Be sure to enter the asana from Table Pose (on hands and knees) with hands directly under shoulders, knees directly under hips, and hip-width apart. Keep your hands and feet in this position as you lift the seat up, sending your tailbone to the sky. Do not adjust the position of your hands and feet! Fingers are spread wide, palms flat on the mat; press into the point where your fingers join your hand; the folds in your elbows should face each other. If you feel discomfort in your hands or wrists, do the posture with your hands on blocks, which places your weight more on your feet, less on the hands. Keep the knees slightly bent if your legs are tight, rather than forcing them to be straight.
Alternately flex the knees and lift the heels up and down a few times to warm up the hamstrings. This is called "walking the dog". Finally, press the heels toward the floor as far as your body allows, while moving the chest toward the thighs, deepening the opening in the shoulders. Hold at your edge for 3 - 5 full breaths, neck relaxed, head hanging off the end of the spine like a ripe fruit on a vine. Rest in Child Pose, or walk hands and feet toward each other and roll slowly up to standing.
When teaching this posture, it helps to give a student a gentle press with both your hands on center back, just between shoulder blades and low back area. Press in and upward as she exhales, to assist in the lift, and the opening of the shoulders. Keep it gentle, just to give the idea of moving in that direction. You can also walk around behind the student, place your fingers in the crease between thighs and hips, and gently pull her hips toward you. Remind her to relax her neck and BREATHE.......
Extended Downward Dog takes the inversion a little further by raising the leg above the heart allowing blood to drain out of the leg and back to the heart. It also increases the leg stretch, and can increase the opening of the shoulders. Enter the pose by raising the leg slowly, foot flexed, pressing out through the heel, and taking care not to twist the hip outward. Hips should remain aligned. Again, maintain the position of the hands. Lift the leg to a position you can hold without compromising your alignment, hold for 3 - 5 full breaths. Release slowly; you may want to rest briefly in Child Pose before repeating on the opposite side.
You can also rest your raised foot against a wall for support in holding the posture.
Enter Warrior I by standing with feet wide apart, (usually feet under wrists when arms are extended.) Turning the R foot outward at a right angle to the L foot, a line from the heel of the R foot should intercept the instep of the L foot. Hips do not turn, but continue to face forward. Raise the arms to shoulder level, and keeping torso upright, bend R knee bringing the R knee directly over the R ankle. If the knee juts out beyond the ankle, back the L foot up a bit. Press into outside edge of L foot, press into R foot, turn head to R and gaze beyond fingertips, keeping shoulders relaxed. Breathe fully and hold for 5 breaths. Exit the pose by slowing straightening the R knee; reverse the foot position and repeat to the L. You can keep the arms extended, if that is comfortable for you.
When teaching this pose, watch for knees that are jutting forward, and also, R knees that "cave in" out of alignment with the hip. Place your palm on the outside of the student's knee and tell her "press into my hand". as she does so, her knee will come into correct alignment. Use the same simple press technique to help straighten the L leg. Students also have a tendency to lean the torso forward. Stand just beyond her L foot, place your R foot on her torso where her hip joins her torso to keep her steady as you gently pull her L hand toward you. This will bring her torso into an upright position while keeping her legs grounded. Encourage the student to keep her gaze steady beyong her fingertips, as this posture reminds us to stay focused.
Thank you for doing this! Being able to help my students is one of the hardest parts for me. Between talking through every pose AND executing every pose, I find it hard to also observe how everyone else is doing! Since they are all mostly beginners, I don't want to hold the poses too long and discourage everyone. Any pointers for how I can give myself a chance to help the students without leaving everyone groaning and begging to be released?
ReplyDeleteFirst, have everyone sit down and watch you demonstrate the pose. Just do it, no talking. Hold for 3-5 breaths, come out, and go into a brief counterpose. Then discuss the pose, it's benefits, precautions, and modifications, and contraindications. Then talk them through the pose as you walk around and assist. Always tell your students to count their breaths, and to hold for 3-5 breaths and then come out slowly, and give them permission to always come out sooner if they need to. This is how we were taught to introduce new poses at Kripalu. Once the poses are familiar to them, you begin to enter a pose with them, and then step out of the pose so you can go around and observe and assist. Remind them to come out as they need to, and counterpose, if you are busy with someone. The thing is, if they ALWAYS watch you and do the poses along with you, they never get into their own experience, they just mirror how you look. Without you doing the pose they are more apt to feel what is going on within themselves. Kripaly teaches 5 words for teachers to repeat as they hold a pose: Breathe. Relax (any tension you don't need in the pose) Feel (what is happening inside your body) Watch (anything that might be changing) and Allow. Allow yourself to be just where you are, no judgments. Just say the 5 words as they hold, and eventually it will become an automatic response.
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