Practice Tips
Most people who fail at this arm balance have not distributed their weight correctly. The
most common mistake is students lifting their hips so high that their poses are too
vertical—they become diving cranes! Some people get the feet off the floor this way, but
then their pose becomes very heavy on the arms. Crane Pose performed in this manner
avoids the weight shift essential to understanding this asana and evolving into other arm
balances. If you can't go forward enough to risk falling, you won't go forward enough to
balance.
First, feel the abdominal and thigh action that is the core of support for Bakasana. Squat
on your tiptoes and bend forward to position your shoulders or upper arms under the
shins. (Some folks practice Bakasana with their knees pressed into the armpits—your
choice). Strongly lift your head and chest while pressing the arms back against the shins.
Without putting further weight on your arms, and keeping your chest lifted, pull your
abdomen in and raise your hips to shoulder level. Though difficult, this action gives you a
sense of where the real strength of arm balances comes from.
most common mistake is students lifting their hips so high that their poses are too
vertical—they become diving cranes! Some people get the feet off the floor this way, but
then their pose becomes very heavy on the arms. Crane Pose performed in this manner
avoids the weight shift essential to understanding this asana and evolving into other arm
balances. If you can't go forward enough to risk falling, you won't go forward enough to
balance.
First, feel the abdominal and thigh action that is the core of support for Bakasana. Squat
on your tiptoes and bend forward to position your shoulders or upper arms under the
shins. (Some folks practice Bakasana with their knees pressed into the armpits—your
choice). Strongly lift your head and chest while pressing the arms back against the shins.
Without putting further weight on your arms, and keeping your chest lifted, pull your
abdomen in and raise your hips to shoulder level. Though difficult, this action gives you a
sense of where the real strength of arm balances comes from.
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Yoga is a powerful tool for self-transformation. It asks us to bring our attention to our
breath, which helps us to still the fluctuations of the mind and be more present in the
unfolding of each moment.Even within the physical practice, yoga is unique because we
connect the movement of the body and the fluctuations of the mind to the rhythm of our
breath. Connecting the mind, body, and breath helps us to direct our attention inward.
Through this process of inward attention, we learn to recognize our habitual thought
patterns without labeling them, judging them, or trying to change them. We become more
aware of our experiences from moment to moment. The awareness that we cultivate is what
makes yoga a practice, rather than a task or a goal to be completed. Your body will most
likely become much more flexible by doing yoga, and so will your mind.
In sitting postures, for example, the intentional rooting of the sitting bones is what allows the
recoil of the energy of the perineum upward. In standing poses, the pressing of the mounds
of the toes and the heels into the earth is what allows the upward recoil of the arches and
the inner legs. In inversions, when we lift without simultaneously descending earthward, we
become either light-headed or wobbly, especially in Sirsasana (Headstand). And in
Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand), if we try to lift the spine without simultaneously dropping the
shoulders, we become very tense, the neck and throat become hard, and we forgo the
benefits to the nervous system the pose can offer.
In any of these poses, trying to lift without the opposing action of grounding gives us little
effect; indeed, it may drain our energy reserves. To receive the effects of the pose, we must
consciously move in opposite ways simultaneously. And to accomplish this, we must bring
our consciousness fully into the present, creating mindfulness.
Just as a bird must alternately open and close its wings to stay aloft, we must learn to both
expand and contract our energy to stay balanced in any posture. Like the bird spreading its
wings, we open our bodies out so we can feel the expansion that is the energy of asana.
And like the bird gathering in its wings, we must then pull our awareness into our core so
we can feel the stability and centeredness of the posture.
Vinyasa—a form of yoga in which each pose flows into the next in coordination with the
breath—is the ideal medium for keeping this connection vital. Moving with the rhythm of the
breath in vinyasas helps us recognize our experience as a reflection of the constantly pulsing
universe—the rising and setting sun, the ebbing and flowing tides, the beating of the heart.
Once you establish a firm center that acts as a central axis for all of your movements, you
can radiate outward. Just as gravity allows us to jump up without flying off into outer space,
a strong core (which we create by drawing physical effort into our center) allows us to
reach out and fully experience how large we really are. This vastness extends far beyond
the physical body. As we become familiar with how the body, breath, and mind are
interwoven, we see a ripple effect: Everything we do affects everyone around us and, in
turn, everyone around them. Step away from the demands of life and relax into a spacious
quality of mind that allows us to be with ourselves as we are, without judgment. Insulated
from the racket of demands and from the need to rush, we become quiet enough to hear the
stirrings of our hearts. And in the act of accepting whatever we find there, we replenish our
energy and inspiration. Accepting the truth of our selves, our hearts, our muscles, our level
of energy in any given moment is the height of compassion, and practiced this way, yoga
becomes an exercise in equanimity
The breath can be used to create both comfort and control in backward-bending poses.
Lifting and arching the chest on an inhalation and drawing the abdomen in to lengthen the
lower back on an exhalation intentionally creates a shallower and more uniform arch. This
also pulls the apex of the curve up and out of the lower back, where it tends to settle
uncomfortably, and gives it a new home in the chest. Practiced this way, backbends are not
only safer but easier to hold. Rather than struggling against the pose, you can relax into it
and receive the gift of opening it has to offer. If you want to give backbending your best
effort and still remain true to the spirit of yogic practice, you have to remind yourself that
success comes with taking only what you need from a pose—only what your body can
appropriately use and no more.
An authentic practice of Hatha Yoga takes place only in the context of ones' life. The
process of doing an asana is indicative of the process by which we live. In a pose, there is
an amount of working the body that, with the breath, is appropriate in the given moment.
The asana, and its benefit, will come about gradually without any injury or negative
repercussion. If one is doing more than enough, the body will strain, the mind will tense, and
the desired result is actually impeded. If one is doing less then enough, little or no action
takes place. The same is true in life. There is an amount of doing: jobs, apartments,
relationships, all the things we do to make life what we want it to be. There is also an
amount of not doing, of just leaving it alone and not trying to make it any different than it
already is. When we can find the balance between doing and not doing, life is progressing
and we are able to enjoy the endeavor. Some days you do more, some days you do less. It
all depends on how you are feeling and what is happening in your life situation. “Advanced”
practice is having the awareness to determine when enough is enough, in asana and in Life.
breath, which helps us to still the fluctuations of the mind and be more present in the
unfolding of each moment.Even within the physical practice, yoga is unique because we
connect the movement of the body and the fluctuations of the mind to the rhythm of our
breath. Connecting the mind, body, and breath helps us to direct our attention inward.
Through this process of inward attention, we learn to recognize our habitual thought
patterns without labeling them, judging them, or trying to change them. We become more
aware of our experiences from moment to moment. The awareness that we cultivate is what
makes yoga a practice, rather than a task or a goal to be completed. Your body will most
likely become much more flexible by doing yoga, and so will your mind.
In sitting postures, for example, the intentional rooting of the sitting bones is what allows the
recoil of the energy of the perineum upward. In standing poses, the pressing of the mounds
of the toes and the heels into the earth is what allows the upward recoil of the arches and
the inner legs. In inversions, when we lift without simultaneously descending earthward, we
become either light-headed or wobbly, especially in Sirsasana (Headstand). And in
Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand), if we try to lift the spine without simultaneously dropping the
shoulders, we become very tense, the neck and throat become hard, and we forgo the
benefits to the nervous system the pose can offer.
In any of these poses, trying to lift without the opposing action of grounding gives us little
effect; indeed, it may drain our energy reserves. To receive the effects of the pose, we must
consciously move in opposite ways simultaneously. And to accomplish this, we must bring
our consciousness fully into the present, creating mindfulness.
Just as a bird must alternately open and close its wings to stay aloft, we must learn to both
expand and contract our energy to stay balanced in any posture. Like the bird spreading its
wings, we open our bodies out so we can feel the expansion that is the energy of asana.
And like the bird gathering in its wings, we must then pull our awareness into our core so
we can feel the stability and centeredness of the posture.
Vinyasa—a form of yoga in which each pose flows into the next in coordination with the
breath—is the ideal medium for keeping this connection vital. Moving with the rhythm of the
breath in vinyasas helps us recognize our experience as a reflection of the constantly pulsing
universe—the rising and setting sun, the ebbing and flowing tides, the beating of the heart.
Once you establish a firm center that acts as a central axis for all of your movements, you
can radiate outward. Just as gravity allows us to jump up without flying off into outer space,
a strong core (which we create by drawing physical effort into our center) allows us to
reach out and fully experience how large we really are. This vastness extends far beyond
the physical body. As we become familiar with how the body, breath, and mind are
interwoven, we see a ripple effect: Everything we do affects everyone around us and, in
turn, everyone around them. Step away from the demands of life and relax into a spacious
quality of mind that allows us to be with ourselves as we are, without judgment. Insulated
from the racket of demands and from the need to rush, we become quiet enough to hear the
stirrings of our hearts. And in the act of accepting whatever we find there, we replenish our
energy and inspiration. Accepting the truth of our selves, our hearts, our muscles, our level
of energy in any given moment is the height of compassion, and practiced this way, yoga
becomes an exercise in equanimity
The breath can be used to create both comfort and control in backward-bending poses.
Lifting and arching the chest on an inhalation and drawing the abdomen in to lengthen the
lower back on an exhalation intentionally creates a shallower and more uniform arch. This
also pulls the apex of the curve up and out of the lower back, where it tends to settle
uncomfortably, and gives it a new home in the chest. Practiced this way, backbends are not
only safer but easier to hold. Rather than struggling against the pose, you can relax into it
and receive the gift of opening it has to offer. If you want to give backbending your best
effort and still remain true to the spirit of yogic practice, you have to remind yourself that
success comes with taking only what you need from a pose—only what your body can
appropriately use and no more.
An authentic practice of Hatha Yoga takes place only in the context of ones' life. The
process of doing an asana is indicative of the process by which we live. In a pose, there is
an amount of working the body that, with the breath, is appropriate in the given moment.
The asana, and its benefit, will come about gradually without any injury or negative
repercussion. If one is doing more than enough, the body will strain, the mind will tense, and
the desired result is actually impeded. If one is doing less then enough, little or no action
takes place. The same is true in life. There is an amount of doing: jobs, apartments,
relationships, all the things we do to make life what we want it to be. There is also an
amount of not doing, of just leaving it alone and not trying to make it any different than it
already is. When we can find the balance between doing and not doing, life is progressing
and we are able to enjoy the endeavor. Some days you do more, some days you do less. It
all depends on how you are feeling and what is happening in your life situation. “Advanced”
practice is having the awareness to determine when enough is enough, in asana and in Life.
| Practice Tips (from my readings) |
| How to Come Into Crane (Bakasana) |
