Yoga Therapy
A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle
by Kristen Butera and Staffan Elgelid
248 Pages
Yoga is more popular now than ever. The benefits are recognized worldwide, and athletes and therapists rely on the practice. Yet its appeal is as varied as those who practice it. Regardless of your activity level and fitness background, yoga is truly for you.
Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle will help you see your daily activities in a new light by giving you a new understanding of movement. Whether playing sports or exercising for fitness, you’ll recognize your movement and identify the poses to make them more efficient. With detailed instructions and photos, you’ll be guided through the exercises, breathing, and visualization techniques to improve your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Comprehensive and accessible, Yoga Therapy demonstrates the most effective poses for mobility, strength, recovery, and balance as well as techniques to aid relaxation and help with stress management.
No matter your age, experience, or desired goal, Yoga Therapy will empower you to create personalized approaches that are as unique as you are and learn how to adapt your practice to your changing needs and goals throughout life.
Part I: Fundamentals of Yoga Therapy
Chapter 1: What Is Yoga Therapy?
Chapter 2: Training Movements
Chapter 3: Connecting Brain to Body
Chapter 4: Developing Focus
Part II: Foundations of Practice
Chapter 5: Basic Practices and Props
Chapter 6: Breathing and Relaxation
Chapter 7: Preventing Injury
Part III: Poses for Lifelong Fitness
Chapter 8: Intentions and Connections
Chapter 9: Spinal Movement Poses
Chapter 10: Stability Poses
Chapter 11: Maintaining Fitness and Activity Levels
Kristen Butera, a professional yoga teacher and yoga therapist, is the co-owner of the YogaLife Institute in Wayne, Pennsylvania. She is the editor of the regional magazine Yoga Living. Kristen started studying yoga in the year 2000 and has since accumulated more than 3,500 hours of professional education in a variety of yoga styles and movement modalities. She specializes in training yoga teachers and yoga therapists and is the co-creator of the 250- and 500-hour Teacher Training programs and 820-hour Comprehensive Yoga Therapy training programs at the YogaLife Institute. Kristen is known for creating dynamic and interactive learning environments that empower students of all ages and levels to explore a variety of potential practices and apply yoga lifestyle principles toward living a richer, fuller life.
Staffan Elgelid, PhD, is a physical therapist, Feldenkrais practitioner, and yoga therapist with RYT-500 and C-IAYT certifications. Elgelid has presented internationally on a variety of topics and created programs on core strengthening, including the SmartCore Training DVD. He is an associate professor of physical therapy at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, where he teaches soft tissue work and health and wellness. Elgelid is a faculty member for the Comprehensive Yoga Therapy training program at the YogaLife Institute. He has written several articles on yoga therapy for the International Journal on Yoga Therapy and Yoga Living magazine. He has extensive experience as a presenter and moderator at professional conferences and continuing education workshops. Elgelid is coeditor of Yoga Therapy: Theory and Practice, written for clinicians and scholars looking to integrate yoga into the medical and mental health fields.
"If you are looking for a recipe for that specific ache or ailment, this isn't the book for you. If you are looking to enliven and keep fresh your long-term yoga practice, then dive deep into this unique trove of insights. The authors draw from their varied experiences and expertise to share many ways of sustaining a robust yoga program that addresses your whole person. Many of the strategies won't be found in other "yoga" books, but are consistent with with what yoga has to offer in our modern lifestyle. The strategies are also beautifully simple in design, but powerful in effect. An alternative title could well have been "Yoga to Avoid Therapy in Your Active Lifestyle."
Matthew J. Taylor, PT, PhD, C-IAYT
Author and researcher
Past president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists
Director of Smart Safe Yoga
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Understand the power of breath
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year?
Breath is central to who we are. Whether it relates to our ability to work, think, sleep, or interact with others, we might claim that the breath is the core pattern that drives all other patterns. After all, what other activity do we perform six to eight million times per year? Adapting the breath helps people change along with life. Learning to consciously engage with the breath enables people to tap into a central part of themselves.
History is full of examples of cultures connecting breath, soul, and spirit in one way or another. The Bible states that God breathed life into Adam. The Hindus spoke about atman. The Greeks spoke about pneuma. The Romans spoke about spiritus. The Hebrews spoke about ruach. The Chinese spoke about chi or qi. In Hawaii, outsiders were called haoles, translating to no breath or breathless.
In yoga we have the concept of prana, which is often translated as life force, energy, or vitality and is connected with the fourth step on the eightfold path, pranayama. Pranayama is often translated as breath control or breath mastery. We like to think of pranayama more in terms of breathing skills in general, primarily being able to use the breath as a resource for self-awareness and working from that awareness, the ability to adapt the breath to the situation. To explore that self-awareness through the breath, you have to identify, differentiate, and integrate your breath just like you do with any other movement.
How you breathe at any given time can enhance or detract from what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time breathing is an involuntary act, we can be mindful and skillful enough to make it a voluntary act. Chances are if you have never done breathing practices before, you will be shocked by how they effect immediate changes in your life experience. At first, it might be challenging to cultivate the attention needed to notice these changes; be patient as you explore. To become a skillful breather, you may first have to uncover and remove the obstacles between yourself and a free, adaptable breath. To do this, you need to go through a familiar process with your current breathing patterns.
To become a skillful breather, follow this process:
- Cultivate the discipline to observe your existing breathing habits (identification).
- Introduce new options (differentiation).
- Adapt your breath to support and enhance all of your activities (integration).
As you start the breathing exercises, remember that having options implies that you don't do things in the same way over and over. Your nervous system will not become adaptable if you replicate a breath exploration or any other exploration without variety. The term exploration implies variation. Once you start to explore more options for breathing, it will become challenging at times to identify whether you are, in fact, doing what you think you are doing. As you explore, try to stay curious and playful. If you notice that you are creating unnecessary strain or tension in your body, stop the exercise, pause for a few moments to notice, and then start again with an attitude of curiosity and playfulness.
The positional breath exploration offers you the chance to adapt your breath to various positions. In this breath exploration, depending on your orientation and how well you are able to perceive your breath, you may be able to notice differences in how you breathe. Observe, play, and have fun!
The positional breath exploration also offers you the opportunity to understand how you engage with your breath and starts the process of making your breathing a more conscious act. The awareness that you gather from this exercise gives you a baseline understanding from which to begin to differentiate your breath and develop new breathing options.
Positional Breath
Exploration
1. Start in a reclined position on the floor, on a yoga mat, or on any firm surface that will provide tactile feedback about how your body is resting on the floor. Observe your breath without changing it. Be curious and don't judge yourself.
- Where does your breath originate from? In the abdomen? Chest? Collarbones?
- Does your abdomen move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Does the rib cage move up and out toward the ceiling as well as back and down into the floor?
- Put your hands on the side of your body at your lower ribs (a). Can you feel expansion into your hands?
2. Roll over facedown, crossing your arms and allowing your forehead to rest on them (b). Now repeat the same observations that you made in the reclined position. How does the feedback change? Can you feel the expansion in the back of the torso a little more? Can you use the floor to give you more feedback about what is happening in the front of the body in the abdomen and rib cage?
3. Come up to standing (c), paying attention to how you use your breath in the transition from facedown to upright. Did you use your breath or did you hold it? Now repeat the same observations that you did in the other two positions. Where do you feel expansion when you breathe in? Where do you feel contraction when you breathe out? How did your perception of your breath change when you were standing? Was it more difficult for you to feel your breath without the floor to give you feedback?
4. Are you able to perceive that each change of position changes your potential experience of your breath? Acknowledge the breathing habits present in each of the positions.
Save
Save
Save
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Explore the core in new and interesting ways
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey.
Core Poses
You might hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of the core. "Core strength" and "core stability" are just a few of the common terms that you have probably heard at some point in your yoga and fitness journey. The interesting thing is, that for all of the dialogue, there still doesn't seem to be universal agreement about what the core is. If you read and study for long enough, you will notice the definition of "core" tends to change based on the training method that you are exploring. Depending on what your goals are, you will have different experiences of the core, some of them more helpful or effective than others.
In fitness culture, the core is often the subject of certain aesthetic standards that are focused on the external show of some of the more superficial muscles of the core, known to many as six-pack abs. In reality, the core is a complex set of muscles that goes beyond the six-pack aesthetic: Functional core stability includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. Our approach moves away from attempting to train isolated core muscles in a single, held position or in one particular pelvic position. Instead we emphasize the various muscles that surround the core, including the abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, glutes, and pelvic floor and ask that you integrate core awareness into your favorite activities. We also like to emphasize the diaphragm as part of the core and remind you that while the diaphragm is one of the primary muscles of respiration, it is also a deep-core stabilizer. Using the breath differentiation exercises in tandem with the various movements of the spine highlighted in the previous chapters has already given you options for exploring your core in new and interesting ways.
The muscles of the core.
Moving into this section, let's simplify the definition of the core as anything from below the end of the sternum and low borders of the rib cage to the base of the pelvis. This definition makes it easier to think about using yoga poses to make relevant connections from the upper and lower extremities into the core and explore different types of core activities in your yoga therapy practices. The next exploration revisits core activation as it relates to pelvic and spinal position along with basic pelvic floor and core activations. As always, variety is key.
Exploration
Core Activation
- Start in mountain pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the low back (a).
- Inhale to slowly roll the front of the pelvis toward the feet (anterior tilt), arching the low back (b). Exhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the face (posterior tilt), flattening the lumbar curve (c). Notice how the tilt of the pelvis changes the sensation of the core muscles firing or not firing under your hands.
- Roll the pelvis again, but reverse the breathing pattern, exhaling into the anterior tilt and inhaling into the posterior tilt. What, if anything, changes for you in terms of awareness?
- Now move the pelvis and breathe at your natural rhythm, looking for equal muscular tension under both hands. When you find equal tension, you are approaching active neutral. Try to find a natural curve in the low back, where you are not overly arched or overly tucked.
- From active neutral, try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Now try drawing up on the muscles of the pelvic floor, as if you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds as you continue to breathe in the abdomen and rib cage.
- Draw up on both areas of the pelvic floor at the same time. Imagine zipping up into the low abdomen from the connection into the pelvic floor. Wrap that activity around to the low back. How does the awareness and core activation change as you make these new connections?
- Now try working with both relaxing and contracting your pelvic floor, playing with increments of activation. Try drawing up on the pelvic floor 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. Reverse and try to relax the pelvic floor down from 100 to 75, 50, and 25 percent. Play with how much activation is too much or too little as it relates to your ability to breathe, stabilize your core without being rigid, or holding on to the pelvic floor too tightly.
- Now try steps 4 through 8 again, but with the spine in standing flexion (forward bend), extension (backbend), rotation (twist), and lateral flexion (side bend). How does your core awareness or activation change with the different positions of the spine?
Save
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Use movement to focus on spinal articulation
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready.
Spine Series
This series focuses on spinal articulation from a reclined, kneeling, and belly-down position. Perform the movements slowly while visualizing each vertebra as a pearl on a string, each pearl moving when it is ready. As you explore this series, see whether you can focus on creating a fluid quality of movement in the spine as you come into and out of the shapes.
Bridge: Start in a reclined position with the knees bent, feet on the mat, arms by the sides of the body, and palms down and pressing lightly into the floor. Bring the feet hip-width apart under the knees.
Inhale to roll the front of the pelvis toward the head and pick it up off of the ground. Continue the movement into the midspine, allowing each vertebra to lift off the ground, one after the other. Stop the articulation when the elevated pelvis is in line with the thighbones.
Exhale to reverse the movement, starting with the midspine back down to the ground. As you land, let the front of the pelvis roll toward the feet and create a small space between the low back and the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cat - cow: Position yourself on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Keep space between the knees.
Exhale to roll the pelvis under the body, continuing the movement into the midspine and neck, slowly articulating into roundness. Press the hands into the floor to help spread the shoulder blades apart at the top of the movement (a).
Inhale to reverse the articulation, slowly articulating the pelvis, midspine and head in the opposite direction into a backbend (b). Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Cobra articulation: Start in a belly-down position with the legs straight behind the body. Bend the elbows and bring them in line with the torso, lightly pressing the palms into the mat with the fingertips in line with the shoulders.
Inhale to lift the breastbone, slowly peeling the front of the body off of the ground, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine.
Exhale to slowly articulate the front of the body back down to the mat. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Learn more about Yoga Therapy: A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle.
Related Books
