Saturday 10:30a Intro: Week 1 (Jan 3, 2009)

Please note: to maintain anonymity, no names are given but rather lower case letters [ex. (a.)] are used to indicate conditions and the modifications made in class.

Twelve students - all returning, none brand new - attended class on Saturday. Several came up before class to discuss their conditions which were addressed in class. They included the following:

(a.) arthritis pain in both knees, worse on right
(b.) bruised/torn muscles in right ribcage and strained hamstring due to falling in sports injury
(c.) rotator cuff pain & stiffness in hips due to prior stroke
(d.) recently diagnosed enlarged heart
(e.) recently diagnosed high blood pressure
(f.) back pain due to previously diagnosed compressed vertebrae, worse during menstrual cycle

Bruce (BR) and I (KD) decided to have everyone put their mats at the wall for standing poses.

1.) Tadasana (Tada-asana; tada=mountain) / Samasthiti (Sama-sthiti; sama=same, sthiti=stability)

— Extend & spread toes without hardening or overworking shins; leg muscles are pulled up; press down evenly the mounds of the toes/forefoot;

— Lift inner knees, spread backs of thighs from inside out;

— Extend & spread fingers without hardening the hand to maintain even extension in entire arm;

When fingers and/or wrists are hardened, fingers stretched to their maximum, the arm overworks, tension and exhaustion comes quickly. Conversely, if the hands and wrists are dull the arm is also dull and the shoulder cannot open;

Everyone to move ribcage back so no pressure on heart, diaphragm, internal organs;

(a.): arthritis in knees, bowed legs, collapsed arches & inner knees; couldn't lift inner knee in Tadasana
standing at the wall BR belted widest part of shins together, brick between heels & behind upper thighs;

(b.): feet apart and brick between legs to get inner knee lift; push thighs back;

2.) Urdhva Hastasana (Urdhva Hasta-asana; urdhva=upward, hasta=hand)

— Away from wall: everyone pushing thighs, waist & ribcage forward to take arms up;

— At wall using ropes: Tadasana leg action; press pinky-side edge of palm into rope, palms facing, arms shoulder width apart; roll upper arms from outside in (external rotation);

Student difficulties:
— Pain in upper back - compressing or "scrunching" too much in trapezium; roll arms from outside inwards to spread upper back & make space at neck

— Pain in lower back - overarching in lumbar spine; move ribcage back, lift from the pubic plate & open from armpits

3.) Tadasana / Samasthiti

— Students instructed to take arms back further than sides to "sharpen" and lift the side chest; focus only on arm and upper back action results in tension in neck/head due to overdoing.

(a.) & (e.) to demo, looking at their backs:

(e.) questioned the position of the shoulder blades, "don't they move together?"' (e.)'s are already close together with anterior thoracic spine; (e.) to spread first both at upper back & at sternum, then extend arms down to take shoulder blades down;

whereas (a.) has a rounded upper back, shoulder blades apart/ "winging out", needing inner edges to come in, then down to open chest/sternum; when arms were taken back neck scrunched up; (a.)'s elbows were belted & instructed to "break" the belt to widen at upper back, elbows also bent to roll upper arms from inside out

Discussion of dharana and dhyana in asana.

Dharana: concentration, focus on single point, imbalance of effort & energy throughout the pose. Dhyana: Diffusion of consciousness, engulfs the whole body, completeness, integration, steady flow of effort & energy where the self awareness is lost. In Tadasana with arms back there was dharana in the upper arms & side chest, but no dhyana. Learn to bring evenness of effort by degree to achieve the steady flow of energy and a completeness in the pose. Then the self blends with the soul.

4.) Urdhva Baddhanguliyasana

— Fingers intertwined, arms out in front half way to teach taking the outer shoulder down (no hunching); keep upper back & shoulder blades in (no humping); (note: (b.) & (c.) did not do);

5.) Rope Utkatasana

— Holding ropes, extend arms straight to open side chest; buttocks "seated" back & down;

(b.): roll upper arm from outside in, no pain at ribcage/site of inury;

(c.): in shoulder rope harness held by BR to bring trapezium down; roll upper arm from outside in (external rotation); sit in chair to use body as traction;

6.) Utthita Trikonasana

— Back/hip against wall for support;

(c.): right leg belted, BR pulling to open hip, pushing left thigh back to stabilize;

(f.): more difficulty on right side due to compressed vertebrae; took right hand to higher brick & pressed front of left thigh towards wall to alleviate pain in right sacroiliac joint

7.) Savasana

— Blanket under head for support;

(b.): seated in chair, head on blanket on trestle;

(d.) and (e.): add'l folded blanket spine-wise under back chest to support heart;

(f.): bolster under knees, hips belted to alleviate pain/numbness in right lower back & leg