BEEN A LONG COUPLE WEEKS

My last post, March 16, seems long ago; tho just 7 days.  This has been a winter of illness for me.  Not horrible illness, just one cold after another, and - this past 2 weeks - the flu.  (No, I didn't get a flu shot this year.) Hopefully, it is gone and I can get on without further 'stuff' for a while.

I looked at the blog and thought 'why not go back to the format I used a while back?'  What was that, you ask?  To offer a 'tip' on Fridays.  Not only is it helpful for me to write about and, as a result, remember; but it also takes some of the pressure off of finding a topic to write about.  So, here goes:

This comes from my friend and teacher, Sundari.

On the topic of 'down dog' -- when teaching that pose, I have recently been asking students to do the following:  rather than 'pop' right into it, to take their time - begin with bent knees, establish the foundation of the arms, move the heart towards the knees (but, don't lose the shoulders), experience how the back feels -- long and strong, as one stretches hips towards the sky.  All this happening BEFORE the legs straighten.

Why do this?  Watch your students the first time you ask them to move to down dog (without any discussion of the above).  What happens first?  They lift knees away from the floor and immediately the legs straighten -- at the expense of what? The back.  Legs straighten, back rounds (at least, in most cases).

Bring them back to their knees. Demo what happens when the legs go straight first by rounding your back  (I can do this naturally, some of you might have to fake it.) Then show them what it looks like when you keep the knees bent as you set up the hands to the hips.  Now, move your students back into the pose, with a strong command to keep knees bent. Sometimes it helps to actually tell students to bend the knees 3 inches, or so, and keep them that way.

I use suggestions like:  "From hands to heart pull energy; stabilize your arms by sending energy back to the hands and also stretch to the hips. Keeping knees bent, lengthen from hands to hips. Remember how your back feels now. Begin to stretch thighs towards the wall behind you.  If (or when) you feel your back lose the alignment it had when knees were bent, you have more work to do. Re-bend the knees, lengthen from shoulders to hips, and try it again."

I was reminded of this action when I saw a pic of a HUGE class, all in down dog.  And, most with rounded backs and straight legs. Ouch!

Hope you have a great Friday.  Any questions, please ask.