Through the traditions of ancient India, the ritual basis for doing asana has been purification of the body. No doubt about it, a healthy body is the temple for a clearer mind. Now, Westerners may use the practice to strengthen and tone, but the intention of the practice is actually to prepare the body and mind for meditation, which is quite helpful in dealing with the pressures of daily life.
If your yoga practice leaves your body feeling great, but your mind is still easily distracted and disrupted, remember the tools you have been given:
Steady, deep breathing. (ujjayi breath)
Relaxed, steady gaze. (drishti)
Balance on the four corners of your feet. (padabandha)
Open your heart center. (love and compassion direct all thought)
And now a spontaneous poem. (No joke, it really, truly was.)
The yoga mat is our class
While the world tests our resolve to stay the path.
Have no fear, the mind be clear.
Your inner voice knows what to do.
These simple tools will get you through.
Be well~
Kristen
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Lessons from my Pregnant Belly
Regardless of the many challenges I've had growing up and finding my center, I've been relatively lucky to have a lean figure with no weight problems, not to mention a small frame-- ahem, and chest. As a yoga teacher, I try to guide my larger framed students into poses that are appropriate for their bodies, but you really have to walk in someone's shoes (er, bra) to know how they feel on the mat. As a pregnant yoga teacher, I am learning a thing or two about working with the curves and bulges of a larger and more sensitive body.
Teaching large framed bodies have been a welcome challenge for me; but I know that I seek to understand how their body moves relying upon my spacial awareness and visual skills to determine appropriate adjustments and modifications for them. But what makes certain poses more comfortable for their body are clearly different for me-- when I'm not pregnant. Being pregnant has slowed me down and changed my practice to accommodate my curves in a big way. Especially this last month, and I have two more to go. Because now I have a large belly and breasts where I didn't before. And this changes everything.
For example, the stepping-forth transition in Sun Salutations from down dog to lunge is more like a bear crawl to get my leg forward. And when I get the leg forth, it's off to the side of my shoulder, because even if I could get my knee around my belly, it would then be in my armpit squashing my chest. Up dog is more like a table with my head lifted. Even child's pose in late pregnancy is more like preparation for lion pose with my hands on the floor near my knees, because I simply cannot get my head to the floor and blood pounds in my head whenever I lean over.
As a teacher, I have had to change the modelling of my poses based on what my body can do while simultaneously my guidance is geared toward the needs of the students. A really good teacher can guide through language and rely less upon demonstration of the poses, so being pregnant has created a situation that nearly forced me to change how I teach, for the better.
Being pregnant with this changing body of mine is narrowing my teaching schedule and the types of asanas I can do,
Teaching large framed bodies have been a welcome challenge for me; but I know that I seek to understand how their body moves relying upon my spacial awareness and visual skills to determine appropriate adjustments and modifications for them. But what makes certain poses more comfortable for their body are clearly different for me-- when I'm not pregnant. Being pregnant has slowed me down and changed my practice to accommodate my curves in a big way. Especially this last month, and I have two more to go. Because now I have a large belly and breasts where I didn't before. And this changes everything.
For example, the stepping-forth transition in Sun Salutations from down dog to lunge is more like a bear crawl to get my leg forward. And when I get the leg forth, it's off to the side of my shoulder, because even if I could get my knee around my belly, it would then be in my armpit squashing my chest. Up dog is more like a table with my head lifted. Even child's pose in late pregnancy is more like preparation for lion pose with my hands on the floor near my knees, because I simply cannot get my head to the floor and blood pounds in my head whenever I lean over.
As a teacher, I have had to change the modelling of my poses based on what my body can do while simultaneously my guidance is geared toward the needs of the students. A really good teacher can guide through language and rely less upon demonstration of the poses, so being pregnant has created a situation that nearly forced me to change how I teach, for the better.
Being pregnant with this changing body of mine is narrowing my teaching schedule and the types of asanas I can do,
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