Back to the quote I'll be using in this weeks class, "Making a decision to do something and then doing it requires not doing a dozen other things." This concept is very pertinent in my own situation and is one of the great teachings inherent in the Anusara Yoga practice. I've had to say yes to slowing down my practice to heal and to be there for my kids. I've had to say no to one of the things that has always filled with me so much goodness. Just as you say no to a dozen other things when you say yes to something else; you say yes to a dozen or more things when you say no. By limiting my attendance in public classes and working diligently in a therapeutic way, I'm almost all healed up and I've shared many great experiences with my family.
Learning to honor and even appreciate limitation was one of the hardest and most valuable lessons for me to grasp early on in my Anusara practice. As I teacher, I hope to share this lesson and help students feel empowered even though they do experience certain limitations. From a philosophical standpoint, when spirit becomes embodied in physical form it must become limited in certain capacities to create a unique form. You might think of the way a prism separates light so that all the colors can be seen as individual colors. When all the colors merge as light, we only see white. When all the colors merge in form, we only see dark. Our limitations as much as our talents and preferences are what guide us on our own individual creative journeys.
The spiritual concept is that divine creative energy separates herself so that she can experience all the different aspects of herself without being muddled together as one cosmic ocean. One way to feel liberated even with the recognition of limitation is to remember that we are all aspects of one great light and that we can only become whole again by coming together and sharing our light with each other.
In classes this week, I'm sharing some of the therapeutics I've been using to bring health and wellness back to my wrists and shoulders as well as fun poses that don't require weight bearing on the hands. What I've gained in saying no to some of my favorite poses like handstand and the backbend urdhva dhanurasana is a deeper appreciation of the real healing that can take place when an appropriate set of yoga therapeutics is used on a consistnet basis and the grounding, centering and calming qualities of headstand and the forward fold, uttanasana.
Meditation (Theme)
"When we honor ourselves, our talents as well as our limitations, and when we appreciate and "forgive" the talents and limitations of others we can come together as a more unified, harmonious and glorified whole."
Live Well ~ Be Well
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Anecdotal Support and Heart Quality
As is usually the case, there will be several triggers in my class planning that will solidify a theme. After I had decided to use Georgia O'Keefe's theme, I watched a Christina Sell video on www.yogaglo.com Her class was also on working with limitations and offering ourselves love rather than criticism in response to limitation. I loved this line of her class, "Peace comes alive when we acknowledge our limitations and respond to them with love, care and consistency."
As an Anusara teacher, we are asked to teach qualities that heart-centered and life affirming. My overarching theme is almost always harmony which I view as a dynamic balance of peace and vitality that supports health, well-being, and joy. While accepting limitation may bring peace, overcoming limitations can be exhilarating. The trick is to overcome limitation in a respectful way. The practice becomes, how can I appreciate my current limitations AND expand what is possible for me. Increasing our awareness and then moving with respect for ourselves and our relationship with everything else is key to joyful growth.
Sequencing
I'm starting today with gentle therapeutics for the shoulders, neck and upper torso. We'll be using principles to limit mobility in the low body so that we can liberate the upper body. Many of the names are in sanskrit or are made up so you might just have to come to class or schedule a private class to understand some of theses names;-)
- Legs up the Wall - Mummy Arms
- Supine Tada with Feet on Baseboard > Bend knees - mummy arms
- Snow Angels and stretches
- Straight legs feet press into wall mummy arms
- Shoulder opener twist
- Standing mummy arms
- Warm-up vinyasa focus on dynamic balance of allowing and limiting (opening, mnrg, onrg) include:
- heart openers with focus on shoulder principles + neck alignment to prep for sirsa, how opening extending allows fuller access to mnrg
- down dog using mnrg to clear and open channels of arm - shoulder, elbow, wrist
- ardha uttana > uttana - clear line through spine and head > upep
- lunges, crescent, parsva prep
- anahata with hands lifted - review shoulder principles for inversions
- Dolphin - eka pada
- headstand prep
- sirsa I - step up with restraint to keep safe (partners if needed)
- Sirsa I + lift head
- Pincha variations
- gripping block (new var to me from Noah class)
- pinch block (strap as option)
- no props option
- open upper back over block
- standing poses incorporate therapeutic actions (limit and extend in new ways to great greater harmony)
- crescent
- parsva
- triko
- thigh stretch at wall with backbend opt.
- ustrasana - facing/hands on wall
- repeat pinchs
- scorpion var.
- parsvo at wall
- uttana
- mala
- supine recovery set + sava
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