Hello everyone! I’d like to begin by thanking you for all of the support and enthusiasm since my first post! So many followers right from the get-go is a stark contrast from my anticipated ghost audience. So, as I tend to say when finishing up my classes: thank you for allowing me to share my yoga with you! On with the post :)
Setting a Foundation
Before delving into any details, I’d like to set some foundational ideas in place. I'm starting with muscular engagement because this blog will primarily relate to postural yoga (asana), and I think that muscular engagement is key toward (safely and effectively) physically improving through a regular yoga practice over time.
What is “Muscular Engagement”?
I’ll answer that question the best way possible: with another question: "When you’re standing upright, are you muscularly engaged?"
Most of us, including a previous version of myself, would readily agree. After all, my skeleton is being held up, so clearly my muscles are working to do so.
I’m here to turn that concept on its head.
Consider for a moment how much work (or how little) your muscles do to simply stand. Now, imagine that same body, held in the same way, but in a headstand (with no wall as support). Would you be able to stand upright on your head? Not likely. That's where muscular engagement comes into play.
To better illustrate this, let’s explore Mountain Pose, which is basically muscularly engaged standing.
Here are some cues to get you there:
Mountain Pose
- Stand with your feet hip distance and parallel
- Press your inner and outer toe mounds and heels equally firmly into the ground
- Maintaining your feet this way, intend your shins together as you pull your hips apart
- Pull your lower glutes down the back of your legs
- On an inhale, lift your ribs up from your hips
- Bring your shoulder blades together, shoulders down, spread your fingers wide
- With an exhale, tuck your ribcage back toward your spine, draw your navel in
- Inhale right up through the crown of your head to lengthen your neck.
Notice the difference between Steps 1 and 8. In Step 1, you were simply standing – muscles holding your skeleton up and all. Without moving, by Step 8, the muscles in your body became actively engaged. That’s muscular engagement - and it can be applied to any posture (as future posts will help to clarify). And I can assure you that in the headstand pictured above, I’m much closer to Step 8 than to Step 1.
Now, why is muscular engagement important?
For this, you’ll have to wait for the next post! I have to stick to my intention of keeping each post short and dedicated to a small digestible amount of content, lest I get carried away!
Hope you learned something and enjoyed!
Namaste,
Leah