Hero pose, Child's pose, etc

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

First of, I’d like to introduce myself. Hi, I’m Tom :smiley: I read Eckhart Tolle at age 17 (I’m 22 now) and it deeply resonated with me on an intuitive level. Following the massive impact Eckhart Tolle had on me I then went on to explore Buddhism - particularly Zen - and started meditating daily. I had many Satori, nondual experiences, which at first I could only ‘will’ during eyes closed mediation (and even then I could go day’s without ‘transcending ego’ so to speak) but now after several years I have enough control of my mind to lay it to rest in waking, eye’s open state, and induce a Satori experience. I was always interested in Yoga but couldn’t find a class near me.

To my surprise I found an Iyengar Yoga class a couple of minutes away from where I live and I started attending classes once per week. This was about 8-9 months ago. At first I was terribly inflexible, particularly - you’ve guessed it - in my hamstrings. I paid a lot of attention to this area and my flexibility improved in ways I would never have imagined. Just as an example, when I tried to touch my toes 9 months ago my fingers would rest about 5-6 inches above the floor, now 9 months later I can place my hands flat on the floor. This increase in flexibility has allowed me to enjoy many of the reported benefits from asanas like, forward bends, Triangle, Warrior, head to knee, and the like. However, the flexibility I’ve gained in this area hasn’t translated to other areas. I can’t sit in full Hero pose without sitting on two foam blocks, although I’ve built my comfort level up to remain in the posture for 10 minutes reasonably comfortably, I still can’t go any lower. Likewise, when I sit into Child’s pose my bum does not touch my heels and I have to place two foam blocks between them. I’m wandering what I could do to help improve my flexibility in this area? On top of my once-per-week class, my daily routine consists of Dolphin press ups (to help build strength for Headstand), Downward facing dog, forward bends and many other postures to help lengthen the leg muscles. I’m looking to introduce postures that will help increase flexibility needed for Hero and Child’s pose.

Thanks everyone :smiley:

#2

Hi Tom, and welcome to the forum!

when I sit into Child’s pose my bum does not touch my heels and I have to place two foam blocks between them. I’m wandering what I could do to help improve my flexibility in this area? On top of my once-per-week class, my daily routine consists of Dolphin press ups (to help build strength for Headstand), Downward facing dog, forward bends and many other postures to help lengthen the leg muscles. I’m looking to introduce postures that will help increase flexibility needed for Hero and Child’s pose.
I follow the Iyengar-course from his book “Light on Yoga” with no teacher. I think it is a misconception that one would master a pose just by doing that pose. Know what I mean? If you can’t do a pose as you might see it on a picture or like the teacher is doing it, it is not because you have not practiced that particular pose enough. Well, maybe you can get to perfecting it just by doing it, but it might take years over years.

I believe the key is in a complete course. The first poses will prepare you to be able to start working with the next ones, that are a little more advanced. These in return will provide the means to improve and perfect the first poses. So you need to follow a complete course over a long distance of time. Only after years of consequent practice of a complete system will you start to perfect poses, that appear relatively simple. I hope you get the point here…

Also, bodies are different. Some people will never be able to get into a relatively simple pose as the master can. Not because they did not practice enough, but simply because their bone-structure won’t allow it. Some bodies just don’t allow some positions, I suggest to watch Paul Grilley’s “Anatomy of Yoga”:

http://www.pranamaya.com/teachers/paul-grilley/grilley-afyd.html

A clip to give an impression is here:

I, though, guess it’s hard to get the point from just this…

So:

  1. You need a complete system and course and a long time to perfect relatively simple postures

  2. Different bodies are different, you have to be lucky to have a body that allows you doing postures like ideal masters - who became ideal masters because they are that lucky.

Therefore:

Just do your practice and be occupied with improving yourself, instead of trying to copy what others can do.

#3

Hi Tom.

Almost everybody I know has the same experience… flexibility increases more rapidly in some areas than others. It’s just the way the body is, for the most part.

And you probably already get a good sense of what feels right and what doesn’t. You just need a little guidance from a teacher to understand functional anatomy a little better.

Here’s a video on how to do downward dog properly. It can be one of the more difficult poses to do well.

http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/downward-facing-dog-pose

#4

Thanks for the advice guys. One of my favourite Zen phrases is: “It is when your practice becomes greedy you become discouraged with it”, the phrase is in reference to Meditation yet I guess the same applies to practising Yoga asanas. I just found it odd how I struggle in Child’s pose, seemingly the easiest asana there is. My Hero pose is good; I can sit comfortably in it for over 15 minutes, yet I’m still two foam blocks of the floor. I have mild swayback - or Lordosis - which is caused by tight Hip Flexors (my daily routine is now focused largely on stretching out my hip flexors) so I was wondering if it was possibly my hip flexors that where preventing me from getting my bum down in these postures?

Another quirk is that when practising Supta Padangusthasana my right leg tends to be more responsive than my left. They’re now pretty balanced, yet I’d still say my right is slightly more flexible. However, the opposite is true when practising Janushirsasana; I can comfortably get my hands gripped firm round my left leg, my head down almost to my knee, and my breathing remains nice and steady. Things are different with my right leg though; I can grip hold of my hold of my foot but it’s much more uncomfortable and to the extent that my breathing becomes erratic - I can’t get my head anywhere near as close to my knee. I really wonder why this is? Why would my right leg have greater flexibility in one pose and my left in another? I can only guess that it’s something to do with my hip and the turned out leg.

#5

Tom,

for your OP I would suggest that opening the quadriceps and hip flexors would help with the mission you’ve stated. And you’ve mentioned this in the second post. Biomechanically the quads, when tight, can restrict the ability of the lower leg to fully flex, which is the same as saying “heels touching the sitting bones”. Since the rectus femoris crosses TWO joints it is also effected by the orientation of the pelvis which is why it is one thing in Virasana and another in Balasana.

gordon

#6

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;58717]Tom,

for your OP I would suggest that opening the quadriceps and hip flexors would help with the mission you’ve stated. And you’ve mentioned this in the second post. Biomechanically the quads, when tight, can restrict the ability of the lower leg to fully flex, which is the same as saying “heels touching the sitting bones”. Since the rectus femoris crosses TWO joints it is also effected by the orientation of the pelvis which is why it is one thing in Virasana and another in Balasana.

gordon[/QUOTE]

Thanks for this advice Gordon, I’ve been following it since the last time I posted here. It’s unbelievable how one’s practice can deepen and deepen; it truly feel’s like falling further and further into an abyss. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. The expanse feels infinite, as you continually expand beyond your potential in a multitude of directions.

Anyway, I started practicing warrior 1 daily. I found lifting the heel of my back leg of the floor, whilst still keeping the leg straight and locked gave a further stretch to the quads and hips flexors. This may not be orthodox - it isn’t how I’m taught in class anyway - but it really targeted the areas I was after and my warrior 1 has really improved dramatically, I can definitely tell the difference now in my quads. I’m getting better, slowly but surely, at virasana - I’m now 1 foam block away from the floor, so about an inch. This is definitely the most challenging pose for myself and the one I make the slowest progress in - still there is progress there. I spend 5 minutes in this pose daily.

Headstand followed by plough have also become daily for me and I adore them both equally. I spend 3 minutes in each. I’m just at the stage of not using the wall now for balance in headstand, which has been a total surprise to myself as I couldn’t spend more than 30 seconds in the pose a few months ago and need assistance getting up into it. Dolphin pushups have given me the strength I needed, as well as a little boat for my core.

I started adding a lot of upward dog with my sun salutations, which lead to practicing the pose solo and sustaining the time spent in it. This helped tremendously with postures like Janu Sirsasana seated, Dandayamana-Janushirasana or any other posture requiring getting the head-to-knee. It created a sort of positive feedback loop between my hamstrings and my lower back; as one improved so did the other, ad infinitum. So much progress :smiley:

I’m just reporting this for the sake of reporting it. I hope your all doing well :smiley:

#7

Tom,

that action with the back leg in Vira I will actually jamb the sacroiliac joint and harden the glutes so please be careful in your exploration there.

gordon

#8

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;62739]Tom,

that action with the back leg in Vira I will actually jamb the sacroiliac joint and harden the glutes so please be careful in your exploration there.

gordon[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the head-ups Gordon, I’ll return to proper form. My Yoga teacher actually showed me a seated posture to really help open the hip flexors so I’ve added that in with my routine and returned to normal Warrior 1; I don’t get the same stretch with my foot rooted, but it is a more holistic pose targeting more areas.

Just out of curiosity whenever I come out of plough I have this burning, warm sensation in my groin area. Is this Chakra related or something else?

#9

Just out of curiosity whenever I come out of plough I have this burning, warm sensation in my groin area. Is this Chakra related or something else?

I should note that it isn’t ‘in’ any particular part of that area - like it isn’t my testes but not my tailbone - it radiates the whole area with a warm, tingly burning. The feeling is intensified the longer I spend in plough.

#10

Tom,

it’s not possible to ascertain this based on what has come up. That which you are feeling could be many things; connective tissue in the back body, innervation through the lower spine and sacrum, abuse from childhood, or too much protein in your diet. It’s worth studying/observing (for the student) though.

#11

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;63156]Tom,

it’s not possible to ascertain this based on what has come up. That which you are feeling could be many things; connective tissue in the back body, innervation through the lower spine and sacrum, abuse from childhood, or too much protein in your diet. It’s worth studying/observing (for the student) though.[/QUOTE]

Thanks again for your advice, Gordon.

Well it doesn’t feel ‘physical’ so to speak. I know that a nonsensical thing to say, but what I’m getting at is that it doesn’t feel like it’s muscular related, or in the bone, or anything purely physical. It feels physiological. I do a lot of meditation - not meditation related to chakras, bur rather just being the witness and non-judgmentally observing the breath and everything else that arises - nonetheless I know that, lovely slushy, anticipatory feeling of the solar plexus you get when you focus meditative awareness there; similarly, I know the over-pouring, compassionate feeling you get when you focus on the heart region. I don’t however get much other than a mild arousal when I meditate focusing on the root chakra, nor do I get much from the throat either. I’m pretty convinced my childhood was very innocent. The protein theory sounds quite interesting and the most plausible, as some days it’s definitely a stronger feeling than on others. I’ll keep an eye on my diet and see if I can spot any correlations. The feeling isn’t at all unpleasant, neither though could I say that it is enjoyable, it’s just neutral - I thought “Chakra” straight away and was curious if I was unbalancing myself in a negative way by spending excess time in the posture; the serenity and quietness I get form practicing this posture is incredible though.

#12

I would tend to classify what you’re describing as energetic, but of course it is yours and you may call it whatever you’d like :slight_smile:

I was merely tossing out random thoughts, none of which were particularly germane to your description, including protein. It was more tongue in cheek to make the point that I have no idea.