YAMA THERAPUTICS 200 HOUR YOGA TEACHER TRAINING WEEK 4

I loved this class! Currently, I am more drawn to the physical aspect than the spiritual aspect of my teacher training.  I am pretty centered spiritually. I have been learning about Radical Acceptance from Tara Brach (tarabrach.com) for several years. There is so much I need to learn about my physical body (Anamayakosha). I know that for me to feel confident to teach yoga, I will need to know as much as I can about the physical aspects of yoga.

In class, we learned about Compression, Tension, Proportion and Orientation. We also learned about the 8 major joints where compression is going to occur and how that affects our position and orientation in the Asanas.

We watched a video from Paul Grilley about the 8 major Joints. He sells a DVD called The Bare Bones of Yoga. You can purchase the video on line.

http://www.pranamaya.com/online-courses/the-bare-bones-of-yoga.html

This is a video clip from Paul about shoulder movement I found on Facebook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve_GUyEHdfI

I think this information is fascinating!

This is another link from the Anatomy Studies for Yoga Teachers. This article will familiarize you with the language of movement and orientation.

http://www.asfyt.com/the-language-of-movement/

It is important to know the difference between compression and Tension. I found that Paul Grilley explains it perfectly:

Some yoga postures stress the joints of the body to stimulate their strength and flexibility. There are two fundamentally different types of stress: tension and compression. Yogis need to know the difference between the two.

Tension is the familiar sensation of tissues being stretched. Compression is the sensation of tissues being pressed or pushed together. Both of these stresses are beneficial if done in moderation.  

When a yogi is stretching a joint, he is stretching a ligament, a tendon, or both. When a yogi is compressing a joint, he is compressing bones.

In his video, Paul discussed the 8 major joints of the body. He showed how our joints (the way our body is built) affect our movement. I found this fascinating. He showed that being “bendy” is not just about flexible muscles, that at some point movement will be limited by our joints.

The eight joints he talked about were Wrists, Elbow, Shoulder, Neck, Spine, Hips, Knees and Ankles.

In his video, he featured a lady who could put her head between her knees when she bent over in forward bend, but could not put her heels on the floor on down dog, because her ankles joints were limiting her. The video I attached illustrates how your shoulder joints affect poses like wheel.

In class, we talked about noticing what may be limiting someone from being in the classic alignment for a pose and whether or not to adjust them. We discussed how someone might be just fine without putting their heels flat on the floor in down dog. There are plenty of instances when it is best to let someone be where they are in their pose.

I considered this and then contemplated the energy you could use to adjust someone. I find that the adjustments I like the most involves pull energy as opposed to push energy. I like adjustments where the teacher uses his or her body to support you as they guide you into alignment. I certainly do not like it when a teacher simply wants to press into my joints.

This is essentially what Eric Shiftman says in his book, Moving Into Stillness, about Playing The Edge.

The main thing to understand is that there is no such thing as a "completed" or "ideal" posture. Each posture is an ever-evolving, constantly moving energy phenomenon that is different from day to day, moment to moment, and person to person. The process of sensitively flirting with your edges and achieving perfect energy flow is not merely the means to achieve the pose - it is the pose.

This is what the physical aspect of yoga is fundamentally all about. Your body is limited in movement not only through its genetic makeup, but through the conditionings that have accrued over the years. As you age, this becomes more and more apparent. Yoga is a way of exploring these limits. It's not a matter of "How can I attain this or that final posture?" It's a matter of gently pressing into the various edges you encounter within the template structure of each particular posture. And your edges and limits will change as a by-product of this exploration; you will change.

I will be back next week with more YTT!

Namaste!

Franny