Ashtanga Yoga. Gregor Maehle

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СКАЧАТЬ back and keep the legs strong, keeping the hands under the feet.

       YOGIC CONTEXT

       Active Balancing

      Actively balancing the body in every posture means it is necessary to isolate those muscles that need to be contracted from the ones that need to be released and lengthened. Too often one sees students who contract their entire body. Active balancing strengthens the core muscles of the body as well as the superficial muscles. This creates a light carriage, as the skeletal structure is carried more efficiently. Pada Hastasana is a great posture to experience these principles at work.

      Vinyasa Two

      Exhaling, fold forward. You are now in the state of Pada Hastasana. Hold it for five breaths. As in the previous posture, keep the low back straight and, only when that is guaranteed, work at straightening the legs. The gaze is toward the nose. This posture is a more intense version of the previous one. You can make the stretch even more intense by shifting weight forward toward the toes.

      The abdominal muscles — the term refers primarily to rectus abdominis — are engaged here to protect the low back. Uddiyana Bandha (the lower part of the transverse abdominis) prevents the breath from distending the lower belly, which would destabilize the low back. Excess use of the abdominal muscles, however, would shorten the spine and lift the head away from the floor, as the abdominal muscles are primarily trunk flexors. Only a sensitive combination of leg work with trunk flexion and trunk extension will bring the desired result of elongating the spine. This is mainly felt at the waist. Subtle, intelligent work will increase the space between the lowest ribs and the pelvic crests, the upper rims of the hipbone. Both muscle groups of the trunk work isometrically (under tension but without shortening) and therefore both will be strengthened. This is active balancing.

      

       Pada Hastasana

      Vinyasa Three

      Inhaling, lift the head and chest as you straighten the arms. Exhaling, place the hands on the hips and return to Samasthiti.

      Returning to Samasthiti on one breath is obviously a complex move. Beginners may break it down to retain the integrity of the movement.

      Breath count for beginners: Exhale, place the hands on the hips, drop the tailbone, strengthen through the legs. Inhale and come up to standing, leading with the heart. Exhaling, hop back to Samasthiti.

      

      FIGURE 7 HAMSTRINGS AND QUADRICEPS

      Bending forward should involve flexing the hip joints and not the spine. The flexing of the hip joints is limited by the hamstring muscle group, which performs the action of hip extension and knee flexion. The hamstring group consists of three individual muscles. Of these the biceps femoris externally rotates the femur as it extends the hip, and the semitendinosus and semimembranosus internally rotate the femur as they extend the hip. We will encounter these muscles later in their secondary function as rotators of the femur.

      If we passively hang in Padangushtasana, soreness can develop at the ischial tuberosities (sit bones), which is the origin of the hamstrings. To prevent this we need to engage the antagonists of the hamstrings, the quadriceps.

      The quadriceps is engaged by pulling up on the kneecap (patella). The quadriceps consists of four separate muscles that jointly insert, via the patella tendon, at the tibia. The four heads of the quadriceps are the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and vastus medialis. The rectus femoris is the only two-joint muscle in the group. It originates at the front of the hip bone and can thus not only extend the leg at the knee but also flex the hip joint. The three vasti originate at the lateral, anterior, and medial surfaces of the femur respectively, and only perform extension of the knee joint.

      

       Utthita Trikonasana

      TRIANGLE POSTURE

      Drishti Raised hand

      Vinyasa One

      Inhaling, turn to the right and hop your feet about three feet apart and parallel. The arms extend out to the sides at shoulder level.

      There is no “one stance fits all” here, but rather an ideal stance for every level of flexibility. This is of such importance that it should be assessed by the teacher on an individual basis. If the stance is too long, the inner integrity of the posture will be lost and its execution will bring little benefit. If it is too short, one will not gain spinal support, strength, and elongation. As flexibility increases over time and with practice, stances can be lengthened.

      Vinyasa Two

      Exhaling, turn your right foot out 90°. For the sake of precision, visualize a line going through the center of your mat lengthwise. Place the second toe of the right foot precisely along this line and check that the center of the heel is placed on the same line. A deviation of only 2° could be significant. Beginners often turn the foot out too much in order to gain stability, but this will result in a lateral (outward) rotation of the tibia, which is sometimes accompanied by a compensating inward rotation of the femur. This places stress on the knee. Dancers often prematurely wear out their knees through turning the feet out in this way.

      Turn your left foot in approximately 5°, with the heel positioned on the same center-line on the mat. The 5° position will ensure that foot, shin, and thighbone all point in the same direction, again as the optimal position for the knee. To stay at 0°, or to turn the foot out, would place stress on the knee joint. On the other hand, if you turn the left foot in too far, say 30°, you will not achieve sufficient opening of the groins.

      With the feet correctly positioned, let the right hip drop down (lateral tilt) as far as possible, bringing the pelvis toward being vertical to the floor. If the pelvis is left in a horizontal position, the spine has to flex laterally (sideways), which is not intended in this posture. The left hip swings up and out to the left to allow the right hip to drop.

      Opposite, Utthita Trikonasana

      

       ANATOMICAL FOCUS

       The Knee Joint

      The knee is a modified hinge joint. A hinge joint can move in only one plane, but the knee does allow for some rotation. The action of straightening the leg is performed primarily by the quadriceps femoris muscle (front of the thigh), while the primary knee flexors, the hamstrings, draw the heel to the buttocks. But if we sit on a chair with the thighs held firm, we notice СКАЧАТЬ