Intelligent Movement: Finding Your Spine - Holiday Survival 101

Ahhh... the holidays. Aren't the holidays just grand? The food, the decorations, and the warm glow of FAMILY. (Insert the sound of the needle scratching across the surface of the old-time record). 

For many of us, despite how close we may be to our nearest and dearest, this is a time of putting on our best faces and ignoring some of the small comments that make us cringe. Even if our familial relationships are fantastic there is always that one person that you hold your breath around, praying that they won't belch at the dinner table.  As they say, "you choose your friends, not your relatives."

Additionally, family and the whole busy vibration of the holidays challenges even the calmest of individuals. It is a time when our third chakra (our power center) is in high gear.  The third chakra relates to your relationship to your intimate communities—who are you within your family structure? Who are you in your work environment? At church? In other organizations? It even relates to who you are within the small community fighting over the last ‘whatever’ on the shelf at the Toys R Us.

It is truly a time when we need to reach deep and find our flexibility. Focusing on the mobility of our spines is one of the easiest ways we can access this mental and emotional flexibility.  The spine is the gateway to our stress response—the less stressed we are the less rigid our body becomes. The entire nervous system pours out of the spaces in and around the vertebrae.  The health of the spine is paramount to any other movement concept you may consider.  Its proper alignment and flexibility is at the heart of all things Rasamaya.  If it works well you can comfortably stand in your place of personal power without needing to be overly aggressive, assertive or downright angry.

So how do you work spinal flexibility? One important and simple way actually is to use movement to work against the natural curves of the spine. It seems counterintuitive but for many can provide great relief.  For instance in cat arch (where you lift your head) the spine will naturally want to move into the lordotic (lower back) curvature and in cat tuck (where you tuck your head) your spine will want to move into the kyphotic (upper back) curvature.  Try reversing this pattern—as you arch, focus on drawing the tailbone back and dropping the heart towards the floor instead, as you tuck focus on pressing the lower back to the ceiling rather than the upper back.  For most this provides a great sense of relief in the spine and increases the disc space. I offer this movement with the consideration there are no serious spinal medical issues such as herniations, stenosis etc.

The mantra to memorize here is "width and length." It's one I come back to often in my own movement practice.  It’s important to find the most width and length in every movement, whether that be triangle pose in yoga, chair pose at the barre, or single leg stretch in Pilates. Think of the spine like a garden hose in every movement posture. The question to ask yourself is, "where am I placing the spine not to put a kink in the works?"  Find long lines in every movement —forward bends, back bends and particularly twists. Many students will lean back putting a kink in the hose in order to crank the shoulders around—this results in no flow and decreased breath capacity.

If you don't stop up your own plumbing you can more easily "go with the flow."  All of a sudden, it becomes a cinch to let the last "Let's Rock Elmo" go to someone else with the wild crazed look in their eyes, or to calmly pass the gravy rather than throw it at your loved one. You may even find you do so with a sense of gratitude for your own sustained sense of calm and well-being. Go ahead, be flexible and give yourself a little pat on the back.

 -- Carrie Tyler

Carrie Tyler is the Founder and Creator of the Rasamaya Method.  She is the proud owner of several Rasamaya studios and runs teacher trainings, retreats and workshops within the US and abroad.   In her private practice she specializes in women's health, chronic structural issues and sexuality in and sees private clients when she is not traveling. She offers lectures and consultations on the Business of Yoga. Learn more about her at www.rasamaya.com

Intelligent movement: Spinal Flexibility

November is right around the corner. The Rasamaya theme for the month is your third chakra and spinal flexibility. It's important to be hyper aware that spinal flexibility may have nothing to do with how flexible in other places a person is. It may have everything to do with the shape of their vertebrae, or the flexibility of other parts of their body.  For instance, in a standard seated forward fold some folks can fold flat and some don't even move an inch. If you notice that a student can't tilt the pelvis forward in an anterior direction (meaning if when they pitch the body forward it looks like a nice long line from tailbone to crown) it may be their hamstrings holding them back, not their spine. Make sense?

Also, flexibility is not always desirable. For instance, I have a hyper mobile lower back with lax ligaments from years of bad ballet training and an incredibly tight thoracic spine. This is true for a lot of yoga teachers, dancers and presenters. Having to speak in public all the time (and having been a performer) has caused me to lift my chest (in an "open heart heart me roar" kind of way) and thus taken my thoracic spine forward and straightened out the thoracic curve (imagine a military body standing to attention). This is not good, especially because my lower back and neck have compensated by increasing their anterior curvature to support the lack of curvature in my middle back.  If I continue to work my lower back flexibility it's true I might be able to literally put my head on my arse, but to the detriment of my lower back. What purpose would it serve? I would be punishing my lumbar and sacred sacrum to the point where something is going to collapse. I would end up with at best lower back pain and at worst dislocation of the vertebrae (spondylolythesis). Either way, it’s going to hurt like crazy.

The solution? Core work, neutral pelvis. My favorite cue this year has been, "Find the feet, settle the barrel of the pelvis over the feet, now settle the barrel of the ribs over the pelvis, and then bring the 10 lb bowling ball of your head on top of the ribs. Widen the collarbones out to the sides without squeezing the shoulder blades together and shortening the back. Now breathe." This simple stance will force your core to engage and bring your bones closer to where they belong.

 -- Carrie Tyler

Carrie Tyler is the Founder and Creator of the Rasamaya Method.  She is the proud owner of several Rasamaya studios and runs teacher trainings, retreats and workshops within the US and abroad.   In her private practice she specializes in women's health, chronic structural issues and sexuality in and sees private clients when she is not traveling. She offers lectures and consultations on the Business of Yoga. Learn more about her at www.rasamaya.com

Intelligent Movement: Hip Mobililty in Lateral Rotation

Reality is that as we age our parts simply wear out.  Mobility is one of the first things to go. Chronic structural patterns, movement habits, old injury, the onset of arthritis and dryness can lessen mobility and fluidity in our joints. Students often spend much of their time chasing the flexibility they had when they were younger, which often results in further damage and frustration.  Our focus should be on working with the structure we've been given and maintaining what we've got. Our skeleton reshapes itself through our entire life based on how we move and use it. It really is about present moment—the past is never re-attainable.

The hip joint (acetabulofemoral joint) presents a particular challenge because it is so important to daily life. Without a mobile hip, simple movements like walking, bending, sitting, standing and reaching become virtually impossible. There are a few things we can do. Understanding proper range of motion and the balance between tension and compression in the hip is one of those things.  

 

Let's spend a moment exploring a common issue in hip mobility: lateral rotation

 

Lateral rotation relates to your ability to ‘turn out’ your femur. It is what we think of as classic ballerina stance. The turn-out that you had when you were six may not be the turn out you have when you are 86, or 36 for that matter.  The quest for more lateral rotation shows up all the time in yoga classes in postures such as Bound Angle (baddha konasana), Hand to Big Toe Side (utthitha hasta parsva padagustasana) . In barre and Pilates, you find it in with such postures as V-Stance or Side Battemant Lent (side leg lifts). I remember years ago a student injured her entire groin area by sitting with sandbags on her legs every day at home (unbeknownst to me) in an attempt to achieve Lotus posture. Sometimes advancing your lateral rotation is simply not possible. 

 

Aside from injury and dry joints the are any number of natural structural shapes that could come into play in range of literal motion. A short femoral neck typically has less horizontal range of motion than a long one. A shallow or more anterior facing hip socket may present less ability for lateral rotation. There also could be a decent rump in the way, blocking some of the mobility. Just simply knowing that maybe it's not ‘you,’ it's just ‘your structure,’ offers students a light at the end of the tunnel. Lotus posture and getting your leg behind your head is simply not achievable for everyone, no matter how much we may wish or pray. I dreamed for years of getting my leg behind my head. I tried all kinds of techniques offered by friends. I poked, pulled and prodded — you know what I got? A sacrum out of whack and a sore hamstring.

 

A good way to measure your natural turn-out is to put your feet together in parallel and then step them out to the side by rotating from the hip (as exhibited in the photo). Do this in one swift motion into a natural V position without waddling or forcing the feet to turn out more. This angle is your natural turn-out. If you trace this angle down from the femur to the knee to the space between the second and third toes you have found your natural turn-out. I often have students match this line by making a 90 degree bend with their elbows. They trace the line off their waist towards the foot, by using their arms to see where their natural turn-out occurs when they take the leg into the air. Most students will punish the lower back when taking the leg up in an attempt to reach what they believe to be ‘side.’ Teaching your students what true lateral rotation is may not only offer body acceptance, but also possibly prevent injury.

Excellent Video by Paul Grilley:

-- Carrie Tyler

Carrie Tyler is the Founder and Creator of the Rasamaya Method.  She is the proud owner of several Rasamaya studios and runs teacher trainings, retreats and workshops within the US and abroad.   In her private practice she specializes in women's health, chronic structural issues and sexuality in and sees private clients when she is not traveling. She offers lectures and consultations on the Business of Yoga. Learn more about her at www.rasamaya.com

Intelligent Movement: To the Core Yoga

- Carrie Tyler
Carrie Tyler is the Founder and Creator of the Rasamaya Method.  She is the proud owner of several Rasamaya studios and runs teacher trainings, retreats and workshops within the US and abroad.   In her private practice she specializes in women's health, chronic structural issues and sexuality in and sees private clients when she is not traveling. She offers lectures and consultations on the Business of Yoga. Learn more about her at www.rasamaya.com

Heart to Heart: Learning to say "I love you" to your body.

Recently, I had a discussion with my yoga teacher trainees on beauty and culture and their relationship to the second chakra. Later that night I was packing up boxes for my trip out West and I came across some old photos from when I had a serious eating disorder (basically non-clinically diagnosed anorexia). Why did no one say anything? Probably because if they had I wouldn't have listened anyway. It's entirely possible that maybe someone did say something and I just don't remember.  For those of you who know me today, take 40 lbs off this frame and that is what you are looking at in this photo. You could practically wrap your thumb and middle finger around my upper arm.  I am wearing two bras to fill out this dress. This is not the thinnest I became during the next five years. 

For those of you who struggle with an eating disorder and body image issues I just want to say that there are so, so, so many of us that understand the battle. I won't lie to you and tell you it gets easier, but I will tell you that you can get stronger each day, each year. If you work hard at it, you can and will recognize that you are so much more than your superficial reflection. 

Be sensitive to discussions about "thin." Learn to compliment each other on the specific, not on weight loss or weight gain.  "Your face looks amazing," or "you look great in those jeans" is very different to, "Have you lost weight? You look great." Recently during a fast, I lost a lot of weight at once. I received boundless compliments from women on how "thin" I looked. No one meant any harm, and none of the women knew that I had suffered from an eating disorder. Gently, I explained to them that I was on a cleanse, was strictly on juice and water, and that when I stopped I would most likely gain back the weight and quite possibly could gain more in my body's effort to compensate for the nutritional loss. Thin does not equal beautiful. 

You can only source beauty from yourself, but it helps to surround yourself with people who exhibit love, power and all the things you admire. It helps to talk about weight and not pretend it didn't happen and that it doesn't continue to affect your life. Empower others with your honesty. There is not a day that goes by that I don't look in the mirror and have to force myself to see me as I really am in the present moment. The difference from that time in my life to the present is that I have learned to say to myself, "I love you. You are definitely beautiful." I mean it. I became a movement teacher and a specialist in women's sexuality to empower myself and other women. Find the thing that pulls you through each day—keep searching till you discover it—don't give up. Give your life a voice.

Learn day by day to embrace the ugly and the imperfect, the curves and the rolls and the infinite power that is you. It makes you who you are, and you are so much more than just a body.

- Carrie Tyler

Carrie Tyler is the Founder and Creator of the Rasamaya Method.  She is the proud owner of several Rasamaya Centers and runs teacher trainings, retreats and workshops within the US and abroad.   In her private practice she specializes in women's sexuality, health and chronic structural issues and sees private clients when she is not traveling. She is also the Northeast Teacher Trainer for Pfilates (pelvic floor Pilates). Learn more about her at www.rasamaya.com