Grounding: Ground Your Feet

Continuing my series on grounding yourself physically. You already learned about what it means to be grounded and how to loosen up your feet more to allow for more spring in your step so you can receive and send out energy more effectively. Now, let’s look at placing the foot so you can feel more grounded.

If you haven’t already, I recommend beginning with the work from the previous post. The massage really opens up the feet to receive more energy and makes the next step more powerful.

Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Although Tadasana (Mountain Pose) is traditionally done with feet touching, it can be difficult to feel grounded with the feet together. There is a feeling of being off balance. So, for the purposes of this exercise, separate your feet about sit bone distance apart. Set your feet as close to parallel as you can without feeling torquing in your knees. Take a moment to feel your feet. We want to compare how they feel now versus once you have established the grounding.

We will start with your right foot. Lift the toes and stretch out the soles by walking the ball of your foot out slightly from your heal. You will only move maybe a millimeter, it is an important millimeter. Keeping the toes up, now find the inner edge of the ball of your big mound. Catch that spot on the mat, sticking it down on the mat and then broaden across the ball of your foot. With toes still lifted, stretch the toes out long and set them down one by one, lengthening them out.

Now feel the difference between your feet. My guess is the right one feels more grounded, heavier. Repeat to the left foot.

How do your feet feel now vs what you noticed before we began? I do set my feet mindfully each time I move into Tadasana. Of course, it doesn’t take very long, just a moment really, once you have done it awhile. Enjoy the grounding!

Next time we will move up the legs.

Groundedness Series:
Teaching Groundedness
Wake up Your Feet

Feet: Wake Up Your Feet

Our feet are the most powerful part of our body for creating groundedness. If you aren’t using your feet well, you can’t be truly grounded. Or, said in a more positive way, the more effectively you use your feet, the more grounded you will feel in life! The more grounded you are, the more energetic and vibrant you will be, the more authentically you will show up in your life.

The foot has 26 bones, 31 joints, and 20 intrinsic muscles (meaning the muscles start and end in the foot and do not cross the ankle). The feet are meant to be used and to have fine movements to them. For most of us, though, our feet have become relatively rigid. (For reasons beyond the scope of this post!) When our feet are rigid, we walk like a car without shocks; we land hard on the ground rather than rebounding lightly. We don’t yield to the energy with the ground.

So, the first step to becoming more grounded is loosening up the feet to bring back the bounce in your step.

Before you begin, sit briefly in Dandasana (Staff Pose). Notice how your feet feel right now. It is illuminating to compare how they feel now versus after waking them up.

Step 1: Massage the Feet

• Sit in Sukhasana (Easy, Cross-Legged Pose)
• Hold your right foot with your right hand and lace the fingers of your left hand into your toes. If you can, lace all the way to the root of your fingers. (If your toes are particularly tight, just lace the tips of your fingers. The tips are smaller than the root of your fingers.)
• 
• Hold your arch strongly with your right hand to steady the foot.
• Gently rotate your toes with your left hand. You are only rotating your toes, not the ankle so be sure your right hand is holding firmly.
• Rotate a few times in one direction and then change direction.
• Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose) and compare how your feet feel.
• Now repeat the massage to the other foot.
  

Step 2: Stretch the Toes

• Come to all fours. Tuck your toes under.
• Slowly begin to sit back on your toes, stretching your toes and the soles of your feet. If you toes are very tight, this stretch can be intense. (My students accuse me of Yoga Torture with this one!) Just sit back as far as you can and still be able to breath and enjoy the stretch. You may be able to sit all the way on your heals.
• Sit for 10 breaths then come out.
• Return to Dandasana (Staff Pose) and compare how your feet feel. Ahhhh!
  

Next time we will learn to place the feet to be more grounded in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).

Groundedness Series:
Teaching Groundedness
Grounding: Grounding Your Feet

Teaching Groundedness

Help your students become more grounded this year. Remember, what you do on the mat is reflected in your life and vice versa. I am going to write a series of posts on becoming more grounded in the body, from the feet up. When we engage our body well, it will align and energy will flow more fluidly through it. When energy flows more fluidly, we feel more energetic and vibrant. We also feel stronger and more courageous both on the mat and off! Enjoy the series!

Groundedness Series:
Wake Up Your Feet
Grounding Your Feet

A Study in Cross-Legged, Seated Poses

I had a very interesting session in my Master Class recently. We spent an hour and a half comparing and contrasting easy, cross-legged poses. The three we studied were: Siddhasana, and Swastikasana.

Swastikhasana:

Sukhasana

Siddhasana

We came up with some questions to further investigate these poses in our bodies. They are fun to take to class as well. Let me know what you discover:

• We tend to lean forward in these seated poses. How do you get on sit bones without gripping hip hinge?

• Sit for a long time:
o Can you get to psoas and release hip flexors?
o What does Mhula Bhanda do for you?

• In which pose are you most grounded?

• How does adding a lift under your sit bones help you? Hinder you? Can you release the hip joint without a lift?

• Here is a fabulous adjustment: Drop your tailbone to elongate your lower back. Helps you ground and releases tension in the lower back. Remember that you can drop your tailbone and keep the chest lifted. We also found the drop helped us engage the transverses abdominus (your core). (I felt a huge energy zing up my spine! Spectacular!)

Pose of the Month: Parsvottanasana

So, in my last post I mentioned that my yoga community (musasana) and I are studying Parsvottanasana this month. I decided to teach it in every class this month. I may use it as part of a flow series or teach a part of the pose. Last night in class I focused on the work of the legs, especially the back one. I find that back leg begins to "relax" as we move into the pose and then hold it. When the back leg lacks energy, the heart sinks and the energy of the pose is lost. Instead, keep the energy and strength in both legs equally throughout the pose. I use two variations to teach this idea.

1. Place the back heal at a wall so the student can press the heal to the wall to keep the back leg engaged.

2. This variation places the hands at the wall so the student can push into the wall to keep weight in the back leg. Have them face the wall and do a "wall push" (hands shoulder height, stepping the feet back to get about a 90-degree angle at the hips.) Then have them step the right foot forward a bit and the left foot back to put their feet in the position for the pose. Now they can reach for the wall and get really long in the body and press their weight into their back leg.

Pose of the Month: Parsvottanasana

The pose of the month is Parsvottanasana (Stretch of the West). I am going to teach it in every class this month to challenge me to learn more of this pose!

Help for the Savasana (Relaxation Pose) Challenged

Do you have any students who simply cannot relax in Savasana? In our culture, it is simply not unusual to find those who cannot surrender in that position. Savasana is actually stimulating to our nervous system! Now I don’t mean stimulating like backbends or headstands, but a bit. The back body is about stimulating (hence the effect of backbends) and the front body relaxing and surrendering (hence the effect of forward folds). We do Savasana on our backs to keep us a little alert. Savasana is supposed to be conscious relaxation, not falling asleep. But when someone already has a very stimulated nervous system (in other words, stressed. Not uncommon in our world!) then Savasana can further stimulate it, rendering relaxation impossible.

If you have a student who needs help, place her in Asavasana. (Whenever an “A” is placed in front of a Sanskrit word, it changes the word to its opposite.) You place her on her stomach over a bolster. You can see me here in the photo demonstrating it. I like to hang my head just a bit over the edge (letting the forehead have a downward angle helps relax the brain) but if that is uncomfortable for your student, have her rest her head on the bolster, turning it to the other side halfway through the relaxation.

Class Outside

Last night I taught a class outside by the lake. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. Ahhh.... And did I mention I taught a silent class? It was transformative for all of us...

77 Surprising Health Benefits of Yoga

Check this out! What a fabulous, and thorough, list! It should keep you doing your yoga for years to come...77 Surprising Health Benefits of Yoga.

Plus, some fun facts to share with your students to keep them coming back...

Savasana and Injuries

When we have injuries or even really tight areas in our body, we feel differently in them, we don’t allow the energy to flow through them effortlessly either from years of holding or habit.

When our students have an injured place in their body, especially if they have had it for some time, they hold their body in an imbalanced way as a result. An easy and very powerful way you can begin to affect their injury is to have them envision balance in Savasana (Ending Relaxation Pose). Have them imagine their sides as feeling equal. Have them imagine their breath flowing equally through both sides as well.

You can also guide them to begin the process of no longer seeing the injured side as the “bad” or “injured” side. The more they can see the sides as equal, the faster a healing can occur.

Paschimottanasana: Part III

In the final installation of this series, we look at aligning energetically in Paschimottanasana. Aligning energetically begins with being precise in your physical alignment, fully engaging the body and, well, getting the bones aligned well. Once you are there, you can feel your energy more fully.

Once you have found the alignment and physical work I discussed in Part III, have a yoga partner aid you in these variations to help you tap into the energetic support of the pose. These variations are for the full engagement of the legs in Dandasana that will then take you into a well-supported full pose.

The first variation is subtler than the second one. Begin here and if you don’t feel anything, move to the second one.

Have a partner sit squarely to you at your feet. It is important that your partner be square to you when you are adjusting, especially when you are working on the energetic level. Once you have found your strong Dandasana pose, have your partner take her index fingers and lightly touch your heals. Can you feel your legs engage on a deeper level?



If not, here is your second variation. Have your partner place her hands on lightly on your ankles. If you still don’t feel anything, have her press harder. See if you begin to extend your legs from a level deeper than the physical.

Paschimottanasana (Stretch of the West): Part II

As I mentioned in my previous post, Paschimottanasana (Stretch of the West) is a challenging pose for many people. When the legs are used well, the torso can become lighter and the fold easier. Learning how to use the legs well both physically and energetically will help you be in a stronger pose. In this pose I will discuss a few ways to learn how to use the legs well.

Using the legs well refers to engaging them. When legs are fully engaged, the body can be lighter. To feel this more strongly, do the opposite. Sit in your usual Dandasana (Staff Pose) and then relax the legs. You will notice your torso slumps a bit. More specifically, your heart drops. The action in your legs keeps the heart open. Now that you know what happens when you relax the legs, can you imagine what happens when you actively and effectively engage them? Here are a couple of poses to use to work on creating this awareness:

• Tadasana (Mountain Pose): A traditional way to feel the action in the leg is by placing a block between your thighs in Tadasana. Placing your feet as close together as you can will engage the inner thighs strongly. (Often this variation is also used to teach the internal rotation of the thighs. Be careful there, that direction is not useful for everyone. I am asking you here to just engage the legs, not do a rotation.) A very different Tadasana! Feel the legs (especially the inner thighs) fully engaged. From the strength of the legs, let the torso extend effortlessly. Let it be light. Remove the block and hold the feeling.
• Standing poses – Now do any standing poses, focusing on keeping the back leg fully extended and working. It may help to place your back heal at a wall to give you something to engage into.
• Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold) with mat behind legs: Stand at a wall with your feet about six inches from the wall. Have a mat that is folded in quarters behind your legs. Be sure the mat is below your sit bones. Fold forward into Uttanasana. It is a bit awkward with the wall and the mat so your fold may not be graceful! Hold onto the mat with one hand. Now, once in Uttanasana, firm the legs up, using the mat to ground them to the wall.

Now return to Dandasana. Can you feel the engagement of the legs? Next time we will find the energetic line in the legs.

Paschimottanasana (Stretch of the West)

This pose challenged me for years. It wasn’t until I realized that it was my lack of stability in my legs (from first chakra issues) and my discomfort with my present, that I found the root of the issue. Interestingly, I always assumed it was my hamstrings that were the issue. Of course, once I worked with the first chakra issue and the fear of the present, the hamstring issue dissipated!
Forward folds are all about surrender and being fully present. Letting go of the past (back body) and gently using the front body (present) to breathe and trust. When our legs aren’t being used effectively and efficiently, the torso needs to make up for the lack of support and works harder than necessary. The added gripping makes the fold more effortful and one can only surrender when peaceful and not gripping, especially in our gut, our fear center. The key to this pose is working the legs just enough, without gripping, to give your Dandasana a strong base. Then the torso can be light and the fold a surrender. To work the legs effectively and efficiently, one needs to tap into both physical and energetic lines. I will be writing about some ideas around this thought over the next couple of days.

Residual Awareness

I know I have written about this idea before. It is a thought that seems to frequently come up in class. One of the benefits of yoga is we become aware of our bodies, more conscious of what is going on in our bodies (shoulders are tight, stomach is off, back feels great today) and what we are doing with our bodies (I hold tension in my jaw, sit so my back is tight, stand with more weight in one hip than the other.) This awareness continues for awhile after class. The more conscious a student is and the longer he/she has studied yoga, the longer the residual awareness lasts. Remind them of this benefit. Encourage the awareness to continue by giving them something more to think about after class.

• Do you need to change the height of your rearview mirror after yoga? You have created more space in your joints.
• Can you lift your rearview mirror more so you need to sit taller in the car to use it?
• When you stand doing dishes or brushing your teeth, do you grip your lower back? Release it and breathe.
• Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose) in the shower.
• Do 10 full breaths in bed before going to sleep.
• Find your sit bones while sitting at your desk.
• Smile at yourself when you are going to brush your teeth and shout, “I love you!” to yourself.

Any other ideas?

Limitations are Merely Self-Imposed

In tonight’s class I taught, I had an interesting thought I shared with my students. Do you often go into a pose assuming it will look exactly as you did it last time? I am guessing there are a few poses in which you do. Personally, basic standing poses such as Warrior II and Triangle Poses are my weak spot. I just plop myself into my usual position and hang out there until I think it is time to go to the other side. I don’t even try to take myself more deeply. I just assume my pose will look the same today as it did yesterday and it will tomorrow.

When I realized what I was doing, it made me think. Where else in my life do I just plunk myself down and assume I have gone as far as I can go? There are so many places we can limit ourselves in what we have – happiness (really, test yourself – being happier than you are comfortable with can be incredibly uncomfortable and we usually only allow it for brief periods), love, money, career, health, even the number of vacations or where we go on our vacations! Where in your life do you feel a bit stale? Is it time to blow past a self-imposed limitation? You see, the irony of physical limitations is they are primarily perceived. What I mean is you can move beyond your “wall”, which is, in fact, merely a speed bump. Our flexibility is tied mostly to our consciousness. If you think you are tight, guess what? You are right! If you think you can loosen up and move past your inflexibility or weakness, guess what? You are right, too. If you think you can move past your current health crisis, guess what? You are right! Maybe it is time to blow past a few of those limitations and experience the joy on the other side…Then you can guide your students to the other side as well.

Savasana and Surrender

The last of the niyamas is Ishvara Pranidhana or surrender to the Divine. It is said that if you practice the first yama, ahimsa or nonviolence, and surrender you needn’t practice anything else. They cover the range of spiritual practice. Do you practice surrender with your class? Our culture is centered on control, being on time, eating what you should, exercising, being organized, making sure our children behave, it is everywhere. We do our students a disservice if we don’t teach surrender in our classes.

With surrender is the process of letting go, releasing control. It is in true surrender that we learn about faith and trust in the universe and the inner knowing and trust in our own process.

The very best poses for teaching about surrender are Savasana (Relaxation Pose) and Balasana (Child’s Pose). These poses teach letting go fully, releasing. Frequently you can feel you are still holding tension, holding on to something, in these poses. Encourage your students to fully release their bones. Common pockets of tension in both poses are between the shoulder blades, the lower belly, the lower back. Also, in Savasana, we often hold the ribs up, keeping tension in the kidneys.

Another helpful surrender technique is exhaling. Exhaling is the letting go or surrender part of the breath. Have students focus on exhaling, releasing tension, letting go, and watch them melt into the glorious present!

Hamstring Help

I have been having this discussion with Nadine over at Just Breathe and she recommended we blog it since it might help you as well. It began with my blog entry on Dandasana on a block and then it went on from there…The best part is I started that blog with saying how I finally decided in September that I was ready to completely move beyond my injury and was open to the lesson it had to teach me. Apparently my lesson was to shut up and listen because answers keep coming at me…Thank you, Nadine!

Nadine,

Did you try the Dandasana on a block pose? We need to chat -- one hamstring injury to another!

Laura

Laura
Ooh, tell me more....
Does dandasana on a block help build stability? My main problem is that my hips have become so flexible in the forward direction, that my sitbones tend to flick up and my lower back overarch, unless I am really concentrating on my alignment, and of course, I am not always, especially when demonstrating! I just want people to get the gist quickly, so bad. So the injury heals, it flares up, heals flares up. I will take any and all advice! It works best for me so far to do a lot of work on strength and stability in the hips - esp the hamstrings, loose bastards, so I do a lot of locust etc.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts Laura!

Nadine

Nadine,

Interestingly, our problems are similar, yet not. I have hamstrings that are very tight (yogically speaking, that is. I went to a doctor about my pull and he brought my leg easily to 90 degrees and proclaimed me healed. He walked out before I even had a chance to say, “uuhhh....”). The reason I ask is we can exchange notes. I can share what I have learned for my self and I would love to hear what you do.

Here is a list of what I do:

1. I learned how to hold the attachment of my hamstring. I contract
at the tendon right at the sit bone. I do that while lengthening
the rest of the hamstring. If you stand in Tadasana and
isometrically push one leg back, you can feel the necessary
contraction. (Sometimes I put a strap a the top of my thigh to
remind myself to contract.)
2. I do the dandasana I shared on my blog. REALLY helpful for
learning how to ground through the errant sit bone. Yes, I think
it does help build stability. As I mentioned in the post, you
feel the bones so you can tap into keeping them aligned. It
isn’t about the soft tissue anymore. You won’t flick the
sitbones either if you are in the bones.
3. I do seated forward fold with the extended leg heal up on a
block (and sitbones on a blanket). I can’t explain it, it just
helps.
4. I also ground well when I forward fold in seated positions to
not do what you mentioned doing in your email – flick those
babies up. Teaching is tricky. Not only do I do moves quickly, I
often exaggerate the movement so students can really see what I
am doing.
5. I also do LOTS of strengthening. I love bridge, too for
strengthening “that” area.

Okay, any ideas for me? Thanks for sharing!!

Have a spectacular evening.

Laura

Hey Laura!

You have pretty much covered all bases, I think. This is just about what I do: I can elaborate a bit, but there is nothing you aren't doing, that I know about! I really appreciate the reminder to be present even when teaching, since this is my problemo...

The reason that propping your foot up on a block helps, is that it 'locks' the femur into the pelvis and prevents over-rotation. I didn't figure this out for myself, read about it in Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow! Funny, most of the time we are trying to get people to move
their pelvis around the thighbone more, not less. As to strength: I also love bridge, moving dynamically in and out of it, then holding the pose. I do the same with baby locust, lifting chest,
arms, head and alternate legs, in and out with the breath, then both legs together.

I have found that getting stronger in my core - lower back and belly - has helped a lot with the 'floppiness' so I also practice urdvha prasarita padasana every day. Since I am tight in the front of my hips, I have found also that regular and assiduous stretching of the hip flexors and quads helps balance the hips - basically mine are overstretched and weak at the back and the
opposite at the front. My favourites for this are warrior 1, warrior 3 (also really good for contracting the hamstrings) and some pigeon variations. Moving in and out of pigeon forward fold is another good back strengthener, I find.

My last thing is this: it seems that the injury shows up in the hamstring but sometimes comes from over stretching the entire hip area - including aggressive hip openers, and if you do less of this, it helps. I have found this for people whose knees trouble them too, actually!

I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that most yogis spend too much time on flexibility and not enough on strength...

Thanks for all the help!

Nadine



Hi, Nadine.

Fabulous! Thanks for explaining why foot on a block works. I love knowing why I am doing something — especially the physiology behind it. Thank you for that info. (I was going to call it a “tidbit” but it is so much more for me.)

I was thinking about your comment about getting our students to move their pelvis around the thighbones more, not less. You know, as I understand it, the injury occurs over time because the femur is not rotating tight within the socket, being “locked” in, but protruding out ever so slightly to be out of alignment. Apparently, many Iyengar practitioners are suffering from hip joint problems. I think it has to do with exaggerating the movement and the femur coming out a bit. (Hence what you telling me makes perfect sense.) It was part of my problem too. I thought the pain was from stretching the scar tissue in my hamstring, but it was pain in my joint from using it incorrectly for years.

As for your hip flexor, also add releasing the psoas. Are you familiar with Liz Brock’s book, The Psoas Book? She also had an article in Yoga Journal a few years back that is available on the YJ website. The psoas needs releasing first before stretching and it can drastically shift your hip flexor tension. Strengthening it will also transform your Urdhva Prasarita Padasana. (Everyday? You are amazing!! And I am inspired...) I have a YJ article written by Richard Rosen on that pose in which he talks about the psoas too. It was written in 1995 so I would guess it didn’t make it to the website but you can check. It is excellent for describing how to use the psoas and not the abdominals for the lifts.

Do you move in and out of pigeon forward fold with your arms overhead? Or just with out using your arms? I am curious how to do it to use it for strengthening the back. I do Salabhasana (locust) with arms overhead. Wow is that one amazing! It really helps get into the lower trapezius.

Ooohh...I am just moving through your entire email and responding as I go and just got to the part about too many hip openers. That is what I was talking about with the hip injury! Another recommendation to help “bring in” the femur is to do a practice with a strap running through your mid hip — just across the top of the femurs — the greater trochanter. Use the strap to draw the femurs in (it is subtle. It is easy to contract in the buttocks, but the action is lower, at the top of the thighs.) This action is especially important for seated forward folds and standing poses like Parsvottanasana and Parivrtta Trikonasana. And, yes, the issue affects the knee as well.

Peace and miracles of the hip joint...

Laura

Setting an Intention

Do you set intentions for the classes you teach? Setting an intention – a theme or thread that runs throughout the class, can bring more cohesion to your classes. Intentions can be physical (e.g. stretching hamstrings, strengthening the core), mental/energetic (e.g., calming with forward folds, stimulating energy with back bends). Intentions can also be broader, teaching a lesson the student can take off the mat into his/her life such as surrender, nonviolence, truthfulness.
I sometimes set the intention for the class a week ahead of time, sensing from the class what would be helpful the following week. Sometimes my intention comes to me during my own practice – an insight I have gleaned that I want to share with others. Often the idea comes to me in the moment before I start class. I sit quietly with the class while they do some breathing to let go of their day. In my silence, the idea pops into my head and a class forms around the theme.
However and whenever you do it, setting an intention is a powerful way to deepen your level of teaching. If you have always focused on physical, you will have an opportunity to focus on the philosophical and vice versa. I also find intentions helpful when I have begun to feel stale and need some new ideas.

“We’re Not Too Into Judgment Here”

Tonight I taught a really fun yoga class to my advanced class. We worked up to Kapotasana and it was fabulous! What was most poignant for the evening was a discussion we had. Now this group of students has been with me for about 7-9 years so we are very close. We have lovely, deep philosophical discussions and sometimes we just get downright, joyously silly. Recently a new student has joined who is relatively new to yoga. He is very dedicated, coming to class several times each week. He is also very hard on himself and what he deems to be “appropriate yoga behavior.” We had pulled out chairs to help with our Kapotasana preparation and he sat down and joked that he was ready to have chips and salsa delivered. We all said that sounded so good! Then his voice changed to judgment, saying that it wasn’t good for him in a “I shouldn’t eat it” sort of tone. One woman joked by saying, “I don’t know… salsa has fruit and vegetables in it.” He continued down his judgment path and added that it was all the other things that went with the salsa that were bad, the chips, the beer. We laughed and said the beer has hops which has Vitamin B. I also added that some good chips and salsa can be incredibly nourishing to the soul. And then another woman said her wine is a fruit serving for the day…I think you get the picture. I finally ended the joking with, ”We aren’t too into judgment here.” The new student said quite seriously, “I know. That is why I feel so good here.”

His comment gave me pause. How incredibly powerful that statement was for me to hear. I take non-judgment for granted because I have surrounded myself with people who do not judge me. It is a gift we give to our students when we allow them the space of non-judgment as well. Let them explore their bodies and the issues they have stored there knowing they are safe.

Playing the Edge

I have been “playing the edge” in my own practice and with my students lately. We all have an “edge” in our poses, the place where we go and feel we cannot go any further. The edge usually feels like a wall, an impenetrable brick wall, in fact, that keeps us from going farther. I often find that I get to “that point” in the pose and just sit. I can distract myself with a myriad of things at that point, a mental tapping of fingers, if you will, waiting for the moment that I can move on from the pose and do the next pose. We can stay in that spot for weeks, months, years, never moving more deeply. Of course, we don’t do this in all of our poses, mainly those poses we don’t enjoy. When I brought this idea up in class, everyone giggled. Apparently I am not alone!

Ironically, while there is an edge physiologically speaking, it is far from a wall because it can move. I have now begun calling the “edge” a “speed bump” because, while it can slow us down, it does not need to stop us! When you reach an edge, play there. Breathe into the resistance, see it releasing. Feel yourself move more deeply into the pose. Iyengar has been quoted as saying flexibility is 80% emotional, an idea I have personally experienced. Assume you can move more deeply into whatever pose you feel stuck in. See yourself in the deepest expression of the pose. Encourage your students to do the same. Have them hold a pose a bit longer. Have them feel where the resistance is so they can breathe into it and release it. Do it in standing poses, backbends, twists, and forward folds. This work fits everywhere. Watch your students carefully, though, this work is moving into the pose, not blowing past it with poor alignment. Remind them that if they move a millimeter, it is a significant shift.