Press & reach

SENSORIAL SOLES
Inspired by my recent purchase of Vivobarefoot runners I’ve become curious about the role of our feet in our practice, and the impact they have on how our bones and muscles find their true alignment. As yogis we have the unique opportunity to refind the lost connection with the ground – without any barriers to dull the sensations and over support the musculature of the foot. Shoes protect our feet from doing the very job they were cleverly designed to do – feed proprioceptive signals to the brain and allow the body to move accordingly. As I acclimatise to walking in my barefoot shoes I’ve noticed my stride is different, my hips swing more and I am completely in the present moment through connecting with present felt sensations in the act of walking.

PRESS & REACH
The practice of yoga asana is designed to do just that – journey through the sensorial body as a method to find the gateway to quieten the mind, and in its origins, ultimately prepare for seated meditation. You start the journey through your foundation – the soles of your feet – and you complete the action through the part of the body which is reaching. This ‘press and reach’ is the essence of this sequence, and a principle you can apply to any home practice or class you attend. We root down to find a strong foundation, and we grow the pose from this stability. The action of pressing gives an isometric strength to the active muscles, while reaching stretches the active muscles. Yoga is not just about stretching – it’s about balanced amounts of stretching and strengthening for optimum balance.

EXPLORING PRESS & REACH IN YOUR PRACTICE
In yoga we find our grounding by pressing through the points in contact with the ground. Spreading equal weight through all the points will support the pose with unity and spark a chain reaction up through the body. The parts of the body that are stacked over this stable foundation will naturally flow into freer optimal alignment. Each pose has elements of press and reach. Establish your ‘press’ in the points of contact with the ground first, then follow the lines of energy through the whole body and look for the natural ‘reach’ in the upper body of each pose.

ALIGNMENT CUES
‘Press’ is sometimes easier to find than ‘reach’. The alignment cues below will help you to work out which parts of the body are strengthening/pressing and which are stretching/reaching. When you find your pose, trace the ‘press & reach’ through your body – get curious about where you feel the two opposite actions meeting and it moves from ‘press’ to ‘reach’.

Print out the below tips, along with the sequence, and find your ‘press & reach’:

• Starting with Marjaryasana/Cat, Bitilasana/Cow spread your fingers and find your hasta bandha. Spread your weight equally between the hands, knees and tops of the feet. From this stable foundation reach the centre of your spine up high in Marjaryasana/Cat and your sternum forward and sit bones up in Bitilasana/Cow

• In Urdhva Hastasana/Upward Salute find the three points of contact with the ground – ball of the big toe, ball of the little toe and the centre of the heel root down into them equally and feel a lift in the arches and inner ankles. Reach through the tip of the crown and the fingertips. Let your shoulder blades spin out to the sides and soften your shoulders.

• In Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Facing Dog spread your weight equally between your hands and feet. Spread your fingers and press into all five knuckles of your hands, and lightly into the pads of your fingers. Press into your feet and reach your sit bones up as high as you can. Feel the support of the press enabling you to reach up. I find starting your first few rounds with bent knees help you to find the forward tilt of the pelvis and stop your lower back from rounding.

• Our peak pose is Parsvakonasana/Side Angle. It gives the perfect example of ‘press & reach’. With the right leg forward, establish the foundation in the left foot in particular. Press into the three point of the left foot and reach through the fingertips of the left arm. Trace the journey from strengthening to stretching through the whole left side of the body.

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Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Hip stability flow

YOUR POSE IS THE PERFECT POSE
What would a yoga class look like if we were to actually listen to what was right for our own unique bodies – rather than what we were told to do, or striving for what the person on the mat beside us was doing. The discipline of yoga, as with all movement, if not practiced with self care and awareness can lead to injuries. Your teacher is there to guide you and facilitate the movement, you are there to ultimately decide what feels right for you. There is many reasons why your body may never reach the perceived ‘perfect pose’ – from shortened muscles and ligament restrictions, to your unique skeletal structure. During our practice we are constantly getting feedback from our bodies – what feels good and what doesn’t. It’s up to us to listen! The deeper I go into my own practice, the more I pull back from being attached to perfection. Instead I look for a balance between mobility and stability by moving slowly and being guided by felt sensations and pulling back to a softer version of the pose when needed.

MOBILITY & STABILITY
With this in mind, following on from 360 Hip Openers, I have started to explore hip stability. As with everything in life, there has to be a balanced approach to both stretching and strengthening to avoid injuries further down the line. Hip openers have many benefits to counteract our sedentary lives, but hip stability is just as important to incorporate into your practice too. Supporting one with the other will help you to stay within your safe boundaries and give you the mobility of stretching with the stability of strengthening. There is a misconception of yoga that it is purely stretching, but it gives you both stretching and strengthening – using our own body weight, and pressing into our foundation to trigger strong muscle activity.

EXPLORING HIP STABILITY IN YOUR PRACTICE
The pelvis is the foundation of the body and encompasses the base of our spine (1st Chakra), our reproductive organs, our digestive system, and enables all movement. The pointy hip bones (iliac crest) at the front of our hips can tell us a lot about our alignment. As you work through this sequence place your fingertips on the hip bones at the front of your pelvis, or have a glance down at your hips, and looking for level hip bones. When you find your hip bones, hug your outer hips to the midline to activate your strong stabilising hip muscles of the glutes. This will help with your alignment in many poses - such as Phalakasana/Plank Pose, Virabhadrasana III/Warrior III and Setu Bandha Sarvangasana/Bridge. When the hips are not level it has implications on the whole body and brings the spine into a lateral bend or a twist to compensate. If you find this is the case for you, come back out of the pose and move into it slower – squeezing your outer hips muscles to the midline – and staying at the point just before the hips move out of alignment. For example in Virabhadrasana III/Warrior III - lift your left leg, pressing out through the heel, with your hands on your hip bones. If you feel the left hip hiking up pull back a little, and work on strengthening your version of the pose at this point. Your leg may not be perfectly parallel to the floor but your hips are learning all about stability and your supporting hip muscles are firing appropriately rather than being bypassed. This way you are being guided by your body rather than what you are being asked to do or what you see other people doing.

ALIGNMENT CUES
The peak pose of this sequence is Parivrtta Ardha Chamdrasana/Revolved Half Moon. Read through these alignment cues to help you find your optimum alignment for your unique body.

• From Virabhadrasana III, inhale, lengthen up through your spine. Exhale, twist to your right from the waist, reach your left hand to the big toe side of your right foot, a foot forward, on a brick, or the ground. Keeping your left leg parallel to the ground, toes facing down, press out through the heel, roll the inner thigh of your left leg up.

• Reach your right arm up high, palm facing right, stack your shoulders. Bottom waist rolls forward, top waist rolls back, lengthen from the heel of your lifted leg to the tip of your crown, gaze forward or to your right fingertips.

Print out the above sequence and practice with the intention of searching for a connection with your body rather than searching for perfection. Embrace what you can and can’t do as part of what makes you uniquely you. As you flow through this sequence remember our intention of stability and listening to feedback. When you find you’ve lost your connection move slower and isolate a single area (the hips points) to help you find that feedback again.

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Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

A simple morning flow

EARLY MORNINGS
Finally we’re starting to leave behind the colder months and see the Spring making a brave appearance with the brighter mornings. I’ve always been a morning person – I love catching a glimpse of the silent sleeping world, with the anticipation of the start of a new day. It’s definitely my favourite time of day to get on my mat and instill a bit of calm. Getting on your mat in the morning is about taking time for self care, and realigning yourself physically and mentally for the day ahead. There is a misconception that if you’re not practicing for at least an hour you’re not ‘doing it properly’. You will still get lots of benefits from a simple 10 to 15 minutes flow of some of your favourite yoga poses. You’ll find that as you get into the routine, you’ll start to naturally wake up a little bit earlier and be ready for your practice.

THERE IS BEAUTY IN SIMPLICITY
Most mornings I like to keep my practice simple, and take a few extra breaths in each pose to scan through the sensations that arise. After years of not listening I’m finally more patient with my muscles, especially my hamstrings, and give them plenty of gentle encouraging to open up. I find when I have stretched and strengthened in the morning, and have oiled up the synovial fluid in all my joints, I can sit more comfortably throughout the day with more awareness of posture, and the importance of taking breaks from sitting.

FEEL THE BENEFITS
Morning yoga stimulates the gut – waking up good digestion for the day and builds a strong immune system. A healthy happy digestive system nurtures an Ayurvedic principle of ‘ojas’ – which means vitality or glow, and is considered to be the essence of health that supports wellness. Breath awareness in yoga triggers the ‘rest, restore and digest’ nervous system. When this conscious breath is practiced as part of your daily routine it rewires your brain to naturally reach for this calmer reaction rather than a ‘flight or flight’ response. Of course there is always exceptions where a bit of fight or flight is needed, but with awareness your responses are more informed and less reactive.

EXPLORING SIMPLICITY IN YOUR PRACTICE
This sequence has a bit of everything that will get your day off to a great start. Move slowly through the sequence and pause to take extra breaths when you encounter tightness. You can tailor the length of your flow by picking just one of the three main standing flows, skipping the extra vinyasas which link the flows, or reducing the amount of repetitions on some of the poses. In order to feel the cumulative benefits of this sequence, and get a sense of serenity in familiarity, practice this same sequence for 2-3 weeks. If practicing everyday is daunting for you, start with aiming for a 2-3 days a week, for 10-15 mins, and let it naturally build it up from there.

ALIGNMENT CUES
The peak pose for this sequence is Virabhadrasana II/Warrior II one of the classic poses of yoga that you will likely find in most sequences. Read through these alignment cues to find your expression of Warrior II.

• From Adho Mukha Svanasana, ground your left foot at a 45 degree angle. Inhale, step your right foot between your hands, check for front heel to back arch alignment, exhale here.

• Inhale, press into your feet to come up, open your hips to the side of the mat, front knee bent. Left hip naturally sits forward of your right hip. Reach your arms out to shoulder height, palms facing down.

• Stack your front knee over your front ankle, working towards your front thigh being parallel to the ground.

• Lift your inner thighs, roll your outer left thigh down, hug your right hip in, gaze to your right fingertips.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru