A is for....Adho Mukha Svasana

Adho Mukha Svasana/Downward facing dog
(adda- mooka shavasana)

Good for: the whole body! Stetches every muscle in the body, increases circulation, and tones & strengthens the arms and legs. Great for releasing tension in the back and shoulders.

Frequency of practice: this is a really basic one and forms part of the flowing vinyasa movements in my sun cycles. I practice this one every day.

Comments about Dog Down:
This is a great posture, and a great one to start with. Dog down looks quite easy, but in actual fact- as with many postures- it does take a while to perfect! The single most important thing is to keep your back straight, other considerations are to: have your tailbone pointing upward towards the ceiling, keep your legs working by placing your awareness on your feet, which are FLAT on the ground, and don't forget to draw your kneecaps up.

What Dog-Down has taught me
Yoga is all about awareness, and each posture has something to teach us. In every single posture you try, you'll find that it speaks to you (most people call this pain!) However, pain is a bit non-specific and usually an excuse not to do something. In my class our tutor has always been insistent upon the term 'awareness'. This means that we're not seeing pain as bad, but understanding that it's telling us something about our physical strengths and weaknesses. In case you're wondering how often the Paramedics get called out to our classes, I'll clarify that occassionally the 'awareness' is that we need to stop, and then try a modified version that best suits our capabilities! Dog down has been hugely instrumental in my understanding of my physiology. I was getting a big dip in my lower back which indicates a very flexible back, which is good, but also has it's downsides. The curve showed that because my lower back is so flexible, I was inadvertantly using it to compensate for lack of strength in the legs. So, now I know this what has changed? I purposely use my flexible back to compensate...only joking!!! No, over time, I've learnt to push into my legs and keep my focus there to prevent too much curve. This has worked, as you can see from the photo. You might notice that my head is touching the floor, whereas usually it's just facing forward...that's optional :)

Yoga Alphabet and the Sandwich Analogy

So the concept is this: the biggest teachers of Yoga are the postures themselves, soooo, why not an ABC of yoga postures? Each posture will be posted in alphabetical order in Sanskrit for ease of reference. For those now raising their eyebrows in horror thinking they’ve never been to India on holiday, let alone tried speaking its ancient language, I’ll explain right about now that postures are sometimes called different things in English whereas in Sanskrit it’s always the same. If you’re totally new to the Sanskrit names, then I’ll draw the sandwich analogy. If not, skip that part.

The Sandwich Analogy
Imagine you’re about to make a sandwich. Before you even start, you know that one of your ingredients is going to be bread. What you’re going to have as the filling will depend on what you’ve got in the cupboard, your preferences and of course your sandwich making abilities. This is like the posture names for yoga. What you’re actually doing in the posture changes from pose to pose, but the fact that it’s a yoga posture (aka asana) is always the same. So asana means posture and I added on the end of each pose. For example Gomukhasana, cow posture or Trikonasana, triangle posture.


So, I’ll post under the Sanskrit names a little about the posture itself and the way I practice it. Then I’ll add in what that particular posture has taught me. At any time you’re more than welcome to comment, advise, add your thoughts, or even post your own version of the posture. This whole thing is meant to be interactive (see my post #1) so really, anything goes.

Blog subtitle?

For those of you who are not already convinced I'm totally unhinged, (and aren't familiar with the posture names in sanskrit) I'll explain that the blog subtitle title is a play on words- adho mukha svasana is "dog-down" posture ;)

Hi!

So this is my first ever blog post!

I'll explain briefly what I'm wanting to acheieve in my little corner and then you can decide whether it's something that interests you or whether it's about as captivating as styrofoam and makes you want to stick pins in your own eyes. If it's the latter I want to make clear from the beginning that I take no responsibility for injuries obtained as a result!! If it's the first one then that's cool, although a few cuts and grazes when really digging that funky Yoga groove are inevitable:)

So, where did my interest in Yoga come from and why am I blogging?

I started Yoga about 2 years ago at a local Adult Education College. I had no previous experience although my mum had been going to a (Hatha) class for about 8 years and wanted to try it out myself. It has exceeded my expectations at least a thousand times over, and owe a great debt to my teacher whose unique style of teaching is hugely motivating, humourous, knowedgeable, and, oh yes- RANDOM! :) The classes are structured more like workshops which enables us to experience the benefits of the posture directly and gain a deep understanding of the mechanics of the human body which is the fascinating bit. This is where you start to see yourself as a work of art in progress! To further strengthen our understanding of our strengths and weaknesses in any given posture we work predominantly with partners to facilitate the stretch. Depending on the stretch, this can be the source of much amusement! So there you go, that's my class, and the sheer craziness I signed up for two years ago.

Now to the blogging part. Basically I've reached the point in my own practice where I'm ready to get down to the real nitty gritty and make that commitment to practising everyday in addition to my weekly class described above. A couple of weeks back I did just that, and practiced for about an hour each day- I learnt more about myself and my yoga during that time than I'd learnt for ages and that got me thinking. What if I could share those musings and insights with other people...and they could do the same? We could exchange ideas about what to incorporate into our own personal practices, have a sneaky peak into what other people around the globe are getting up to, share things that work and things that have failed miserably and just generally chuck ideas around until we find something that works.

~~~At this point I'd just like to emphasise that I want this blog thing to be open to anyone and everyone- even if you've never been to a class in your life but where inspired by James Nesbitt making a tit of himself during Viribdrahasana III in the Yellow Pages ad, that's fine! There's also bound to be many people with a lot more experience than me, so please do come and join in. I promise it shall not be pearls cast before swine!~~~

So if you fancy becoming an explorer into the world of Kick-asana yoga, you've found your niche.

BendyGirl