So in my world, alignment works as a jump off point,  the underframe,  as preventive medicine, when movement during asana is awkward or uncomfortable and as a means of building beautiful habits for melting what is awkward, and most of all, as a road into the silence of movement and a quiet mind.

I do realize there are other paradigms that work. Example: I walked into a level 2/3 class a while back and a former physical therapy patient of mine walked in 4 people ahead of me. As part of our work together, I had tried giving him some shifts for his walking, and for his fundamental yoga poses– to sturdy his frame. I guess he didn’t like it. He didn’t do it. When I saw him at class my first thought was how he was in a hard class for that spine of his. And then I spied a little, and he did not have ‘good alignment’ and, he had a wonderful practice– I saw no sign of pain on his face and he left with his same ‘unaligned’ gait. I think the idea that some rule or system works for all of us, might just be a conundrum. I’d like to be a teacher who knows, that my teaching is not for everyone, and that there are brilliant teachers who I admire and respect who have come to it a different way and who might be perfect for a guy I couldn’t reach, for whatever reason.

Three good alignment terms to know:

• Gravity Juice – The upward lift we get inside when we press down into the ground if we’re standing, or press the sit bones into the chair if we’re sitting. Press a little more than you think. Not enough to get stiff though.
• Eight Wheel Theory – Works in all asanas. the more we assert all 8 corners of the feet equally, the more integrated, belly on, stable spine, we get! ( imagine 2 cars for feet)
• The Whole Storefront – All three abdominal muscles (rectus femoris, transverse abdominals and obliques) sharing the job of stabilizing the spine so that hips and shoulders can be free!

Using Gravity for Sun Salutations– in 5 simple alignment/kinesiological chains through the body:

How does ‘grounding’ effect your sense of presence?

1st rule of gravity: for every action—there is and opposite and equal reaction. Sir Isaac newton.

We grow ‘core tall’, exactly as much as we are pressing down! It’s physics! Try it!

1. Stand with your feet hips width, and assert all 8 wheels (like 2 cars) into your mat as if someone was trying to pull the mat out from under you. Finding 8 of them can be evasive. Take each and every one very seriously. When you have them all honestly equal, your ankles will roll less, your knees will not lock, your hips will have the action of internal rotation, and that’s just the lower body benefit. When we set the base downstairs, upstairs complies! belly turns on, breath pattern is like a bellows, shoulders have the action of external rotation, head lives on top of the body instead of in front and the most important thing—gravity juice! We get lifted up inside–core tall, core of the core—tall.  I know that sounds too simple to be true, but it is so.

How does grounding effect your breath?

2. Inhale and take your arms up as if they are pressing water skyward (keep your 2 cars). Always keep your hands, as they go up and down within your peripheral vision, i.e. straight out to the sides rather than behind a little ways. This keeps your belly (which I’ve been referring to as the whole storefront) on and, frees the shoulder joints so you can get to your spongy end ranges of the joints that feel delicious, and not awkward. When something feels awkward, it is! Search for the softly strong in every movement.

“Reach from your center. Return to your center.” Jack Kornfield.

3. Hinge forward at the hips on an exhale. (2 cars) If bending knees gives the slack needed to have a long straight spine, bend them as much as necessary for that. Arms reach away from each other….(more storefront!) and then hands to thighs or shins or floor, depending on where the placement best elicits deep lower belly strength, the action inside of hip internal rotation (inseams of legs roll back) and a drawing forward toward the front of your feet. (otherwise you lose the front wheels which loses ‘the storefront’ which destabilizes the spine)

               When you are fully grounded, inhales are away from and exhales are toward your deepest center line , how is the strength of your belly?

4. Draw forward on your feet in an inhale so that arms coming up /out to the sides lifts you like you are peering over a cliff, and find the water to press (like #2 above) to get the arms all the way up overhead, which requires 2 cars, and gets the whole storefront to stay on and supports the spine stunningly,

When you are fully grounded, breath is centered, and belly is on, how are your shoulder joints as your arms ascend?

5. Exhale pressing the water back down to the sides, which again asserts the 2 cars, and draws the exhale to completion, eliciting once more the support of the storefront for the spine. Lower the heels of the hands a touch extra, to draw the shoulder joints back and down and add a little extra belly to the mix.

6. Bring your hands to your heart. look down. allow a soft breath, your current honest emotion, and a full on rest or portal , even if it’s just the space between a half breath. and …2 cars for this too. These notes will assimilate and ultimately become your new habits because they make sense to how we are indeed interconnected. Breathe deep and enjoy the lightness of movement that comes with feeling and knowing where you are in space.

Subjects to stay tuned for: Using Structural Habits as a Road In.   Ways we meld ourselves around how we breathe, and What really are the components of our ‘natural’ breathing patterns. What is a kinesiological chain and how does it show up in Trikonasana- as an example. and is it ever, ‘just structural?  How might a feeling state translate into our actual strengths, sense of how to move, agility? What did the sacrum say to the sternum? or vice versa! How important can these 8 wheels be? Why do our shoulders even want to roll in? Can ‘flat arches’ get lifted? If you have a suggestion  for a topic, please contact me

Ahemmmmm. I whine. Some of the time. The rest of the time, I’m blown away by people and cultural difference and cultural similarity, and the privilege of teaching anything precious enough to warrant such a journey. It began with my now, old friend, Robyn Wexler. The most unpretentious studio owner I have ever met, and bright eyed teacher and student, she invited me to come and teach more of the gait work I had begun in 2009 at Yoga Yard, Beijing, and she wanted me to teach the love of my current career life, yoga therapeutics which is really, everything I’ve ever learned, all intertwined. Then Tru Yoga Singapore’s Teacher Trainer, Jo Phee (who was here training with Annie Carpenter, and found my book at Exhale!) saw that I’d be in Asia and invited me to come and help teach Functional Anatomy at her first Teacher Training! Then, Robyn also invited me to finish my tour by returning to Beijing after Singapore, and teach at The Li Ning Yoga Conference. So suddenly, I was up to a three week tour with very little idea of what any of it would be. I loved it all, every class, every student, every quiet moment.

One quick story: Li Ning is the Nike of China. Their conference, unlike ours’, has 180 spots only, many more than that apply and only 180 get in. The room is set for all to attend, all day, every class. There is one teacher, all of the students, all yoga teachers, all in Li Ning attire. Did I mention that maybe three people in the entire place speak English, and my beautiful translator, Ronan Yang, made it a gift to dance with the words. At first, you (I) judge. And then it takes one session of being in the classroom, watching the learning seep in, watching hearts open, to remember, that yoga is yoga, worldwide. it does what it does, even if the structure seems …a little foreign. I watched groups create required skits, about what it takes to make a great yoga teacher, and what love means. Make no mistake that while the registered theme of the conference was, ‘Inner Shine’, it happened for real, to me and to everyone in the midst of that place. All love!

Yoga Center Santa Cruz
428 C Front Street Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831)423-6719 www.yogacentersantacruz.com

Mechanics of Gait Friday : April 29 : 5 – 7pm

The way we walk reflects our strengths, weaknesses, and flexibility; it is also a representation of our emotional and spiritual presence in the world. This lecture will address the physical mechanics of gait and common gait patterns and issues, and includes informational handouts and demonstration.

Individual Assessment Saturday : April 30 : 1 – 5pm
This class will build on the information presented in Friday’s lecture and apply it to each student’s particular walking style. We will learn to observe and assess gait, and offer precise adjustments to improve balance, alignment, and integration.

Yoga Integration Sunday : May 1 : 1 – 5pm

Asanas and walking both use subtle, often unconscious movement patterns arising from the center and moving outward. In this class we will incorporate the adjust- ments made to our gait into our yoga practice, looking at various asanas from this new perspective.

Yoga Yard was founded in August, 2002 by Mimi Kuo-Deemer and Robyn Wexler as a center for yoga and healing. At the time, the only yoga taught in Beijing was inside sports centers and gyms — environments not always conducive to quiet or relaxing practices.  By starting Yoga Yard, they sought to build a school based on principles of health, mindfulnenss, safety, dedication to quality teaching, commitment to support our students and teachers, and most importantly, a love of yoga.

Walking Therapeutics: A Clinical Workshop
April 2–3, 2011 (Saturday – Sunday)

Yoga Therapeutics: Healing Your Body within Your Yoga Practice
April 4–6, 2011 (Monday – Wednesday)

Click here for registration info.

• Download Nourish Yoga Flyer
• Download Yoga Santa Cruz Flyer

Our knees are:
• shock-absorbers when we land 
• springboards when we jump 
• transmitters when we are still, and 
• propellers when step forward 

All of these collude as beautiful links in any or all of these ways for balance postures. This class is designed to help you understand why your knees ache, specific diagnoses, and various degrees of each. We’ll discuss ‘high signs’ with knees, and ways to prevent any of further discomforts. We’ll work with ways that ankles and hips contribute to achy knees and modifications inside of postures to prevent these. And finally, we’ll look at how new patterns can be strengthened both on and off the mat.