I Can’t Bind… But I AM Still A Good Person… :)

Haha…. today’s Anusara 2 class was excellent. I always enjoyed Anusara classes and the philosophy and teachings behind it especially now that the yoga studio I go to officially named these classes Anusara.

Much teachings on Anusara are based on these few techniques that John Friend developed (I am still a student… so anyone, please correct me if I am wrong; all the following is based solely on my own understanding from Bo’s Anusara teachings )… These are the techniques that have helped me ALOT in my yoga practice and continues to do so during each and every class I go to. :

1. Opening of heart. Always think of chest moving forward or up ( depending on the pose ). Like in Cobra ( Bhujangasana ), think of moving your chest forward instead of just trying to arch your back. When you move forward your chest, you will feel openness and hence the ease towards a full cobra.

2. In every pose, there is always constant movement with your breath with actions of consolidating towards the middle and extending organically out. I always think of consolidating as energizing the muscles by hugging the muscles in and making sure that the joints are pulled back to the middle (think putting the joints back into the sockets to protect them) when I breathe in. Then when I breathe out, to organically extend out or go further into the pose (think energy flowing out of your body, expressing the energy in the pose). Do this movement in every pose to grow the pose, to go deeper safely into the pose.

3. Push down, feel connected to the ground. To feel light, we need to push down. Action and reaction. By pushing down, you are creating lift. I understood and felt the lift today in the class when doing Wheel (Urdhva Dhanurasana) with headstand arms and one leg up ( Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana –> see pose ). I explicitly pushed my hands and foot into the floor and I could feel a lightness. And I was able to extend even further with little effort. I can feel the lift and the extension and it felt good.

A funny quip from Bo as we were doing the bind for Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottanasana and I could not bind (think my arms very short)… He helped me bind with a towel and said to me “You are still a good person!” Hee…

So don’t take life too seriously… if you can’t bind or can’t kick up to a handstand or perhaps do a proper down dog… “You are still a good person!” ( I’d add my quip…”ONe day, You CAN!” )

OM~

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