An Independent-minded calendar of arts and events for Outer Cape Cod

Advertise in the Indie.

Reach more readers from Eastham to Provincetown.

Unchained news for Outer Cape Cod

The Provincetown Independent

Let us bring you the paper.

Your subscription supports real community journalism.

Yoga

    TO THE MAT

    Awakening Your Body From Its Winter Slumber

    In yin yoga, holding a deep gentle stretch brings ease

    By

    Spring brings renewal: it’s a time to embrace the vibrancy of a new season. But as those of us on the Outer Cape know, the transition comes only gradually. As if following nature’s lead, many of us find our bodies are slow to shake off the sluggishness of winter: a stiffness has set in over months of inactivity.

    One effective way to ease this is through the practice of yin yoga, based on the Chinese philosophy of complementary principles where yin is the hidden, still aspect of things while yang is all that is revealing and in motion. Yin yoga emphasizes slow poses held for longer times. Happy Baby pose is one in this style; known for its deep stretch and relaxing effects, it helps release tension and improve flexibility.

    Before moving into the pose, prepare your space and your body for a relaxing and restorative practice. Place a yoga mat and, if desired, a blanket on the floor. Lie down on your back and draw your knees into your chest, gently rolling from side to side to start loosening up the spine and hips. Think of this gentle movement as the first step in awakening your body from its winter slumber.

    Release your feet to the floor with knees bent. Place your hands on either side of your rib cage and breathe deeply into your lungs, feeling your hands move apart as the ribs expand sideways.

    To move into the pose, on an exhale, bring your knees into your belly and lift the feet up, drawing the knees down to either side of the body, as if pulling them toward your armpits. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    Take a few breaths in and out through your nose. Then, try to breathe into your lungs while saving some breath to breathe down into the sit bones, creating a sense of length in your body. Do several rounds of this breathing exercise, then relax your breath and let it return to a normal rhythm.

    Now you are ready to do the pose. Take a breath in, and on your exhale bring your knees into your belly and lift the feet up, with the soles of your feet parallel to the ceiling. Take hold of the outside edge of each foot, drawing the knees down to either side of the body, as if pulling them toward your armpits.

    There are some ways to lighten this stretch. If you can’t reach your feet, try wrapping a belt around each foot and pulling the straps down. Or wrap your forearms or hands around your thighs and pull down while keeping your feet up. From here, push your tailbone down and away from you to avoid tucking in your pelvis too much. If this feels too intense, try doing one leg at a time. Or do the pose lying on your back, knees bent and feet on the wall. You may feel this in several different areas depending on where your tightness is. It’s targeting stiffness in the back, hips, groin, and thighs.

    Once you are in the pose and feel comfortable enough to breathe normally, stay there, holding it for three to five minutes, or perhaps a little less if you are a beginner. Relax as much as you can while maintaining the shape of the pose. Listen to your body. If the pose starts to feel painful or you get numbness, these are signs that you have passed your edge and the pose is no longer beneficial. It should be easy to breathe normally. Come out of the pose and take a few breaths. If it feels right, try it again.

    Happy Baby is a yin yoga pose meant to be relaxed into. Holding the pose is a way to restore the flow of your qi — or restore the suppleness of your fascia. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    The benefits of holding a pose like this are described both in traditional Chinese medicine theory and in recent research on the role of the fascia in the body.

    The traditional Chinese medicine system proposes invisible channels that run though the body — the meridians. When qi — the body’s vital energy — flows freely through them, the body is healthy and balanced. Yin yoga aims to enhance the flow of qi by applying pressure to the connective tissues where the meridians reside. It is by holding the pose, gently tugging the deeper tissues of the body for longer periods, that you are exciting the qi flow in them and nourishing them.

    Western scientific research also highlights the importance of fascia, a three-dimensional matrix of connective tissue that envelops muscles, bones, organs, and nerves. “Until recently, this network of tissue throughout the body received very little attention, despite its major role in every move you make,” says the entry on it at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Fascia, once thought to be inert packing material, is now recognized for its relationship to movement, anatomy, and overall health. It is primarily liquid but can become sticky or dry with repetitive motion, inactivity, aging, or illness. Yin yoga’s prolonged poses help restore the fascia’s natural fluidity, reducing pain, stiffness, and physical limitations.

    I like to think of blending ancient meridian theory with a modern understanding of fascia as I practice yin yoga poses like this one. It suggests a holistic approach to wellness, one that promotes physical flexibility and mental calm, and to me that makes sense as we slowly reconnect to the energy of spring. It is also useful for anyone seeking deeper relaxation and the feeling of letting rejuvenation arrive slowly.

    TO THE MAT

    A Pose for Defying Chaos

    The Bird Dog is for strength, balance, and a mood boost

    By

    I’ve been thinking lately about what it was that got me interested in yoga in the first place. I remember the first time I went to a yoga class: I had just started college and was feeling anxious about being away from home, my friends, and all that was familiar. A new friend suggested we go, and I don’t remember much more than the fact that I came out of that class with a bounce in my step. My mood was lifted. The experience was more about mind than body.

    Yoga became part of my life, and as I continued to practice, I came to enjoy many other benefits, such as greater physical strength, flexibility, balance, and better sleep. But for me — and maybe for all of us — at this time when political chaos swirls with such force, its effect on my mind is the most important one. No matter my state of mind, when I step onto my mat and practice, I feel better afterward.

    The Bird Dog Pose — also known as the balancing table pose (or Dandayamana Bharmanasana) — is a good one for countering chaos because it requires three things simultaneously: strength, focus, and determination. When it comes to strength, it targets the core, back, and glutes. It challenges coordination and balance in a way that keeps it interesting for both beginners and advanced students. And it requires concentration: doing this pose, the mind cannot wander, which surely is part of how it boosts one’s mood.

    Put down a yoga mat or a blanket to give you some padding under your knees and wrists. For this pose, you’ll start on all fours, in tabletop position: hands under shoulders, knees under hips.

    The Bird Dog Pose is simple, but there are ways to tune into it the balance and focus that let it boost your mood as well as your muscles. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    To warm your body up, do a few rounds of Cat-Cow Pose. Begin by rounding your spine up towards the ceiling; let the back of your neck follow the movement of the spine, letting your head drop forward and directing your gaze back. Then begin to move your spine in the opposite direction, softening your belly toward the floor as you arch your back and lift your head, looking ahead and drawing your shoulder blades gently together and down your back.

    Add the breath, inhaling as your back arches and exhaling as it curves up again. Go slowly and with ease through several rounds. See if you can feel it move through you like a wave. Now you are warmed up and ready for Bird Dog Pose.

    As you return to the tabletop position, engage your core muscles to help maintain a neutral spine — it’s not arched or flexed — and to stabilize your body. If you aren’t sure what that means, try drawing the muscles just below the belly button in and slightly up, then think about tucking your lower ribs in gently. This should create a sense of engagement in the core muscles.

    From this steady position, reach your left leg out behind you, point your foot, and rest the top of your toes on the floor. Engage your glutes (the group of big muscles that make up your buttocks) on the left side and use those muscles to lift your left leg until it is parallel to the floor. Check your position: make sure your hips are squared and parallel to the floor and draw your shoulder blades slightly together and down. Now lift your right arm parallel to the floor, and you are in the pose. But there are several ways to really tune into it.

    Breathe and feel long from the tip of your right fingers to the tip of your left toes while maintaining a firm sense of balance. Keeping your core engaged will help with that. It also helps to not overarch your lower back. Lengthen the back of your neck, tuck your chin slightly, and gaze down to maintain a neutral neck position. See if you can feel the energy in your body as you hold the pose.

    After you’ve held the pose for several seconds, release your arm and leg and come back into the tabletop position, then try the pose on the other side. You can go back and forth three or four times to help build strength. Move slowly and deliberately, maintaining an even breath.

    Remember: if any of these movements or positions cause sharp pain or dizziness, those are signs to back off or not do the pose. Yoga is meant to be challenging but not painful.

    To challenge yourself further, after extending the arm and opposite leg you can try moving the knee to the elbow under your body.

    There are several ways to ease up on this pose. If you are bothered by wrist pain, come up onto your fist rather than a flat hand, or put more padding under your wrist. If you need more padding under your knees, don’t hesitate to do that. If the pose feels a little too challenging in general, you could start by extending one limb at a time. Doing several repetitions and two or three rounds can help to build strength. You may soon notice why this pose is sometimes used to relieve back pain, as it strengthens the glutes and the muscles around the spine.

    As you gain strength by practicing this pose, I hope you can use that to maintain balance and that you will feel your ability to stay focused and defy the chaos.

    TO THE MAT

    A Seaworthy Boat for Riding the Waves Ahead

    Building strength and courage with Paripurna Navasana

    By

    In setting my intentions for the new year, I have been anticipating the need for strength, endurance, and courage. One vision that keeps coming to mind is the need to build an extra strong vessel in which to ride the rough waves emanating from the inauguration of the era ahead.

    Paripurna Navasana, Boat Pose, is just the pose for that. The shape looks like a boat with the arms as the gunwales. The word Navasana combines the Sanskrit words for boat, nava, and seat, or seated posture, asana. Paripurna translates as complete or full, and adding it to the name of this pose brings to mind the image of building a seaworthy boat. This pose dispels my worries and instead engenders a feeling of empowerment. I hope it will do that for you, too.

    Boat Pose is a seated balance pose that strengthens your legs, tones the abdominal and pelvic muscles, stimulates digestion and circulation, and develops concentration, confidence, and overall strength. It is not recommended if you have a recent or chronic back or neck injury or if you are pregnant. I’ll offer some ways to support yourself in the pose so you can begin to practice it safely — but they don’t change my advice about finding other empowering poses to adapt (Warrior Pose, for instance) instead of this one if you are pregnant.

    Warm up your core before going into this pose. To start, sit on the floor on a mat or blanket. Then lie on your back with your knees bent and place your feet on the mat about shoulder width apart. Lift your lower abdomen slightly, imagining that you are gently lifting your inner organs in and up toward your ribs. Now tuck the lower ribs in slightly and see if this gives you a sense of engaging your core abdominal muscles. Maintain that engagement, roll to one side, and use your hands and arms to push yourself up to a sitting position.

    Strength and balance define the Boat Pose. In it, the writer imagines her body as a seaworthy vessel, ready to face the waves courageously. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    To move into the pose, bend your knees and place your feet on the mat in front of you. Place your hands on the backs of your thighs and hold on firmly as you draw yourself up, lengthening your spine as you draw your sacrum — which supports your spine at its very base — down, still keeping the core engaged.

    Now lean back, releasing your hands from your thighs and stretching your arms out at your sides. This may feel like quite enough summoning of your strength and energy. If so, this is your boat pose.

    To take the pose further, feel your sitting bones making contact with the floor, and if you’re stable, try lifting one foot off the ground; extend the leg and balance here. If this feels stable, then try lifting the other leg alongside the first. If this makes you wobble or hurts your back or neck, just work toward the pose one leg at a time.

    If you are secure with both legs lifted, straighten them so that your legs and torso make a V shape. You will be balanced on your sitting bones with your thighs at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Keep your arms lifted alongside your body. Now see if you can straighten your legs, extending them only as far as you can while maintaining your balance. Your core muscles will be working hard here as you breathe and balance. Concentrate on extending and expanding your boat shape. Breathe as you hold the pose, taking from one to four good breaths, then begin coming out of the pose by lowering your feet to the floor.

    Some other supportive options are to lean back on your forearms, palms on the floor, then lift your legs. Or keep your arms extended behind you, hands on the floor for support. Working with either of these options and beginning with one leg at a time will help you build strength.

    It is worth considering that the ancient yogis developed the asanas as a way to prepare the body for a long period of meditation. This may sound like something that made sense as part of a relatively stress-free life. But you might look at it this way: they lived in an era when the challenges to basic survival were more numerous and harsher than we face today. They knew the importance of having a strong body, mind, and spirit.

    May you embrace the practice of Paripurna Navasana and go out into this year with a sense of strength, endurance, and courage.

    TO THE MAT

    Start the New Year Humming Like a Bee

    How Bhramari, a practice of breath control, can calm the mind and body

    By

    There are lots of opportunities to be as busy as a bee during these winter holidays. As we hustle toward the dawn of the New Year, it can be hard to notice that the natural world is actually suggesting something different for us right now. We’re past the solstice, but the winter still stretches ahead, the days are still short and the nights long. We’re being invited into a quieter, more inner-focused time.

    The ancient yogis were all about this inner focus. In India, for example, the Upanishads, the Sanskrit writings that accompanied the development of Hinduism — and alongside it, yoga — beginning around 800 B.C.E., went deeper than earlier texts had into philosophy and questions of being. With the goals of increased inner awareness and higher consciousness, yoga was at that time not yet as focused on the body or on asanas, as it now can tend to be.

    But the yogis did develop many practices to try to open the way to those goals. They discovered, for one thing, that the breath could be consciously controlled to produce changes in internal experience. Out of this came breath control, known as Pranayama.

    Prana means “life force” and ayama means “lengthening, enhancing, and expanding.” So, the yogic practice of pranayama was used to increase one’s vitality and purify the mind. It is a highly developed series of breathing techniques that involve expanding or holding the breath to bring awareness inward and allow a range of internal states.

    When practicing bee breath, covering the ears and eyes is optional. It’s done to promote inner focus. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    Modern medicine has caught on to using breath techniques to influence the mind, the body, and emotions. In my practice as a mental health provider — I was a therapist in my previous career of 30 years — I used to teach my clients a very simple calming breath called “square breathing.” For this technique, you inhale for four counts, then hold the breath to the count of four, slowly exhale for four counts, and hold the breath out for four, then inhale for four counts and begin again. After several rounds of this pattern, most people feel calmer and more able to focus.

    Short, shallow breaths come when we’re under stress. This exercise brings the breath into the diaphragm, slowing it down and deepening it. The nervous system responds in kind.

    Bhramari, or Humming Bee Breath, adds the element of sound to this soothing process. To begin the practice, sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor in a way that lets you feel your spine long and your body relaxed. Try a few rounds of square breathing to help prepare for Bhramari breath.

    Now, press the tip of your tongue to the roof of the mouth. The tongue placement draws energy toward the top of the head. Inhale deeply through your nose. Maintain this tongue position throughout the breathing. Exhale through the nose slowly, making a humming sound — this is the bee part — focused in the nasal cavity.

    Pause at the bottom of the exhale briefly. Inhale again and on the exhale repeat the humming sound. You can experiment with making the humming sound high- or low-pitched. It is traditionally done with a higher pitch but see what works best for you. Just don’t force the breath.

    As you repeat the breathing pattern several times, focus your mind on the buzzing sound and the silence that follows.

    To increase the inner focus, you might try closing off your ears with your thumbs. You can cover your eyes, too, with your index and second fingers, though if this feels claustrophobic, it’s fine to leave your ears and eyes uncovered.

    After several bee breaths, pause and see how you feel. The vibration of the humming sound stimulates the vagus nerve. This is the longest cranial nerve in the body and contains the main nerve fibers of your parasympathetic nervous system, which controls your digestion, heart rate, and immune system. Stimulating this nerve with the humming vibration turns on what is referred to as the body’s “rest and digest” response, as opposed to the “fight or flight” response handled by the sympathetic nervous system. When you turn on the parasympathetic nervous system, it helps conserve energy and promotes relaxation of the body.

    Bhramari can be a nice way to slow yourself down and prepare for meditation. Or just to help maintain your calm during this time of so many social demands and resolutions. You don’t need a lot of time or even a yoga mat to use square breathing or Bhramari (or both, as I’ve described here) — although if family gatherings and other holiday affairs are what make you want to stop for bee breath, you might want to find a private spot to do your humming.

    So much of what happens is outside our control. Humming bee breath counters the stressful feelings that arise from that fact. It’s a small way to control our inner worlds. May the power of the breath help you begin a happy, healthy New Year.

    TO THE MAT

    How to Open Your Heart Without Losing Your Mind

    The Locust Pose strengthens you to face the stresses of this season

    By

    For some people, the gatherings and celebrations of the winter holidays might be a welcome relief after an anxious election season. But for most, the winter holidays aren’t necessarily an antidote. They can offer their own special stress. In all, this is an important time to take care of ourselves.

    I’ve been thinking especially about the benefits of poses that are what yogis call “heart openers.” The one I have in mind is called the Locust Pose or Salabhasana by most people, although my Kripalu training refers to it as the Boat Pose — a reminder that yoga isn’t precisely standardized.

    In the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the heart chakra is one of the body’s seven energy centers, and opening it is believed to help us feel more connected to one another and to nature.

    You don’t have to adopt that philosophy to recognize that this pose opens the chest, where the heart lives, and it can be steadying, energizing, and uplifting. But there’s another way in which this pose, and really yoga in general, can help us: it is good for the brain.

    I’ve been reading Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s book about brain health. Gupta is a neurosurgeon and journalist (he is CNN’s medical correspondent), and in his 2022 book Keep Sharp he writes that one of the five most important things to keep our minds “sharp and effortlessly productive” is simply to move. Moderate exercise, Gupta says, is the best kind for the brain. A brisk walk is better for your brain than a cardio workout, for example. So is yoga.

    Two other top recommendations for brain health that Gupta talks about and that are very much part of a yoga practice are discovery and relaxation. He discusses the value of staying curious and doing things you haven’t done before. One of the things I love about yoga is that it gets us to move the body in new ways. Every time we practice it is a little different.

    Like your body, the brain needs to rest. Relaxation comes with getting enough sleep. It also comes with taking breaks from screens, Gupta writes. Yoga can help with both of those. When you finish a yoga practice, you lie in Savasana, a relaxation pose, for several minutes to allow your body to absorb its benefits. And the Locust Pose involves a gentle backbend that feels especially good if you spend a lot of time slouched forward gazing at your screen.

    Exploring the Locust Pose combines movement, discovery, and relaxation for the brain with the opening of the heart. This pose strengthens your back muscles, your glutes, and your hamstrings. It can help to counteract the effects of sitting and improve your posture.

    Opening the chest in Locust Pose can be both steadying and energizing. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    To get into the pose, begin by lying on your mat on your belly and warming up with “windshield wipers”: Bend your knees and lift your feet, then drop them gently first to one side then the other, like windshield wipers. Place your forehead on the ground.

    With arms at your sides, stretch your legs straight out behind you, ankles together. Press the tops of your feet and toes into the ground to engage your quadriceps. Rotate your inner thighs up. Then press your arms into the floor and lift your head, chest, and legs. (Two modifications to consider: If you need a lift, keep your hands on the ground by your chest and press into the floor to help you lift your chest. If lifting both legs feels too hard, try lifting one leg at a time.)

    Next, let your arms float up, reaching back with your fingertips. Alternatively, you can try interlocking your hands behind you and drawing them down toward your feet as you lift your chest. This helps engage the muscles in your upper back. Either way, draw your shoulder blades down your back and lift your sternum. Keep the back of your neck long by slightly tucking your chin.

    Keep the front and the back of the body long so as not to strain your lower back. Don’t focus on how high up you go but rather how much length and space you can create in your spine, sacrum, arms, and legs. Breathe and draw your chest forward as you reach your arms back. See how long you can get. Stay in the pose for several breaths.

    To come out of the pose, release your arms, legs, and head to the floor. Turn your head to the side and rest. Give yourself some time to feel the imprint of the pose on your body. May it take you toward the holidays with an open heart and a better brain.

    TO THE MAT

    Invoking the Steadying Power of Kali

    Utkata Konasana is a goddess pose for everyone

    By

    Whatever your political preferences, if you are paying any attention these days, you are feeling the unsteadiness of this time. Things feel wobbly. At times like this, for me the question becomes: how can I maintain my equilibrium and clarity of mind to navigate this time with compassion and wisdom? I know that grounding myself is the first thing. I turn to Goddess Pose, Utkata Konasana, for that.

    The Sanskrit word utkata means powerful or fierce, kona means angle, and asana, of course, means posture — this is a powerful pose. It strengthens the legs and feet, opens the hips and chest, improves concentration, and clears the mind. And in spite of its name, this is a pose that strengthens the creativity and wisdom in both women and men.

    We are learning that what are traditionally called “masculine and feminine energies” don’t actually belong to any one gender. We all can cultivate our nurturing, patient, and intuitive capacities, the part of us that is able to think outside the box. And some part of each of us wants to be action-oriented and make things happen through logic, discipline, or physical strength.

    The culture in India, where yoga comes from, still generally holds tight to traditional gender roles. But it’s worth noticing that in the realm of their gods and goddesses, females do have great power. In traditional tales, feminine power is often used to bring things back into balance, to right wrongs, and to heal wounds both physical and social.

    The Hindu goddess Kali is depicted as a fierce warrior who symbolizes the strength and power of the feminine side. She is said to have fought off demonic forces to restore justice and peace to the world, and ancient legend has it that after she fought off one particularly demonic figure, Samba, the Earth calmed, the oceans receded, the dark clouds parted, and the sun shone. Goddess Pose is said to invoke the goddess Kali.

    When the world feels wobbly, it helps to call forth your inner Kali. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    To call forth your inner Kali, start by standing in the center of your mat or on another nonslip surface and place your feet three to four feet apart. Turn your feet out at about 45-degree angles. Raise your arms to shoulder height, hands up, fingers pointing to the sky — this is Cactus Arms. Now draw your shoulder blades down your back.

    Take a deep breath in and as you exhale bend your knees coming down into a plié or squat. The classic pose is a deep squat with the thighs parallel to the floor, but your pose doesn’t have to be that deep. Your pose depends on your flexibility and strength. To explore your range of motion, go up and down a few times. Draw your tailbone down toward the floor to prevent overextending your lower back. Find a spot where you can stay without too much discomfort.

    Here, take the time to be in the pose. Open your chest by lifting the sternum and drawing in the lower ribs. Be sure to maintain a long and straight spine. Lift the muscles below your navel in and up slightly to engage your core. Lift out of your waist. Keep your knees open. The tendency is for the knees to drop forward, but you want to keep them in line with your toes.

    If you are having trouble balancing, you can practice this pose standing next to a wall. Keep your arms active, but if the cactus arms position is too hard to hold, you may put your hands on your hips or in front of your chest in Prayer Pose. Imagine your head is like a helium balloon floating up as you keep the back of your neck long. Hold the pose for three or four long easy breaths (you can always go longer or shorter as needed).

    To come out of the pose, straighten your knees and heel-toe, heel-toe your feet back to hip width apart. Relax your arms at your sides. Notice how you feel. Each yoga pose will create a resonance in your body. Tune in and feel yours. May you receive the power of Kali to clear the dark clouds and restore peace to the land.

    TO THE MAT

    A Pose to Welcome Change

    Yoga for a time of starting over

    By

    Let’s all take a deep breath in and let a big sigh out. With summer behind us, we begin to welcome the fall — to me the most beautiful time on the Cape. With this transition comes the chance to slow down and give your body, mind, and spirit a chance to shift gears.

    Yoga offers a pose to help you do this. In Sanskrit, it is called Garbhasana, which refers to the embryo, and while there are several variations to explore, this one, familiar to many, is also known as the Child Pose. It represents returning to something primal, starting over, tapping into our original essence. It is a pose of surrender and acceptance.

    To prepare for Child Pose, you will want some padding underneath you, because this is a pose to settle into. Stretch a yoga mat and or a blanket on the floor. Move into a tabletop position: knees under hips and hands under shoulders. Spread your fingers wide apart, hands pressing into the floor. If your wrists are sensitive, you can keep your hands in fists or come up onto your fingertips, making a tent shape with them.

    Child Pose is a pose of surrender and acceptance. (Photos by Ric Ide)

    Take a few breaths and allow yourself to arrive in the pose. Place the tops of your feet on the floor. Think about being long from your tailbone to the top of your head. Sit back onto your heels. Your torso extends over your thighs and rests on them. Your arms remain extended and relaxed on the floor in front of you. Rest your forehead on the mat.

    Despite being a restful pose, Child Pose is not necessarily an easy one. It can be challenging for the knees, hips, and ankles and is not recommended for anyone who has an injury or chronic pain in those joints. If you have uncontrolled high blood pressure, proceed with caution and place a pillow under your forehead. I tell my yoga students that no pose should cause sharp pain, electrical sensations, or numbness. You should be able to breathe normally, feeling a good stretch but no pain. Think about giving 70 percent of what your body can do.

    Child Pose intensely stretches and stimulates the body. There are several adjustments you can do to make it friendlier.

    If you place a pillow under your buttocks, it will raise your hips and put less stress on your knees. You may also want to support the front of your body with some stacked pillows, blankets, or a bolster to help your spine stay long. If this still proves to be too stressful for your knees, try widening them. In this wide-leg Child Pose, you may feel a stretch in your inner groin. Some people find Child Pose painful in the ankles; to alleviate stress there, roll up a small towel and place it between your ankles and the floor.

    Despite offering restfulness, Child Pose is not necessarily easy. Here, the writer uses a pillow to raise her hips and folds her arms under her forehead.

    There is an alternative to try if these adjustments leave you still too uncomfortable. You can go into the pose lying on your back and drawing your knees into your chest with your hands. Pay attention to the position of your head and neck. Is your head cocked back, chin pointing up? If so, place a folded towel or blanket under your head to relax your neck.

    Or try the pose while sitting in a chair: with feet on the floor, bend forward between your knees, putting your hands on the floor or on blocks.

    In whichever variation you have chosen, take an easy flowing breath in and out. Stay with the pose for a minute, or more if it is comfortable. Allow your body to absorb the restful benefit of the pose.

    To get out of the pose while lying on your back, you may roll to one side and use your hands to push up. To come out of the standard pose, bring your hands back under your shoulders and push yourself back up into the tabletop.

    Now, lie down on your back and tune in to the resonance of your own body. Stay for as long as you like. In addition to recentering the mind, Child Pose relaxes the muscles of the lower back, and because it increases blood flow to the abdomen it can improve digestion. When you are ready, stand up slowly — you may experience some lightheadedness if you transition too quickly.

    Take note of how your body feels now. In this busy, productivity-oriented world, it is a revolutionary act to take the time to rest and restore our bodies and minds. Doing so will ease your transition into fall.

    TO THE MAT

    A Yoga Pose for Finding the Joys of July

    Ustrasana, in case the crowds annoy you

    By

    All the pleasures of summer are upon us. And so are the crowds. If you’re one who really loves the hubbub, lucky you. But for many of us drawn to the quiet here, it can be challenging to stay open to the joys of July.

    One yoga pose that can help is Ustrasana, or Camel Pose. It is said to open the heart chakra. In the ancient system of the yogis, chakras are believed to be energy centers; located along the spine, they are responsible for the different kinds of energy we have. The energy in the heart chakra is directly related to our being able to feel love and connection with ourselves and others. If it is undernourished, we can feel irritable, judgmental, and antisocial.

    This is an advanced pose in its fullest expression. So, I do not recommend going right into it. Begin instead with a Cat Cow Pose to warm up your body and proceed very slowly from there.

    Ustrasana with a chair for more support for the neck and back.

    For the Cat Cow Pose, start on all fours in a tabletop position, with knees under hips and hands under shoulders. Put some padding under your knees and maybe your wrists, too. You can move your hands out ahead of your shoulders to decrease the pressure on your wrists. Or just make fists with your hands.

    Take a long slow inhale and draw your belly button down toward the floor. Think of a cow’s big belly extending low to the ground. As you arch your back, your tailbone points up and you look forward, keeping your neck long. Then, as you exhale, curve the back up like a Halloween cat. Tuck your tailbone under and look back toward your feet. Go up and down slowly several times, breathing and following the movement of the spine with your mind’s eye. See if you can articulate each vertebra as you move.

    To move into the Camel Pose, start in a kneeling position, knees hip width apart. From there, draw your tailbone down toward the floor while lengthening your spine, lifting up out of your waist and engaging your core by drawing the muscles below your navel in and up. Tuck in your lower ribs. Place your hands on your lower back, fingers extending down to your buttocks, as if you were sliding them into your jeans pockets.

    Now, imagine there is a bar just at the bottom of your shoulder blades. Lengthen your spine and lift up and back over the bar. Keep your core engaged. As you arch back, imagine a beam of light shooting up toward the sky and lifting the center of your chest. Roll your shoulders back and down away from your ears. Breathe deeply.

    Check how you feel now. Pressing your shins and the tops of your feet into the floor can help with the lift. Keep your core engaged. Do not stick your belly out. Keeping your neck long, tilt your head back, but tuck your chin in. If you have neck problems, keep your head in a more neutral position. For extra support, you can do this pose with your feet at a wall and, as you arch back, let the wall support your head.

    Backbends come from the upper part of your back, the thoracic spine, not from the lower part of the back, or lumbar spine. By imagining that pole just under the bottom of the shoulder blades, you can keep the arch in the proper place. Do not think of this as a competition to see how far you can go. Ustrasana is about exploring your edge and opening your chest safely. Think about keeping the front and the back of the spine long as you move into it.

    Arching from the upper back and lifting the chest can help open the heart chakra. (Photos by Ric Ide)

    If you want to explore a bigger opening, try tucking your toes under and reaching back to hold your heels as you lift the chest. You could also place yoga blocks at your ankles and reach back to them. You can understand why it is called Camel’s Pose: the arch is like the hump on a camel.

    At whatever place in this pose you find friendly for your body, take long deep breaths into your chest, holding the pose for a few seconds or as long as 30 seconds. To come out of it, return to tabletop and rest.

    If it is not comfortable for you to kneel, or you want more support for your neck or back, you can do this pose sitting in a chair. Pick a chair with a back that reaches to about the height of your shoulder blades. Cushion the back of the chair by draping a towel or blanket over it. Sit with your feet hip width apart, take a deep breath in, and reach your arms back to grasp the sides of the back of the chair. Lift your chest and get long in the front and the back of your spine. Imagine that sunbeam coming out of the center of your chest, lifting your sternum.

    Keep the back of your neck long. Tilt your head back and tuck your chin slightly toward your chest. Take a few slow full breaths. Release the pose by pressing your hands into the seat of the chair and sitting up. Again, after the hubbub, rest.

    TO THE MAT

    Natarajasana Is a Dance for Summer

    Getting into a groove with June and maybe the whole universe

    By

    After all those quiet months, suddenly there is so much to do. June’s arrival on Outer Cape Cod can make a person feel scattered. That is why this month I’m turning to Natarajasana, Dancer Pose or Lord of the Dance Pose. It is all about balance and focus.

    Natarajasana engages the body in several ways. It strengthens your legs and ankles, opens your hips, and stretches your shoulders and chest. It’s a standing pose and a backbend. It symbolizes a connection to the Hindu god Lord Nataraja, the King of Dance and one of the eight forms of Shiva, the creator and destroyer in Hindu philosophy, who represents the cosmic dance at the source of everything in the universe.

    Even if you’re not into yoga philosophy, doesn’t June — this time of green growth and blossoming — just make you want to dance? Yet this pose can look intimidating. I encourage you to join this dance step by step, trying the pose in stages, and going only as far into it as you are able, keeping in mind, as always, that yoga is not meant to be painful.

    First, you will need some props to get comfortably into the Dance Pose: a chair or wall to lean on, a belt, and a yoga mat or other surface that is not slippery to stand on.

    The writer’s teacher Karin Stephan says, “Getting into the pose is the pose.” (Photos by Ric Ide)

    I recommend you warm up before doing the pose with some gentle movement and breathing. If you haven’t kept doing it, you might revive the “empty coat sleeves” warm-up I wrote about last June: Stand with your feet wider than your hips and let your arms hang loose; begin to swing them from side to side, turning at the waist, relaxed and easy. Twisting back and forth, get a relaxed rhythm going. Add some intentional breathing by inhaling to one side and exhaling to the other. Feel your body start to let go, your breath open. Do this for 30 seconds or so.

    Stand in Tadasana, arms at your sides, feet about hip-width apart, feet parallel. Yes, we are still only just getting into the pose. Take your time. Feel your feet on the floor. Imagine you are growing roots down into the floor and feel how it grounds you.

    Imagine you are heavy, like a sandbag, from the waist down, and that from the waist up you are as light as a feather. Your spine is like a string connecting your head, which floats up above you like a balloon. Relax your shoulders.

    Natarajasana is also called the Dancer Pose. Doing it is a way to cultivate the balance and focus needed for summer if you live on Cape Cod.

    From here, finally, you can move into the pose. Be sure to have a chair or wall within reach to lean on and help you balance. Bend your right leg, bringing your right heel toward your buttocks. Take hold of your right ankle with your right hand or use a belt or strap if you can’t reach your ankle. Bring your right knee in line with the left knee. Align your hips.

    Now bring your focus to the left leg. Press into your left big toe mound and tighten the muscles above your left knee. This will help stabilize your left leg. Engage your core by lifting the muscles just below your navel in and up, at the same time tucking the lower ribs in and knitting the ribs together.

    Keep this alignment in your hips as you begin to lean forward and at the same time draw your right thigh back and up. Pick a spot on the floor in front of you or on the wall and fix your gaze on this point. This is called a Drishti point. It will help you to gather yourself and concentrate. If you’re steady, try letting go of the chair and lifting the left arm up and forward in front of you. Lift from your shoulder and upper arm as you extend through your fingers. If you are using a wall to balance, you can move your arm up the wall.

    Take a few breaths. Release your right leg to the floor and return to Tadasana, standing on both legs, arms at your side. Try the pose on the other side. Take a few breaths and notice how you feel.

    Moving slowly into this dance with June and the cosmos, I think of one of my teachers, Karin Stephan, who lives in Cambridge now but studied with B.K.S. Iyengar in India. I can hear her voice repeating something she often says: “Getting into the pose is the pose.”

    TO THE MAT

    Reach for Your Toes

    You’re not too stiff to do yoga. You just need a little time in Padangusthasana.

    By

    If I had a nickel for every time someone has said, “I can’t do yoga because I’m not flexible,” I’d have enough for a trip to Kripalu. You do not need to deprive yourself of the soothing, calming effects of yoga on your body and mind just because you think you are too stiff. Flexibility is something you can develop over time.

    While each of us has a unique bone structure and body condition that may limit our ability to open up in a particular pose, yoga allows for adaptations that give us ways to benefit from most poses.

    Yoga is about optimizing the health and welfare of your body, mind, and spirit. To do that, you simply have to start where you are.

    Supta Padangusthasana is an example of a pose that might seem impossible at first. Supta means supine, lying down. Padangusthasana means big toe. This is the Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe pose.

    There are many ways to practice Supta Padangusthasana, a pose that offers relief to hamstrings, back, and hips. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    There are many ways to experience the substantial benefits of this pose. It can be done lying on the floor, lying on a bed, or even sitting in a chair. And you can use a strap to help you reach your big toe safely — or if you don’t have a yoga strap, you can use a bathrobe tie or a long cloth belt.

    Fundamentally, this pose allows you to open your hamstrings. But since everything in the body is connected, you will likely feel benefits in other places, like your back, ankles, and hips.

    Start by lying on your back. You may lie on the floor with a mat or blanket as cushioning, or you may do this pose lying on your back in a bed. (I will explain the chair option after describing the supine version.)

    Extend your legs straight and flex your feet. Stretch your legs long, reach your arms overhead, on the floor, and stretch them long as well; then release your arms to your sides. You are looking for a feeling of length while at the same time maintaining the natural curves in your spine. To know if you are maintaining those natural curves, try sliding your hand under the small of your back. Allow a little space there.

    Now move your left hand onto your left thigh. Bend your right leg and lift your knee toward your head. Take the strap and loop it around the ball of the right foot. Most of us can’t straighten our leg while grasping the big toe. We use a prop, the strap or belt, to help us adapt the pose. From here, straighten the right leg toward the ceiling.

    Think about your form for a moment. Use your left hand to keep the left leg stretched out along the floor. The left foot should be in line with the left hip and should be flexed. Both legs are engaged. Keep your body grounded by pressing the left thigh into the floor while maintaining the natural curve of your spine.

    If you feel lower back pain, try keeping the left leg bent with your left foot on the floor. Another adaptation would be to put your left foot up against a wall, pressing the foot into the wall to anchor and stabilize you.

    If you practice this pose regularly, you may find you can eventually straighten the left leg on the floor. Patience, persistence, and regularity will pay off — but there is no need to push it. It is likely that you will not be able to have your right leg completely straight at first. Or you may not be able to flatten the left leg on the floor. As you can see in the photo, my left thigh is above the floor. This pose for me is a work in progress.

    Once you have held the pose for a few breaths on the right side, release your foot from the strap and straighten both legs along the floor. Your right leg may now feel longer than the left. Repeat the pose raising your left leg. Go back and forth, holding each side for a few breaths.

    Repeat this up to three times on each side, then stretch out on the floor and see how you feel. Do you notice any difference?

    If you find it hard to work from the floor or your bed, try this pose sitting in a chair. Sit up straight with both feet on the floor and the strap in hand. Loop the strap around the ball of one foot and stretch the leg out in front of you, holding the belt in both hands. Straighten the leg as much as you can and keep the foot flexed. Hold the stretch for a few breaths, then switch sides.

    One of the big benefits of yoga is that it increases our body awareness. That will come as you take a few breaths after holding a pose to notice what you are feeling. Do you notice a greater sense of ease in your body? Or maybe a calmer state of mind? If not, maybe you are pushing yourself too hard as you do the pose.

    Try doing less, stretching less. Pushing is not a part of yoga. The esteemed teacher B.K.S. Iyengar, who introduced yoga to the West in the 1950s, famously advised: “Nothing can be forced; receptivity is everything.” Find your edge and then back off. The edge will change with practice.

    TO THE MAT

    Gentle and Slow Is the Path to Warrior 3

    Strength, balance, and orientation in space are benefits of this challenging pose

    By

    Strength, balance, and fortitude. These are surely the qualities a person who is pursuing a spiritual path would need. But it seems to me they are also important qualities for anyone living in our times.

    Virabhadrasana III, also called Warrior 3, is a yoga pose that focuses on developing these capacities. Most everyone finds it challenging. So much so that considering the many ways of supporting yourself and adapting the pose to make it more friendly for your body may be more important than actually winding up in the pose. I love this about yoga.

    A yoga practice is about being on a path, not getting to a destination. You start where you are and adapt the poses according to your needs. Along the way, you build strength and skill. It is a learning process — physical, psychological, and spiritual — about yourself and about life. Which is why having a regular practice is so important.

    The writer, balanced in the Warrior 3 pose, stretches both arms forward and one leg back while the other remains firmly planted. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    When I was younger, I injured myself several times doing yoga. In my exuberance, I would push myself beyond my limits, and it took me years to begin to listen to my body and let it guide me. Only then did I learn that I could get the benefits of the poses by going more slowly and working my way in over time, and that, in the end, perfection was not the goal. A good life lesson.

    Yoga teaches us to be real about who we are and to grow with wisdom and compassion. So, slowly, let’s see what there is to learn in Warrior 3.

    1. Begin by standing at the back of your yoga mat.
    2. Stand in Tadasana or Mountain pose, with your feet parallel, hip-width apart. Feel your body extending upward as your arms extend down by your sides.
    3. Take a deep breath and step your right foot forward 3 to 4 feet. Bend the right knee, keeping it aligned over the ankle. Turn your left foot out 45 degrees as the right foot continues to point straight in front of you. Exhaling, draw your right hip back, bringing your hips parallel to each other.
    4. Raise your arms, energizing them to lift you out of your waist.
    5. Press down into your right foot and engage your core by drawing the muscles a few inches below your navel in and up. Tuck in your lower ribs.
    6. Come up onto the toes of your back foot. Begin to shift all your weight into the front leg as it straightens. The arms and the body reach forward parallel to the floor and the back leg comes up in line with them. Be careful not to over-straighten your standing leg. You don’t want to lock the knee and put strain on the joint.
    7. Think stability. Now that you’re in the pose, there are several things you can do to stabilize yourself here. Engage the muscles of your right outer hip but keep your hips in line with each other. Keep your head between your arms, the crown of the head reaching forward as the arms and hands reach out in tandem. Your hands face each other. Keep your core active and direct your tailbone towards your left heel.
    8. Try expansion. Reach your arms and your extended leg in opposite directions. At the same time, feel your standing leg and foot extending to the floor, grounding you. This takes focus and concentration. Now repeat the pose on the other side.

    For many people, balancing on one leg like this is not possible. So how to be on the path to this pose? There are many ways to adapt Warrior 3 so you can build strength and get its benefits of it without losing your balance.

    One way to support yourself into this pose is by doing it with two yoga blocks standing on end in front of you like two little pillars. Instead of stretching your hands out in front of you, bend forward and place your hands on the blocks. Proceed with the pose from here. You’ll also find this version easier on your shoulders and arms.

    Another approach is to place a chair 3 or 4 feet in front of you with the back of the chair facing you. Hinge forward at the hips and take hold of the back of the chair as you lift your back leg. You can also do the pose using a wall for stability; place your hands on the wall or, if you’d rather, rest your back foot on the wall.

    For a gentle start, you could also begin in a tabletop position, on all fours, rather than standing. Place a blanket under your knees for cushioning and practice lifting one leg behind you at a time, raising it up to hip height. As with the standing pose, keep the hips in line with each other. Then try lifting one leg and the opposite arm. Now you’re building balance and strength. Be sure to use your core just as you would if you were standing.

    Getting into this pose, you can feel how it strengthens your legs, ankles, and feet, and your core, shoulders, and back. But there’s something else about it that isn’t so much about the parts of your body but about your sense of it. In that way, it strengthens your proprioceptive system, which keeps you in balance and oriented in space.

    Be gentle with yourself and go slow as you let your body be rooted and yet expansive at the same time. It’s only February, after all — you’ve got half a winter ahead for exploring this path.

    TO THE MAT

    Gomukhasana Summons the Sacred Feminine

    In the face of cosmic chaos, be nurtured by a cow

    By

    The idea of the sacred feminine goes back through ancient history. It’s also an idea I’ve been thinking about a lot in relation to the anxiety so many of us feel when we consider the big challenges of collectively caring for our democracy and our planet.

    In the mythology of India, which is intertwined with yoga, the cow is revered as a symbol of divine feminine energy. Hindu legend has it that Mother Earth herself took the form of a cow to escape the chaos the world was thrown into when a greedy, power-hungry king, Vena, took control of the world.

    He banished activities that didn’t benefit him directly. He did not care what toll he took on the environment or on other people as long as he got what he wanted. He even forbade the sages from performing the sacred rituals that upheld the rhythms of the cosmos. Without them, the whole atmosphere of the world began to sour: the earth became dry, crops failed, and the air became hard to breathe.

    Mother Earth was so distraught she turned herself into a cow and ran away. Without her, the planet was doomed to utter deterioration. Vena did not care as he sat in his castle eating fast food and spouting lies. But finally, the sages rose up and slew him. He was replaced by Prthu, who realized that he had to appeal to Mother Earth to replenish the planet.

    She trotted away when he found her, saying she would not come back to be abused. But Lord Prthu told her that if she would consent to be milked to replenish the world, he would declare all cows sacred forever. She agreed, and through her divine nurturance, the world was returned to a healthy state.

    Legs and arms are stretched, the core is engaged, and the whole body is grounded in the Cow Face Pose. (Photos by Ric Ide)

    It seems timely to practice a pose named after the cow — Gomukhasana translates as Cow Face Pose — to summon some needed divine feminine energy. It is considered a deeply nurturing pose.

    You might also think of it this way: in doing the pose, your crossed legs take the shape of a cow’s smile, and your elbows are like a pair of cow’s ears, one pointing up, the other down.

    The pose involves stretching, softness, and grounding. By opening the shoulders, the hips, buttocks, and quadriceps, it may help counteract long periods of sitting.

    There are a few contraindications to Cow Face Pose. Go easy if you have shoulder or knee pain or injuries, or torn muscles in the legs or buttocks. With a teacher you can find modifications to make it doable even with these challenges.

    Sitting on a block makes the cross-legged position that undergirds the pose easier.

    Start by placing a blanket on your mat for cushioning and sitting with your legs extended in front of you. Press your heels out and draw your toes towards you. This is Dandasana, or the Staff Pose. Now bend your right leg and cross it over the left knee. Bring the right foot to the outside of your left hip, then bend your left leg and draw it back toward your right hip, stacking your knees one on top of the other.

    If this feels like too much, you can modify this part of the pose by keeping your left leg straight or by adding some height under your sitting bones. In the photo I am sitting on a block — the extra height makes the pose easier on the hips and knees.

    Now press down through your sit bones and lengthen your spine. Try drawing the muscles just below your navel in and up to engage your core and lift up out of your waist.

    Next, the arms. As you take a long slow inhale, reach your right arm out to the side and rotate from the shoulder, pointing your thumb down and palm facing behind you. Exhaling, bend your right elbow and bring the back of your hand to your lower back. Slide your hand up your back along the spine as far up towards your head as it will go.

    Reach your left arm up, bend the elbow and drop your hand behind your neck. See if you can slide it down your back and move your hands towards each other. Some people can clasp hands in this pose, but if your hands don’t reach, use a strap or belt, as I am doing in the photo. Hold it in your left hand to begin with and drop it into your right hand.

    Lift your chest and tuck your lower ribs in so as not to overarch your back. Keep a long spine. Take several long slow breaths, in and out. To deepen the pose, bend forward. To get out of the pose, release your arms, unwind your legs, and sit in Dandasana again.

    Repeat on the other side, inviting the wisdom of Mother Earth to nurture us in the year ahead.

    TO THE MAT

    Stoking Your Inner Fire for Winter

    Kapalabhati breathes energy into mind and body

    By

    With the shortest day of the year approaching, we feel the cold and dark of winter wrapping around us. There is no better time to harness the power of the breath to illuminate and feed our inner fires.

    Pranayama is the term for the breathing techniques developed by the ancient yogis to work with the essential energy — the life force, or prana — of the body. Kapalabhati is one of them. It involves short powerful exhales and gentle inhales. The roots of the word mean “skull lightening,” and doing it you might imagine you are cleaning out the cobwebs and polishing your brain. It is energizing and can lift your emotional state. And it really can warm you up.

    The list of benefits of this kind of breathing is long, but there are also several contraindications to consider: you shouldn’t do this if you are pregnant or have digestive or abdominal irritation, a respiratory infection, vertigo or epilepsy, high blood pressure, heart disease, a pacemaker, or glaucoma.

    To do this pranayama, begin by sitting comfortably with a long, straight spine. You may sit cross-legged, in a chair, or kneeling, seated on a couple of blocks, as I am in the photo. Begin by practicing some easy, long, slow breaths in and out. Inhale and exhale through the nostrils with your lips sealed.

    Sitting with a straight spine, the writer begins Kapalabhati, taking a gentle inhalation after vigorous exhalations. (Photo by Ric Ide)

    After a few easy breaths, place one hand on your belly. On your next exhalation, draw in the muscles of the lower abdomen rapidly, creating a quick, strong exhalation; then relax the belly, and your inhalation will happen naturally. It will be a somewhat slower inhale, happening with no effort. Then repeat with another quick exhale by drawing the belly in rapidly. Release it, and feel an easy passive inhale.

    This may feel strange. The reason is that it’s the opposite of how we usually breathe, with our inhalations relatively active and our exhalations passive.

    If you are having trouble drawing in your lower belly, place both hands on your abdomen, and while you exhale, use your hands to push the belly in. Release your hands on the inhale.

    Start out slowly; as you become more adept at contracting and releasing your lower belly you can speed up the pace. Try 20 to 25 breaths at first. Afterwards notice your inner landscape. Do you feel the breath’s warming power? You may gradually increase the number of cycles of Kapalabhati as you get more comfortable with it. Experienced yogis do up to a hundred cycles at a time — but that’s not recommended for beginners.

    The ancient yogis theorized that the universe is made up of both energy, prana, and awareness, chita. They believed that when both flow freely through the body we experience good physical health, inner peace, clarity of mind, and spiritual awakening. They developed eight systems of practice to enhance their flow, and these are now referred to as the eight “limbs” of yoga. Most students I work with are familiar with asana, the yoga postures; that’s just one limb. Pranayama, or breath work, is another limb. I’ll leave the other six for another time.

    Although it is enough for some people to know that pranayama is rooted in ancient philosophy, I know others who would rather hear that there’s plenty of modern-day scientific research pointing to the effectiveness of breath techniques for reducing stress and improving mental acuity and sleep. For those seeking western culture’s view, I recommend “Research: Why Breathing Is So Effective at Reducing Stress,” an article published in the Harvard Business Review in September 2020.

    Whatever inspires you, I hope that by stoking your inner fires you’ll stay warm and bright through this holiday season.

    TO THE MAT

    With Fall’s Arrival, There’s Reconnection

    Find your place in the cosmos again, or at least within your own body

    By

    I think of this newly becalmed time of year as right for reconnecting — with ourselves and with the world around us. And I turn to yoga for this. The practice of yoga is meant to connect us more deeply to ourselves as well as nature and beyond. The term “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means to join.

    There is a particular pose, a forward bend done with the legs planted wide apart, that I find encourages reconnection: Prasarita Padottanasana. As you practice this pose, you may have an experience of the interconnectedness of everything, at least within your body if not in the whole cosmos.

    It helps that this pose engages the whole body. It strengthens the legs and feet. It also stretches your ankles, calves, hamstrings, groin, buttocks, and lower back. At the same time that it energizes the body, it calms the mind.

    Keeping your back straight, and with a tiny bend in your knees, fold forward from the hips into Padottanasana. (Photos by Ric Ide)

    Prasarita Padottanasana is also an inversion, which can be energizing, but because it increases blood flow to the head, it is not advisable for people with uncontrolled high blood pressure or glaucoma or anyone who has had a detached retina.

    Before starting the pose, imagine your body is like a Calder mobile: you touch one end and everything else smoothly moves in concert. Think of this standing wide-legged forward bend as allowing your interconnected parts to move freely.

    To get in the pose, stand in the middle of your yoga mat or on a surface where you won’t slip. Begin in Mountain pose, feet parallel and hip-width apart. Take a breath, place your hands on your hips, and step your feet three to four feet apart as you exhale. You can experiment with the distance between your feet. You want your stance to be wide but to avoid straining the hip joints.

    Bring your awareness to your feet. Lift and press into the balls of the feet, under your big toes and into your heels. Then press the outside edges of your feet into the ground, your feet fully engaged. Next, draw the muscles three inches below your navel in and up slightly and knit the ribs in to engage your core. Draw your tailbone down.

    Notice that all of these are subtle actions. You should still be able to breathe comfortably. Take a moment to reach your arms over your head and lift out of your waist, lengthening the sides of your body.

    To fold forward, put your hands in your hip creases (where your thighs meet your hips). Engage and lift your thighs and at the same time allow a tiny bend in your knees. Keep your back straight as you fold forward from the hips.

    Deeper in the pose, you can rest your head on the floor, but if it seems too far away, bring support from blocks (or a stack of books).

    Reach your hands to the floor, shoulder width apart, arms straight. Be careful to come forward from the hip joints, not by rounding your lower back — that will strain your back. If you have trouble reaching the floor with your hands, yoga has a good solution for that: bring the floor higher up. You can do that by placing a chair in front of you so you’re placing your hands on the seat instead of on the floor. Make sure the chair is not going to slip as you lean into it.

    You may also need to bend your knees more. Tight hamstrings can make it difficult to keep your legs straight as you come forward. In any case, don’t lock your knees.

    From here, if you’d like to take the pose deeper, you may bend the spine to bring your head towards the floor and walk your hands back, keeping your elbows bent. If your head reaches the floor, gently rest the crown of your head on it. Otherwise let your head hang or put a block or some stacked books under it at the crown for support.

    Hold the pose for three to five breaths. To come out of it, walk your hands forward and straighten your arms. From here, bring your hands to your hip creases and, pressing down into the thighs, come up with a flat back.

    Step your feet closer together and return to the Mountain pose, then bring the palms of the hands together in prayer pose at the center of your chest. Take a moment to notice your experience. What is the imprint of this pose? Take a walk around your mat and continue to notice how your body feels. How is your mood?

    As you travel through your day, notice if aftereffects of reconnecting — feelings of balance in your body and clear-headedness — stay with you.

    Jennifer Shannon is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher who lives in Truro.

    QUIET MIND

    The Stillness of Savasana

    Finding a moment to be free from the demands of August on Cape Cod

    By

    Sometimes you just need to lay your body down. August on Cape Cod? Definitely one of those times.

    Savasana, also known as the Corpse Pose, is one of the most essential and profound asanas in yoga practice. The pose involves lying flat on the back, arms resting loosely by the sides, legs and feet at ease in a way that the body is fully supported, the muscles are soft, and the mind is completely calm and receptive.

    This pose is typically performed at the end of a yoga session for relaxation and integration, but you really can choose to do this pose at any time.

    Savasana doesn’t always have to come at the end of a yoga session. Here, the writer finds stillness on the lawn in an after-work moment. (Photo by Steven Craig)

    We often hear that modern life has become increasingly fast-paced and demanding. Stress-related issues are common. True. But it is also worth noting: yoga has been around for thousands of years, and the first written descriptions of Savasana are many hundreds of years old. To be human is to need rest.

    In this pose, the body and mind enter a state of deep relaxation, triggering the parasympathetic nervous system and promoting the release of endorphins, which are natural stress-relievers. The relaxation induced by Savasana also helps in achieving better sleep, allowing the body to recover and rejuvenate during the night. Neuroscience has provided significant insights into the critical role of rest in promoting brain health, cognitive function, emotional well-being, and overall mental performance. Ancient wisdom persists. Savasana is a useful tool for being human today.

    Lying still in this pose, we are encouraged to observe the present moment and our breath, to notice thoughts and sensations without judgment. This heightened mindfulness extends into daily life, relationships, and decision-making.

    One summer several years ago when my children were young and there were many small and large requests fired at me at the end of long working days, I made a habit of lying down on the ground before answering.

    “Can we go play minigolf?”

    “Let me get back to you.” And away I’d go. Outdoors and down onto my back. The key to mastering Savasana is in the art of surrendering and letting go. I needed a moment to be free. Free from the roles and responsibilities, identities and expectations, physical and mental demands of the day. This letting go allowed me to reconnect with grace. First to myself and then, with clarity and calm, to my people. We were all better for it. And I am certain I said yes more than I would have if I had not given myself the time to rest.

    Tap into this pose’s transformative effects and find balance, peace, and harmony within.

    First, find a comfortable place. You don’t need a yoga mat or the perfect conditions, just a spot where you can allow yourself to surrender for a while. Lie down on your back. Extend your legs with some support behind the knees if you need it. Make space between the legs, and let your feet fall naturally. Allow your arms to relax beside your body, palms up, if that is comfortable. Let your fingers curl in a natural, relaxed way. Settle your head and neck in a neutral position, aligned with your spine. Place a small pillow or folded towel under your head, if needed, to support the natural curve of your neck. Take time to feel your body’s connection to the ground and the supports beneath you.

    Now, close your eyes and turn your attention inward. Take a few deep breaths to release any tension in your body. Starting from your toes, consciously relax each body part, moving up through your legs, hips, abdomen, chest, arms, shoulders, and neck. Finally, relax your facial muscles and allow your whole body to feel completely at ease.

    Then, shift your attention to your breath. Breathe naturally, and observe the rhythm of your breath without trying to control it. Feel the gentle rise and fall of your abdomen with each breath.

    Once you’ve settled into the pose, remain still. If any discomfort arises and doesn’t resolve within a few breaths, adjust your position slightly to find a more comfortable posture but avoid fidgeting. Stay in the pose for 5 to 10 minutes, longer if you wish. Give yourself enough time to truly relax and experience the benefits of the pose.

    Savasana is an essential part of every yoga practice and an excellent way to end any physical activity or stressful day. It can be a challenging pose for some people, however, especially those who suffer from a busy mind. With regular practice, it becomes easier to find relaxation and stillness in this pose. You can gradually learn to let go and allow the mind to settle naturally. Be patient and persistent on your path towards rejuvenation and calmness. The rewards extend far beyond the yoga mat.

    © 2025 The Provincetown Independent, all rights reserved.

    terms of service