Missed the boat, caught the dog

I have been working with Susi Hately Aldous and Leonor Mowry’s book, Advancing Your Yoga Practice: The Art of Slowing Down, and let me tell you, there have been Some Revelations.

Perhaps the greatest one is how tight my shoulders actually are, and how limited their range of motion, which has led to a whole pathology of misuse in my hips – particularly the way I use my hamstrings, hip flexors and the mobility in my sacro-iliac joints to compensate for the shoulders. Well enough that no teacher has ever noticed it. Not even me. I read this post about body awareness and injury, and it got me thinking some more about the topic.

I often hear yoga teachers say they have never been injured. I am afraid I am skeptical, and my reaction is to think that either they are lying or omitting or forgetting (sorry, I do) or that they aren’t actually doing very much yoga. When I am chatting to other teachers, ones whom I know well enough to discuss this without posturing, they will say, hey, my hamstring tendons hurt.

Or, wow, I have lower back issue too

Or their necks hurt, or their shoulders. Or something…

The thing is this: unless you are an enlightened being, you are not going to be self-aware all the time, and it is in those times, when your body awareness is low, maybe because you are stressed or distracted, that you most need to practice yoga. It is also in those times that you are most likely to incur injury. Also, it is immensely difficult to convey to another how a yoga pose should FEEL. We are mostly told, and mostly tell our students, how things should look, in the hope that if a pose looks right, it will be right in that body. This is how I originally learnt yoga. It is taking me a lot of effort to unlearn it, and I try now to teach how things should feel, once people have certain basic safe alignment in place. I think that my various injuries have made me a much better teacher. Just as the Yoga Sutra warns against beings who are born enlightened, because they can be a danger to us mere mortals by not understanding where we are at, so I distrust people who haven’t come through the normal states of pain, restriction, and injury. Or even worse, are not willing to admit that they have.

After working on the sequence for Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog) out of the book, I experienced my most comfortable down dog ever. It was incredible! It really got me into my body, relly got the awareness and relaxation fine-tuend. Same thing with Trikonasana. And the Savasana at the end of the practice was one of the deepest ever, too. Consider, if you will (this inspired by Brenda’s Asana Project*):

Down Dog before the warm ups:

I kid you not, my shoulders are that tight. Can’t get my feet down, because my shoulders are restricting me. Also, notice that uncomfortable-looking angle between arms and body?

And after:

It was a complete eye-opener to use the gentle preparations for down dog, especially the reclining arm mobility and side-bending exercises featured in the book. This has been a very interesting project.

I can however see why this book is pitched at advanced students or teachers: the work is at a deep level, and you are required to have a good understanding of the poses and the biomechanics of getting into them. That said, I imagine a lot of people would be uncomfortable with the lack of sweat involved in practising this way… But what a great book! I hope they bring out another, since my chances of getting to Canada to study with these ladies are slim.

*In case you are wondering why I missed the boat: it’s because it is week three of the asana project and I have only managed to post this once. Missed the boat on trikonasana and vrksasana.

Reflections: It’s what’s inside that counts (yogawithnadine.com)
The poses I’ve loved, the poses I’ve hated (yogawithnadine.com)
Sore back yoga (yogawithnadine.com)

14 responses on “Missed the boat, caught the dog”

thanks for the post. will go checkout the book you’ve mentioned. looks like what i might need for my tight shoulders too. cheers!

I’m getting that book!

as my own practice and teaching have evolved, I’m constantly telling my students to feel the pose, to be the pose…that it’s not about how the “form” looks…because asanas are merely forms and yoga is the dance between form and formlessness.

I also tell them that the space between the asansas is also part of the asana, to not turn the asana off and on, it’s a constant flow, just like there is the beginning-middle-end of an inhale and then the exhale and then that formless quietude before the next inhale. it is all one.

Hi Nadine, I’ve never blogged before but this is begging for a response. After all these years of thinking that I didn’t have shoulder issues, I recently started noticing how often (when not practicing yoga) my shoulders are raised near my ears. Tension. Not being in the moment.
The weekend before last I went to Sydney with my husband. He wanted to look at the “Endeavour” The famous sailing boat. I had to indulge him and as we looked at it I noticed how very tight my shoulders were. Whilst he was oohing and aahing about the boat, I started to imagine the rigging attached to my fingers and elbows and connecting to the earth. Gently encouraging my shoulders down.It was surprisingly effective and a fun way to pass the time.

Nadine, thank you for sharing! I agree, we push ourselves in poses and injure ourselves more often than we realize. I was interested in the book and now I know I will get it!

I am getting that book now too! Thanks for the thoughtful and inspiring post Nadine, as always, you are a wealth of information and food for thought. I have troubles with my back which gets highlighted in shoulderstand. This book may just help me understand why with the exercises. Thanks chooka, hope you’re well!

Hi Nadine,
LOVE this post. So-much-so that I couldn’t fit all I wanted to say here! This has been a topic of great importance to me over the past few years–especially this past year. So I just posted a “response” at http://totalhealthyoga.blogspot.com/2008/11/viniyoga-one-size-does-not-fit-all.html.
Take care and have a fab-u-lo-so day
KK

Hi Nadine,

LOVE this post! So-much-so that my response doesn’t fit here. I just posted a “response” at totalhealthyoga[dot]blogspot[dot]com/2008/11/viniyoga-one-size-does-not-fit-all[dot]html

Thanks and have a fab-u-lo-so day!
Kris K

Hi Nadine,
Leo and I stumbled across your blog, and are so happy you love our book. Your photos are fabulous.

Just goes to show, doesn’t it!!

Thanks for the post.

Susi Hately Aldous

Thanks Nadine. I am also a yoga teacher who has injured herself too many times. Most recently a knee injury. I went to Susi’s recent workshop in Victoria and am so grateful for her work! I’m totally slowing down, working therapeutically on my hips and pelvis so that I don’t hurt myself any more.
Love the dog photos, btw, what a great idea.

HI – this is soo cool! As an Aussie, living in Canada who had the incredible good fortune of attending some of Susi’s classes 2 yrs ago as part of Moksha TT. It was Aha after Aha after Aha! It soo floats my boat to see the impact her teachings are having around the globe. Nadine, thanks for posting. You have reminded me again of the value and wisdom to be gained by just stepping back, slowing down and FEEELING in my practice. Thanks for the pics.

Dear Nadine,

Thank you so much for your blog and wonderful photos. I live in Botswana and would love to get to one of Susi’s workshops, but have to say it’s not very likely to happen anytime soon. I have ordered her book and hope it arrives soon so I too can improve my practice and my students and help us all stay injury free.

Thanks again for the excellent post.

Deborah Carter
http://www.yogasafari.com

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