes Good to have in your repertoire, a good option to have if you are really tired, and try to do it at least once a week. Note, you don't want to not do headstand – how you keep doing headstand and building up your time. Eg. 2 mins on head then 8 mins in ropes
• Take one red rope, do a slip knot into the first top rope, then knot the end to the other top rope using a simple knot, it can't slip out • Where the rope sits is very important, the top of the buttocks, not the lower back, will cause arching. • Move feet down to badakonasana, outside the ropes, so you don't slip out, and let go of the ropes and release down • Use curved wooden stick if quite familiar with it, with straight legs
Headstand in middle of the room is different from against the wall. Sometimes you are just leaning on the wall, freebalance requires you to concentrate. When you are in headstand for 7 minutes it slows you down, you can't fidget.
Handstand In the morning sessions we looked at variations of handstand, looking at ways to support the practitioner at different levels and as they move through those different stages, as well as issues and difficulties people may have. Poses: 1. handstand 2. free-balancing in pairs – with one supporting the other by guiding them to freebalance with hands on either side of their legs 3. supporting the beginning by standing behind them with the wall behind you and lifting them to handstand by pullig up their hips.
Handstand as a pose is very integrated in the way you need to balance and to hold. It is physically very strong but it makes you very strong if you do it regularly. You can still be doing it in your eighties. It is exhilarating, exciting and energising and sits at the beginning of the class – it wakes you up. It's a good one to play with, as teachers, to muck around with to get your numbers up. In the beginning just get up there, don't look at the details, and then push further to keep exploring it.
Elbow balance The principles are the same as handstand, but more weight on the forearms. It is easier to free balance and because it is lower to ground it is also easier to push up A question about whether to use a strap when freebalancing...not in the middle of the room, if something goes wrong you could pop shoulder, you need to be ablet o bend your elbows if you fall. Have to wean yourself off the strap, go back and forth, sometimes using it, sometimes not. The purpose of the belt is for elbows bending outwards or inwards to maintain (from side) straight line direction.
Shoulder stand Balances out headstand. Is the queen of inversions. Is more nurturing.
Points to consider: • Lift under elbows • back ribs, important they go in • when buttocks stick out they need to go in Why do we use props in shoulder stand? Some yoga styles do not. C7 vertebra on spine becomes jammed into the floor, putting pressure on the neck. It's not a neck stand, Mr Iyengar says C7 becomes tooo hard, and more problematic, and the height of blankets and shoulder stand pads is to keep the neck soft.
Looking at different necks: Look at the face, is it red, are they holding their breath? The face and neck should be soft Feel the neck – there should be not a lot of weight on the neck, nor should they be pushing onto the head. Adjustments: • give extra height to stop pushing off/into the head • When using higher blankets start further onto the blankets so you don't roll off onto the floor • When in halasana, an adjustment, push head between their shoulder blades so that the weight goes into their elbows and shoulders instead of pushing into the head and the neck. • Something just under the elbows like a folded blanket or mat helps the weight go back into the elbows • There should be a lightness in the hips when in halasana, and the hips should be high. If the pose is really heavy you should have something under the feet (chair/block), and it gives an understanding of the posed. Example of student who can reach floor but with no height their hips drop. Hips high and back straight. Should sustain for 2-3 minutes. Arms – outer arms rotate down and out then the central C7 goes up into the neck and the side trunk goes up. The back needs to go straight up. Pull through the shoulder tips. The teacher can push on the upper arms to help the student straighten the back. The student should place the flat of the palms on the back rather than the fingers. Try more height under the shoulders/less height – play with it to adjust the shoulder action
One of the differences of Iyengar method is in holding inversions. Benefits of inversions come with the time of around 7-8 minutes. All the processes of the body, the organs in the body hang the other and the way blood moves around and circulates around the organs changes, stops it getting sluggish. When you come back up it changes again.
Inversions are a gradual process and don't take students into it under they are ready. To improve, play with it, get some knowledge and work with it. Shoulder stand cycles make it into a long-held practice
Some people find shoulder stand harder. Softer bodies really have to work on it. Stiffer bodies find it easier – if their shoulders are not restricted.
There are always some people for whom it just doesn't work – OPTIONS
Shoulder stand in chair this is a good one to know because it can be very restorative. You can vary the height on the chair, with more or fewer blankets, or more height on the bolster. Bolster usually placed across the floor in front of the chair but it can be placed lengthwise through the chair if it is not working It is good for the shoulders and quite restful.
Setu Bunda Good to have in repertoire – should do it 1x a week On bench Place long bench, then a little backbender/setu bunda bench at one end, then a bolster length wise. May also need two bolsters for the arms at approx 30 degrees from the body Sit on bench Knees bent Lie down Slide straight back no wiggling keep going until shoulders down all the way to the bolster Extend legs Then you will see the shape of setu bunda – it is a big shape but you can soften it using other props to create the same shape.
1. Standard is t-shape with one bolster along the wall and one coming out from it lengthwise. Can put a half-fold lengthen-wise blanket on each bolster. 2. Two bolsters on top of each other, feet into the wall – can be too hard, too high 3. Four bolsters along the wall and a blanket flat and open for the head. This is very soft and is used in therapy. 4. Active – Brick under sacrum. When you are running out of time this is also a shoulder stand alternative Setu bunda is a very good pose to do when you are tired. Use the softer versions. Great for menstruation. Active versions are – benches, higher, brick....
Headstand alternatives • cross bolsters, most people can work with this version • over a backbender • viparita dundasana - legs up the wall – alternative for when you need extra energy • use alternatives during menstruation • in all these alternatives the head is down to get the benefit of inversions • When you are over the backbender use bolsters out to the side to make it more comfortable for a longer time
Set up Cross Bolsters • measure distance – sit on bolster with legs straight slightly on the front edge • bend knees • lie back first • extend legs away and push into wall to move into position • ideally the body sits in the middle • often see people slide right back to a sort of setu bunda • shoulders and head should not be on the ground Many adjustments can be made • height under the feet • height under the head
In menstrual sequence you can do Dwi Pada as headstand alternative followed by setu Bunda from the shoulder stand group gather more poses in your kit bag
Viparita Karani • have a brick between the wall and the bolster and a couple of blankets on top, more flexible bodies have three blankets • buttocks to wall • leave a little space for the buttocks to hang between bolster and wall, just enough space for them to drop • It softens diaphragm, abdomen – like a combination of setu bunda and shoulder stand • You can belt calves • have open blanket under head (just two layers) • watch chin doesn't push too much into chest – it needs to be neutral • curve in neck – there should be space for teacher's hand to go under the neck • The height under the hips should be as high as you can • Effect of blood comes down legs, pools into abdomen and spills into chest to revitalise.