Yoga Tip Tuesdays: Downward-facing dog with bent knees

Ok, ok, so it's not Tuesday, but I want to keep this part of the series, and I don't want to wait until Tuesday because this post is in response to a reader request. Brad, I hope you are reading, because this is for you - sorry it's taken me this long to answer!

Brad recently left this comment on one of my posts: "I am just starting out in yoga and I cannot do the downward dog pose with my legs straight. Are you able to show a post for beginners how to do the downward dog pose (for example with bent legs) and then how to slowly build up to doing it properly."

This is an AWESOME question, thanks for asking! So many of us, especially if we gravitate towards a vinyasa, ashtanga or flow-style class, will struggle with what feel like endless repetitions of downward-facing dog. I remember the flood of frustration and despair when one of my early yoga teachers used to quip "remember, downward-dog is supposed to be a resting pose, so just relax!" I would be there, quivering and trembling in the pose, just trying to hold it together, thinking "relax?! is she nuts?!"

Anyway, whether you find it relaxing or not, here are a few tips for how to modify downward-facing dog with bent knees, while still getting all the benefits of the pose. This is not just for beginners! In fact, I often get my intermediate students to practice this pose with bent knees in order to really get a sense of where the focus of the pose is.

1. Downward-facing dog in a class setting

First, it's important to remember that a yoga pose is not about "the pose" - it's about what the pose is doing for you. So when we modify a pose, we want to keep in mind what the pose is really about. In downward-facing dog, the primary anatomical focus is on elongating the spine and opening up your upper back.

So, it doesn't matter if your knees are bent, because this pose is not really about lengthening the hamstrings. Let me repeat: it doesn't matter if your knees are bent.

Here's what  does matter:

• Your hips need to be high enough so that gravity can work its magic, and your whole spine can extend downwards from the pelvis
• Your upper back needs to be broad, long and soft, and the backs of your shoulders should be opening - so that means that your centre of gravity has to remain in the pelvis, and most of your body's weight has to remain in the legs and feet
• Your back needs to be long and fairly straight (apart from the natural curves of the spine), from the tailbone all the way through the back of the neck

So, let's have a look at two variations for downward dog with the knees bent, one in which you are still getting the benefits of the pose, and one in which you are not:

In the first picture, I am making a common mistake by focusing too much on trying to get my legs straight. As you can see, the spine isn't really getting that extension that we are looking for: the effort of trying to straighten the legs pushes too much weight forward onto the hands and drops the hips too low. The centre of gravity of the pose is somewhere just behind the shoulderblades. The backs of the shoulders are rounded, and, with the neck, working hard. We end up fighting against gravity instead of allowing it to help us stretch. The result is something that is hard work, but that isn't really getting us the benefits of the pose.

In the second picture, the knees are bent more deeply, allowing the focus of the pose to come back to the spine. Without locking your elbows, use the hands to press the hips up and back, and draw the belly button slightly towards the navel, using a bit of core engagement to help keep the centre of gravity in the pelvis. Broaden the toes and press strongly through the balls of the feet - don't worry about working the heels down. Broaden the upper back by wrapping your lower shoulderblades towards the armpits, and feel the backs of the shoulders opening. Keep your neck extending in line with your spine and keep your awareness on the stretch in your upper back and the back of your neck.

Depending on your body, you may need to take a longer stance (i.e. more distance between your hands and feet) in order to make this work. Don't worry if that's the case - just focus on finding that long stretch in your upper back and the back of your neck.

Props and modifications:
 
A really helpful modification if you are just starting out is to do the pose (with the knees bent) with each of your hands resting on a yoga block. This little bit of elevation helps you to bring the centre of gravity of the pose back, so that more of the weight of the pose can rest in your pelvis, legs and feet, and you can start to feel some of the "lightness" that allows you to really let your spine stretch out. I highly recommend doing this if your practice space has yoga blocks available, at least during those moments in class where you are asked to hold the pose for several breaths. This modification is especially helpful if you are feeling the strain of the pose mainly in your wrists, arms or the backs of your neck and shoulders.

Finally, an excellent alternative to those long holds in downward dog is to come down onto your knees and take Puppy Pose, pictured below. As you can see from the photo, by taking the hamstrings out of the equation all together, this pose allows you to get the same awesome stretch in your spine, without putting any strain on the wrists, arms, upper back or the legs. You can also do this with your hands resting on blocks for a bit of an extra shoulder-opener.

It's a great idea to do puppy pose and then downward-facing dog to compare the sensation of stretch in your back. If they feel more or less the same, you know you're getting the benefits of the pose.

2. Downward-facing dog at home

If you are practicing at home, there are SO many everyday props available to help you do this pose. Essentially, these are similar to your in-class modification with your hands on blocks, but at home, you have so many more options that you can use to find exactly the right stretch for you.

Try doing the pose with your hands on a chair, a coffee table, the edge of your bed, your sofa, or the stairs, to figure out what feels right for you. The higher your support, the more you should be able to straighten your legs to get a stretch in the hamstrings while still maintaining the long, straight spine that is the essence of the pose. Please make sure that whatever you use is firmly anchored so that it doesn't slip out from under you!

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I hope this post was helpful! Stay tuned on the blog for some targeted hamstring stretches and shoulder-openers that may also be helpful!

If you've read this far, I'd love your feedback! Was this tip helpful? Is there anything else you'd like tips about? Leave a comment!

Home sweet home!

Dear readers, yes, I'm back! After nearly a month away I have finally landed back home. In the time I've been away, spring has sprung and it is truly beautiful to see.

Although I haven't been posting, you have been reading, and I have a host of reader-requests from the blog that I will soon be turning into posts! So if you have left a comment recently, please know that I've heard you and I WILL be answering very soon.

In the meantime, don't forget to stop and smell the flowers!

Yoga Tip Tuesdays: How to keep a straight leg without locking the knees

On a previous Yoga Tip, a reader left the following comment: "I'd love some tips on how to keep a straight leg without locking the knees in balance poses."

This is an excellent question! Many of us have probably heard yoga teachers talk about the importance of not locking the knees in standing and balance poses.  Without going into too much anatomical detail, this is important for the following reasons:

• If your knee is locked in a balance pose, it means that the joint is holding the weight of the body, instead of the muscles. In the long run, this can wear down the protective cushioning around the knee (called the meniscus) and cause wear and tear on the joint, which can lead to pain, injury and possibly conditions like arthritis.
• If your knee is locked in a weight-bearing standing pose, for example triangle pose, the joint is again at risk, but in addition, because you are now stretching as well as bearing weight, the ligaments and tendons surrounding the knee joint are also at risk of taking the strain of the stretch, instead of the muscles. Since ligaments and tendons are meant to stabilise, not to stretch, this can quickly lead to injury - and a torn or injured ligament takes far, far longer to heal than a similarly injured muscle.

So you might think that we should all just be doing yoga with bent knees all the time and avoid the problem all together. However, if your knees are always bent in standing poses, you are probably not getting the most out of a pose, nor are you stretching and strengthening the body in a balanced way - and you may actually be putting other types of strain on your knee. (**NB: If you are hypermobile or hyperflexible, see note at the bottom of the page).

So, here is a simple 2-step tip on how to keep the legs straight without locking the knee in standing or balancing poses.

Step 1: Build awareness

In the pose you are working with, lift your toes - just your toes! - off the mat.

Yep, that's it - try it! You'll find that it's pretty much impossible to lock the knee while lifting the toes at the same time, because lifting the toes creates muscular engagement, or "hugging in," that brings the weight of the body into the muscles instead of the joint.

Now of course, in the long run, you don't want to be going through your entire practice with your toes lifted up! It's just a "cheat" to get your muscles used to working in a new way.  So once you have built an awareness of what that muscular engagement feels like, you should work towards a techinque called "isometric" or "static" muscular engagement - essentially, engaging a muscle from the inside, without actually moving the body. You might have heard yoga teachers cue this kind of engagement by talking about "hugging the muscles to the bone."

This is Step 2: Isometric engagement of the leg muscles.

To work on isometrically engaging the muscles in your legs, practice this simple sequence. As you move to each step, remember to keep the muscle engagement from the previous step! I find it's best to start practicing this in Tadasana (standing mountain pose), and once you have a good sense of how it feels, then you can apply the same sequence to all your other standing poses.

1. Begin in a standing pose with a neutral pelvis.
2. Establish an even weight distribution between the outer edge, inner edge, and heels of your feet, lifting your toes up to do so if it helps. Press strongly through the big toe mound in order to lift your arches.
3. Keep that engagement and then without moving your feet, try to engage your muscles as if you wanted your toes to lengthen forwards and your heels to draw back.
4. Next, imagine your shins drawing forward.
5. Now, engage your muscles as if to squeeze an imaginary yoga block or tennis ball in between your thighs, lifting your kneecaps upwards and drawing the thigh muscles up and back.
6. Finally, engage your muscles as if you wanted to lift your pelvis away from the tops of your femurs. This one is tricky - just visualise it, even if you can't feel anything happening.

These 6 steps can work to bring engagement to the subtle leg muscles in nearly every standing pose (and even in inversions!), which ultimately will strengthen your standing poses without putting your knee joint at risk.

Here is a quick graphic that you can use as a reminder of the main points:

(and do forgive me the not-so-great alignment of my pelvis in this picture!)

**NB: If you are hyperflexible or have hypermobile knee joints, you will probably need to work with a slight bend in the knee until you can really control the muscular engagement of your legs to fully protect the knee joint. Work with a yoga therapist or a knowledgeable teacher to determine the right way of working for you.

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If you've read this far, I'd love your feedback! Was this tip helpful? Is there anything else you'd like tips about? Leave a comment!

3 weeks away, or, how to fit your life into hand luggage

Let me start by saying that I am not known for travelling light. Seriously. The excess baggage gods of the world must love me, given the amount of tribute I regularly pay to them.

So, as I embark on a 3-week trip to DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) to do some work for UNICEF there, I am particularly proud that this is the entire total of my luggage - all carry on!! Note the ultra-light travel yoga mat, which I'm excited to try out on my travels.

There is something incredibly refreshing about travelling light. It's the feeling of walking off the plane and not having to wait for your luggage. It's the feeling of knowing that you don't actually NEED tonnes of "stuff" in your life: clothes, shoes, accessories, toys. It's so good to release yourself from the material world that we are so heavily rooted in, and practice the yogic concept of aparigrahah, usually understood as non-grasping or letting go.

I'll be scheduling a few posts while I am away, dear readers, but if there is a bit of a lull in this blog I hope you'll understand!

Now, let's see how many bags I come back with... ;)

Thoughts on first led primary practice after a year

Last weekend I was down in Vancouver staying with a friend, and on Sunday morning we went to a led Primary practice at a lovely independent little shala. The practice leader had just returned from 3 months in Mysore where he was assisting Sharath, so I'm assuming we were doing Sharath's count, for those Ashtangeeks out there who are interested in those sorts of details. :)

It was my first full Primary (led or home) since I "broke up" with my Ashtanga practice nearly a year ago, so I have been reflecting on how it felt. Here's a rundown:

• Sweaty: In a good way! The studio was heated and fairly full, and once I got into the twists (which always generate heat for me), the sweat really started to flow. Compared to my chilly morning practices at home, it felt great!
• Long: I'm not sure how long actually, a bit under 2 hours I think, but given that I spend most of my waking hours bouncing down a mountain these days, I don't usually practice for more than an hour or 90 minutes. At one distinct point towards the end, my concentration flew out the window and the leader called me out for being a breath a head on the vinyasas. Whoops!
• Smooth: I thought I would find the practice hard, given how long it had been, but it felt smooth and I had enough energy to carry the practice all the way through. I have to say I would have been hard-pressed to do it all the next day, though.
• Unconstrained: I didn't do the rolls in Garbha Pindasana (I never liked those), and I didn't even attempt cakrasana (never could do that without pinching my neck... "one day, gurunam" as my first teacher used to say), and I didn't feel "un-Ashtangic" about it, because I have made my peace with being un-Ashtangic, if that makes sense!
• Same-old, same-old: By which I mean the same old irritations flared up, that led me to stop doing exclusively Ashtanga in the first place: wrist pain, and rotator cuff (shoulder) pain, both on my right side (I'm positive my cakrasana issues are connected to these too, and it's all rooted in my precious curvy spine). My vinyasas are a lot smoother and more controlled as a result of the work I've been doing over the last year, but doing every vinyasa, even carefully, was hard on those weak spots. I'm pretty terrified of injuring my wrist again so I've renewed my efforts to work on those problems with targeted movements in my home practice. 
• Different: My first Ashtanga teachers learned the practice in the early 90's, so there were some small differences in the practice that took me by surprise. The practice leader, Geoff, emphasised the inner aspect of the practice as opposed to what the body can do, which was great. He also told us that Sharath is teaching a different version of the tristana these days, which is breath, drishti and alignment of the body, with the bandhas being rolled into "breath". My injury-wary inner teacher approves of the latest addition, although I think the young man next to me, sweating, grunting and twisting himself into postures, could perhaps have used some more explanation. ;)

At the end of the practice, the practice leader asked me how it felt, having been away from the practice for so long. I told him it felt great, but mentioned it was hard on my wrists.

Thinking about it afterwards, it felt like going back to a house you used to live in after some time away. It feels familiar, maybe even nostalgic, but it's no longer home and you have a new reality.

NB: The cover image was sourced from Ryan Spielman.

10 ways to incorporate yoga philosophy into your teaching or practice

Last week or thereabouts, I wrote about my dissatisfaction with the way that I teach yoga as a mainly asana-centred discipline, and haven't really found a good balance of also imparting the philosophy of yoga. (NOT as a religious discipline, as discussed in this post about why yoga is not a religion.)

The post generated a lot of comments, and made me think, a lot, about how to practically incorporate more philosophy into your average asana class. This is a mish-mash of my own ideas, and commenters' suggestions - I can no longer really remember who said what, but if you'd like to take credit for your ideas, feel free to leave a comment!

10 practical ways to incorporate yoga philosophy into your teaching (or your practice)

1. Speak from the heart, and don't be afraid!  Talk only about things that resonate deeply with you. Don't just throw in a bunch of waffle because you feel you have to - if it doesn't resonate with you, it won't resonate with your students, either.  If you are among those who believe that yoga is more than just asana, know that you are not alone! Take the plunge, and know that you are doing exactly what you are meant to be doing. :)
2. Tell stories that people can relate to. Tell a story from your own experience, something you learned, or relate a philosophy concept to something everyday. Yoga philosophy is about life off the mat, and this is a nice way to get people thinking about how to apply it to their lives. The best stories often come from our own questions or mistakes, and it lets your class know that you are just a person struggling with it all, too.
3. Use the yoga sutras as a class theme or as the basis for a pre- or post-class discussion. Take a few minutes before or after the asana practice to have students sitting quietly with their breath, and during those moments, talk briefly through a point in the yoga sutras and allow students to meditate on that concept. If it's your style, weave the theme from beginning, throughout the asana practice, all the way to closing.  There are so many interesting sutras to choose from, you could probably do this for years without ever getting stuck for new material! Possibly best to avoid the ones about levitating, though. ;)
4. Go back to the basics. Ideas like concentration, gaze, focusing on your breath, listening to your body - these may seem like a given if you've been doing yoga for a while, but for new students the simple things are still new. Don't underestimate the power of going over the simple concepts again and again, even if it's just a mention of how asana is only one part of an eight-limbed practice.
5. Use concepts from yoga philosophy as the basis for guided meditations. For example, the koshas (sheaths), yamas (restraints), niyamas (actions), prakriti/purusha (ego/true self), moksha (freedom), or other concepts. The koshas work particularly well here, but really, you could script a guided meditation around almost anything.
6. Market your yoga classes as "asana with a bit of philosophy". Errr, ok, it might need to sound a bit cooler than that. "Roots of yoga?" "Deepen your practice?" Anyway, offer an asana practice with a slightly longer discussion / philosophy time built on. Or, if you are a sequencing genious, sequence the asanas around the philosophy somehow.  You could do something similar with pranayama.
7. Hold an "introduction to yoga philosophy" session, or regular weekly discussions of yoga philosophy.  Just go for it! Talk to your studio / coffeeshop / wherever about hosting a brief philosophy talk. Make it donation-based, bring cookies, and encourage lots of discussions and questions. Or make it a workshop and get people to actively come up with their own interpretations of things like the yamas and the niyamas.
8. Keep it non-denominational. Yoga as a philosophy embraces all possibilities and can be accessible to people of all faiths. Since you don't know if your students are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, Pagan, Hindu or any other religious inclination, don't alienate people by speaking from a religious perspective. Always offer non-denominational alternatives so people of all beliefs feel welcome.
9. Yoga is about self-exploration: empower people to think for themselves! Don't try to tell people what to think or what to do. Use yoga philosophy as a point for discussion and to stimulate thoughts, not as a soap-box. So, instead of saying "ahimsa tells us that to truly practice yoga you have to be vegetarian", say, "ahimsa is about not doing harm with your speech or your actions, think of a few ways hat you could integrate this idea into your life on or off the mat". Empower people to choose for themselves if and how they want to interpret the philosophical teachings into their lives.
10. Relate it to science. Science is something that most people nowadays, at least those with a modern education, relate to on a very fundamental level. The Dalai Lama has written a whole book on how Buddhist philosophy (very similar to yoga philosophy in many aspects) and modern science are converging in astounding ways. The concept of karma - actions creating similar actions - can be related to the new science of neuroplasticity, the concept of interconnectivity ("OM"...) explained in terms of sharing atoms.  There are more and more studies available documenting the benefits of yoga on a scientific level - even some of those that can't quite be explained!

And I guess, one more that goes without saying: always study, always seek to deepen your own knowledge. Read, talk, write, discuss, and most of all, experiment with living your interpretation of yoga philosophy, and continue to deepen your own journey.

Confessions of a yoga grump

I have a confession to make. You see, I seem to have a problem. Sometimes, I start to frown. I get upset. In fact, I get downright cranky! It makes me feel like I'm a lot like this guy, and just as much fun to be around:

At which point my lovely partner - a truly patient soul - generally says something like "why don't you do some yoga, sweetie?"

Yes, it's true... I'm a yoga grump! By which I mean that when I don't do yoga, I get grumpy! Apparently yoga should come with a warning label: "Highly addictive. If withdrawn from yoga, the yogi may suffer from grumpiness, aches and pains, mood swings, loss of motivation, couch-potatoness, too much TV, and other symptoms of withdrawal."

The only cure: more yoga! Yoga, almost daily, morning, noon or night. 5 minutes, 50 minutes, or an hour and 50 minutes. Yep, a cup of yoga a day keeps the grumpy bear away!

Yogis, does this happen to you?