Practise with distractions

THE PRACTICE OF PATIENCE
Summertime can offer some challenges to your yoga practice. Trying to find a quiet space to roll out your mat on summer holidays without too many onlookers; the draw of the sunshine in the longer evenings or, like myself, having a gang of little ones on school summer holidays that seem to rise with the birds!

In an ideal world we’d all have our own little yoga studio where we could immerse ourselves in daily practice, with a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door. A very tempting thought! I’ve often looked at my modest garden and wondered if I could fit in a trendy German Huf Haus. But unfortunately most of us have to find a quiet space in a busy house with a lot of traffic from early morning.

After the initial period of panic and uncertainty, I realised the practice of yoga for my summer was going to mean the practice of letting go of expectations and accepting the distractions when you do manage to get on the mat. My summer routine always starts with a walk or run at around 6:30am, to clear the head of chatter and list-making before finding my way onto my mat, which I roll out before heading out so I can slip back into the house and onto it with as little noise as possible. Inevitably the household is in full swing, with rumbling tummies and list of requests, before I’ve managed to find my way into Savasana. Depending on the moods and hunger levels, I can sometimes finish my sequence with three little onlookers, who even join in for a quick Savasana at the end. They’re beginning to recognise that when they give me a few minutes to find my balance, I’m more chilled out and it’s a win, win situation!

ME TIME
While it is recommended to practise in a quiet, clean and uncluttered sacred space, sometimes this just isn’t possible. So think of your summer yoga as the ultimate challenge of being creative with where you practise, cultivating inner focus and lots of patience! Whether it’s for 5 minutes or an hour, such are the benefits of yoga that it’s worth practising with acceptance of all the distractions that life throws at you.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Yoga like a tortoise

UNEXPECTED SLOW DOWNS
Life throws us little injuries every now and again to test our patience! When the initial annoyance of an injury subsides there is huge scope for learning. An injury teaches you to examine your approach to your yoga practice, your day to day exercise routine and your approach to life in general.

I’m currently working on rehabilitating an instability in my piriformis (deep hip muscle). I’ve learnt from experience that the sooner I tackle the problem, with self awareness or a trip to the physio, the faster I recover. I lead an active life and am inclined to overstretch myself, both mentally and physically. My yoga practice teaches me to listen to that inner voice telling me to slow down, pull back and acknowledge the warning signs.

NO SHOULDS
My practice changed hugely during and after teacher training. Where I might have expected it to get more intense and physical, I found I was learning to pull back from over pushing and to drop any perceived targets for how far I should stretch or what asana I should be able to do. I learnt that there are no ‘shoulds’ and that each practice is totally different.

My new challenge is to slow my practice down to the pace of a tortoise, making the transitions just as important as the asana itself. By moving in this way you can feel the actions of the muscles more intensely, making it easier to find where your edge is and, in the case of injury, listening to what the body needs and knowing when to stop or pull back. From a physical point of view, moving slowly is far more challenging. For example, moving with control by stepping your foot forward from Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Dog in preparation for Virabhadrasana II/Warrior II is a stronger transition than swinging your foot forward and hoping it reaches the inside of your hand! In your next practice, try stepping forward as slowly as you possibly can. Notice how different it feels and observe the intense action in the abs, quads and glutes. See which version challenges you most, whilst at the same time feels more controlled and secure. It can be very helpful to set your phone up to video one of your transitions and see if there are any areas you need to be mindful of: a knee buckling out to the side; a shoulder dropping; or one hip dipping lower than the other.

Injuries can often be caused by habitual misalignments in transitions. Or, in fact, in our everyday lives: how you stand; how you sit cross-legged; how you sit on the couch (weakened piriformis, I speak from experience!). From a yoga point of view a transition misalignment, like a dropped shoulder in Chaturanga, can gradually cause an injury which, in my experience, is harder to shift than an overstretched muscle. By slowing down, we give ourselves a chance to observe and keep in touch with correct alignment and avoid repetition injuries.

Make your next practice all about transitions. Flow fluidly with grace and awareness, move as softly and lightly as possible. Feel your whole body thanking you for listening!

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Designing my 108 malas

I’ve currently started designing my new range of 108 mala beads. The beads are made from authentic semi precious stones, sourced from China. They will be strung with silk thread, with a matching silk tassel, and sterling silver feature beads. The malas can be worn as a long necklace, or wrapped around your wrist. You don’t have to be a seasoned meditator to get the benefits of malas. Set an intention for the day, and wear your malas as a reminder. Between the protection of your little hamsa hand, and the earthy materials of the malas, they will keep you safe and grounded throughout the day!

Tibetan Buddhist mala beads are used to help settle the mind by counting chant mantras in mindfulness meditation practices. They generally have 108 beads, which is long considered to be a sacred number in the yoga tradition. There are lots of different interpretations as to why it is precisely 108 beads. 108 is a harshad (sanskrit for ‘joy giving’) number. A harshad number gives you an even number when the sum of it digits (1+0+8=9) is divided into the number (108/9=12). There is a total of 108 letters in the sanskrit alphabet (54 male and 54 female). There are 108 energy lines found in the body that converge to form the heart chakra. The number of sacred sites in India is 108. It’s also said that the distance of the sun and the moon to earth is 108 times their diameter!

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Settling on your mat

THE BLACK STUFF
One of Dublin's best yoga teachers, Mari Kennedy, who teaches in The Yoga Room and Clonlea Yoga Studio, introduced the idea of settling onto your mat like a pint of Guinness. Such a lovely image and one which the class of predominantly Irish students wholeheartedly identified with, even if it was only 9:45am! The idea, she goes on to explain, is in the ritualistic pause that follows after a Guinness is drawn before you can savour it. There is a savouring in the period of anticipation too, similar to the anticipation at the start of a class, and the sense of achievement at making it onto your mat. We would all benefit from starting our practice by pausing, and letting everything settle – letting go of all the busy thoughts of the day and clearing a space for the present. It leaves an inner smile when you look around the class and visualise all the little pints of Guinness practising their Sun Salutations, without even spilling a drop!

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Sun Salutation, a closer look

SUN SALUTATION ROOTS
The origins of the Sun Salutation are uncertain. The earliest text illustrating the classic Sun Salutation we practise today, was written in the 1930s by Krishnamacharya. But it is not known if he was simply recording a sequence handed down for centuries from teacher to teacher or if he created it himself. He went on to teach the sequence to his students, including K. Pattabhi Jois and K.B.S Iyengar.

Traditionally practised in the morning as a salute to the rising sun, the Sun Salutation is multi functional and can actually be practised at any time of the day. When practised in the morning it wakes up the system and gets you ready for the day ahead. Practised in the evening it helps you unwind and relax. It is the perfect way to start building a home practice. The three versions strengthen and stretch all the main muscle groups, build stamina and prepare for more challenging asana. They also build heat and increase circulation throughout the whole system, which aids digestion and benefits all the internal organs.

The repetitive and meditative quality of the movements relaxes the mind and body, reducing stress and anxiety and increasing mental clarity. As you move through each pose in the Sun Salutation, you take either an in-breath or an out-breath. This makes it a good start to your practice and establishes the link between the breath and the movement. When done slowly it also encourages a calm breath which triggers the parasympathetic nervous system.

There are three main versions of Sun Salutation, or Surynamaskara. Sun Salutation C, also called Sun Salutation Classic, is the best version to start any practice with. You step back from your first Forward Fold/Uttanasana, to Anjaneyasana/Low Lunge, which is kinder on the joints while you give your system a chance to warm up. It also offers a softer decline to the floor through Knees, Chest, Chin, rather than Chaturanga Dandasana/Four Limb Pose. Coming all the way down to the ground offers a gentler backbend with Bhujangasana/Cobra, instead of a full Urdhva Mukha Svanasana/Upward Facing Dog. You can also incorporate a soft bend in the knees for the forward folds, allowing time for the hamstrings to warm up.

Sun Salutation A, or Surynamaskara A, is also the perfect way to start to your practice. For the first few rounds you can come down to the floor through Knees, Chest, Chin until your shoulders and back are warmed up enough to support the correct alignment of Chaturanga Dandasana/Four Limb Pose and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana/Upward Facing Dog.

Sun Salutation B, or Surynamaskara B, is actually the most challenging version of the three. It builds on the poses of Sun Salutation A, with the addition of Utkatasana/Chair, and Virabhadrasana I/Warrior I. Warrior I requires your hips to be very open, and exposes any instabilities or tightness you might have in knees, hips or lower back. It also offers a lovely stretch in the psoas, strengthens and stretches the thigh, calves and ankles, and stretches the shoulder and neck when the raised arms are added into the pose.

Click on any of the above sequences and print them out to use as a visual aid for your next home practice.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru