I stick my butt out.
I don’t mean to, but somewhere along the way in high school, I learned to stand up straight by lifting my ribcage up and forward rather than actually find axial extension. (You rib poppers know you who you are, my brethren).) My lumbar curve became more pronounced, my sitting bones flared back, and presto chango, thirty years later and I have tight hip flexors and a tight lower back.
I believe that yoga practice is not about fancy poses (no matter how much we like to drool on the insta-web), and a consistent practice gives us a foundation the chance to see our patterns in action. Not only do we see our physical patterns (oh! I’m popping my ribs again!), we see our mental patterns as well (oh! I’m dwelling on my ex again!).
Usually we get into a pose before we notice that something isn’t quite right.
I get into warrior two and then I “fix” it by lengthening my sitting bones. But this is a little like constantly training our bodies to do the sub-optimal action, then impose a layer of tension over it to “fix it.”
Here’s what I’m playing with:
Integrate your new body pattern before you transition.
Transitions are typically when we mentally check out. After all, we’re moving, we’re supposed to get all the way over to triangle pose, thank you very much, can’t you see we have stuff going on here?
But when we integrate before the pose, our body gets to set a new habit pattern in advance. Rather than “fixing it,” we arrive in it. And what this might do is change how you do the pose completely. Instead of doing it the old way and adding something on top of it, you’re arriving in a new way.
Here’s how you give it a try:
Choose a thing that you do habitually that you’re curious to change.
If you’re not sure what it is, consider some of the following possibilities. Do you:
- flare your ribs (like me!)
- overextend your lumbar (me again!)
- over tuck your sitting bones
- collapse your inner arches of your feet (a classic)
- elevate your shoulders (I think this is all of us)
- habitually tighten your jaw (I do this, too).
Maybe one of these rings a bell for you.
If you’re not sure, consider if there are any cues that your yoga teacher always gives to you. “Brenda, relax your forehead!” or something like that.
Now here’s the thing: just choose this one thing. You’re not going to pay attention to a lot of other stuff in your practice, and you may lose sight of some other alignment/breathwork temporarily in order to bring this one thing to focus.
As you practice, make this one habit change your focus. Find it in the transitions; incorporate it before you move.
All this may mean working more slowly through your asana. Enjoy the time 🙂
Off that mat: see if you can notice the habit pattern throughout your day. Before you go and “fix yourself” take a breath and see if you can relax into the more open and aligned position.
