Yoga has always appealed to my athletic as well as my spiritual nature. There are times, however, when my flow comes to a creaky halt.
Recently a heel injury made my favorite Warrior II seem as alien as Foot-behind-the-Head Pose might be to a beginning student.
I could no more relax into the pose than if I were standing on a bed of hot coals. Thanks to my perennially tight hips and achy knees, my Pigeon Pose limps more often than it struts and soars. But along with persistence, it also makes sense to utilize every tool at your disposal. One of the best ways to deepen your yoga is to complement it with other body-mind disciplines, including the somatics practices that have been developed in the West over the past years—practices like the Alexander Method, Continuum, Hanna Somatics, Feldenkrais work, Body-Mind Centering, and Pilates.
So when Yoga Journal offered me the opportunity to explore how somatic practices can help yogis, I jumped at the chance. I considered starting with Pilates, since the work has become the exercise du jour in the Los Angeles area, where I live. Stephens observed that in yoga, we not only initiate movement from our spiritual center, we also utilize the same physical center Pilates focuses on: the lower chakras.
Fry started me on The Cadillac, which looks something like a four-poster metal bed minus the curtains. Lying flat on my back, I reached up and grabbed a horizontal bar attached to springs. My feet were braced against the metal frame at the foot of the bed.
The movement consisted of simply rolling up and down my spine, with the bar working as resistance and aid. The routine continued with a few reps for each exercise. Fry paid constant attention to the position of my hands and feet, the shape of my belly flat: good; poochy: bad , the length of my neck, the position of my hips, and other details.
It was all very exacting, though we flowed easily from one apparatus and exercise to the next. As in yoga, Pilates necessitates concentration, precision, correct alignment, and breath.
My class was not an aerobic workout, but I found myself sweating, muscles twitching from the work, and my brain fully engaged. The effort is in doing the movements correctly and not just banging them out haphazardly. Fry commented that many of her clients who have a yoga background have good body awareness, and she thinks this helps them get maximum benefit from Pilates work. German-born fitness buff Joseph Pilates first came up with the precursors to this equipment while in a World War I internment camp.
There he rigged hospital beds with levers, straps, pulleys, and springs, so that the infirm could exercise. The equipment was designed for resistance training without overstretching, and focused on alignment and strengthening the core muscles—abdominals, buttocks, and lower back. He also invented the foam roller which is used extensively in Pilates studios at this time.
He trained approximately Feldenkrais practitioners, and today there are over 10, Feldenkrais practitioners worldwide. I knew a bit about human movement and Physiotherapy techniques but there were huge gaps in my knowledge and more questions than answers, particularly around how to teach people to help themselves.
He offered an in-service on the Feldenkrais Method to the Physiotherapy Department. He taught an Awareness Through Movement lesson and there it was… this elegant, intelligent, gentle system of learning, with movement as the portal. I experienced how the lessons could have impacts well beyond the musculoskeletal system and I saw how this method could give an individual control over their own health.
I have been on a journey with the Feldenkrais Method ever since. The Feldenkrais Method helps to develop awareness of our physical body muscles, joints, bones, nerves and how we use our bodies to meet the demands of life. Lessons in the Feldenkrais Method address a wide range of functions, including posture, breathing, skill development and pain management. The Feldenkrais method also has a powerful effect has on self-image.
Movement is an expression of our self-image and self-image is informed by movement. I include this quote from the Australian Feldenkrais Guild website, where you will find much more information. The sitting exercise "Spine Stretch" is more interesting when I play with different sitting movements from my Feldenkrais training, such as: "Sit and place the soles of the feet together. Interlace the fingers and put them behind the head.
Lower the head and elbows towards the floor while bending the lower spine and then erect the head by arching in the lower back. Roll the pelvis on the floor, rolling across the sit bones. I integrate Feldenkrais movements when I do "the Swan," thereby making it more dynamic as opposed to my tendency, when I do Pilates, to keep it static and rigid.
For example: "Lie prone, bend the knees and bring the feet towards the ceiling. Lift the knees alternately from the floor. When one knee lifts, let the other knee press into the floor. For many reasons, we develop habits of movement, some helpful and some not so helpful.
This is often how we recognise a friend walking along the beach even though they are still a long way off, wearing hat and sunnies, by the way they move. The postures we adopt to stand, sit, work at our computer, run and sleep are often habitual, that is, we are not aware of how we do them, or that there may be another option. With Feldenkrais lessons, the guided attention to movement focussing on the quality and sensation reveal our movement habits.
This allows us to discover a new movement choice. It is interesting how challenging it is to change a habit or how well-hidden a habit can be! Yoga means harmony of body and mind and this happens through the practise of yoga postures asanas , breathing techniques pranayama and meditation. It is an ancient system of philosophies, principles and practices derived from the Vedic tradition of India and the Himalayas, more than years ago.
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