Sūryanamaskāra A &Prāṇaśakti
Hello friends!
I’m writing to you from Goa where I’ve been enjoying my yoga holiday! It’s Holi here today and also Laksmi Jayanti so I’m looking forward to visiting a Laksmi temple, yet also hoping no one goes crazy with throwing color on the roads!
In this month’s newsletter we continue our journey through the primary series exploring Pādāṅguṣṭāsana & Pādahastāsana and delving into the concept of the fascial connections of the body.
Also download my Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series Asana chart at the link below!
With Love
Nea Ferrier
[email protected]
neaferrieryoga.com
Pādāṅguṣṭāsana & Pādahastāsana
Pādāṅguṣṭāsana & Pādahastāsana
These first two standing postures of the Ashtanga sequence introduce many concepts for us to explore!
Firstly they start the theme of forward bending which is a major focus of the primary series. Forward bends are considered calming and soothing for the nervous system, which is one of the reasons we practice primary series to close the week of practice, the day before and after travel, and personally I use it when I’m in times of transition and flux.
We may feel like we are stretching the back of the legs here, but ultimately we are lengthening the entire back line. This “back line” in terms of fascial connection, is known as the superficial back line, as per the Tom Meyers Anatomy Trains Metholody (see book review below).
I find talking about the fascial lines and connections of the body a much more intelligent way of exploring what is happening in yoga asana. It is too reductionistic to talk about “this muscle or that muscle” as the very definition of yoga asana is to use the whole body. In fact Krishnamacharya apparently used to call western exercise “eka-anga”, one limbed, as it’s a more reductionist approach, and yoga “sarva-anga.” all limbs
There are 12 major fascial lines, delineated by the Anatomy Trains method, and the two we will focus on this posture is the superficial back-line (SBL) and deep-front line (DFL).
The SBL runs from the soles of the feet, up the back of the legs, over the pelvis, either side of the spine, the top of the head to the forehead. When we practice these postures we can think about bringing the forehead to the shins, thereby lengthen the superficial backline to its maximum. So as with all forward bends, if you feel restriction in the asana, it may not be just in the hamstrings but at any point throughout the backline.
What this means is there is direct fasical connection between your feet and the pelvic floor (moola bandha) and lower abdomen (uddiyana bandha). And there is a fascial connection from the pelvic floor to the diaphragm, which is why bandhas and breath are intrinsically connected.
In all standing postures it is very useful to lift up though the inner arches, and activate the inner legs. This automatically “turns on” moola bandha. In fact, really the pathway to the root lock is through the feet and the legs.
– Breath into the entire backline. Breathing into the back body, will be useful practice throughout all the forward bends of the primary series.
– Lift up through the arches of the feet and wake up the inner legs. For most of us the outer leg dominates, and engagement is easier to access. However inner leg activation is vital for many postures to come.
– Use the vinyasa count for bandha engagement. These two postures, have a particular vinyasa count that helps access the inner strength of bandhas. After five breathes, inhale lift the head, and exhale there holding still. Use that exhale to synch in the waist and lift up through the pelvic floor, Inhale as you stand up holding that engagement. Try it and see how it feels. Use this technique to come out of all the forward bends coming up, particularly as preparation for lifting up and jumping back.
LEARN THE VINYASA COUNT FOR THESE POSTURES – LISTEN BELOW
Nea Ferrier Yoga
Pādāṅguṣṭāsana & Pādahastāsana
Stream Audio on SounCloud
BOOK CORNER
Anatomy Trains, Myofasical Merdians for Manual and Movement Therapist by Thomas Mayers
This one for the anatomy geeks! It’s a thick dense books and I have to admit I haven’t read it in entirety but learning about the 12 major fascial lines has given me a wonderful lens to better under yoga asana. In fact after being introduced to this methodology (I trained with Karin Locher, Center for Spatial Medicine in 2016) there were many aha moments when it came to alignment in Ashtanga yoga. Understanding fascia also decodes how yoga asana works in terms of physical changes through visualization as well as nervous system regulation and the role of touch in teaching.
What is your definition of being “good”.
Apart from morality, I notice quite often we pat ourselves on the back and feel we are being “good” when we are being productive, meeting milestones, generally being more “engaged” in the world.
It’s a sympton of our capitalist society, one that places enormous value on “work ethic”.
What is fascinating is how easily this permeates all aspects of life, including our yoga practice. We feel like we are “good” when we “do” all our asanas (or other techniques), as perfectly as possible. We can feel bad or shameful when we need to take things slow, do less or nothing at all.
For any human, being productive all the time is not realistic, and particularly for women, this type of mindset can be super unhelpful and downright sabotaging.
Through the course of one lunar month a woman will oscillate in energy levels and the ability to be “productive” and socially engaged. Thinking we are “good” when this comes naturally, and “bad” when we feel otherwise, is literally creating are own samsaric hell!
Enter Menstrual Cycle Awareness – the key to free women from patriarchal cultural norms.
I’m looking forward to talking about this topic more in the upcoming Connecting to Your Inner Moon workshop in Dubai. Yes we will talk about menstruation, but this just one aspect of your lunar month. There’s a lot of delve into!
Connecting to Your Inner Moon
Menstrual Cycle Awareness for Yoga Practitioners
Saturday March 29
10:00am-12:30pm
AED295 (pre-booking essential)
Nilaya House, Dubai
Limited to 12. Book Here.
(This will be an in person event only. I plan to hold an online session soon)
It’s Holi today in India. The spring festival of colour celebrating, among many things, the love of Krishna and Radha, whose love is symbolic of the bhakta’s longing for the divine.
A speaking of going against societal norms, a historical figure who was also intoxicated by her love for Krishna was Mirabai, one of India’s most revered female saints.
She was born in the 16 th century into a Rajput family in Rajasthan. She showed a strong spiritual yearning from a young age and her wild energy worried her parents who married her off early to a Rajput prince. After he died young, she came under the control of her in-laws, who disappointed she didn’t commit sati (throwing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre) tried to kill her with a venomous snake. She escaped and took to the road, mixing freely with people of all types, expressing her love for Krishna through song and walking her own path.
“Some praise me, some blame me, I go the other way.” Mirabai
“She became a heroine of the bhakti tradition which encouraged devotion to one’s personal god, without the intermediaries of priests, ritural or temples. In bhakti, all you need is a simple offering of your live, a flower, a fruit, a song. In her lifetime Mirabai composed perhaps a hundred songs called bhajans, which were passed down the through the centuries by oral tradition.” (Incarnations, India in Fifty Lives, Sunil Khilnani).
Her appeal and influence in Indian culture, writes Edwin Bryant, is from her emerging, through her legends and poems, as a person “who stands up for what is right and suffers bitterly for holding fast to her convictions, as other men and women have”, yet she does so with a language of love, with words painting the “full range of emotions that mark love, whether between human beings or between human and divine”. Edwin Bryant (2007), Krishna: A Sourcebook.
I find her story quite incredible and her poetry just beautiful! Happy Holi!
Within the body are gardens, rare flowers, peacocks, the inner music. Mirabai
ONLINE ASHTANGA YOGA COURSE
LAUNCH SALE PRICE (during Ramadan) USD 99 (normally USD 125)
This is a pre-recorded, self-paced online course of more than 50 tutorials and practice classes.
This course will introduce you to the full set of asanas that make up the Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series as well as the method for practice.
The course follows the traditional method of teaching the asanas step-by-step, slowly building the sequence. Eventually the sequence is memorised and you will be able to practice by yourself.
The course includes;
- :Tutorials on each asana and how to perform it safely
- Suggestions for modifications and how to incorporate props
- Additional exercises to compliment the asanas
- Guided classes of varying lengths you can practice along
- Opportunity to have any questions answered directly from me
***YACEP 5.5 hours plus Certificate of Completion***
