Yoga and Pilates NEWSLETTER

Term three 2006

Yoga

This winter we have been following the yoga practices that support the meridians of the Bladder (female energy) and Kidney (male energy).  The practices associated with these meridians are to build up our nervous system, create strength, nourishment and stability and to get rid of fears.  Many of the postures are held so that we can really focus on the body, the breath and the mind.

We have been practising Warrior postures, many types of forward and back bends and the Eagle balancing posture.  Virabhadrasana or the Warrior postures 1, 2 and 3 build up our strength and stability, while opening the upper body.  Metaphorically these postures represent our ability to stay strong and grounded while being open to whatever life brings up and at the same time maintaining a calm and resolute mind.   The Eagle balance (Garudasana) builds on these aspects creating a focussed mind while holding a strong balance. 

Our main backbend (Dhanurasana) is said to benefit everything including the respiratory and digestive systems to the eliminative and reproductive organs as well as freeing nervous energy in the sympathetic nervous system.  The full forward bend (Paschimottanasana) is also said to stimulate the nerves and muscles of the spine and massage the abdominal organs as well as alleviating disorders of the uro-genital system.

Combined with the Salutes to the Sun we can go into spring with a strong body and nervous system and calm mind.

At the beginning of each class we have been looking at the eyebrow centre with closed eyes- Shambavi mudra.  This practice takes us to our greater consciousness - that area of our being beyond our conditioned thoughts.  As such it calms the mind, can develop concentration and mental stability and is said to retard the degeneration of the pineal gland.  We have combined it with following the breath up the nostrils to the eyebrow centre on the inhalation and down again on the exhalation to create balance between the left or cooling energy channel (ida nadi) and the right nostril or heating energy channel (pinggala nadi).

The aim of yoga is to balance these two states of energy.  Hatha yoga, means sun energy (Ham), and lunar energy (Tham).  So, we have also been visualising a sun and a moon in every cell at the beginning of each lesson.  To further the focus of the mind this term we have been including a drishti (eyegaze) with the postures.  Remember it is important that we only do the practices of yoga that we can do with ease, in this way our nervous system is built up over time.

At the end of each lesson we have been doing a yoga nidra, sleep without going to sleep.  The effects of yoga nidra are accumulative and hopefully by doing one each week you have noticed for yourselves the benefits of this practice.

On September 28^th we are having another trip to the ashram with the DARTs group, other students are welcome to come, but I need to know as attendance, including  lunch, talk by the rishi and yoga nidra, needs to be booked ($20.00)

Pilatesfor

Pilates has been lots of fun this term.  In the general classes we have been rolling on and off our foam rollers.  The instability of the foam roller increases our need to use our core stabilizing muscles.  We have even managed to add some movements with the stretchy straps while balancing on the foam rollers.  We feel we are on a roll with these classes!!!

The ball class has been a great success and seems to be the perfect wind down to the week on a Thursday night.  Students claim to be having a ball!! Our sequence is building up to create strength as well as stabilisation.  Each term we will do a slightly different repertoire to challenge our muscles and nervous system.  In body work this change is important as the body acclimatises and adapts when we repeat the same movements.

The essential classes are also an important step in Pilates either for new people to really check they are using the correct muscles or for rehab purposes.  Sometimes we focus on one area in these classes such as back or neck, at other times we all do slightly different movements according to the needs of our body on the day, which is the ideal in any type of class.

Irrespective of which class you attend the difficulty of exercise in Pilates is not the aim, the aim is always to get the correct stabilising muscles to work in the correct order.  The stabilizing muscles should come on first and then our bigger muscles should follow.  The stabilizing muscles are endurance muscles so should be able to sustain our movements for a long time.  In our classes we do movements slowly as this reveals any instability or weakness in these stabilizing muscles.  Remember we are trying to train these stabilizing muscles to work so that they come on induring functional moves in our life.

Again this term we have built up to moving more dynamically but with awareness of using muscles correctly.  Please remember to inform me of any pain or injury so that movements can be changed according to your need.

Thanks to you all for coming to classes when it’s been such a cold winter, it will be great to see you all again in Spring, with warmth and vigour.

Annette