Diary of a yoga nobodhi

Thursday 6th October 2006


Full Primary from start to finish this morning – no short cuts, no missed poses, no cheating - a very fulfilling practice, one of those that you give a silent, gushing thanks for when you rise from Savasana and are momentarily overcome with awe.

After reading this article yesterday (and being so easily blown in the direction of whatever I read) I spent the first part of my practice fascinated with the changing sensations I was feeling under my feet! It’s interesting to watch the energetics at play between the feet and the earth and between the feet and the pelvis, especially during the sun salutes when you’re moving so much. Consistently activating the balls of the big toes while lifting the inner arches brought awareness and energy to my inner legs and inner groins – usually a neglected, dead area that I’ve never even thought of feeling out.

And another little gem from the same article that I put into practice this morning improved my standing balances instantly (Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana and Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana) not that they’re too bad anyway.
It involved pressing the upper thighbone of the standing leg inwards towards the inner groin, quite a subtle action, and more a feeling of firming the thigh and hip in rather than an obvious movement, but it instantly stabilised and strengthened the balancing poses. When I remembered, I did it in other poses too, and found it useful in seated poses like the Janus and Supta Padangusthasana.
That little internal energetic pull of the outer thigh/hip gives a feeling of consolidation and conservation of energy.

There’s a well worn instruction I often give to my students in Tadasana to squeeze the pubic bone and tailbone towards each other, then gently contract and draw up the pelvic floor (mulabandha). This squeezing in and up seems to draw the prana away from the periphery and up into the body’s core. I visualise it as a plastic bag of water – when you squeeze the base of the bag, the water can’t help but rise upwards.

The firming in of the outer hip in the balancing poses felt quite similar. It’s directing the flow of prana.

I was actually pretty surprised to have a half decent practice this morning because I ate dinner late last night. Putting ANY food into my mouth after 7pm I consider as eating late now and there I was, indulging in a double dessert session that meandered on by the spoonful past 9.30pm.

So I got up at 5.20am feeling lethargic due to all the overnight digestive activity and with a head full of monkey chatter as the millions of things going on in my life were all competing for my undivided attention.

And yet I had a good, solid, engaged practice.
The formula remains a mystery.

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