Arm Mobilities IV -- Shoulders -- following Andrey Lappa

This entry will finish up sample poses for addressing the mobilities of the arms, focusing on the shoulder joints, which have poses that are comparable to the poses we'll later discuss for the hips.

Once I've finished covering all of the basic areas of mobility of the body, I'll do a series of entries on spinal movement, covering beginner through advanced versions of several primary patterns, all designed to awaken flow in the energy body. I was looking around on youtube yesterday, and found this rhythmic gymastics routine that incorporates quite advanced variations of some of the things we've been working on, though you might notice that the gymnast's technical alignment is not what we usually consider yogic. It's beautiful, regardless.

The serpent in the spine indeed...



And this video, of Indian boys doing yoga, interestingly doesn't seem to take account of our Western notions of accurate alignment in poses either:



But then, B.K.S. Iyengar in 1938 clearly had not developed his later clarity on alignment, which has so influenced our Western ideals about form in the practice of asana:



But, on to the shoulders. To review, the basic mobilities of the shoulder joints are:

1. opening across the front of the shoulder with arm wide (Svastikasana I)
2. opening across the back of the shoulder with arm across throat (Svastikasana II)
3. outward rotation of the shoulder (outward pigeon of the shoulder)
4. inward rotation of the shoulder (inward pigeon of the shoulder)
5. full flexion of the shoulder, arms overhead (heart stretch)
6. full extension of the shoulder, arms behind (rack pose)

Out of the poses for the arms, these are certainly the ones we do most frequently in class, so I imagine that they are familiar to most of you already, more familiar than the poses for the elbows and for the wrists.

1. Opening across the front of the shoulder / Svastikasana I

Lying on your belly, bring your right arm out to your right side, perpendicular to your mat. Firmly anchor the front of your shoulder to the mat, with your palm face down. Press your left hand onto the ground just outside your left ribcage, and roll your heart up so that the weight of your ribcage settles onto your right upper arm bone (humerus bone). At the beginner level, this is the complete pose. If this is comfortable, take the soles of your feet to the ground close to you hips, and lift and move your pelvis as far away from your right wrist as possible, gradually flattening your sacrum to the ground. Lift your right fingers with your palm facing away from you, and take your left hand over and pull your fingers up, focusing the lift on the index side of the wrist. If your pelvis is flat and comfortable, lift one or both of your legs towards the sky. Repeat to the other side.

2. Opening across the back of the shoulder / Svastikasana II

Svastikasana II is the natural reversal of Svastikasana I, giving the complementary opening of the shoulder joint, and it is quite similar to Half Lotus of the elbow. Lying on your belly, take your right knee or leg wide to your right, as in the first stage of Half Lotus of the elbow. Take your right arm across your throat, anchoring the back of your right shoulder to your mat. Bring your neck in between your grounded right shoulder and your right wrist, so that your right palm comes back between your shoulder-blades. Lengthen the back of your neck so that your hairline comes to the floor, and there is room for the breath to move in your throat (your throat is not compressed by the biceps). Take your left hand to your spine from below -- as in reverse prayer -- and slide it up your spine until you are able to clasp your right hand with your left. With your left hand, pull your right hand gently downwards towards your tail. Repeat to the other side.

3. Outward rotation of the shoulder / Outward Pigeon of the Shoulder

Lying on your belly, bring your right elbow against your right waist line, with your forearm perpendicular to your spine and your palm face down. Bring your right knee on top of your right elbow, and use your right leg to anchor your right shoulder and arm to your mat, as much as possible. Bring your left hand to the ground outside your left ribcage, and press into the earth to lift the left side of your heart away from your (ideally) grounded right shoulder. Twist your head up and to your left, without backbending your cervical spine (neck bones). Repeat to the other side.

4. Inward rotation of the shoulder / Inward Pigeon of the Shoulder

Inward Pigeon is the natural reversal of Outward Pigeon, and it is quite similar to Hero of the elbow. The only difference is that the elbows are bent at a right angle, rather than almost fully closed, though the action in the shoulder joint will feel quite different.

5. Full Flexion of the shoulders / Heart Stretch

This mobility -- like most of them -- can be addressed in many ways, including some very muscular Dolphin variations, but I prefer the Heart Stretch variation because it is more passive and so allows for a wonderful release, and because in its full expression it helps prepare the cervical spine for deeper extension (backbending, or arching). From all fours, bring your arms out in front of you with your palms face down. Your arms are parallel to one another, and stretched out in front of you on the ground. The flat underside of your chin (and definitely not the front or the point of your chin) is flat on the ground, and eventually so is your sternum (breastbone). Your entire spine is backbending, and your knees are as close to aligned underneath your hips as is possible with every joint of your spine in extension. In the pose, the inner shoulder-blades are spreading outwards, and the outer shoulder cap muscles (posterior delts, to be specific) are rolling down towards the earth. If it is impractical to bring your neck into deep backbending -- if there is any discomfort at all -- then a beginner variation would bring the hairline to the ground, with the back of your neck elongated within the pose.

6. Full Extension of the shoulders / Rack Pose

Start in sitting. Bring your palms behind you and interlace your fingers, and then roll your wrists so that your palms face the ground. Notice that there are two directions that you could roll your wrists to accomplish this. In one direction -- the easier way of rolling -- the elbows are able to bend easily with the palms grounded and face down. Choose the other direction of rotation, so that when the palms are grounded it is not at all easy to bend your elbows. Slide your pelvis forward on your mat as far as possible, until ultimately your lower back (lumbar spine) is fully grounded. Allow your head to fall forwards towards your heart, and if your lower back is anchored to the earth, lift your knees to your hairline. If that is comfortable, straighten your legs across the crown of your head. If the interlock is to difficult, a beginner modification would be to place your hands behind your, palm down, with your middle fingers parallel and facing away. In this pose, note that the action should be felt in the shoulders and not in the elbows. If it feels like the action is moving into the elbows -- and they are hyper-extending with any discomfort whatsoever -- bend them slightly in the pose (keep your biceps slightly engaged) until you can clearly and cleanly direct the action of the pose into the shoulders themselves.

Finally, I was struck forcibly by how difference from our notions of what a yoga conference looks like this one appears to be (note the fifth minute of the video in particular):



Watching the documentary Yoga, Inc. last weekend has left me thinking quite a lot about the culture of competition in yoga practice, and in case you haven't seen samples, contrast the poses demonstrated in the Ukraine with those in the Bikram Yoga Competition:



namaste,
jamie
Kundalini Vinyasa Yoga classes
Yoga Tree / Yoga Flow Castro, Gold's Gym Castro, Grace Cathedral, and James Howell Studio
san francisco
california

PLEASE COMMENT!