Fierce Fundamentals

First, let me mention that yoga is a spiritual practice and discipline. It is meant to help you identify and then unify the body, mind, and soul. There is a lot of emphasis in the West on the physical aspects of a yoga practice even though there are only three mentions out of almost two hundred in Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras. The fierce fundamentals I have compiled are primarily asana concept based, but it has been through years of observations and my personal experience, that any "yoga" "works". (This is why I find the chain studio yoga company "Yoga Works" such a clever name.)

Fierce fundamentals are, in my opinion and teaching, basic concepts about yoga asana practice that will make self-practice more intuitive. I want my students to be able to practice on their own. Remember these fundamental concepts, and a yoga asana (posture) practice should be easy. Even if we only practice the six following concepts daily, we can have an ever deepening practice as we refine our continued exploration of each one.

I want us to be able to master:

• Grounding through Sitting + Standing
• Bending
• Flexing
• Breathing
• Opening the Heart
• Finding Balance

I have more lessons but consider this stage 1, hence why I have named them "fierce fundamentals". And now, I will expound upon the concepts so you understand their importance. As you will notice, some of these concepts interweave.

Many of us spend most of our time sitting, so we should do it well. Learning to sit has many nuances. It teaches us how to become still which is helpful if we wish to meditate later. Asanas were developed, afterall, to help us meditate. For meditation, you can sit in a chair or sit on your knees if it is not comfortable to sit cross-legged. However, for "fierce fundamentals", I want us all to work on mastering, to the best of our abilities, how to sit cross-legged. There are variations to this, but the one we will focus on is "easy pose' (as featured in the above picture). Before I get into particulars, I will discuss more of the why.

Often we hear that we want to "quiet the mind". Since there is a mind-body-soul connection, we need to work on the body. If the body is tight, locked up, out of alignment, it is harder to quiet the mind and it is also more difficult to get the spine straight. We work on spinal alignment in yoga. In this case (as it will be for standing) we want to try and make the spine erect, and tall so we have a straight line for our circuitry to have our base energy elevate so we reach the Heaven, within our own body.

To sit cross-legged requires hip opening. So this is a very gentle way to work on opening your hips. It is thought that our hips store memories and emotions. We can think then, that increasing our flexibility to sit will then increase our flexibility of spirit as we release, again, in a very gentle fashion emotional baggage that keeps us subconsciously and physically bound.

SITTING STEPS

STEP 1: ​SIT CROSS-LEGGED

So to work on sitting cross-legged in what we call "easy pose" we have our legs crossed in front of us in such a way that no foot is on a thigh. Both feet and legs will be on the ground. Depending on which leg is in front of the other, one sole of the front foot should rest on the shin of the opposite leg. The sole of the back foot would then rest against (but not on top of) the opposite inner thigh.

STEP 2: GROUND THROUGH YOUR SIT-BONES

We will want to ideally sit on the ground so our sit bones are in connection with the floor (symbolically "The Earth") so we are "grounding" the base of our being. If sitting cross-legged is challenging for you, then you know its working and that perhaps, you should be working on this. If the hips are especially tight, the knees will be up high. You want them "below the hips". It is okay then to sit on something initially be it another yoga mat or a bolster (perhaps several) to prop yourself up so the knees start to point down. Tucking the tailbone will also be helpful to do this. You can gently coax the knees down by slowly "palming" against the thighs with a comfortable pressure. If you are able to sit on the floor with the knees close to or below the hips, bring your heart forward so you can literally pull your (ass) cheek up on both sides so your sit bones are less obstructed by your buttocks cushioning. This will maximize your "groundedness".

STEP 3: TUCK YOUR TAILBONE

Once you are grounded, tuck your tail bone or shift your pelvis forward. This will create a little bit more length in the lower spine and allow you already to sit up taller. You had already done that in STEP 2? Do it again. You may have lost some of it. I like to recommend always running through steps from the base of our being to the crown of the head so we don't forget steps.

STEP 4: ENGAGE YOUR CORE

Then, create a slight engagement of the core by bringing your navel towards your spine. "Pulling" or "sucking your tummy in" will create too much tension. I am teaching only a slight engagement so you are sitting tall but without too much tension or unnecessary effort.

STEP 5: OPEN YOUR HEART

Moving from the core, imagine you are bringing up energy through your heart. You will want to "open your heart". This can be done by rolling the shoulders back. I like to tell my students to then squeeze their shoulder blades together to create a little bit of tension so that they can then, consciously let that tension go - letting it melt down their spine and back out through the floor. There should be a feeling of "soft lengthening" and the front and back of the heart center should feel just a little more open or expanded.

STEP 6: TUCK YOUR CHIN

From here you will want to (ever so slightly) tuck the chin towards the chest so you feel a lengthening in the back of the neck. Many of us, especially with the modern problem of "tech neck" stick our neck out. So this may feel unnatural or like you are giving yourself a double chin. That's okay. Do it anyway. It's a *slight* tucking of the chin toward the heart not extreme. You can also think of it as trying to draw your ears back toward your shoulder line. Again, we are creating length so we have an efficient circuit for our base bodily energies to rise and meet the top (and descend back down again).

STEP 7: FEEL LIFTED THROUGH THE CROWN OF THE HEAD

Final step of our sitting is to feel pulled to the top of the sky through the crown of your head; as if someone has a little string and they are helping pull you up. This is where you want to be to practice meditation, connected to Earth and Sky, light and expansive.

As a recap, in our sitting position, we work on:

• Grounding the base of our being
• Gently opening our thighs
• Lifting energy up our body by a slight engagement of the core
• Opening our heart
• Lengthening the spine from the tailbone through the crown of the head
• Learning to sit so we can sit still less encumbered to prepare for mindfulness, meditation on presence.

Standing is like sitting, except that we are standing. (Wink). What I mean is that we refine our stance by working from the base of the being, this time through the feet, up through the crown of the head. For the purpose of the post, we will focus on "standing" in relation to the pose "Tadasana". which means mountain pose. Why should we want to work on something as simple as standing? Because we do it a lot. Shouldn't we want to do it well?

It is my opinion that if we work on standing, through Tadasana, then anytime we are out in the world we can bring our awareness and improve our posture by making the adjustments I will cover below. By standing well, we improve our posture in all postures. Grounding through the feet we may feel more balanced as we walk through life. By lengthening the spine we give the chance for our energy to move through us more efficiently helping us process and emotion. With our core slightly engaged we might mitigate back injury as we move objects through our day. With our heart open, we might find ourselves acting in a more compassionate, patient, and possibly empathetic way.

I have prepared a video on Tadasana instruction. I suggest you watch it at least once, although I will write out the steps now.

STANDING STEPS

STEP 1: COME TO STANDING

Stand with your feet no greater than shoulder-width apart. I was taught that we stand with the feet together and to make a choice (as I show in the video) either choosing heels together and toes slightly apart or toes together and heels slightly apart. Arms are down by your side. Palms face forward in a symbolic gesture of "reception".

STEP 2: GROUND THROUGH YOUR FEET

Ground your being and your energy through your feet. Connect to Earth. Root through your heel and big toe. Lift your other toes, then press them down. This may help you feel the outer edge of your feet pressing down as well. If not, imagine you sew the outline of the foot to your mat.

STEP 3: MOVE ENERGY UP THROUGH YOUR LEGS

Root down to rebound, or bring energy (from the Earth) up through the calves and shins. Keeping the knees soft as you continue to bring energy up the body by engaging the thighs. Remember, you should be able to wiggle the knees, they are not locked out.

STEP 4: TUCK YOUR TAILBONE

Tuck your tailbone. If tilting your pelvis forward does not make sense, we can tuck the tailbone by engaging the inner thighs and slightly engaging the buttocks. This helps lightly engage the lower abs.

STEP 5: ENGAGE YOUR CORE

Draw the navel towards the spine. Said in another way, (slightly) engage your core. This will help continue to bring energy up.

STEP 6: OPEN YOUR HEART

Lift the chest bone up and roll your shoulders back. Squeeze the shoulder blades together to create a little bit of tension so you can then consciously release that tension and soften into your new (spinal) length. We open our heart, so we can breathe into it.

STEP 7: LENGTHEN THE BACK OF YOUR NECK

Do this by slightly tucking the chin by bringing the ears back toward the shoulder line. Relax your tongue and your jaw. We want to feel as if we have lengthened the back of the neck without having an extreme or forced double chin, though it may cause that effect slightly.

STEP 8: LIFT THROUGH THE CROWN OF THE HEAD

Same as when we are sitting, the final step is feeling as if we have a string attached to the top of our head and we are being pulled up. So, from the waist down we are connecting to the Earth, and from the waist up we are connecting to the Heavens. Tadasana then is the connection between Heaven and Earth.

Tah-dah!

Why bother learning how to bend? It will provide a better life experience if we don't hurt our backs. Trust me. Plus, our bodies were designed to move in efficient ways. Why not work with our construction?

For this concept, whenever I mention "bending" I am referring to forward bending. Bending should be done by hinging from the hips. To hinge from our hips, I suggest to my classes that we first identify where our hip bones are. Locate them by taking the pointer fingers and place them on the hip bones. Hinging from the hips should feel easy. Instead of tucking the tailbone to bend over, release that action. It should feel as if we are sticking out our butt as we lead the front of our heart (instead of rolling the shoulders and leading with your back). When bending, especially if you are bending to pick up something, engage your core.

We bend a lot in most classes. It is part of the vinyasa flow or even if it is a hatha class, there is typically a standing or sitting forward bend that is part of the class. The same ideas apply whether you are sitting or standing.

There is a saying (by yogis) that we are as old as the flexibility of our spine. So let's stay flexible. Because yoga is the unification of body, mind, and soul, a flexible spine may help us stay young in mind. Flexible spine, flexible mind a liberated soul,? Why not find out? I cover the flexing of the spine in the two videos below. One goes into the motion of a hands and knees spinal flex typically called cat-cow which I re-named playfully as primal tiger-happy unicorn. (Playfulness is part of my second stage conceptual teachings.)

Instead of describing through writing, I suggest watching the videos. But let me say a couple more things in case they are not clear in the videos. Flexing is also good practice for opening the heart, both the front and the back of the heart. In the cat/ primal tiger position, we are rounding the shoulders and arching the back (releasing up) on an exhale. This helps us open the back of the heart. In the cow / happy unicorn position, we drop the belly lift the chin slightly and roll the shoulders back as we lift the chest which opens the front of the heart (so we can breathe into it - helping to further expand the opening). Watch the videos. There are many ways to do spinal flexes be they sitting, standing, or on all fours. I am open to clarifying information or providing ideas if someone reaches out.

I could write a small book about breathing (and maybe, eventually, I will). I am no master, but I have had a lot of experience with breathwork over the years and implementing different breathing techniques has transformed my life and practice. We are lucky that breathing comes natural. This is probably why it is not taught. Why bother acknowledging or thinking about it? It happens for us. Moving on....

No wait. Let's pause. Often at the beginning of classes yoga teachers help bring attention to the natural breath. This short exercise helps us immediately tune into our body, taking our minds that seem to operate like a projection of a swirling universe around us and centralizing it to the body by giving it something to focus on. This often immediately calms us. But it also gives us a chance to notice how we are breathing and holding ourselves in that moment. We might notice we are shallow or rapidly and holding tension in our shoulders. By taking notice of how we are in the moment, it provides the opportunity to change our state of being just by changing our breath.

There is a yogi concept that addresses our life span in relation to how many breaths we take. Extending our life then is a matter of taking less breaths by deepening or elongating them.

Living longer was never my reason for working with the breath. What I found from my first teacher was that moving with the breath in an intentional way was a beautiful dance. It also offered benefits for moving into or holding asanas. Breathing in gives us strength for holding, while breathing out helps us with flexibility and release (so deepening a pose by lunging, twisting, bending, or elongating). Breathing in helps us expand and bring new energy into the body. It helps us make space. The exhale helps us rid ourselves of old, stagnant energies.

It wasn't until I began to study under my tantra teacher, Psalm, that I really began to value the deepneing of the breath and all the crazy breathwork you can find most especially in the tantric and kundalini sects. Breath, I would realize, builds our battery. We can energize ourselves with the breath. And we can rid ourselves of knots in the body just by the breath alone. So students of mine will notice I cue about the breath a lot during practice. I encourage my students to use the Ujjai breath (or, since I live and teach in Costa Rica I call it, the Ocean Breath). Often I cue very specifically for them, while in folds, to work on elongating the breath by "breathing all the way down the spine toward the tailbone". Or I'll say something like "breathe into the entirety of the back". On exhales I remind students to pull the navel in toward the spine at the end of their exhales. This helps us elongate the exhale and release deeper. If students are with me for a retreat, I teach some other more advanced breaths to further explore the inner-world of their own subtle energy for assistance in holding, release, and generating power.

FOCUSING ON THE NATURAL BREATH

STEP 1: COME TO SITTING

Sit like a yogi (directions above)

STEP 2: CLOSE THE EYES

Close the eyes. We can Imagine that we are more than the physical body, that we have some sort of energy field that is emanated but that we can reel in these energies, containing them in the body. It is when we feel this shift or centralization of our consciousness or energy, that we can focus our attention at our nostrils.

STEP 3: FOCUS ATTENTION AT THE NOSTRILS

Become aware of the breath moving in and out of the nostrils. Try not to think or go into self-conversation about it but rather, simply notice the breath moving in and out of the nostrils. Take notice of anything else. Do we experience one nostril taking in more breath than the other? Do we feel a certain temperature of the breath as it moves in or out?

STEP 4: JOIN THE JOURNEY OF THE BREATH

I heard once, and loved (wish I remember who said it), that the natural breath of every individual is like a fingerprint. So the next step is that we find ours on any given day. And it can change day to day. What we want is to observe with a noticing vs. a thinking conversational mind, what our natural breath is doing. Does it stay in the chest? Does it travel to the belly? Do we feel it on the left side of our back? Do we feel it travel to our belly? If so, is it full, or shallow, lopsided, or even? Is there a mental image that forms for us as we watch the breath move in and out of us naturally, without our conscious control?

*Note: This exercise is one of observation. There is no need to think or be critical but to observe. Whatever your body is doing is perfect for you in this moment. Know that if we want something to change we have that ability to do so, but it is important for us to acknowledge first "what is".

UJJAI (aka OCEAN) BREATH

STEP 1: SIT LIKE A YOGI

Directions above

STEP 2: TUNE INTO YOUR NATURAL BREATH

Directions above

STEP 3: BEGIN ELONGATING THE BREATH

Breathing only in and out through the nostrils, begin to deepen your breath trying to make the inhale and exhale even. Meaning, if you are breathing in for 3 to 5 counts, ensure you exhale the same length of 3 to 5 counts. Some of us may only be able to breathe in 1 or 2 counts while others may naturally be able to deepen to a count that exceeds 5. The breathing should be easy. Unforced. So deepen only to the point where you are not struggling on the intake or outtake of the breath. Do not pause between breaths. Keep the circuit of the breath flowing consistently so that at the end of your exhale, you easily begin to take in your next inhale and vice versa.

STEP 4: SMILE (WITH MOUTH CLOSED)

Keep the lips closed but turn the corners of the mouth slightly up on either side. This will help constrict the back of the throat so we can begin to make sound on the inhale.

STEP 5: BRING SOUND TO THE BREATH

We will want to bring sound to both the inhale and the exhale. As mentioned above, the lips-pursed smile will help us initiate a sound to the inhale. The sound on the exhale is achieved by us keeping our lips-pursed smile and imagining that we are saying "ha" but keeping the lips-pursed/ mouth closed. Inhale sound the entire length of your inhale. Exhale sound over the whole length of your exhale. We should be able to enrapture ourselves in the sound of our own breath.

By creating sound, it is a way to steady the mind during a practice as we distract the mind with our own self-created sound. If we notice that we are thinking too much, drown out the sound of the mind by refocusing on the sound of your breath. This ocean breath also helps to deepen the breath into different parts of the body in an even way.

Ocean breath, for me, is not simply a cute name because I live in Costa Rica. It reminds me of the breathing of the sea. The sound of Her waters as She moves in and out of the shore.

Note: At minimum, when engaging in the Ujjai or Ocean breath, bring the breath down into the heart -space/ heart center. We want to feel like we can open and expand this space. Each breath has the opportunity of helping us create more space around the heart-center so we can nourish it with every breath. By sitting (or standing) and engaging in this breath, we open the heart so we can breathe into it. As mentioned before, I often encourage breathing to move past the heart-center and into the belly and lower back before we start to exhale. This should only be attempted if breathing this deep is coming naturally or with ease. Otherwise, it is something to work towards gradually and with reverent patience.

I am including below a video that contains a full explanation of the Bhastrika breath (which I am calling "Yogi Power Breath". It was the favorite breath of my belated and beloved tantra teacher, Psalm. This breath helps build the battery of the body. If you choose to watch, enjoy. Please know that I have a shorter, "follow along" version that can be found on my YouTube page. As this one contains the entire explanation, this one should be watched first.

This is perhaps the most important concept, for me, in yoga. The end goal, I believe, is to learn to listen to and then lead from the heart (space). Quieting the mind in meditation is for what purpose? I believe it is so we can be in tune with deeper aspect of our being, the Heart.

For the purpose of this concept, when I refer to "the heart" I am referring to what we consider "heart space" or Anahata chakra. Without going into a full explanation of chakras, we can simply think of this "heart space" as both the center of your chest, and including all the space between until we reach the "heart space" of the back between the shoulder blades. It is the heart, and not the mind, that should be leading us through life. This does not mean that we are ruled by our emotions. That is a grotesque perversion of the concept. Emotions are important, should be felt, or fully experienced. From an observational standpoint of our simultaneous experiencing of them, we can integrate them into our being. This expands our intelligence they offer us and learn to understand them so we are not ruled by them and yet honor them. For various reasons, we have been brought up in modern societies to ignore or dismiss a relationship with the heart and allow ourselves to be ruled by the mind. The mind is not meant to be a ruler because it can easily become an obsessive tyrant. It is meant to be guided and directed by the heart. The mind is a tool. Let the heart rule.

This stage 1 course, "Fierce fundamentals", is a beginner's introduction to the yoga concepts I think are most useful for someone starting their journey or for those that do not have a home practice. Thus, I will not be getting into all the various ways we can open our heart in this post, especially backbending in camel or wheel (but know that backbending is a heart-opener). Instead, we have addressed opening the heart in safe, gentle, subtle ways within the sitting, standing, spinal flexing, and breathing (because when we are breathing we are sitting or standing). I will explore heart opening in future posts and leave us all with my favorite passive heart opener, an asana we call "supported fish".

Although balance is practical and embodied, I tend to think of this one in a more symbolic way. To find balane in our bodies will translate into our life. This is part of why "yoga works". To find it in our postures I like the "root to rebound" concept. Rooting through the feet so we can ground and rebound the energy through the body and out of the crown of the head. If you are in a lunge for any of the warriors, you can also widen your stance and square the hips to the front of the mat. But there are other ways to find balance in an asana practice that are also valuable tips off the mat, for instance, not taking the practice to seriously. Have fun. Mix in the play and compassion with the discipline. Honor your differences on each day instead of be discouraged or upset with them. Balance can also take the form of what you choose to do with your time you set aside for asana. Perhaps your body wants resortative instead of vinyasa. Listen to and honor the body. The work is just as valuable. This will help you be more compassionate in life and see different perspectives for potential solutions. We live in a dualistic universe, we should honor both energies equally.