Anatomy Self-Studies: Books and Tools

After lots of yoga workshops this summer, I have started to realize that anatomy is something you will not learn just from taking yoga classes. Just the basic knowledge of the 206 bones in our body, the muscles to move them around,  the cardiac and smooth muscles,  the connective tissue, the lungs and different modes of breathing, the reflexes… I need to spend some serious study time on this!

To my great satisfaction, I’ve found several nice books and tools to assist my hard working hippocampus.

For the names of bones, muscles and ligaments I’m using Netter’s Musculoskeletal Flash Cards. I realize of course that it will be a different thing to identify it all on real bodies, but at least it is a good start.

H. David Coulter’s Anatomy for Hatha Yoga is a well-known best-seller with a scientific approach, where you are guided through the bodily functions that are of special interest for Hatha Yoga. I thought it would be more of a reference where you could look up specific details, but it turns out that you can very well enjoy reading through the whole book, and there's lots of practical exercises.

Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain is even more accessible though, rich with illustrations and straight to the point in captions and the few paragraphs of text. Probably very much used by both yoga and dance instructors. I know that there is a supplemetary book with exercises, but I do not have it (yet).

My friend Ellinor recently studied anatomy with yin yoga instructor Paul Grilley. She borrowed me his Anatomy for Yoga DVD, where he shows in a very pedagogical way the consequences of natural variations between the bodies of different yoga students. If it is compression rather than tension that stops you from going deeper into a pose, it will not matter how much you effort you put into it: your particular body is not built to go there.

For the fun of it, I also got The Anatomy Coloring Book by Wynn Kapit and Lawrence M. Elson. Using a set of 20 coloured pencils, I am hoping to employ a large variety of circuits in my brain to learn more.

Finally, for inspiration, I also got a poster of the muscular system, which is now on display in my living room. The only other decoration I have on the walls of this room is a huge Anusara Yoga syllabus poster - when I bought that one someone actually told me that she also wanted one, but could not find anywhere in her apartment to have it: “… ‘cause you can’t really have that in your living room”. I guess you actually can, and I cannot wait until the bookstore gets a new delivery of posters of the skeletal system!

Yoga Kendra Initiation

At Yoga Kendra studio in Malmö, the yoga is part of a tradition. Before coming to class, there is an introductory weekend, compulsory for everyone, beginners and experienced yogis alike.

Very few postures are performed during this weekend, and it is more like a lecture with Daniel, the founder of Yoga Kendra. Anecdotes of his travels in India and his encounters with yoga masters are mixed with bits and pieces of yoga philosophy and details on what you should and should not do when performing asana.
There is no structure to the lecture, it’s almost a stream of consciousness, where Daniel’s speech flows from one aspect to the other, from practical matters to the highest purposes, from hilarious jokes to solemn serenity.

In the traditional way of learning yoga, the masters wanted their students and disciples to show themselves worthy, often by setting their patience to the test, only sharing yogic knowledge after a lengthy period of trivial tasks. This order made sure that the students would persevere also in their studies of yoga. In a similar fashion, Daniel requires an investment of ten hours, which might seem a lot for anyone who would just like to try a class, but not much compared to the weeks, months and years of the traditional trial.

In fact, the arrangement also acts as a clever way of creating a bond between a yogi and his students to be. During ten hours of constant talking, you have time to express a lot of thoughts and opinions. You have enough time to show who you are, to gain credibility. Everyone at Yoga Kendra knows Daniel - they perhaps even know him better after a weekend than they know e.g. the colleagues that they see every day at work! Daniel in his turn makes sure to learn the name of everyone in the room. The connection is created.

The weekend is sealed with an initiation ceremony, which involves meditation, looking into an eye and getting protection for the third eye. Here’s Martine and I after her initiation last weekend (where I followed the initiation for the third time), our third eyes well hidden.

Eye of the Tiger at Wild Rose

Eye of the Tiger sessions started as a way for Anusara Yoga teachers to meet and practice together, to inspire each other and to explore their limits. No one acted as a teacher in the usual sense of the word. Instead, one of the yogis were guiding the others while also participating fully in the practice himself or herself.

Another version of Eye of the Tiger is where the session is actually lead by a teacher. The teacher will participate, but still have focus on the students and give useful comments and directions when needed. There are no lengthy interruptions for demonstrations, so that a flow is kept throughout the practice, and although this means that most postures have to be well known by the majority of the room, an Eye of the Tiger is a great opportunity to go a bit further.

Jonas held a three-hour Eye of the Tiger workshop at Wild Rose studio in Chiang Mai one week after the Immersions had ended. It is a nice and spacious time frame that allows for a full practice and still leaves some room for further exploration. Strong from two weeks of daily practice and relaxed from one week of massages and saunas in Chiang Mai, I felt like I could have continued for three more hours!

Here's Jonas giving Pooh an assist for baddha konasana with a forward bend.

Super Breakfast Smoothie

Every morning, uncle Jonas makes a smoothie for breakfast. It's a super smoothie. Ingredients vary with what he takes home from the market, but usually there is papaya, passion fruit, banana, fresh coconut water, sometimes mango, dragon fruit, etc. The he adds various nutritional powders, like spirulina, rice protein, hemp protein, cacao and different herb extracts.

The spirulina gives the smoothie a distinctive green colour and all the nutritional powders adds a nice thickness. Served with some nuts and almonds. Great start of the day, and actually not too filling to have half an hour before yoga.

Jazz Night in Chiang Mai

Tuesday night is open mike night at a jazz club in Chiang Mai. Anyone grabbing the mikrophone didn't sound like promising to me, and I cannot say that I had high expectations when going there. It turned out to be great! Cool atmosphere, a mixed crowd and really good music all night long (well, it ended by midnight or so). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Swedish Spike Mat

After yesterday's morning yoga with Jonas I took savasana on a spike mat. I spent maybe half an hour on the mat, and this is the pattern from the spikes against my back:

My uncle's mat is developed in Sweden. Have a look at the official website. This version has remained quite unknown to most, despite the huge recent success of the so called Shakti mat. I cannot say which one is the better mat, but the version I tried feels more hardcore, with it's big spikes that you feel biting good into your skin. It doesn't really hurt that much, it's just that you feel it a lot. You can of course always make it more comfortable with a towel or a t-shirt between the mat and the skin – the important thing is that you get the effects.

So what are the effects? I felt relaxed after my session this morning, relaxed and content. This may be an effect of the supposedly increased production of endorphins and oxytocin. When you first lie on the mat you can feel the spikes a lot, but it only takes seconds before you start to feel the pain-easing effect of the endorphins.

I think that the spike mat is good for your health. Although it is perhaps not obvious why spike marks on your back would be a good thing, I think that just lying down to relax is a very beneficial practice. How often do we do that – lie down and spend 30 minutes relaxing, without falling asleep (or trying to)? On the spike mat you rest in a conscious state, which is a different experience.

Violence in Pune

Many yogis all over the world can personally relate to the bombing in Pune last Saturday. The blast took place in the German Bakery, a popular spot for visitors to the nearby Osho Ashram. Like so many other travelling yogis, my uncle Jonas has been to that café. Among the 10 persons killed was Nadia, an Italian woman who was well known in Chiang Mai and who has taken yoga classes here with my uncle.

The picture was taken from an Osho website dedicated to Nadia.

Terrorist violence may not be personal in itself, but every victim has a web of social connections that will be personally affected. Terrorist violence may strike at more or less random places, but all the people who has once set their foot in a place has an emotional relation to it.

Two Weeks of Yoga

This is the house at Kaomai Lanna Resort where we had yoga classes (up the stairs) for two weeks.

We have completed Anusara Immersion I and II, in all 72 study hours of yoga. I have to say it was intense. The first week felt great, I felt stronger and more flexible for every day. The second week was more hard work, not because the sessions were more tough, but because my body got a bit exhausted. Stepping up from doing yoga twice a week to doing yoga five hours a day every day is a challenge. It was still a nice feeling during the second week, it was just harder work to keep up.

So here's some of the effects on my body:

1. The mild neck tweak I had from the first week gradually disappeared. Now it's gone, which feels great. I usually need to see my chiropractor when my spine gets tweaked like this, but this time I think that a full yoga practice made sure that no blockages appeared.
2. In the middle of the second week I started to feel some strain in joints, e.g. knees, and I thought that it could be that my muscles were tired and did not support the joints as well. However, Anusara Yoga is very kind to the joints and at the end of the week I did not notice it anymore. Always using muscular energy to get a more stable and safe stretch is one of Anusara's Universal Principles of Alignment.
3. During the first week I felt I was getting lots of muscular power, but after the second week, I rather feel that my body is getting more flexible. Rome wasn't built in a day, but I can feel a slow progression towards the paradise of open hips and long hamstrings.
4. The alignment of my body in different postures is getting more automatized. I do not always have to think about activating loops and applying principles of alignment – sometimes my body knows what to do by itself. Nice.

Thai Cooking Class

Last Saturday I took a cooking class in Chiang Mai. Bob and Pearl from the yoga immersion joined me for this full day event. The first activity was to go to the market for fresh ingredients. Here our guide is showing us how to squeeze the milk out of a coconut.

The cooking was very well organized with precise instructions. “Now add half a spatula of fish oil”.

“After five seconds, press hard to flatten the fish cake”.

I liked it that we made our own green curry paste (although they said that the one you get at the market is good but may be too salty or too spicy)

...and of course we got to squeeze the milk out of a net full of coconut (this is Pearl doing the work)

We also got to eat the food we had made – here I am having a green curry with tofu (thanks Bob for taking the picture).

Here's seafood in coconut milk.

Dessert: mango with sweet sticky rice.

I was later told that mango is out of season and that they have to transport it from the south, so from now on I will rather enjoy all the other delicious fruits that are available here.

The website of the school is http://www.cookinthai.com/ and they are kind enough to post pictures from every class. You also get a recipe book so that you'll be able to remember the art when returning home.

Heart Qualities

Heart qualities is a big concept in Anusara Yoga. These are virtues that often are used as the theme for an individual Anusara class .Examples of heart qualities are courage, acceptance, unconditional love, contentment, creativity, forgiveness and enthusiasm.

One of our tasks for Immersion II is to find a heart quality that we would like to cultivate during the week. My idea was that I wanted to find something that I could work on both at a physical level in the classes, and at a mental level throughout the whole days. I chose SOFTNESS.

“Soften your heart” is a very common phrase during our asana sessions here, which means that the chest should relax forwards and upwards, so that there is more opening and freedom in the chest, and more support from the back since the shoulderblades slide onto the back.

In relations with other people, softness is liked to kindness and consideration. These are easy to express towards persons you like a lot, but to be soft and gentle with everyone is harder. I think that people would generally say that I'm a soft person, but I know that I am not soft and gentle in every situation, so there's room for improvement. Here's my current state of softness (the green spot is probably just a reflection in my lens and not my heart chakra shining through):

The fact that I'm writing about my choice of heart quality on this blog makes my choice more powerful. Also speaking with friends about it strengthens my commitment to work on softness. This power of the words is called namadea in sanskrit. The higher you speak, the more powerful it will become. I can start by saying it to myself, then perhaps writing it down for myself, then telling a friend, then speaking about it in a larger group of people. So here it is on my blog: The heart quality of softness, or mridu in sanskrit, is something I will keep in mind during the coming week.

One Week of Yoga

It's time for an update on what the yoga retreat does to me. I'll stick to what's closely related to the body for now.

First of all, I must say that I'm amazed how quickly the winter stiffness disappeared. Whether it's due to the yoga practice or to the climate is hard to tell. Probably a little bit of both.

Second, worries over different injuries in my body have almost vanished. The hip that was tweaked when I ran to the bus on an icy street in Lund is as good as new. My left knee that always makes itself heard without actually aching, feels strong. My right ankle, that has been aching in postures such as the table pose or the crow pose over the past year, hasn't been aching for the last two days, although I still feel that the binding tissues are too short and I'm working on that. On the downside is the little neck-tweak that I got after some head- and shoulderstands a couple of days ago, but I've had this problem before (sometimes just from sleeping with the head at a bad angle) and its getting better again.

Third, I feel strong in my body. I could do the seven wheel poses (full backbends) in a row at the final session, and I like to work more with my muscles throughout the practice. On this picture, I'm assisted into a wheel pose, which is good for anyone who is not very flexible.

 

Fourth – and this is the really amazing part – it feels like my face is opening up! It feels like I've had tension in my eyebrow that is now releasing. My face might become yogi's face!

James, bodyworker

 

This happy man is James. He is a structural integration bodyworker. James joined the immersion to get some time on the mat, and this is actually the sixth year in a row that he joins the event. He is also helping out as Jonas's assistant, so whenever there some participant has a problem in their body that would keep them from doing yoga, James will fix it. He works with connective tissues, which determines the shape of the body.

I mentioned to James that I'm experiencing some pain in my right wrist in certain postures, such as the table pose. He examined me straight away. He asked me to relax my arm and my shoulder, took a firm grip and moved my arm around to feel what was going on, asked me to breathe and relax my shoulder again, tried the range of movements of the different fingers on my right hand and then the examination turned to massage while he explained to me what my problem was. The tissues were too short, and they needed some stretching. The problem was not in the wrist itself (so it's of no use to massage the wrist when it hurts) but due to the shortness of a longer stretch of tissue going from the middle finger up to the elbow - or actually even further up, and even the breathing comes into play. James showed me how I could artificially block the tissue with my hand (or ask a friend to stand on my arm while stretching!). Most importantly, he said I would be fine if I just worked on it a bit.

A couple of days later, the problem that I have sensed for over a year seems to have disappeared. The Anusara Yoga principles of how to root your hand to the ground also helped me, and perhaps the warm climate, but I'm very grateful that James is here. Thanks a lot James!

Here he is again, helping another Anusara Immersion participant:

Elephant Riding and River Rafting

Tuesday afternoon we had an afternoon off from the Immersion schedule. My uncle C-J and his wife Jenny, a couple with lots of energy, suggested that I joined them for a three-hour tour with elephant riding as well as river rafting, and so I did.

Here's C-J and Jenny in action.

 

I knew that some of the yoga people had expressed concern over the treatment of the elephants. As far as I could see they were all right, although you never know what goes on behind the scenery. When we had finished our tour, one of our elephants was relieved from his saddle since he had made enough laps for the day, so apparently there's some attention to the regulations. The elephant keepers have sticks with a metal spike, but considering the thickness of an elephant skin, they generally couldn't do much harm. I suppose that when needed the keeper will aim for where the skin is thinner, such as behind the ears, but as far as we could see the elephant were not hurt. It is of course always questionable to tame animals and keep them in captivity.

It's mind-boggling to see a human child sitting on an elephant's head and controlling its moves. The elephant is such an impressive manifestation of force of nature, so heavy and stepping so carefully. The young elephant keeper is tiny. How many steps of evolution must have occurred before this situation, something so little in control of something so big, was made possible?

The elephants sometimes deviated from their path to get a snack from the bushes, which was allowed by their keepers to a certain extent.

 

I have no pictures from the river rafting, since we were recommended to leave the cameras in the car. Since I could not know beforehand how wild the ride was, I left mine, but C-J brought his compact camera. Jenny went so far in her precautions as to put on her bathing suit. The long and narrow bamboo raft was far from stable, and apart from us three, there was a boy with a rafting stick at the front end of the raft, to get us down alive. The guide said that I was the captain of the raft and I got to stand in the back with a stick to push us forward, but as soon as we took off it was obvious that the direction of the raft could only be controlled from the front. At least I was able to help with some speed.

The ride was mostly calm, sometimes swaying a bit more when there was more stream and tiny waterfalls. We could enjoy the shadow of the trees, and passing by locals who were sitting by the water relaxing with some beers and a guitar. One man was throwing out his fish net just as we came by, and we almost wondered if that was arranged as a part of the rafting experience. It probably wasn't.

We had lot's of fun, taking turn with the captain's stick and taking pictures of each other trying yoga postures on the raft. At the end of the ride there was a little more of a waterfall to pass, so C-J needed to get off to save his camera and Jenny and I were told to sit down. I squatted instead, which saved my Thai pants from getting all wet, since the raft was dipped a couple of decimetres down into the water. Once off the raft, we saw other tourists with wet clothes up to the waistline, so if you go rafting, don't hesitate to follow Jenny's example and opt for the bathing suit.

I was happy to get my camera back, and I immediately found this nice motive.

Handstands and Beginner's Mind

Today's morning session included handstands, which is a great way to boost self-confidence and awaken the eagerness to expand and grow. We used the railings of our yoga platform to support ourselves in L-shaped handstands, and we assisted each other to get the body working in good alignment.

Here's my uncle Jonas doing an unsupported handstand by the pool.

 

Can I learn to do the same thing? Today, the prerequisites of learning was in focus, and one important concept is the beginner's mind. It's about being humble and curious, and admitting that there is always something to learn.

Thinking about it, I remember a few times when I had the attitude that I already knew what was being taught. For instance, I took a tango class where Gustavo Naveira was teaching musicality. He used a classical approach, where the four beats of a bar are represented with chairs, and different rhythms are shown visually by objects on the chairs. It's a nice way of illustrating the music, used by many tango teachers. I was bored, though, since over 20 years of trumpet playing of course has taught me lots of rhythms far more complicated than what is possible to show with those chairs. I hoped that he would be done with that part of the class and go on towards something else that was new to me (he didn't). I thought it was a shame that a lesson with one of the world's most appreciated teachers would be wasted on repeating too simple stuff.

Later, I realized that a different mindset would have made me learn much more at the lesson. Perhaps it is true that Gustavo does not have much to teach me about different rhythms, but closing in on that attitude made me probably learn less at a more subtle level. Why does Gustavo, who is a dancer rather than a musician, choose to demonstrate certain rhythmical patterns and not others? Why did I like some of his example steps and not others? I'm asking these questions now, and the answers will not be as clear as they would have if I were open to learn at the lesson. A beginner's mind is always best for learning.

Air Plane Yoga

What can you do to make your body endure a ten hour flight, where you're supposed to sit down most of the time?

 

 
I tried the following on my 10-hour flight to Thailand:

Before take-off

• I didn't sit down by the gate, but let my body enjoy its last minutes of freedom.
• I tried to be one of the last persons boarding the flight.
• I found a corner with less people, and took the opportunity to do a few well-chosen postures. The lunge pose is excellent since it stretches the hip-benders that get shorter when sitting down for a long time.

During the flight

• I took off my shoes as soon as possible, so that I could sit down in more diverse ways, sometimes with one foot on the seat. Besides, feet don't like shoes anyway.
• A simple twist is easy to do while sitting in your seat. The neigbour that you turn your upper body towwards might wonder whether you have something to say, but just say that it's yoga.
• Unfortunately, I sat by the window, which meant that two persons would have to get out of the way whenever I wanted to stretch my legs. When I got up, I therefore stayed up a little longer, and actually took a little stroll along the aisles.
• While there was still daylight and most asanas would have made me stand out a lot from the crowd, I chose smaller postures, like shoulder stretches.
• When darkness had conquered the cabin, I dared a few other postures, like the triangle pose and squatting down.

By the way, this air plane yoga gave me a few ideas for office yoga. Any of my colleagues at Nordea reading this? Rejoice - within the month you'll most certainly be involved in my office yoga plans!

Copenhagen vs. Chiang Mai

The weather in Copenhagen changed completely over night, from snow inferno to blue sky! I must admit that I had planned to make a blog entry comparing pictures of Copenhagen in snowstorm with a Chaing Mai bathing in sunlight. To be fair and square, I'll still make the comparison.
Scandinavia is represented by a half-frozen canal in Christianshavn. The picture was taken on my way from the office to the airport.

 

A beautiful winter's day!

Thailand is represented by the swimming pool at Kaomai Lanna Resort, where I'll be staying for the first two weeks.

Beautiful! Add 50 yogis, and you'll have a fair picture of what the place will be like.

Copenhagen vs. Chiang Mai? I would have to call it a draw.

Anusara Yoga – Flowing With Grace

Anusara Yoga is a school of hatha yoga that emphasizes both careful body alignment and a heart-opening attitude.

Anusara means “flowing with Grace,” “flowing with Nature,” “following your heart.” The underlying tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness assumes that everything in the world is pulsating with divine goodness and bliss, and the methodology has a respectful tone that appeals to me strongly:

“… Anusara yoga teachers, first and foremost, look for the good in all things, especially within themselves and their students. Anusara yoga teachers help enhance and reveal the beauty and Divine qualities that are already present in the students' poses. They do not try to "fix" or "correct" students' alignment. Instead, they are dedicated to serving each student and helping them unveil their innate goodness, worthiness, and Supreme nature …”  - quoted from www.anusara.com

I know from teaching tango how easily one falls into a pattern of “correcting” what the students do. Anusara Yoga has the ambition of not falling into that pattern. Anusara Yoga shows that you can keep a strong focus on physiology and technique, and still use a positive approach.

Read more about Anusara Yoga on the official website.

The plan

Leaving from Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan 28th, I will arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the next morning. The first two weeks I will attend the Anusara Yoga Immersion part 1 and 2 as organized by my uncle Jonas Westring and his volunteers. The remaining days I’ll stay with Jonas in Chiang Mai, mainly to practice yoga and to take photos.  Leaving from Chiang Mai on Feb 22^rd, I’ll be back in Copenhagen the next morning.

A long journey

My upcoming journey to Chiang Mai represents something new
I have never travelled as far, never to any exotic countries
I have never been restless, never felt a need
To strive for something else
I go to Thailand without much expectations, but with some excitement
It is a long journey, starting soon