In class today, I asked people to choose three standing balances; two they liked, one they didn't. Everyone chose tree as one of the poses they like, everyone chose eagle as the one they don't like. Odd, don't you think? So I asked why they didn't like eagle. The responses were all along the lines of:
'I feel I can't breathe'
Haha! People have all figure out for themselves what I have noticed in my practice, and from what gets taught at KYM: some poses facilitate comfortable, easy breathing, some don't. I personally don't really see the point of regularly doing the poses that don't!
This does:
boof yoga tree pose bw, originally uploaded by lastbeats.
This does:
Debbie in Virabhadrasana III, originally uploaded by LORatliff.
This does:
This doesn't:
Tara in Garudasana, originally uploaded by LORatliff.
They make quite a nice sequence: do the first three as a flow, then rest, and do the last one. Try for yourself, let me know what you think! Just remember to do a few squats or gentle forward bends after the balances, to counterpose.
Now, perhaps I should go stand on one leg & breathe. Just Breathe, Nadine, Just Breathe!
PS: Thank you all for your comments and emails. You support means so much! I will do my best to keep up with my blogging, but if you notice my absence, bear with me while I dismantle my life and re-assemble it on the other side of the sea!
5 comments:
Great post. I'm gonna try it. I was wondering yesterday if my breathing was on the right path and when I woke this morning I immediately took note of where my breath was coming from and I was breathing from my diaphragm! whoot! so happy was I. Hope all is going well.
I like Eagle!!! LOL! I think a standing pose that I find I have trouble breathing in is Utkatasana. I'm too busy thinking about how my thighs are feeling and not focusing on my breath.
Maybe it's a Melbourne Thing, but we only use the sanskrit names for poses, so I never know what anyone is talking about.
Assuming eagle is garudhasana, I can breathe fine in it. Utkatasana and viraIII, not so much, one because I'm too busy dying, and the other because I don't have time, I've already fallen over.
sigh.
I like both eagle and tree. I think the poses that cramp or squeeze the front of the body (like eagle and forward bending poses) tend to make people feel as though they cannot breathe, because there is often too much focus on breathing into the front of the body. Eagle forces the breath to expand into the back of the body and up through the shoulders and neck. This creates a wonderful sensation that we don't experience as strongly when the front of the body is open.
I like eagle I don't feel I personally have any trouble breathing in eagle but then I know I do tend to breath into the back of my lungs more than the front
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