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!

Arm Mobilities III -- Elbows -- following Andrey Lappa

After the last post, I suppose this one is a bit dull. It's a bit of engineering underlying the art, sorting out the directions of possibility for the the joints to progressively open the flow of energy through all the nadis (or energetic pathways) of the body.

In the same way that there are foods that are simply better to eat because they more adequately supply what is needed by the body, there are poses that most effectively address the various mobilities of the body, and so more adequately address the energetic opening of the whole. Andrey's system provides one way of exploring these possibilities, and in this entry I'll just address the elbows, with poses that will be mirrored when we get to the knees, with which they have a functional similarity.

As a review, the primary mobilities of the elbows are:

1. extension of the elbow (maximal opening of the elbow crease, releasing the biceps)
2. full closure of elbow with wrist outside (half lotus of the elbow)
3. full closure of the elbow with wrist inside (half hero of the elbow)

Rather obviously, the comparable poses in the knees are full extension, lotus, and hero...

Examples of poses (there are many, many other ways of addressing all of the mobilities, and of progressively combining several of them into new and creative expression through new postures, one of the ways that yoga continues to grow!):

1. Extension:

In maximally extending the elbows to fully release the tendon of the biceps, it is necessary to be careful, and to approach the opening gradually, being certain of how it will effect your body, only gradually opening more deeply. In full extension of the elbow, the stretch actually hyper-extends the joint, which in ordinary practice when bearing weight on the arms is definitely to be avoided! However, addressing the possibility of movement in fully opening the joint while not bearing the weight of the body on the hands is beneficial to the overall openness of the body. To address the opening, start in a squat (a Malasana-type pose) and place your palms face down in front of you, with your middle fingers parallel pointing directly towards your feet. This is not meant to be a wrist stretch, so allow your shoulders to be forward of your wrists. Then, place your knees just above the points of your elbows, and gradually increase the pressure, knees to elbows, until you feel a gentle stretch and the biceps release fully. In the pose, lift your heart out of your shoulders, and allow your head to relax forward towards your lifted chest.

2. Full closure with the wrist outside / Half Lotus (Ardha Padmasana) of the elbow

Lying on your belly, bring your right leg wide to the side, with your inner foot grounded. If this is too difficult, bring a bent knee out to your side, or simply skip the leg opening until the pose is comfortable. Take your arm across your throat, until the back of your shoulder (the posterior delt) is grounded. Bend your elbow fully, so that your palm faces your shoulder, and your wrist is moving towards the floor a little closer to the front of your mat than your shoulder. Using the underside of your chin, press the pinky side of your wrist to bring it to the ground. Bring the points of your thumbs to the bases of your pinky fingers and softly close your four fingers over your thumbs (Muladhara Mudra). Slide your gently closed left hand between your shoulder-blades from below. Repeat to the other side.

3. Full closure with the wrist inside / Hero (Virasana) of the elbows

Squat into a Malasana-style position. If your Achilles' Tendons feel tight, and squatting is impractical, the same instructions work sitting with the knees bent up at a right angle and the soles of the feet grounded. Close both hands into Muladhara Mudra (bring the points of your thumbs to the bases of your pinky fingers, and softly close four fingers over thumbs). Take your wrists barely below your shoulder-blades, so that you can feel an inward rotation in the shoulders, and your elbows are almost closed. With no flexing whatsoever at the wrists, bring your elbows just inside your knees, and using your knees bring your elbows together (if this is not yet possible, the pose can be completed by doing one elbow and then the other, in a sitting position rather than in a squat). In the pose, lift your heart, and allow your head to release forwards towards your lifted heart.


what were you doing in 1990?


And in terms of opening up the flow of energy through the arms, there's nothing quite like the Dance of Shiva, but that will have to be a topic for another post...
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!

Sunrise, East, Ahimsa, Kundalini

As you all know by now, I've been considering switching to teaching in the early morning hours, which are traditional for yoga practice, and which in my own experience -- as well as in many of yours', from the feedback I've been getting -- are the most beneficial hours from the practice of hatha yoga.

"Most traditional authorities agree that the early morning is the best time for meditation. In India, the yogins typically meditate at sunrise, known as the "Hour of Brahma" (brahma-muhurta). It is thought that the quality of the life force (prana) is then particularly pure and strong and more easily assimilated."
- The Shambhala Guide to Yoga, Georg Feuerstein, p. 93

In addition to the benefits of practicing before the day begins, in the Hour of Brahma, there is also the benefit of doing practice at the same time every day, which is the reason for moving class to the same time every day, Monday thru Friday, 6am. However, several of you really want to keep one day on the weekend, so I'm thinking at this point that the James Howell Studio schedule will change to:

Sunday: 8-10am
M-Th: 6-7:30am

Let me know how that sounds to you, or comment directly on here if you like.

Also, we've shifted direction in the studio, so that we're facing East. Several of you have already let me know that you feel a difference, which is really exciting to me. The east is indeed more expansive than the west. Practice is working! I invite you all, in your practice, to begin to become sensitive to the differences in the directions, and how they appear to your inner eye. These energies are -- by far -- easiest to sense in the hours before and including the rising of the sun. Indeed, I've found that 4-6am are the most wonderful hours for practice, so I'd encourage you to at least once in a while, get up well before the sun and practice as it gradually approaches the horizon. It's truly amazing, to begin to feel the sun, and to feel the changes that happen within during those hours, when most are dreaming.

Finally, in the Advanced Classes at James Howell Studio, we've been doing quite a few new poses, and many of them are quite demanding, physically as well as perhaps emotionally (the poses that affect primarily the upper chakras open up energetic flows and lead to emotional effects that are somewhat less familiar to us that what occurs through the opening of the lower chakras). Perhaps it's worth saying that the poses, truly, are secondary to the breath.

The breath is the center of practice.

The poses are simply beads strung along the thread of the breath, but where the breath is broken, the beads fall. Practice is like stringing a mala. If the thread of the breath is lost, even for an instant, all the beads fall off, and in a sense the meditation practice starts anew. The body of course still receives benefit from practice -- any practice -- but the inner energies of practice that we are awakening arise from the breath, and the thread of consciously attending to it, through the union of the attention and the breathing, which is then expressed outward through the poses, which are all quite optional.

In trying new poses -- or difficult poses that are quite familiar -- it is quite easy to lose the thread of the breath, but the thread of the breath is what matters. The breath is the practice. Like changing clothes, the change of pose, but if the breath is not expressing itself through asana, there's no one to wear the clothes and the support of the meditation is dropped. The practice is staying with the breath, whatever happens, and it is this ability to stay present within in a continuous way -- come what may -- that makes the practice itself practically useful in living life off the mat: the ability to stay consciously present inside, come what may.

The internal concentration on the breath -- which grows and deepens over the duration of the meditation, and drops away in a way that is directly palpable when concentration evaporates -- is the true source of the internal fire of hatha yoga. The closing of the eyes and the withdrawal of the senses inwards is another form of Tapas -- or internal fire -- that we regularly practice. Notice the way in which your internal sense of heat is affected by wandering eyes, and by the withdrawal within of the sense of sight. In Savasana, the absolute absence of movement -- the attention of the mind with absolute absence of action of the body -- is another Tapas.

The heated room is a prop, to be dispensed with as practice deepens. Ultimately, as you deepen your capacity for paying attention you will begin to feel the external heat challenging your meditation to some extent, because the external heat in addition to the dramatic internal heat will create a condition of too much heat, which you will notice will lead to the need to reduce the internal heat through adjusting the breath accordingly, though of course, any external circumstance is an opportunity for meditation...

In asana practice, I encourage you to develop an attitude of play. The mind is focused on the breath, and invited to express itself playfully through poses. The poses are not essential, and there is a way of approaching even the most advanced pose that is appropriate in every healthy body. But that way will never involve interrupting the flow of attention and breath. Any practice where the pose is allowed to take priority over the breath and internal attention quickly begins to violate the first principle of Patanjali's Classical Yoga: AHIMSA.

Allowing the breath to take precedence over the more external and muscular actions of the physical body sets up the conditions for optimal non-violent practice. When practice is approached in a primarily muscular way, and the poses are created from the body first -- and then perhaps the breath is relocated afterwards -- the practice is done so externally that it can become a bit violent. Ideally, the breath is invited to move through -- and as -- the body, so that the breath itself gradually becomes the actual source and inspiration of all movement. When the body is manipulated from without, the wisdom that lives in the breath is not so easy to access.

All of the information about alignment of the skeleton and the actions of the muscles is coded fully in your breath, and as such, your breath is your teacher.

To the extent that the breath -- and the ability to concentrate attention through it -- is compromised, the alignment and action of the pose is 'incorrect'. Yoga teachers suggest ideal alignment and action in poses, but none of us are in fact the ideal.

The ideal towards which we aim is in fact fictitious.

We all have our own ideal, our own breath gradually embodying itself. All of these instructions are merely places for you to begin your own exploration, your own experimentation in your own body. If the instructed alignment does not optimize the flow of attention/breath, change it towards a greater sense of internal flow, or if needed simply skip the pose.

Always: Child's Pose, Headstand, sitting meditation, or lying meditation are appropriate alternatives (at least in my class).

Finally, several people in class have been having rather intense kundalini experiences lately, and I really appreciate all of your frank conversations on the subject. We're all learning this together. This essay -- though it certainly has a particular opinion expressed throughout -- is quite interesting on the subject, and might at least help a bit with context for kundalini awakening (scroll down, the whole text is there):

http://www.skaggs-island.org/humanistic/sannella/kundalini.html

Also, swami-krishnananda.org has a great essay on Tapas -- the third niyama -- if you scroll down (or 'Find' Tapas):
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/univ/univ_11a.html

And in closing, THANK YOU to Aubrie, who brought in a heater for the studio this morning -- we could use a couple of more if you've got extras! -- and to Adrienne, who's making curtains to keep in the heat. It won't be hot, but it'll be nice to be a little warmer!

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!

NO CLASSES July 3rd-11th

Quick reminder:

I will be in Florida visiting family over the 4th of July weekend, so there will be no classes July 3rd-11th.

Classes at Grace Cathedral (July 9th) and at James Howell Studio (5th, 6th, and 8th) will be cancelled.

Classes at Yoga Flow and Gold's Gym Castro will be taught by Eben Ostergaard, just back in San Francisco from teaching in Copenhagen.

I will be here thru this Wednesday's class at Yoga Flow Castro, 8pm on July 2nd...

And after the break, there will likely be changes in the schedule at James Howell Studio, so if you have any unexpressed thoughts about what would best suit you, please let me know :) I'll get the changes on both blog and website as soon as they are finalized.

Classes at Grace Cathedral, Yoga Flow Castro and Gold's Gym Castro will stay the same.

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

Finishing Poses Series for Advanced Class students in All Levels classes

So, in All Levels classes I usually say something like: "If there are any poses you like to finish with, take your time."

Perhaps some suggestions would be helpful.

First of all, in closing practice it's nice to open up the flow of energy deeply, so spinal undulations are a good first step towards closing. This can be done in fairly basic ways, to your taste -- you've got a lot of options from practice over the last year! -- but the two most powerful spinal movements -- if they are appropriate for your body and reasonably accessible! -- are Viparita Chakrasana and Mandalasana. Variations of Viparita Chakrasana and Mandalasana are possible in all of the inversions: Shoulderstand, Headstand, Forearm Stand, Handstand, and Chin Stand. Choose the pose that's ideal for you, and find your edge. Or, do gentler versions of circular and linear spinal movement in more basic poses, to stimulate energetic flow before the final poses.

Mandalasana in Headstand (Sirsasana):


Viparita Chakrasana in Handstand (Adho Mukha Vrksasana):

(note that Chakrasana as a backward somersault has similar energetic effects, and is of course far easier to accomplish)

Alternatively, the opening of this contortion routine is a sort of Chakrasana...


Following up the poses involving movement, there are several yoga poses that have nothing to do with the mobilities of the body, really, but are essential for various psycho-energetic reasons. In a later post, I'll write more about the reasons for each of these particular incredibly important poses, but they are (in the order I prefer them):

1. Unsupported Shoulderstand II (Niralamba Sarvangasana II)
2. Unsupported Headstand (Niralamba Sirsasana)
3. Nauli / Full Uddiyana Bandha
4. Peacock Pose (Mayurasana)
5. Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Niralamba Sarvangasana (it's the 4th pose in the Iyengar Shoulderstand Cycle, about one minute in):


Niralamba Sirsasana (Dharma Mittra doing the approach):


Nauli / Full Uddiyana Bandha:


Mayurasana / Peacock Pose:


Savasana / Corpse Pose:


The full list, then:
0. Spinal movement
1. Niralamba Sarvangasana II
2. Niralamba Sirsasana
3. Nauli / Uddiyana Bandha
4. Mayurasana
5. Savasana

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!

Arm Mobilities II -- Wrists -- following Andrey Lappa

To review, the basic directions of mobility of the wrist joints are:

1. opening the palm side of the wrist
2. opening the top side of the wrist
3. opening the thumb side of the wrist (outward side-bending)
4. opening the pinky side of the wrist (inward side-bending)
5. outward rotation
6. inward rotation

The first pair correspond to flexion (forward bending) and extension (backbending) of the spine, the second pair correspond to side-bending of the spine, and the third pair, naturally enough, to twisting of the spine.

Just as any stretching in any joint of the body creates a resonance inviting other joints to open, similarly there is a direct relation between any particular sort of action in a joint and the comparable aspect of movement in every other joint. So, for example, poses that create rotational stretching in the wrists, ankles, shoulders, and hips, will specifically assist the twisting of the spine.

The first four mobilities are nicely addressed by Doward Dog-type poses with the wrists in varying positions, though for beginners it is a good idea to practice the placement of the hands with the knees on the ground, so there is less weight placed on the stretch. After you are accustomed to bearing weight in these unusual ways, you can increase the pressure by lifting a leg off of the ground, into variations of Three-Legged Dog.

1. To open the palm side of the wrist, take Down Dog with the palms facing down, but with the wrists reversed, so that your middle fingers point directly back at your feet. As you gradually increase the pressure, drawing your straight arms back over the line of your middle fingers, carefully assert the stretch directly at the center of the underside of your wrist. Additionally, in all of these Down Dog variations, lift your ribcage out of your shoulders, and spread the backs of your shoulder blades, making space for the breath in the back of your heart.

2. In the natural inverse of the last pose, take Down Dog with your palms facing up, and with your middle fingers pointing towards your feet. Take care as your deepen the stretch that it is focused at the center of the top of your wrist.

3. To stretch the thumb side of the wrist, take Down Dog with your fingers turned out ninety degrees from the front of your mat, or if your wrists are particularly flexible, take your fingers out a bit more than ninety degrees, though not so far that the stretch is shifted from the thumb side of your wrist to the underside.

4. The natural inverse, of course, turns the fingers in ninety degrees, or more if flexible, though again not so far that the stretch is shifted from the pinky finger side to the underside of your wrists.

The final two mobilities -- the rotations of the wrists -- are best accomplished in sitting or standing poses where the spine is erect in gravity. I enjoy them most sitting in Gomukhasana, or Cow Face Pose, where the thighs are crossed with the ankles outside opposite hips. These rotations have very strong effects on the wrists, and so as with all new yoga poses, please be gentle with yourself, especially at first, as you learn how the poses will affect you, and feel your way into your ideal alignment.

5. To stretch your right wrist into outward/external rotation, take your left wrist under your right wrist. Turn your palms to face one another, and interlock your fingers. Drop your interlocked hands under between your elbows, continue rotating them thru towards your heart, and keep going until your interlocked hands are again in front of your with both arms almost straight. Relax your right hand and arm, and use your left hand to deeply rotate your right hand and wrist outward. Be gentle! Repeat to the other side.

6. To stretch your left wrist into inward rotation, take your right wrist under your left wrist. In this position, allow your right wrist to relax completely, and use your left hand to rotate your right hand and wrist internally.

If you find other interesting ways to address these mobilities of the wrists, please write to me!

Also, I invite you to consider how the comparable mobilities of the ankles would be addressed...

Stephen Earth Metz gives a really gentle version of wrist opening for addressing actual injuries:



And this is a nice essay on protecting the wrists when bearing weight on the hands, in basic poses:
http://www.myyogaonline.com/blog/2007/08/30/protecting-wrists-in-downward-facing-dog-and-yoga-poses/

A brief reminder to practice Ahimsa, or non-violence, when practicing yoga, specifically addressed to the wrists:
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/962

And, and longer piece on working with wrist injuries using props:
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/1247

And finally, some suggestions for wrist pain in yoga practice:
http://www.inneridea.com/library/Yoga-and-wrist-pain

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

win Hannah the perfect wedding

Okay, so this is a bit outside the usual for this blog, but local yoga teacher Hannah Pask has been chosen as a finalist in the Us Weekly win a wedding competition. It's been an interesting week for weddings in San Francisco...

http://www.usmagazine.com/wedding-2008-couple-16

From Hannah & Shay's email:

Shay and I are Finalists in the US Weekly “Win a Wedding” Competition! Please vote!

We have been selected as a Top 20 couple to win our Dream Wedding from US Weekly magazine! No joke! Please log on and vote for Hannah and Shay at:

http://www.usmagazine.com/wedding-2008-couple-16
Just scroll down past our story and click on “Vote for Us.” on the left side. Voting is from now through Wednesday June 25. Vote a lot. Please PASS THIS ON TO FRIENDS, FAMILY, ORGANIZATIONS, ANYONE WHO CAN HELP!

Thank you, thank you for voting for us!!! Lots of love,

Hannah & Shay

The lovely Chrisandra Fox talking about love and yoga

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

Ram Dass' Fierce Grace

This is a short seqment from my favorite film related to yoga (however loosely). The writings of Ram Dass brought me to yoga, years ago...




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

Film screening Yoga, Inc. this weekend at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Chrisandra and I are going tomorrow to the 5pm show, let me know if you'd like to join us.
http://www.baddogtales.com/yogainc.html


Read Karen Macklin's review for Yoga Journal:
http://blogs.yogajournal.com/cityblog/san_francisco/

REVIEWS

“An entertaining, informative, cautionary, yet ultimately hopeful portrait of yoga,” Richard Rosen, Yoga Journal

"Smartly witty but grimly cautionary,” Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

“An incisive, scathing and sometimes hilarious look at yoga madness,” John Doyle, Toronto Globe and Mail

“A revealing essay on greed in the name of a higher power," James Wegg, jamesweggreview.org

“An informed and witty examination," Rosenne Harvey, Ascent yoga magazine

"A fascinating combination between the ancient East and capitalist America," Yogabasics.com




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

Shockingly cheap flights to India...

from Frommer's blog:
http://www.frommers.com/blog/2008/06/sale-offering-astonishing-round-trip.html

A sale offering an astonishing round-trip airfare to India for only $549 is currently being offered for purchase during the next two-and-a-half days
It sounds too good to be true (and may well be!), but at a time of year when round-trip fares to India are nearly $2,000, there's a way to go there at one-quarter the price -- if you act immediately (within somewhat less than 72 hours). Specifically, if you book autumn trips through a travel agent before Friday night of this week, you can buy a round-trip seat on Air India to Mumbai and other Indian cities for as little as $549 (leaving mid-August to mid-September) and $599 (mid-September to the end of October). While those dates are partially during the monsoon season, numerous old-hands at travel in India will confirm that the rains (a couple of hours a day) don't really interfere with your enjoyment of that exotic sub-continent.

Now what I've just reported is what the consumer press is announcing. They tell you to book the fare by going to www.airindia.com. Once there, you will find not a single word on the subject! It is only when you phone one of Air-India's toll-free numbers (tel. 800/223-7776, 888/359-2412, or 800/625-6424) that a reservationist located in India will advise you that the sale is called One Price India and that it can be purchased only through a travel agent.

I'm dubious about prices as incredible as these. But I would be remiss not to pass on the word. If you have ever hankered to visit India (one of the world's most fascinating countries to tour), and can make a firm decision in the next three days, you really should give One Price India a try.

Arm Mobilities I, following Andrey Lappa's Universal Vinyasa Yoga

Andrey's rather scientific approach to hatha yoga has certainly informed much of my sequencing in vinyasa classes over the last few years, and I thought it might be helpful to give some reference to the basic principles, for help in understanding how the sequences actually work.

Basically, Andrey's method breaks the body down into all of its moveable components, and then analyzes them into all of the possible directions of mobility. A complete and balanced practice, on his account, would equally stretch all of the significant joints of the body in a balanced fashion. An implication of his method -- though to my knowledge it is not stated anywhere in his printed work -- is that a balanced opening of all of the joints in a single practice is a more effective way to open any particularly challenging mobility than a practice which focuses wholly on the actual challenge. The implication is that a practice which equally addresses all of the mobilities of the body -- equally affecting all of the joints and the muscles and tendons that cross them -- would more effectively open the hamstrings than an entire practice in which every pose targeted the hamstrings, with far less stress to the hamstrings themselves. It is as if an opening anywhere sets up a resonance that assists with opening everywhere.

Patient practice with Andrey's method solidly bears this out, but the method is dauntingly complex, and quite challenging to learn. There are quite a few possibilities of joint movement in the human body, and keeping track of them all throughout practice requires a great deal of mental attention. But mental attention helps develop the internal heat that opens the body. The true fire or tapas of hatha yoga is concentration of the mind, the internalization of energy, the consolidation of prana within...

I'll start with a listing of the basic mobilities of the arms.

Wrists (6):

1. opening the palm side of the wrist

2. opening the top side of the wrist

3. opening the thumb side of the wrist (outward side-bending)

4. opening the pinky side of the wrist (inward side-bending)

5. outward rotation

6. inward rotation

Elbows (3):

1. extension of the elbow (maximal opening of the elbow crease, releasing the biceps)

2. full closure of elbow with wrist outside (half lotus of the elbow)

3. full closure of the elbow with wrist inside (half hero of the elbow)

Shoulders (6):

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)

In your home practice, I invite you to consider what poses would create the maximal stretch in each of these directions, and in a few days I'll give suggested possible poses for each mobility, though this lovely article by Todd Jones will get you started with the shoulders (note that some of these poses are for the shoulders, and some for the elbows):

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2038

namaste,

jamie

Clematis in front of Trine's in Copenhagen



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

Considering making the move to 6am in July

I hope you're all enjoying all this gorgeous weather.  I'm certainly loving being hot for a change, and it feels like it's finally time to shift classes back to the early morning hours, to the traditional time for yoga practice, around the sunrise.  The mind is quiet, and the benefits to the body are great when practice happens before the day really begins.  When the planet is quiet it's so much easier to drop into the deeper layers of sadhana, and to explore the inner energies of body and breath.

I'll be going to Florida to see family over the 4th of July weekend (gone from the 3rd thru the 11th, with Eben subbing classes at Yoga Flow and Gold's, and all other classes cancelled for the week), and when I get back, I'm considering switching my donation-based classes at James Howell Studio to 6-8am, Monday thru Friday, to give us a chance to practice together daily for my last year in San Francisco.  The classes will be listed as 'Advanced', but everyone with a sense of humor is certainly welcome.  The current classes at James Howell Studio would go away, if I make that change, which would start on July 14th, Bastille Day.

Nothing's official yet, I'm just checking in with everyone, and would like to know your thoughts.  Would this serve you? Comment here, or just send me an email...

Also, if you have any old space heaters, or old heavy curtains to block off the archways to the back area for greater energy efficiency, we could certainly use them!  It's important to me that the studio is warm enough for comfortable practice, though not hot, as at Yoga Flow :)

with gratitude,

jamie

p.s. The picture at the top of this post is the entrance to Christiania, in Copenhagen, which is more San Francisco than San Francisco these days. Their Summer of Love isn't quite over...