Posture tips – Page 2

Well, as promised here are a few more details about this posture. I went a bit OCD so if you don’t want to read all this you can scroll down to the summary for the main points – of which there are many in this one! These tips are not for home practice by the way – they are for students that already go to a Bikram class where the environment is specifically geared to accommodate the Bikram method of doing yoga. It is merely for those who may enjoy understanding a bit more about the postures they already practice in class.

The Half Moon is a “full-on” posture as it really works both the outside and the inside of the body – in fact it’s like a mini workout in itself! The first set is held for one minute on each side and the second set for only 30 seconds which feels very fast compared to the first set!

I must say this used to be the posture I would dread! When I first started do you think I could get my arms anywhere near my head or even pointing upwards? Not a chance! – they were very much pointing out in front of me and I found the posture extremely hard. It is difficult to explain how that shifted but shifted it did. One thing I had to change however was how I felt about the posture – as I said previously I could not wait for this posture to be over and I used to fear it and do it with such trepidation! I will try and explain more in later posts how you can change how you feel about a posture and it is not something that may happen immediately but once you do you will find a big difference.

Anyway here is a run down of the posture that may help:

The Side Bends

First of all there is a warm up as this is the first stretching posture in the series. The hand grip should be tight with the palms together right down to the wrist. They can sneakily come apart during the posture but every effort you make to glue the palms together will strengthen the arms eventually making the posture easier. Stretch up as high as you can and bend a few times from left to right making sure you feel the stretch on each side of the body. The posture is called “Half Moon” so the body should make a crescent shape!

After the warm up, its time to work on the initial alignment. Try and keep your head glued in between your raised arms rather than allowing the head to drop and causing a droop and a bent neck. Again easier said than done in your early classes I know – but I am a strong believer if you take care of the alignment in the early classes it will be easier in the long run and again become more automatic. Your elbows should be locked to ensure no bent arms – as you get used to the straight arms you will feel stronger quicker. This can be an area that is difficult but one day you may find all of a sudden your arms are straight. That is exactly what happened to me so never think what you are experiencing today is what you are stuck with. Things can change and sometimes surprisingly quickly.

Naturally as with many Bikram postures you start with toes and heels together i.e. feet facing forward not “ten to two” and legs together not apart. You have a much stronger base if you have your feet and legs together. Bring the weight on to the heels. Of course as usual with Bikram postures you need to lock the knees which really means lifting the knee cap up as much as you can. You do this by contracting your big quad muscles – one teacher suggested almost “sucking them to the bone” to ensure the knee cap is lifted. If your knees are bent you will put too much pressure on them and you don’t want to feel “weak-kneed” in this posture! Of course locking the knee is not a normal daily action so it takes a bit of doing to keep it consistent but if you are a beginner just work at it second by second. After a while it will seem very normal and will be almost automatic.

Remember to keep the weight on the heels as there is tendency to lift one up and place the weight on one foot but both heels should be on the floor and the weight distributed.

The hips are slightly forward to open up those lovely hip joints and the upper body leans back a little to open up the chest and rib cage. When the chest is open you will feel a lot stronger physically than if you are “pidgeon-chested”. Bikram Yoga postures are specifically designed to open up the body – again something that we may not naturally do.

Make sure your chin is away from the chest so you can breathe easily and before you start meditate, concentrate and focus by keeping your eye fixed on one spot. Just that action alone gives the body such increased strength – you’ll be amazed!

Before each side bend take a deep breath and stretch up to the ceiling first then slowly stretch to the side. It is much better to stretch just a couple of inches to the side and stay in that strong alignment than it is to bend over a foot and be twisted – tempting though it is when you look in the mirror! You will whittle down those hips and waist easier too as you will feel an intense stretch on the other side of the body. The side that is compressed is working on your internal organs. Learn to love that feeling!

So what about the breathing? More recently I had this clarified – take a deep breath as you stretch up to the ceiling, hold it until you are in the side position and then breathe normally. If this is not easy for you just breathe normally throughout – but whatever you do don’t forget to breathe or you will tire quickly!

A minute does seem a long time but if you move slowly and “be” the posture rather than “do” it, it will pass quick enough. Just keep your ear on the dialogue and adjust as necessary – there is always something to pass the time with! Like pushing your hips “beyond your flexibility”! There are reminders throughout the dialogue to keep you in the right alignment. Rolling the opposite hip slightly forward and then bringing the bent side’s shoulder forward slightly so that the chest is opening more and almost facing the ceiling is the last adjustment. In the last 3 seconds or so go a little bit past the comfort zone and push more! Inhale as you come out and stretch up to the ceiling before doing the other side.

The Back Bend

Then of course there is the back bending part of the posture. Again the dialogue will keep you safe as it gives you step by step instruction. As a beginner, the first thing you have to get used to is to let your neck relax and drop the head back. It will be impossible to do any sort of backbend unless you let your head go back first. As in many other postures your head will lead you. So concentrate on that first or should I say relax first! When you are in the back bend bring the arms back towards the head – as much as you can anyway. Again this will come when you are more comfortable in the posture. As you push your hips forward and keep the weight on the heels you will be very safe! Eyes open of course – always.

The Forward Bend

The last part is the forward bend. Bend your knees if you need to so you can put your hands on the floor in front of you. Loosen out the hips and squat right down if it helps you to loosen the lower back. Move slowly and always be aware of your own body in this moment. Once again there is a Bikram grip where you have to get as low as you need to grab the heels from behind so that the pinkie fingers touch and the elbows stay behind the calf muscles. Quite a feat but do whatever you can and work on that each time. Using that famous grip (fingers together with the thumbs) you stretch your body down from the lower spine but only as far as your body stays glued to the legs. If the body and legs come apart you have lost the integrity of the posture. So once again it is better to keep your legs bent with the body glued to the legs that have straight legs and the body away from the legs. You are wanting to create the infamous “Japanese ham sandwich” effect! It is the continuous pulling on the heels “without interruption – without intermission” that may eventually allow you to lock the legs. If this is a long way off for you it doesn’t matter – as long as you are keeping your body jammed to the legs and pulling on those heels you will still get 100% benefit.

As with all the postures in the Bikram series you can always get 100% benefit even if you don’t get to the ultimate position – the dialogue will give you detailed instruction to get the most benefit for you. It’s not about having to be perfect in the posture but a case of sticking to the instruction. This way improvements will be fast and you will always be getting the most benefit for you that day.

The second set should feel easier and is only half as long – yea!

That was a bit of a long essay but it is a big posture! It will be impossible to adjust or even think about all this in one go so just work on one or two points in each class and go from there!

Summary of the main points to look out for:

Concentrate and fix your gaze on one spot to give you focus and strength
Keep breathing with your chin away from the chest
Palms glued to the wrist throughout the posture
Locked elbows and locked knees throughout the side bends
Lean back a little to open the chest and push hips forward
Stretch in alignment even if only a few inches
Push or “sway” your hips out to the side “beyond your flexibility”
Weight on the heels – both heels on the floor
Hold and push a little more in the last few seconds of the side bend
Relax the head and neck before the back bend
Arms back towards the head in the backbend
Hips must be forward towards the mirror by squeezing the butt muscles and keep the weight on the heels for a safe backbend
Eyes open – always
Get the proper grip on the heels and continual pulling in the forward bend
Keep your body together with the legs even if you have to keep your knees bent
Do the posture with “your smiling happy face”!

Some of the benefits of the Half Moon posture are:

Great for slimming and toning the waist, hips, abdomen, and buttocks
Encourages the internal organs to function properly
Aligns the skeletal system
Strengthens the arms
Good for focus and determination
Opens up the body
and more….

Next up will be Awkward Pose in a few days time. I will try and make it shorter!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Bevx

Well as promised I will give some more info on the postures. Because of timing and the already detailed instruction there is not much time to add in more in the class so I hope these blogs will help!

Every Bikram class starts with Pranayama Breathing – 10 sets done twice. Bikram always told us that this actually was the most important posture of all! Why? Because it gets the heart and lungs to work together properly providing a smooth flow of life force through the body (prana = life force) via a deep breathing technique. And life force is exactly that – you need life force to keep the body alive! We can go weeks without food, days without water but only a few minutes without air!

The breathing will also prepare the body for the following postures as it allows for deeper concentration by working on the nervous system and therefore is great to alleviate irritability. (Remember the old saying – “take a deep breath and count to 10…”) – now you know why!

You may have heard the expression that we only use 10% of our brains – same goes for the lungs. This technique helps us to learn to use the other 90%! It can be a little bit hard to master so if you are new or fairly new you may wish to watch a couple of breaths before you join in. It takes a bit of coordination – well it did for me anyway!

You inhale by the nose and exhale by the mouth but both through the back of the throat so it should sound like a “HAH” sound. (It is also best to inhale through the nose inbetween postures throughout the whole class by the way – a tip I learnt from another teacher as it really keeps you much more centred, strong and calm). Take the full six seconds for each inhale and each exhale instead of taking a big gasp in one go and letting it out in one big blast too! “Low slow flow” as Bikram would say!

All ten fingers need to be interlocked and always maintain contact with the underside of the chin another time for the”full grip” as you so often hear in the dialogue throughout the class. When you inhale you need to open the elbows out so you can take in more air as you expand the lungs and bring your elbows up as high as you can and as close to the side of the head as possible. The stomach should be sucked in and you should be able to see the rib cage in the mirror as your lungs expand. (Open chest and sucked in stomach is mentioned in many of the postures and after 18 years I finally noticed that – sometimes it takes a while for the penny to drop!)

When the head goes back (slowly – not a jerk back) on the exhale, remember to relax that neck again (let go!) and bring your elbows gradually to the front so they meet on the 6th second as high as you can i.e. level with the shoulders and as far away as you can from the chest. Make sure you exhale open mouthed to expel toxins.

It is a must to keep your eyes open so you are totally present in the body and not floating off to some other universe. Now you may feel a little dizzy – that is quite normal as this deep breathing is not your normal type of day to day breathing. One great adjustment which I noticed I needed to do was to stop straining my neck and consciously relax the neck and shoulders and that relieved the tension I often felt in my arms and shoulders. Again I believe tension and indeed some pain we feel can be a resistance to just let go and it manifests as tension and ache. This is a big subject and I will explain more in later posts but I can tell you being aware of when I was tensing up really worked for me.

Bikram dialogue has a lot of detail but you will find a consistency throughout the postures once you get more acquainted with them. Toes and heels together – feet going straight forward not splayed out at “ten to two”! The weight is also on the heels. The detail makes all the difference. Keeping your body straight (don’t lean back) and in alignment is also necessary to keep that energy flowing properly and as the dialogue says “hip muscles solid, concrete” and a little bit forward on the exhale – forever opening up those pesky hip joints!

So to summarise the key points:

Maintain the connection between the knuckles and chin throughout the posture
Use the nose and mouth only as a passage way as both inhale and exhale should be through the throat
Toes and heels together, feet straight forward, weight on the heels
Relax the neck and shoulders
Low slow flow by synchronising your head and arm movement – its like a cycle – no jerky movements
Take the full six seconds for each inhale and exhale
Expand the lungs and suck in the stomach and hold it in during the inhale until you can see the rib cage visible in the mirror
Keep your eyes open all the time or you will feel dizzier
Exhale as much as possible – elbows meet on the 6th second
Bring your elbows as high as the shoulders and as far away from the chest as possible when the elbows meet
Try not to collapse the chest as you start the next round
Know you are now well prepared for the class!

I hope this helps! Half moon posture is next!)

PS. If you are an athlete try a few rounds of this breathing technique before you start – it could just give you the edge!

Bevx

Posture No 2 – Half Moon Pose and Hands to Feet Pose

The Side Bends

The Back Bend

The Forward Bend

Summary of the main points to look out for:

Some of the benefits of the Half Moon posture are:

Posture No 1 – Pranayama breathing a.k.a. Standing Deep Breathing

So to summarise the key points:

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