In this 3 part series I am going to take you back to basics.
Session 1 - Breath
Session 2 - Asana (postures)
Session 3 - Meditation and awareness
The idea behind this is to strip it all back and feel confident in our practice, wether that’s at home or in a class. It’s important we know the fundamentals before we progress in our practice. When we are born we don’t immediately start running , we to learn how to crawl, then walk and THEN run. Be confident with the basics and your practice will have a whole new feeling.
So here it is……
Session 2
Asana (postures)
There is 4 fundamental principles to an asana practice:
The Foundation
The Core
The Bandhas
The Breath
In this blog we are going to focus on the foundation.
The parts of the body that are in contact with the floor should be actively and evenly pressing against the floor. This part is the rock upon which everything else stands. Grounding the foundation evenly, requires the weight of the body being spread evenly across the entire surface of the foundation.
With out stability the posture will be wobbly, weak, ungrounded and more prone to injuries.
Only when the foundation is evenly grounded can the spine and lungs be balanced and stable. No matter if we are vertical, horizontal, upright, inverted, sitting or anything else, for even and stable support for the spine and lungs depends on an even and active foundation.
Our first concern in any posture is to be clear on what the foundation actually is, basically we need to be clear on how to do the posture correctly. If we aren’t in the posture correctly then the posture will be distorted and not deliver to its full potential.
This does not happen by magic, it takes effort.
We must be honest, focused and generous to ourselves by not forcing what we think we can do, on what are bodies can actually do, in that moment. Don’t force your ambitions on your limitations, Instead go back and develop confidence in the other variations of the pose.
As we begin to arrange other parts of the body we can lose focus on the foundation which impacts the pose by making it imbalanced and may lead to stress and strain rather than comfort and stability.
If one part of the body is not supported by its foundation it will become lazy and its counterpart will become overworked.
eg. Warrior 2
If the front leg is taking more weight than the back leg then the front thigh gets overworked and tired. If the back leg isn’t activated fully then the hip is not supported. This also then makes the spine lean forward creating tension in the torso which then restricts the breath. However when done correctly, by placing the weight evenly between both feet, the back leg begins to work more and the front leg isn’t as stressed, the spine is supported and upright and then the lungs can move freely.
I hope this gives you an insight into how important foundation is,
Here are some How To Videos you can follow to help you feel more comfortable.
We use Warrior 2, Sun Salutation with lunge and Seated Forward fold. When you are in these postures focus on the foundation, the parts of the body that are touching the floor.
Click the button below for access to the videos.
Sending you all the love
Jen
xxxx