in yoga, it’s best to avoid pain, and i advise students to find the edge where they can be comfortable but with just enough effort.
The posture should be comfortable and easy.
~ Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
yoga is not static. even when “holding” postures, there is movement in the body. energy flows from the ground up, from the crown down to the feet, and through outstretched arms. as the body finds alignment, sensations change. as the posture is held muscles feel different, strength waxes and wanes, the breath may become shallow, and then on reminder, become deep again.
it’s fun to explore postures. in a high lunge, wiggling the hips from side to side opens up the joints, and provides stretches in different places. find the sensation, and stay in it, holding, breathing into it. create space with your breath.
are you escaping?
yet it is also possible to “wiggle” enough to escape sensation. possible to arrange the posture “just so”, in a way perhaps that looks nice, or gets deeper, but doesn’t stretch the muscles evenly, or doesn’t stretch them at all. sometimes it is about relaxation. sometimes the skeleton finds itself compressed in a joint, and a person’s unique skeleton requires a shift, perhaps not in ideal alignment to ‘get by the bone’. people’s shoulders can be this way. some people can’t lift their arms up over their head from the front - they get to shoulder height and have to come out to the side. it can be like this in different places in the body.
becoming more aware of the difference between healthy sensation and pain, and sensation and escape from sensation, are useful inquiries.
try this at home
come into a forward bend: exhale, hinge at the hips, and instead of rounding the back to get as close to your knees as possible, keep the back straight. one way to try this is to place hands on hips as you come down. exhale on the way down, draw your belly in, and your hips will have more room to fold over. breathe. feel the stretch in your hamstrings, all the way up your legs. move your hips slightly. draw your tailbone down towards ground. don’t not drop your hands just yet.. keep your back straight.
if you can’t reach the floor, you may want props. it might be blocks, or if you don’t have those, try anything else that’s stable enough. thick books, a bench/low stool, or even a chair. bend one knee and straighten the other knee. alternate back and forth, releasing the tension in one leg and increasing sensation in the other. hold on one side. even out the hips. extend out of your waist. keep a straight back. hold on the other side. come back into a full forward bend with both knees straight.
then come into the forward bend you may be used to doing, the one that gets you closer to your knees. do you notice a difference in sensation? do you feel your lower back more now? do you feel less of a stretch in your hamstrings? is the sensation lower or higher up your legs? both may give you a stretching sensation, but notice the difference. try the first one again. is it more intense?
ego? comfort? go inside and look
think about whether you are striving to get your head to your knees when you are at your regular yoga class. notice if you feel reluctant to back off and go for the bigger stretch because it doesn’t look as impressive, or make you feel as flexible (if you feel strongly that your striving is for your own personal challenge only).
both forward bends are okay, though if you have problems with your lower back you want to try and keep a straight back. if you have osteopenia or osteoporosis, be careful with forward bends, especially coming back up to standing.
explore sensation, find the edge, and honour your body — where it is at today, right now. you’ll get “further” in the long run, i promise.
namaste
Tags: awareness, effort, flexibility, opening, sensation, striving, witness consciousness, yoga
Thank you for this most useful and insightful post! I really felt an enormous difference, by doing what appears like less. I love that. By only performing the forward bend with a straight back, I really felt the sensation in my hamstrings, where it should be felt and not the lower back.
For someone like me who keeps wanting to challenge myself in yoga, this is a great reminder to be present with where I am right now, and not force something that eventually will come with time and practice.
This way of mindfully going into the sensation of the pose with a straight back and not focusing so much how far I am going, but listening to the body, getting deep into the sensation of the pose, and releasing resistance is awesome! Thank you so much!
namaste
Piera
Piera
Piera,
this is wonderful awareness
one of my teacher trainers emphasized to us that less is indeed more. i find this too, that if i am striving so hard that i am overstretching, i won’t gain anything. however i gain a great deal - in the moment - to breathe into the sensation, avoid pain, and as i exhale, actively relax the muscles. so i say this with respect to those who do wish to see physical results from yoga: less is more. you will get further. you will also have the opportunity to practice with mind too - are you practicing from violence, or ahimsa, non-violence? when you are overstretching, what are you thinking? when a teacher keeps you less challenged than you desire, and you become impatient, what experiences are you closing yourself off to in that?
namaste