Notes from Detroit, January, 2015

Posted on February 9, 2015 by admin

Nurturing the Heart:
Stabilizing the Heart Field and using this as the center and source of action and perception in the postures, and in life.

1. Find your heart:
a. as a deep feeling of love and compassion, or even simple well being and joy: nurture this often.
See PYS I-33
b. as a place in the center of your chest, just behind the physical heart.
(yoga nerds: the sino-atrial node).
c. From here allow a subtle expansion field to emerge, radially. No force, no muscles, just an opening.
d. Recognize the ever-present stillness at the center of the field. Eventually the sense of stillness will grow to fill your whole being.

2. From the expansion, allow the “brain” to condense and drop into the heart. This is a subtle shift in energy from the brain center to the heart center.

3. From the heart expansion, allow the 3rd chakra energy to rise up to the heart, opening and spreading the dome of the diaphragm from below. Now feel the heart balancing head and guts as a single conscious intelligence.

4. Now allow heart energy to open through crown and root chakras, up to the heavens and down into Mother Earth. Feel the toroidal shape of the heart energy field. Let it stabilize. (The Institute of HeartMath is a rich resource for heart related studies.)

5. Using the sound ‘OM’, continue to awaken the heart field, feeling the balance of expanding and condensing (centrifugal and centripetal) energies.

6. Now, in tadasana, establish heart link to earth through the feet. Keep ankles, knees, hips relaxed as they feel the rhythm of flexion – extension, allowing energy to both ground and also rise up through crown chakra to the heavens.

7. Chest expands, brain softens and drops, continuously. Divide the lower body energy, from diaphragm to pelvic floor, into three sections. The first, the upper abdomen, including liver, stomach, spleen, expands up toward heart, as if this region were part of the heart energy. The second, the navel region, strongly condenses, not muscularly, but energetically as in a vacuum. Half squirts up to help upper abdominal, diaphragm and heart rise and expand. Second half squirts down to help open the third section, the pelvic bowl. Feel the inside of the pelvis expanding slightly and let the downward energy grow through your legs and your imaginary tail. Let all levels and layers of energy and structure find the expanding heart field. Integrate, stabilize, dance.

8. With minimum disturbance to the dynamic balance, use your imaginary tail to take you in and out of the forward bend. Explore from uttanasana to prasarita padottanasana and back to develop and sustain fluidity through the full range of motion.

9. The groin gates and the groin highway: When we examine flow and structure in the previous poses, we find energy/pressure often gets stuck between torso and limbs. Opening the imaginary tail is helpful to create space and flow here. The inner heels are part of the ‘tail line’ of energy, and they in turn are also connected to the groins. Anatomically, the energy passes through the ‘femoral triangle’, following the blood vessel highway. If this area stays open, from the heart, all the way to the feet and back to the heart, the legs and torso are harmoniously integrated.

In any standing forward bend, turn the feet out slightly (external rotation, and notice the feeling through the femoral gate. Next, turn the feet inward (internal rotation) and again notice the energy flow through the gates. On inwards rotation especially, extend out and down more through the inner heels. Which offers more space and flow for you? Notice that, in general, inner rotation helps spiral the energy down, and external helps to spiral the energy back up to the heart.

10. Use the inner groin highway extending to inner heel for the back leg in the fish body standing poses, trikonasana, parsvakonasana, vira II, and ardha chandrasana. Feel the extension like a skater pushing out through the inner edge of the skate blade. The dominant energy flow is from the pelvis into the back leg, creating a deeper opening to the front leg groin. This can be further explored in this variation of half moon I call the mushroom. Here I am asking yoga teacher Amy Christine McCoy to drop her back leg slightly, without losing the inner length. this allows the whole outer leg, including ITB, glute medius, piraformis, to relax into the support of the inner line. Many students hold the back leg from the outer line, which breaks the connection to the heart/core/organ energy. Notice also the ‘stem of the mushroom’, the standing leg, how the down and up energies are in balance and the whole torso ‘floats’ above the standing leg femur head. No compression, lots of space and lightness. This is sthira sukham in action. (see below)

11. Now take this action into the one legged dog pose, moving in and out of flipping the dog if your shoulder allows. Continue to elongate out through pelvis and legs, but also extend out through heart into crown chakra and arms, like plank pose. This double action centered in the heart allows you to remain balanced as you go deeper into the flip. The blood vessel highway opens and becomes the perceptual source of deeper opening and movements.

12. Next, use the wall to do move from one leg dog to handstand. The extended legs grounds into the wall, use the groin highway to lift the leg from the floor and extend it up to th ceiling, going into slight extension to open further. Add a bit of ‘plank heart’ and bend the back-bending leg at the knee to create a mini scorpion pose.

13. Use the same principle of groin length in coming up into head balance and elbow balance.

14. Supported bridge pose with a block is another wonderful way to explore the heart energy and its capacity to open the body. Gravity and leverage are used to balance energies moving to and from the heart. Use the block as a fulcrum to help lift the heart by lengthening pubic bones / tail out and down. Lengthen the inner regions without contracting the lower spinal muscles. stay grounded through the feet to help. Let the heart and then shoulders lift away from floor. Only back of skull remains grounded at that end. Then, keeping the heart reaching to the tail, let the shoulder hang/release back to the floor with out sinking. This will keep 5th chakra open and maybe even 6 and 7. All the shoulder stand variations have this opening as a foundation. ( In theory anyway!)

15: Some other postures: Bakasana takes the same principles into a very compact pose. Groin length becomes groin depth as you extend out through pelvis, even as the legs are in deep flexion. The plank heart empowers the arms, and the whole core rounds and lifts simultaneously. Uncoiling the energy allows you to jump back to chaturanga or plank pose. Dhanurasana is the inverse: the back body coils to elongate the deep front line of the body, including heart, diaphragm, mediastinum and mesentery, as well as groins and armpits.

16. Spiralic action: twisting poses require a double action, like the coiled serpents and wings of the caduceus, the symbol of Hermes, the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, also known as Mercury by the Romans. In any twisting pose, with the stillness of your heart at the center, feel the spinal axis or chakra line. Imagine that whatever rotation you desire will begin subtly and slowly from the deepest core of this axis. Let it radiate out slowly. Invite the opposite direction to join in the dance and allow the fluid body, open to your heart energy, respond in its own way and time. Old friend Betty Eiler shows the lightness and elegance of a heart centered twisting posture with some support from blocks.

15. Sutras Lesson: Key sutras to ’embody’ the practice:
Chapter II, sutras 46, 47, 48; Chapter I, sutras 2, 3, 4

Patanjali has only three sutras on asana. Yoga students, and especially teachers, should know these ‘by heart’, i.e., embody them continuously. Every pose is a yoga pose, 24/7/365.

II-46, sthira sukham asanam: a yoga pose is a balance of stability and adaptability. Stability is neither static nor stagnant. It is a dynamic state that sustains its core organizing intelligence from the heart, as the world, inner and outer, changes. It is flexible and adaptable, in tune with its environment. It is an expression of the fundamental principle of aliveness.
II-47 prayatna shaithilyaananta samaapattibhyaam: with the dissolving of effort and absorption into the cosmic field (posture is mastered). When the heart field is the root of the pose, no effort is required. Then the cosmic field embraces the heart field and there is integration, wholeness, oneness.
II-48 tato dvandva anabhighaatah: Then duality is seen as an expression of wholeness, not conflict. Yin and yang, when integral to each other, are not two, but One.

These next sutras need to be experienced together to fully realize their meaning. Mind activity (citta vrttis) is normal and an inherently healthy aspect of being human. However, as we are also emotional beings in continuous relationship with others, we have an aspect of mind, known as the ahamkara in Sanskrit, that organizes our self sense, so we can, in a healthy way, differentiate self from other. The immune system is the physiological component to this process. Parenting and the attachment process plays a major role in determining whether we mature with a healthy sense of self. When love and compassion, expressions of the heart, are the center of our self sense, the mind can function in a healthy way.

The question, ‘who, or perhaps what, am I?, is a crucial seed for contemplation. From the yoga point of view, the self, the I am, is non-dual ‘Wholeness” or Purusha in the sutras, which we all ‘know’ when we are heart-centered. But it may take a while to ‘recognize’ this. We may have multiple selves, multiple identites in our mind field, not all heart based, often in conflict. We play roles in society: father/mother, daughter/son, friend, neighbor, boss, employee, etc. When mind over-rules the heart, conflicts in these various roles lead to stress, feelings of inadequacy, the need to defend ‘ourselves/beliefs/ideas against ‘others’. The transformation of these stress inducing ideas/beliefs/patterns of mind activity into an innate sense of fullness, wholeness, inner peace and equanimity, also known as spiritual maturing and the awakening of the heart, is described in the next three sutras.

I-2 Yogash citta vrtti nirodha: yoga is the dissolving of the dysfunctional mind states. The energies tied up in mental patterns based on separation, alienation and feeling inadequate are transformed into the healing energies of the heart.
I-3 tada drashtuh svarupe avasthaanam : then, wholeness, resting in its own inherent “Stillness” centered in the heart, recognizes itself and becomes stable.
I-4 vrtti sarupyam itaratra: (at other times) our beliefs about our self come from a sense of separation, are confused and inherently dysfunctional.

As these clues from Patanjali begin to resonate more and more, you will find they all lead back the the heart, that amazingly mysterious, wonderful, intense expression of being alive, of Spirit coming into matter to celebrate Itself! Rest there. Be consumed there by the fire of aliveness. Celebrate!

2014 YLT 10th weekend summary

Posted on January 8, 2015 by admin

This weekend we focused on using energy lines in new ways. So far, we have been using lines and circles/spheres of energy to create simultaneous balance and extension (moving out of tension) in the postures. The Hoberman Sphere has been our metaphor for breathing as expanding and condensing, and sustaining an internal, 3-dimensional spaciousness. The circle is the feminine side of sacred geometry, and to this we have added the masculine, the straight line, as an axis through the sphere to give is another polarity, such as head and tail, or heaven and earth. From these we have created the basic shape of an organism centered in the cosmos. The gyroscope gives us the sense of dynamic stability the is at the essence of all life.

For the next level, we will begin to explore some new energy shapes based on what are known in math as the conic sections. These are defined by the different angles one can slice through a cone. We have played with the circle so the next to come is the ellipse. Like the circle, the ellipse is a closed shape, but where as the circle has a single center to define its perimeter, the ellipse has two centers, known as focal points. We use the elliptical shape to explore 2 chakras at a time , one at each focal point. For example, when lying in savasana, or any supported position, we can imagine the heart chakra at one focus and the navel center, or the sacral center as the second. Any two chakras will work, but if you use the alternating ones, (1-3, 2-4, 3-5, etc) the chkra between can also emerge as the center of the two focal points. The earth’s path around the sun, as well as that of the other planets, is ellipsoidal, so this is a very cosmic, macro-phase pattern to align with.

When we come to the parabolic and hyperbolic curves, we enter a new phase in our integration as these are open curves, coming from outside the body, passing through us, and then moving on again. From the conic perspective, the parabolic curve is parallel to the edge of the cone, where as the hyperbola is parallel to the perpendicular axis of the cone. Hyperbolas also come in pairs, but one half is enough for our somatic play. Parabolic curves are more focused, and such are used in mirrors and auto headlights. Hyperbolas are more open, that is the ‘arms’ can spread wider.

Try standing in a nice simple, grounded tadasana, find your heart center, and from there open the arms, pointing slight up and forward. If you have some anatomical sensitivity, align the shoulder girdles, arm bones, ribs and heart center into a parabolic shape and let the bones, muscles, connective tissues, blood vessels etc feel suspended and supported by the energy flowing through you. Widen to find some hyperbolic lines.

This can also be done lying down, with arms up and out to ceiling, or even with the legs, like a parabolic or hyperbolic anemone. In any pose, invite these in to light up aspects of your interior, or to bring into focus cells, organs or any structure that invites you.

Homework for the final sessions: Review, Read Hsin Hsin Ming, continue with Gita and Sutras as you feel inspired. Keep practicing.

Detroit Notes: September, 2014

Posted on September 24, 2014 by admin

Yoga: Resting in Stillness
While Awakening to our Innate Biological/Animal Intelligence
with
Caryn McHose and Arthur Kilmurray
September 19 – 21, Detroit, MI

Some random notes and observations: Probably more to come.

1. The stillness in the center of the heart is the ultimate resource. It is ever-present, unbounded, luminous and free.

2. Out of the stillness flows the entire universe, moment to moment, at every level, from sub atomic to galactic. Our own personal karmic flow includes: cosmic energy; skills, talents and creativity to be developed and expressed in this lifetime; and karmic challenges and debts to be healed and transformed. We are all given a unique piece of the cosmic puzzle that needs to be unfolded for all. Yoga is the exploration of this amazing process.

3. Imagination aids in awakening of subtle perceptions that begin to allow effortless movement, ease of posture and equanimity of mind that is the foundation of yoga.

4. The innate biological intelligence that organizes posture and movement is continuously asking the question ‘where am I?‘. This process, also known as orientation, is organized by the ‘movement brain’ aka the gravity response system. This process requires: a continuous flow of information from ‘ground’ and the felt sense of weight in the body; a continuous flow of information from the surrounding space/sky; and a continuous flow of energy and information from the movement brain to the whole body. All Posture, gesture and movement, ideally, flow from this integration. Patanjali describes this integration in sutra II-46: sthira sukham asanam; yogic posture (asana) is the integration of heaven and earth in the human body.

5. For a more expansive description of the gravity response system, imagination, perception, orientation and much much more, please read Caryn’s husband Kevin Frank’s articles at ResourcesinMovement.com.

6. Energy flows we experience in postural integration can take many shapes and patterns.

The most important of these patterns for our practices are radial, axial, bilateral, spiralic and tubular.

7. Radial is the basic energy pattern of the cell and the heart. Radial expansion is omni-directional from a center, like the rays of the sun. Radial condensing flows from the perimeter, omni radially, back to the center. When healthy, the heart and cells can both give out and receive in.

8. Because as humans we have a spine with a head and tail, we also have axial energy. Axial energy ascends and descends along the axis of the body, aka the median line or the chakra line. When the root chakra, heart chakra and crown chakra are open, energy flows freely between heaven and earth and vice versa. The human heart is the place where balance is seen and known.

9. In the human upright posture, the descending energy or the ‘down question’, (aka where is down?) is answered by the receptivity of the 52 bones of the feet, 26 for each, to the felt sense of weight and the yielding/surrendering to gravity that creates the ‘splat’ and squirt’ sensations.

10. The heel vector (the line of energy passing through the heel bone) should have a backwards as well as a downward direction in grounding, so the feet lengthen in two directions as the bones drop.

11. ‘Loading’ the feet and legs with weight, that is, to ground the leg energy completely, allows the pelvic bones to move freely over the femur heads. This is what is meant by ‘opening the hips’. Space is felt in the hip joints, the hip muscles melt and the spinal muscles are no longer needed to stabilize the body. The spine is free to dance.

12. To more fully realize this experientially, grow yourself an imaginary tail that is at least as long as your human spine. Then the human coccyx becomes the midpoint of your energetic spine.You now have a ‘trifurcated mula’, two legs and a tail, for support. Feel the sacrum as large and full.

13. To come into a forward bend, whether legs together in uttanasana, legs apart in prasarita padottanasana, or somewhere in between, (and all positions are interesting to us) ground the leg energy, release the pelvis and lift and lengthen the tail out the root chakra gate. There are now three energy vectors from the muladhara, leg leg and tail; two gounding, one lengthening. Feel the spine is also lengthening out the head/crown chakra even as the head comes toward the floor. Then reverse to come out, beginning again by grounding the leg energy, lengthening the spine and then dropping the tail back to the floor. Repeat slowly until this movement feels free and relatively effortless. This mammalian flexion and extension motion can be carried over into deeper back bends than tadasana, but it will take a bit more time to develop that.

14. The inner line of the leg is the primary weight bearing line. The outer line is for stabilizing/balancing. (The tibia and big toe are structurally much larger than the fibula and little toe). This continues up into the pelvis along the adductors into the ilio-psoas muscles and diaphragm along the Anatomy Trains ‘Deep Front Line’. This becomes crucial in understanding the flow lines of trikonasana and parsva konasana and half moon pose.

15. Differentiating the inner and outer legs is the beginning of awakening the bilateral energy field pattern. Abduction along the entire body allows the opening of this perception, but it is easier to feel in arms and legs. This is also the beginning of ‘fish body‘ consciousness.

16. Trikonasana requires a continuous elongation of the inner leg energy line of the back leg, like a skater pushing her blade into the ice, or a skier holding an edge while turning. this creates an arc like a half pipe in skiing or skateboarding which opens the front leg hip joint. The back leg, inviting the tail to join in the arc, lifts the front leg pelvic bone up away from the femur to release the front hip. The front foot has to ground down and out through the big toe, while the back leg carries the arc through the inner back heel. Let the back heel move a tiny bit to get the feel of the line, but do not sickle the foot. That is when the ankle bows out and leaves the heel behind, destabilizing the grounding energy and sending confusion through the body. Stabilize the ankle and extend through the inner heel.

17. This becomes a bit more challenging in parsvakonasana, as the bending of the front leg will break the back leg flow unless you are very attentive and patient. Slow down, don’t be in a hurry to get into ‘the pose’. Same energy as trikonasana with the addition of an elongation out the inner front knee and front big toe line. Still in the inner energy lines of both legs. Move in and out slowly, and only go as deeply as comfortable. The movement in and out is crucial. Yoga is about freeing up movement.

18. Half moon,or ardha chandrasana, can be practiced against the wall to learn and stabilize the energy lines. This is the best pose to open the hips as only you can really zero in on the standing leg hip joint when the other leg is free to move in space. The wall provides security while learning. Keep the standing foot/leg loaded. Do not ‘lock’ the knee, but feel an elongation up the dfl from foot through groin to ceiling. This will free up the torso and back leg to lengthen further.

19. To carry the standing pose understanding of flexion/extension and fish body to the next level, we use dog pose and variations, especially the one legged dog and flipping the dog. Follow the energy vectors through all limbs, including head and tail. In flipping the dog, we add the spiralic energy pattern.

20. The dog pose explorations are preparation for the more challenging hand stand and head balance. In all hand grounding positions we can find all 27 bones of the hands and learn to differentiate radius and ulna to open inter-osseous membrane. 1’s’ first phalanges; 2’s 2nd phalanges; 3’s 3rd phalanges (thumb only has 2 phalanges); 4’s metacarpals; 5’s first carpals; 6’s second carpals; 7 radius; 8 ulna. Find them. Slight abduction of elbow to help differentiate radius (into hands) and ulna (away from hands) and stretch/awaken membrane between the two. Like with the feet, feel the ‘squirting’ through the bones.

21. Rolling and Pouring allow the gravity response system to directly connect with the water element of the body, close to 70% of our weight. Become a water balloon and feel the innate fluidity of the human body. Roll around, pouring yourself into various positions.

22. Use ‘vessel breath’ to activate gut body awareness. Here we take on the shape of the sea squirt and become an open tube.

23. A ‘Dive’ is an extended internal exploration of the inner world of organs, chi/prana, breath, motility, habits, weight and lightness, and more. Often 20 minutes to 40 minutes or more in length, these can be done lying down or supported, but can also involve movement.

24. The ‘Long Walk’ involves using our hands to follow the shape of the pelvic bone form the sitting bones to the pubis. This ‘bridge’ of bone links back and front bodies, is a dynamic place to organize sitting, (we do not just sit on the sitting bones!), and offers a place to find lift and support when standing on one leg.

25. Flight of the eagle: Watch Caryn demonstrate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbRxgIOQ2wE

26. Bridge Pose on a block. Grounding through the feet and feeling the pelvic bones firmly in contact with the block, begin to roll the inside of the pelvis in an arc toward the feet. Follow the lift as it moves through kidneys, liver, heart, and finally throat. Let shoulders come off the floor as the head pivots away from the sternum, like in fish pose. Then drop kidneys, open back lungs and let head roll back to the first position, withoput losing the openness of the throat. This will help shoulderstand and variations.

27. Embryology 101: front body / back body and the emergence of the median plane: Standing near to and facing a wall, imagine the wall becoming part of you, supporting the front body to open forward and out to the sides. Use your hand on the wall if necessary to reinforce sense of wall as part of you – your front field, your endoderm. Now feel the room behind you and allow your back body, the ectoderm, to open to include the center of the room. Expand yourself. Feel from the middle of your body an emerging of energy that becomes arms, legs, head and tail, the mesoderm.
Now turn around and repeat, this time with the wall as your back field and the center of the room as your front. Feel open, expansive, and allow the middle to emerge to birth arms, legs, head and tail. Now lie on floor. Floor becomes your backfield, the ceiling your front field and again, allow the emergence of the middle to grow your limbs. Find this is all poses.

28: Cosmic Body Meditation. The stellated octahedron. Visualize the points of light that create this sacred geometrical structure. Triangles within triangles in the two triangular based pyramids that create a three dimensional star of David.

The survivors on Sunday!