Utkatasana - chair

EXPLORING UTKATASANA IN YOUR PRACTICE
Utkatasana is one of those ‘more than meets the eye’ asana. It is a full body pose – strengthening the lower spine, legs, shoulders, hips, glutes and core – and teaching the principles of sthira & sukha, effort & ease, in your practice. As a standing asana, it is energising and stimulates all the organs of the abdomen – particularly the digestive system, which in turn boosts the immune system. As you bend you knees, and dip your pelvis down towards your heels, try to maintain the natural lumbar curve of the lower back. Lightly drawing your navel in towards your spine will protect your lower back from over arching, while it supports the weight of the upper body as it tilts forward from the hip joints.

ALIGNMENT CUES
Try the above sequence which breaks Utkatasana into three stages. It is not an asana that is easy to hold for many breaths, take a restorative forward fold in between each step, as you explore your alignment. The first two stages of the steps use a brick to support the upper body, while you settle the pelvis into position.

The following are some alignment cues to help you find a Utkatasana with effort & ease. Print them out, along with the sequence, and play around with what makes sense to you:

• Ground down through your heel, top of the thighbones press down towards your heels
• Inner thighs lifted, as you hug your outer hips to the midline, press into your big toe mound to keep your knees tracking over your ankles
• Draw your navel in towards your spine and feel into the strength of your lower back
• Lengthen up through your side body and reach from your tailbone to the tip of your crown
• Broaden through the collarbones, feel into your shoulder blades spin out and hug against your back ribs, soften any tension from your shoulders

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Waves of movement

GOOD BREATH
The breath is the where the magic is found in yoga. It deeply affects our physical and mental state. Conscious breathing triggers the parasympathetic nervous system through the cerebral cortex (rest & restore), increases lung capacity, builds circulation, aids digestion, release emotional and physical tension, and increase overall well-being. When we link the breath with the movement in our practice it slows the breath down – bringing more oxygen to our whole system and establishes a deep and constant breath.

COME BACK TO THE BREATH
Bringing our attention consciously to the breath in our practice is a challenge that continues as long as the practice itself. To the onlooker, a yogi flowing through their sequence may seem very relaxed and calm, but there is much unfolding on the mat. The complexity of alignment in each asana, the controlled and safe transitions, maintaining a meditative state of mind, and most importantly, remembering to breath! It’s no surprise that you might find yourself holding your breath while you are concentration on your flow, or during a challenging asana. Simply remembering to come back to the breath during your practice, and checking in with how you are breathing, will help to build your concentration, and face those challenging asana.

THE WAVE OF THE BREATH
The breath moves through us like a wave. On an inhale the belly and ribs expand as the diaphragm contracts down, and on an exhale the belly and ribs contract as the diaphragm expands up.

Before you try the sequence above, lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your hands on you belly and take a few comfortable breaths – following the ebb and flow of the air. When you are going through the asana let your breath initiate each transition. Keep returning to the breath during your practice If you find you are loosing the connection between the breath with the movement, go back to the simple warm up flow sequences and keep your practice simple. As you pause in each asana, use the breath to melt aways any tension you might encounter. For more information on using the breath to pause click on this link.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Forward bends

THE BACK BODY
The final axial plane in our spinal sequences is the humble, yet challenging, forward bends. Forward bends stretch the entire back body – starting at the soles of the feet, traveling up the achilles tendon, the calves, hamstrings, glutes, outer hips, inner groins, lower back and upper back. We often presume limitations in our forward bend come from tightness in the hamstrings, but when there is tension in any of these areas in the back body, it can hinder your ability to release forward. Forward bends take a lot of patience, time and kindness. The large muscle group running the length of the back of the thighs, including the hamstrings, like plenty of gentle encouragement and warming up before they release.

FORWARD BENDS AND THE PELVIS
In its essence, a forward fold is the rotation of the head of the two thigh bone in the socket of the hip – which makes up the two hip joint. To help initiate the movement from the hip joint in your forward bends, try a few standing and seated asana with your hands on your hips, and feel into the extent of movement you can get into the anterior/forward tilt of the pelvis as you fold.

BENEFITS OF FORWARD BENDS
Our natural position of protection and self soothing is fetal position. In fetal position you’ll notice all the joints are flexed – the feet, knees, hips, back and arms. Forward bends flex the feet, hips and back, and are very calming and relaxing – easing anxiety, stress, tension and depression – helping us to move from the sympathetic nervous system of flight, flight and freeze, to the parasympathetic nervous system of rest and restore.

FORWARD BENDS IN YOUR PRACTICE
Spend some time in your warm ups paying particular attention to areas of tension in the back body. During your Sun Salutations take a few breaths in Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Dog, and follow the back body from the base of your feet to the tip of your crown – including the outer hips and inner groins. Supta Padangusthasana/Reclined Hand to Big Toe is a good starting point for gradually opening up the backs of the legs and the surrounding muscles. Print out the above sequence to release the whole back body. As with inversions there is lots of hidden forward bends. The ‘peak pose’ of the sequence is an arm balance which requires a deep forward bend. Click on this link to get a full list of forward bends.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Twists

TWISTS AND THE MIDLINE
The spine has a total axial rotation of 90 degrees – the neck/cervical has a range of 50 degrees, the upper back/thoracic of 35 degree and surprisingly the lower back/lumbar has only 5 degrees of rotation. For this reason, care needs to be taken with our twists, so that we don’t put excess pressure on the sacroiliac joint (where pelvis and spine meet). Our twists come from the waist and with the majority of the rotation coming from the upper back/thoracic. The spine has five different ranges of movement – forward, backwards, right side, left side and rotation. But we also have a fifth movement called axial extension. Axial extension is the movement we hope to achieve when we ‘reach through the tip of the crown’, to find as much space as we can between the vertebra, to allow the spine to rotate. When you are working with  twists, draw a line through your midline from the base of your spine to beyond the tip of your crown. When you have found this line twist your body, from the inside out, around this extended midline, like a spiral staircase. You will find you also get a better twist if you extend through your midline, and twist evenly from both sides of the midline.

BENEFITS OF TWISTS
Twists penetrate deep into the organs of the body, bringing fresh blood flow – stimulating the digestive system for maximum nutrition absorption, the liver and kidneys to remove toxins, and the lymph system which supports the immune system. They also release stress and physical tension in the chest, shoulders, neck and hips. They also stretch and strengthen the muscles of the respiratory system, bringing with it the many health benefits of ‘good breath’. Try taking some deep breaths in your twists, to get the full stretch and benefits for the lungs. Click this link to get a full list of twists.

The above sequence has two peek poses – Parivrtta Trikonasana/Revolved Triangle and Parsva Bakasana/Side Crow. Before you come into your full expression of Parivrtta Trikonasana/Revolved Triangle on the right side, when you have reached forward with your spine, place your right hand on your right lower back and check if your hips are level. When you have found a level hip position, place your right thumb in your right hip crease to ensure the hips stay in place, as you slowly reach your left arm to a brick or the ground to the right side of your right foot. In Parsva Bakasana/Side Crow draw your navel strongly in towards your spine and reach up through the crown before you take the deep twist to the right. If taking the balance is not in your practice come to the setup stage of the asana for a really deep twist. Working towards hooking your left upper arm outside your right knee.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Backbends

BACKBENDS AND THE MIDLINE
Moving into exploration of the spine is a natural progression from last week sequence of the midline. The spine runs along our midline, and gives us a physical element to work towards when ‘drawing into the midline’ in our practice. Maintaining awareness of the midline when practicing backbends, reminds us to exert equal effort right and left, and gives a stable structure for the front body to expand and the back body to curve with.

THE SPINE
The spine supports the body against gravity, facilitates movement of the torso, and protects the spinal cord. An understanding of the four natural curves of your back helps you to access safer alignment in your asana. Try standing in Tadasana/Mountain and trace the four curves of your back – starting with the concave curve at the back of your neck/cervical (115 degree range of motion); moving down to the convex curve of your upper back/thoracic (70 degree range of motion); diping again into the concave of your lower back/lumbar (95 degree range of motion); and finally the convex curve of the fused tailbone/sacral. Now take Ardha Uttanasana/Half Forward Fold with your hands on your shins, and look to find these same four natural curves of your spine as you reach through the tip of your crown. Often when we fold forward we lose our two lovely concave curves of our cervical and lumbar spine. These two curves enable the most range of motion in the spine, which makes them more susceptible to injury. The spine is involved in every asana with either flexion, extension or rotation. Yoga lengthens, strengthens and promotes good interstitial fluid health of the spine.

BENEFITS OF BACKBENDS
Backbends stimulate the nervous system, aid digestion, ease stress, tension, anxiety and depression. They also expand and breath, promoting healthy lung capacity and ease symptoms of asthma and sleep apnea. You’ll notice the increased energy throughout the room in a backbend focused yoga class. We spend a lot of our day hunched forward -  backbends stretch, expand and open the heart centre.  The mind follows the physical, and becomes open and energised too.

The above sequence warm up the spine with lateral bends, rotations and contraction backbends. It also works on lengthening the hip flexors and psoas muscle. Tight hip flexors prevent the posterior (backwards) tilt of the pelvis, restricting backbends and bringing increased flexion and pressure into the lower back. Click this link to get a full list of backbends.

LATERAL BENDS
Lateral bends are a lovely, gentle way to access the concept of lengthening up through the spine to find space between the vertebra for your backbends. Before you do the backbending sequence, try the lateral bends sequence below. Reach up tall through the spine to the tip of the crown before each lateral bend. There is lots of hidden lateral bends in our practice that you may not even notice – such as Viparita Virabhadrasana/Reverse Warrior, Parsvakonasana/Extended Side Angle and Trikonasana/Triangle – which are all great asana to take warm up the spine before a backbend peak pose.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru