"First comes BREATH, then ALIGNMENT, then DEPTH." Gabrielle Raiz.

A few AHA moments while reading Hot Yoga Master Class and the Riverflow eBook today. I am looking forward to trying these AHAs out in class tomorrow morning at 6 am!

One of these discoveries is akin to a former thread in this forum regarding the "between 2 panes of glass" notion. So often in my practice, I find my focus goes not on my breath, not so much on my alignment, but on the sideways-ness of my body when I am bending left or right. But it is quite clear to me now that the "challenge is to move with the constant correction and re-correction that creates the impression of a simple side-to-side movement" (with regards to the warm-up and the asana). Gabrielle writes that the "spine is not able to move in one plane from side to side." The spine's curves allow it to create movement in many directions (71). Surprising how easy it was for me to forget the unique and beautiful shape of our spines!

Watching that Yoganatomy link (the x-ray video of a spine in yoga-motion) was a gentle reminder of how truly breathtaking our bodies are. And these asanas, Ardha Chandrasana with Pada Hastasana, after reading more in-depth about them, are truly a work of breath, precise alignment, and strength, and they celebrate the complexities of the human structure. Just like yoga and most of life, there is balance - and while this pose is heavy-duty and rigorous and scares the hell out of most people, its purpose is to leave you feeling lengthened, loosened, refreshed and calmly ready for more.

I was struck yet again by the notion of grounding - "stand with firm contact with the ground," Gabrielle instructs, "you can get some sense of your grounding with the earth and draw on those energy reserves during your pose." I envision myself tomorrow in class, perhaps I will be sweeping the anticipatory thoughts away from my head once Pranayama has reached its completion, but I know that when it comes time to get my feet together, eyes looking forward, arms tightly locked overhead and hands glued and clasped in a steeple grip behind my ears, I will be very present with the earth, and I will know what it feels like to draw from Gaia's boundless energy, straight from beneath my footprint all the way up my tucked tailbone, lifted and lengthened spine, my straight arms, to the very tip of my pointer fingers reaching for the ceiling.

I look forward to being mindful of my wrists and palms, oft times they like to open up on me in this asana! I want to focus my intention on keeping my arms locked and hands glued together.

I think it is important that Rhonda highlighted her points of difference with Gabrielle's book. I totally understand Rhonda when she explains that the command "squeeze your bottom tight" while setting-up for Ardha Chandrasana and Pada Hastasana is misleading. I can perfectly envision this in my own practice - squeezing my butt tight would lead to my lower back's blood supply being compromised, and I know exactly what that feels like. It feels a bit like my core's engagement is lessened slightly too. But contracting and lifting the thighs and straightening the legs while pushing the hips foreward, foreward, foreward and weight back in the heels with arms locked tightly and back is a far more powerful place to be than with butt squeezed tight. I believe that would take me slightly out of alignment in this asana.

Another issue that these two books have so far helped me out with greatly is the neck/shoulder tension/relaxation. When I do these asanas with incorrect precision, which has been often, I tend to leave class with a very unhappy shoulder/neck tension. It takes conscious attention, which will eventually become unconscious competence (auto-pilot), to draw the shoulders back and down and relax the neck. In the side half moons, the neck must be visual in the mirror, with chin parallel to the ground. In the backward bend, the back of the neck must soften and allow space for the near-uncomfortable tautness of the throat. This is essential for me to know!

I can't wait to fly in my next Ardha Chandrasana!

As for Pada Hastasana, I learned a key ingredient that has so far been missing from my practice. I always assumed that it was VERY important to straighten the legs, and sometimes even sacrificed my upper body contact with my thighs/knees in order to do so. Now I see that the squashed contact between upper body and lower body is CRUCIAL for the health and opening of the spine, especially the lower spine.

If anyone has any clear insight into what Gabrielle means by hinge at the knees, I would much appreciate it! I think I get it - but for some reason the word hinge confuses me. She warns against hinging at the hips, which I don't think I do...but do I? I will pay attention to this in particular in class tomorrow morning. Hinging at the hips divides the body, which is not the purpose of this asana.

I have had major issues with this asana because of my left hamstring. The pulling with the biceps creates a searing pain down my hamstring. I will work hard to incorporate these readings into a better alignment and hopefully a pain-free asana. Any advice would be wonderful! I do think I tend to let my shoulders hang and pull more than my biceps, but I also think I focus too hard on straightening my legs. This straightening is what brings intense pain to my left hamstring.

"Struggle means you have sacrificed alignment for depth." I am guilty of this! Often when I could not rise above my emotional or daily burdens that I brought to class with me, what made me feel good (as opposed to falling out of everything and nearly cursing out loud! so wrong!!! I love how we are taught to be unattached, to be simply an observer of gains and failures!) was to go deep into a pose and look spectacular in the mirror. EGO CHECK! I love the quote in the beginning of this paragraph. It is so true. If I am struggling, if I want to fall out of a pose, it's usually not when I'm pushing myself to my edge and properly aligned and breathing. It's usually when I've sacrificed all else -- breath and alignment -- for depth in the pose. That is downright dangerous and it brings me no benefit.

I did notice one of the Agonist/Antagonist elements of this pose...pretty cool! I understand the Yoganatomy assignment better now: "Here you contract your biceps muscles and pull hard with your hands, and the back side of your body relaxes and opens up. This will happen even if your legs are not straight or locked out." (88).

Also, I love the word “propioception” that Gabrielle uses. In Spanish, propio means “own” as in su propia casa / her own house. Propioception must be a hybridized word for self-perception ☺.

(apologies for how long this post is...I got a little excited :)