A New Life

Dear yoga friends,

I'm sorry I haven't been getting Daily Yoga Tips out to you all. It's not that I'm not thinking of you.

I've spent the last several days at my Mom's bedside as she moves through an amazing transition from this part of her life on to a new one.

What a wonderful gift it is as she tells us what she sees and calls out in celebration and awe. She is overwhelmed by love.

All I can think of is how grateful I am for her and for the glimpses she's given me of things I've not yet experienced in ordinary life.

I am inspired today. I feel like Melvin in As Good as it Gets. I want to say to my Mom what Melvin said to Carol, "You make me want to be a better man."

You can start a new life today, too.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it.

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., I want to say a special hello today to all of my friends and students who were a part of our Experience Paradise Yoga Vacation in Yelapa this past January. Everyone got together last night in St. Louis to practice yoga, exchange pictures, and eat Mexican food. I wish I could have been there. I don't think I've ever before experienced the sweet fruits of such a perfect combination of nature's beauty and adventuresome, loving yogis! Amazing. Thank you for your support, love and encouragement.


















Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Two Dives, One Sauveteur

According to Yahoo!, one of the most-emailed photos yesterday was of American diver Chelsea Davis as she banged her forehead into the diving board at the preliminaries for the World Swimming Championships in Montreal.

If you don't have a stomach for this sort of thing, you should skip this part. But if you can stand it, you should look at the video clip that Fox News has posted on its web page.

You can see it at:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163674,00.html

Click on the button that says "Video" right next to the pictures.

You can avert your eyes during Chelsea's dive.

But you should look to see what happens right after her dive. As soon as Chelsea hits the water, there's a second dive!

That's right. It's clumsy and awkward. But its the best dive I've seen in a long time.

You see, it's the German coach, Lutz Buschkow, who, unlike everyone else who stood around mouth agape, jumped in to help the injured diver!

It wasn't the trained sauveteur (that's life-guard, or literally, rescuer for those of you who aren't Francophiles) with the bright red shirts who hit the water first. It was a coach from another team, from another country, in fact.

I love to teach yoga. It's like no other experience I have available to me in my life. I love it. But it's not easy. And one of the real kickers is, you don't always know what to do.

There's no guide book to tell you what to do when one person is disrupting a class that everyone else paid good money for. There's no life coach available to stand by your side and talk you through the proper procedure for handling someone who's being unsafe.

If you're reading this and you're a yoga teacher consider these two things I've found that make the difference:

1) take control, and
2) make commitments.

If you're committed to a particular outcome, it almost always readily dictates what is the next right thing for you to do.

That's what I saw when Coach Buschkow flung his body into the water: He was in control of himself and his surroundings and he was clearly committed to the safety and well-being of every athlete at the pool.

Because of his clear commitment, he knew exactly what to do. And he did it. He didn't need a red shirt to be Chelsea's sauveteur.

If you're not a yoga teacher, but you're committed to the mastery of yoga, I suggest these two criteria as you select your yoga teacher:

1) Can you tell if he or she is in control of the class?
2) Do you know what your teacher's commitments are?

If the answer is "no" to either of these, you might consider finding another teacher, if you have that luxury.

Like diving, I think practicing yoga requires that I take risks, albeit measured ones. When I study, I want someone around, who's got commitments that show. Their actions speak louder than words.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., Do you want to participate in our next Experience Yoga Teacher Training Program in St. Louis? We'll meet one weekend each month for a year. You'll finish with all the hours you need to be a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher. The focus of this training is on Teaching Yoga, not learning to do yoga poses. Send me an email at info@experienceyoga.org to find out more about the Experience Yoga Teacher Training Program, taught by me and Sallie Keeney.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Got All Your Eggs in One Basket?

When is a Daily Yoga Tip NOT a Daily Yoga Tip? I know! When you don't send it out every day! My bad.

Sorry everyone. I've been busy. I've been doing some travelling. And too much work.

But on with Daily Yoga Tip.

I'll confess that I'm probably the worst yoga teacher I know when it comes to telling students in class about the benefits of individual yoga poses.

As you might have noticed I really value experience. So I typically prefer this approach to teaching yoga:

1. Inspire people to follow your lead.
2. Get them to do the pose, so they have an experience of it.
3. Help them interpret their experiences by giving them more context and information.
4. Build on what you observe (e.g., if you want students to experience forward bends with their legs straight, but they bend their knees anyway, teach them, interact with them, assist them, so they can do the pose with straight legs).
5. Allow students to discover for themselves the benefits of a pose...by doing that pose.

But this violates one of the big rules of "adult education."

Adult learners want to know why!

I've been in some classes where this is over-emphasized. The teacher won't teach a pose without first listing the benefits you can expect if you practice it. The result is a class with a lot of talking and not much doing.

But that's a minor squabble. My biggest concern is an attitude that emphasizes isolation. Isolation is when you pick out a single body part or concern and do only the poses you think will affect it.

I was talking today with Sallie (my fellow yoga teacher) about one of her students who has pretty significant limitations in a particular body part. For example, let's say it's her upper spine and neck.

When Sallie and her student began working together, they focused primarily on poses that brought awareness, mobility, and sensitivity to her upper spine and neck. This was very satisfying and productive.

But soon they began working on a wider variety of poses that weren't known for the benefits they produce in the upper spine and neck.

Guess what happened? Her upper spine and neck started to improve dramatically.

The upper spine and neck, like any of your body parts, don't exist in isolation. They exist as a part of a whole system.

That's my point. Put your focus on the benefits of a well-rounded practice...a practice that includes a variety of poses. The benefits of each individual pose will become less significant.

If you were a stock broker this would be called diversification. You don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I really believe in this approach to yoga. And that's why I fail so often to talk about the benefits of individual yoga poses in class.

So what constitues a well-rounded practice? Every time you practice try to include a forward bend, a backward bend, a twist, an inversion, and some standing and seated poses. That's it. And don't forget savasana at the end.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

One Small Step on TV, One Giant Leap in My Cubicle

I was 8 years old. My dad woke me & my brother up in what seemed like the middle of the night. There, in black and white, we saw what probably millions of others saw that night. Neil Armstrong stepped down from the ladder on the Lunar Module and put his foot in the dust on the surface of the moon. It was barely believable.

That was 36 years ago today. The event itself is probably only a bit more famous now than the words Armstrong uttered, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."


Fast forward.

In 1991, I was standing in the narrow hallway between several cubicles at my job in downtown Washington, DC. I had just begun studying yoga and I wanted to show my friends at work a pose I'd done for the first time the night before.

In shoes and business clothes, I leaned down and put my right hand on the floor. Then I scooted my left foot in close to my right. When I had all my weight in my right leg, I lifted my left leg up until it was stretched out, horizontal. Then I turned my chest toward the ceiling and extended my arms in both directions.

I stood there in half moon pose (ardha chandrasana) surprising myself and my co-workers that I could balance on one leg and be so wide open at the same time. I stayed there. As if I were being held up by something I didn't know about, and still don't.

It was probably the first time I taught someone else something about yoga. I've been moonstruck ever since.


It was exhilirating. Really, it was much more fun than watching Armstrong's walk on the lunar surface.

Probably because I was doing it, not watching it.

Just like President Kennedy inspired our whole country to put a man on the moon, I've been inspired by my teachers in the yoga rooms to take small steps and giant leaps beyond what I thought was possible.

I may be wrong about this, but the longer I teach yoga, the more frequently I believe I meet people who would rather watch while others do ardha chandrasana than do it themselves. It seems as if more of us are becoming watchers, not doers.

We leave the challenging stuff to the experts, the glitterati.

While I'm glad my dad hauled me out of bed to see Armstrong on the moon, the truth is, I didn't see Armstrong on the moon. I saw Armstrong on TV. Had I gone outside and looked up that night I would have seen ardha chandra, the half moon. I'd have experienced it directly.

If you want to know whether the moon is full tonight, don't wait for the graphic on the nightly weather forecast. Go out on your back porch. Look up. See for yourself.

If you want to find out what's so exhilirating about ardha chandrasana, don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

By the way, you might fall.

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., People fall out of ardha chandrasana all the time. But many choose to come out. Most of those who choose to come out sooner than they want to do it because they get a painful cramp in the hip of the bottom leg. Next time you get a cramp in your hip, look down. I'll bet your foot is turned in, rather than pointing out to the side. Keep your foot turned out and be sure your knee points in the same direction as your foot and you'll see that hip cramps go away. Donna Farhi does a beautiful job of describing this pesky problem and how to resolve it in her book Yoga Mind Body & Spirit, p. 111.



p.p.s., You may try half moon pose and fall. Some astronauts have tried to go to the moon and failed. You will probably try and fail at love, too.

Even if it's messy, you should still try. I love this speech by Ronny Cammareri from the movie Moonstruck. He says, "Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn't know this either, but love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die. The storybooks are bullsh**. Now I want you to come upstairs with me and get in my bed!"



p.p.p.s., You can see some really cool pictures of the surface of the moon here:
http://moon.google.com/.

p.p.p.p.s., Speaking of Armstrong.... I'm rooting for Lance Armstrong to boldly go where no man has ever gone before! Go Lance!

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

The Magic of Yoga: Are You A Muggle?

Just in case you've been living under a rock, JK Rowling's 6th book in the Harry Potter series came out this morning at 12:01 am. It's called Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.



I have been living under a rock. (I could explain that but it would take more time than it's worth.) Therefore, I know this fact only because my daughter, Richelle, text messaged me yesterday from her vacation in Washington, DC to ask me if I would go to the book store at midnight and grab one up for her.

Why would she ask me to do this for her, you ask? Well...I did it once before. And, well, it was fun.

But not last night. I was in bed at midnight, dreaming of...Harry Potter, of course.

You see, the Harry Potter story is all about magic. Do you believe in magic?

It seems like such a silly question to ask and a silly topic for a Daily Yoga Tip.

But I think it matters because I teach yoga. I am a teacher.

One thing I know from spending lots of time in the yoga rooms is this: some people don't want to be taught. They already know what they need to know to make it through life just fine, thank you. "If you want to help me get a good workout, great. But I'm not here to learn."

They're Muggles.

In the Harry Potter books, people who are unaware of the all of magic going on around them are called Muggles.

Someone has defined Muggles like this:

"Muggles" are non-magical people in the parlance of the Wizarding World. Muggles are for the most part oblivious to the entire society of magical people which exists alongside their own. Part of the reason for this is that Muggles simply don't believe that magic exists, which means they find non-magical reasons for the things that happen to them.

I love this story called "A Cup of Tea" from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones:

Nan-in, a Japanese master...received a university
professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's
cup full, and then kept pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until
he no longer could restrain himself. "It's
overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full
of your own opinions and speculations.
How can I show you Zen unless you
first empty your cup?"

Like the professor, some people I meet are full. They walk right up to yoga. They take a look at it. They see nothing magical at all.

When I look at yoga, I see miracles. I see things happening I didn't think could happen.

It's my 'job' as a yoga teacher to help students catch a vision for what's possible, even though they can't see it right now. It's part of my calling to inspire you and motivate so that you'll practice yoga long enough to experience your own magic.

So I am asking you today, "Are you a Muggle?" Have you slid into the comfy chair of having your whole world wrapped up in a tidy package of comforting explanations?

Find a teacher today. It might even be your child. Experience something new. Learn something new. Anything.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., Experience the magic of paradise. When I'm on vacation I am out of the habits of every day life. I can see my whole life from a fresh perspective. As I write this now I can recall coming back from two recent vacations and, as a result of a new view I gained, I made major changes in my life. As you plan for the rest of your summer, consider looking even farther forward to 2006. Sallie Keeney and I will be hosting a group of yogis at Hotel Lagunita in Yelapa Mexico, February 18-25. Yoga, vacationing, foreign travel and incredible natural beauty are a combination that are unmatched. Find out more at http://experienceyoga.org/vacations.asp.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Melt Away Your Backbending Headaches

Just two days ago I wrote about the many benefits of backbending.

If you go back and look at the postscript, you'll see I mention some things that people don't like about backbendings.

One of those is headaches.

When I was new to yoga, it was not uncommon for me to get a blinding headache when I practiced challenging backward bending poses.

A backbending headache feels just like that brain feeze headache you get when you eat ice cream too fast. The big difference is that the ice cream headache goes away quickly.

Today's tip is a remedy for those agonizing backbending headaches.

If you can do full arm balance (handstands, adho mukha vrksasana), I recommend that you hold the pose as long as you can, allowing your head to dangle freely. If you can get a friend to assist you, you can hold the pose even longer. This almost always gets rid of the headache for me.

But not for all of my students. So if that doesn't work, you'll need to find a room with a pillar in it. Using a long belt wrapped around the pillar, cinch your legs firmly but comfortably to the pillar in viparita karani mudra. Most people know this as legs-up-the-wall pose.


Here's viparita karani mudra with legs on a pillar. Now just add a strap around the thighs.

Position the belt half-way between your knees and hips.

The tug of the strap seats the heads of the femur bones into the hip sockets. When this pose is set up properly, you feel a gentle tug on the lining that surrounds your central nervous system.

Close your eyes and relax. Relish in the sheer enjoyment of the feeling. Your headache will melt away like ice cream on a hot summer day.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., When you don't have a pillar or a strap, take your feet wide apart in viparita karani mudra and ask a friend to press your thighs toward the wall using his lower legs, as pictured here. It's fabulous.


viparita karani mudra variation with a partner pressing your thighs toward the wall. No belt and no pillar required.

p.p.s., I don't get headaches very often. So I honestly don't know if these two viparita karani mudra variations will work to relieve other headaches. Please try it out and let me know. Thanks!

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Finger Position Eliminates Wrist Pain in Dog Pose

At one time I studied regularly at a yoga center that sold these shirts on which was printed the very clever saying, "another day, another dog pose." I liked it. I still do. It's sort of the yoga equivalent to, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."


adho mukha svanasana, downward facing dog pose

Downward facing dog pose (adho mukha svanasana) is such a versatile pose. With very little instruction complete beginners can practice it regularly and gain many benefits from it.

Dog pose is a versatile teaching pose, too. There are tons of lessons that are easily learned in downward facing dog pose that can then be applied in more challenging postures.

But there's one tiny problem. Wrist pain.

Wrist pain aggravates so many people in both dog poses, downward facing and upward facing. If your wrists hurt in dog poses, I can almost guarantee they'll hurt in full arm balance (adho mukha vrksasana) and all of the other arm balances, too.


upward facing dog pose, urdhva mukha svanasana

You can't benefit from these poses if you can't practice them. So what should you do?

I'll give you a tip that takes a little getting accustomed to. But it activates the muscles on the under side of the forearm and wrists start to feel better almost immediately.

First, start by looking at your fingers (not your thumbs). Let's talk about the parts of your fingers so you can get the placement right.




Each finger has three bone segments. Between each segment is a joint.

There's a segment at the end of your finger, where your fingerprint would be taken. I'll call it the pad of your finger. There's a middle segment. And finally, there's the segment that's closest to your palm. This is the part of the finger on which people typically wear their wedding rings.

There are three joints, too. Between the pad of the finger and the middle segment is a joint I'll call the first joint. Between middle segment and it's neighbor is a joint I'll call the second joint. At the base of each finger is a big knuckle, the one some people like to crack loudly.

Here's the remedy to wrist pain in dog pose. Practice it first just by laying your hand on a table or on the floor. Instead of laying each of your fingers down flat on the floor, bend each second joint so it lifts up. Press down firmly with the pad of each finger and the knuckle at the root of each finger. That's it.


This is the finger position that relieves wrist pain in dog pose, and others, too.


You may need to reach across with one hand and arrange the fingers on the other hand in the beginning. But soon enough, you'll be able to do all of the poses in which you typically experience wrist pain with this finger position.

Your forearms will grow stronger and wrist pain will leave you. Then there will be nothing standing between you and your daily dog pose.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
http://www.experienceyoga.org/

p.s., Adho mukha svanasana. Adho mukha vrksasana. What's the difference? I'm sure there's an urdhva mukha svanasana. Is there an urdhva mukha vrksasana? Have fun playing with our virtual Sanskrit refrigerator magnet at http://www.experienceyoga.org/magnet/default.asp. Drag your mouse over any word root on the virtual magnet, like adho, and you'll see the pose names that contain that word root.

p.p.s., There are precise anatomical terms for each of those finger parts. Study this pic for the details.




Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Spontaneous Backbends

I wrote a message on April 19th called Kyphosis and Bending Backwards. I opened that Daily Yoga Tip by saying that no one bends backwards in ordinary daily life. Then I said, "never say never."

You can read that message to find out why, but for today, I want to acknowledge another spontaneous backbending siting.

Once again I made my siting at church. Two rows ahead of me a dad was holding his baby daughter. Over and over again she stiffened her legs, lengthend her spine, and with drama and flair, flung herself backwards.

Like a professional yoga teacher spotting his student in drop-overs from mountain pose (tadasana) to upward facing bow (urdhva dhanurasana), dad supported her right under the shoulder blades with his hands. She would hold the backbend for several breaths and then come up.


tadasana, mountain pose


upward facing bow pose, urdhva dhanurasana

I enjoyed most the mixed expression she had on her face when she popped up. Clearly, she was thrilled. He face beamed. She smiled from ear to ear. And she did it over and over. She loved it.

What was just as clear on her face was an expression of doubt and confusion. Those backbends were intense. She had definintely stimulated her nervous system. Her face was flushed. And for a moment, in the face of that intensity, she was considering not going again. But she did.

I felt like I was watching a kid just get off a ride at the amusement park. Electifying. But she needed a little pause before she rode again.

Backbending keeps you young. Young people spontaneously backbend. If you're not bending backwards regularly, find a skilled teacher who can guide you through the intensity. You'll be glad you did.

I've heard more than one "health expert" say that you're only as young as the mobility of your spine, regardless of your birth date.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., Nausea. Dizziness. Headaches. Tearful emotional expressions. Energy bursts. Tremendous body heat. "Runners high." These are all things I've exprienced--and I've seen in my students--while backbending! Some people experience these things and never bend backwards again. Not me. There's so much value to be gained by keeping your spine supple. Work with a teacher. Get help from an experienced guide. You'll be able to make sense of all of these experiences and press on safely. The fruits of this practice are many: strong back musculature, toned abdominals, and nervous system strength. Don't miss out on these.

p.p.s., Here's a pic of me doing one of my favorite backbends on the beach in Yelapa, Mexico. You will not want to miss our Experience Paradise yoga vacation coming up in February, 2006. Get the details at http://experienceyoga.org/vacations.asp.


One of my favorite backbends, on the beach in Yelapa.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

A Powerful Update

It's been at least 5 days since I wrote the last Daily Yoga Tip.

I just wanted you to know I'm all set to get one out later today that I think you'll enjoy.

My wife and daughter are out of town, travelling back East, visitng old friends. I am at home working, doing a bit of business travel, and tending to our dogs. So, I've been busy.

I went to a party Saturday evening and met up with several readers of my Daily Yoga Tip.

The comments were very encouraging.

One of my readers got her whole family to participate in the media fast I suggested in my last message. They were on day 3 and really benefitting from it.

You can read about it at:
http://experienceyoga.blogspot.com/2005/07/advertising-discontent.html

Give it a go. You won't regret it.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., I've got power on my mind. Consider the power of Hurricane Dennis. And the power of the explosions in the London subway. Some tremendous forces are at work in our lives. Intentions, prayers, and meditation are powerfully effective. My prayers go out today for the victims of these tragedies.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Advertising Discontent

Rambling down the road this morning on my way to work, I heard some statistic on the radio in my pick-up truck that I can't even remember now about how many advertisements our kids are exposed to during their lifetimes. It was staggering.

The commenter got right to the point. He said it's no wonder our children are sad. They are being told over and over again that they lack something. By the way, it's not just our kids. You, too.

The world of advertising is designed to elevate your anxiety. It's all about creating in you an un-easy feeling that can only be relieved when you get the thing they're selling.

You remember the Rolling Stones, right?

When I'’m watchin'’ my TV
And that man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be.
Well he can'’t be a man '’cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me.
I can'’t get no, oh no no no.
Hey hey hey, that'’s what I say.

I can'’t get no satisfaction,
I can'’t get no girl with action.
'cause I try and I try and I try and I try.
I can'’t get no, I can'’t get no.

Mick Jagger sang it. Patanjali taught it. We just keep forgetting it.

Satisfaction. Contentment. They don't come from outside of you. You can't be made happy by acquiring more stuff. Even if you try and try and try.

So I'll say it here. It's just a little reminder to counter one of the advertisements you've heard already today: cultivate contentment. It's one of the niyamas.

Have you ever noticed how discontent stops action? I see it espescially in asana practice. You see a pose you'd like to try or a skill you'd like to accomplish. You try it. Then you get some instruction. And then you practice. But you don't get the results you want. Weeks later you still can't touch your toes or balance in half-moon pose.

What happens when you get dissatisfied with the results of your efforts? Most of us stop practicing. Stopping your practice guarantees a result.

Instead, Patanjali reminds us to cultivate contentment. Practice without attachment to the results. Choose to be satisfied.

Here's what he says you get when you practice contenment:

Perfect happiness is attained through contentment. (YogaSutras 2.42)

That's a pretty big claim.

Being content is easier to say than it is to do, in my humble opinion. So Patanjali gives us some suggestions about cultivating contentment.

He says to "cultivate the opposite." (YogaSutras 2.33-34) We should remind ourselves, through internal dialog, that holding on to discontent (and the other negative attitudes he lists) do nothing but bring unending pain and misery.

I like to think of another one of Patanjali's niyamas as a tool for cultivating contenment: svadhyaya. Svadhyaya is self-study and reflection on sacred words. Simply put, if you reflect inwardly and regularly reflect on Sacred scriptures, it elevates you and raises you up. To me this is my own "self advertising." Instead of passively accepting the messages the media are pumping into me, I am intentionally selecting the messages of satsifaction and gratitude.

Are you impatient with the results of your yoga practice? It only leads to suffering. Count your blessings. And methodically, systematically practice contentment.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., Several years ago, Dr. Andrew Weil came out with a book called 8 Weeks to Optimal Health. In it, he recommends a media fast. Give it a try. Start small. Take one whole day during which you do not expose your self to any broadcast or print media. You can build from there until you can make it for a week without any news, gossip, infotainment and advertising.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Giraffes, and More Turtles

I was out on the front porch with my daughter a few days ago when she decided to teach me a great shoulder tip she learned at ballet class.

She stood behind me and grabbed my upper arms. Then she moved my shoulders forward, then up, then back, then down. That's the way your shoulders should be when you do ballet, she said, "shoulders back, shoulders down and neck long, like a giraffe."


Shoulders down, long neck, like a giraffe

Here's a little experiment we did. You can do it, too.

Stand up.
Pretend you are holding two heavy suitcases, one in each hand.
Now pull your shoulders down away from your ears, like the ballet dancer Richelle was talking about.

Here's the test:

Slowly turn your head all the way from left to right and back again several times, paying attention to how far you can turn your head and to any pain or strain you feel in your neck muscles.

Here's the second part of the test:

Instead of pulling your shoulders down, slightly shrug your shoulders up. This is just a slight shrug. Now repeat the head turns.

What do you notice about range of motion? When my shoulders are slightly shrugged, my neck muscles are less strained and I can turn my head farther in each direction.

The take-home lesson you'll want to remember is that you want your neck to be a little bit short like a turtle, not long like a giraffe.


Artist Jim Calhoun shows his interpretation of a ballerina's giraffe neck.

When your arms are dislocated from the shoulder joints and pulling down, as if you were holding two heavy suitcases, the shape of your shoulders and the line of your collar bones slopes down. These are called 'coat-hanger shoulders.'


These are coat-hanger shoulders. See that downward slope? Sorry, you can't see the collar bones.

You know from the test you just did that when you have coat-hanger shoulders you have less freedom and more pain.

When you retract your upper arm bones into your shoulder joints and shrug slightly, so your collar bones are level, you have more freedom to turn your head and less pain.


No coat-hanger shoulders here. Although he's not symetric, his collar bones are level.

So, you tell me, which is better?

When it comes to improved funtion and diminished pain, level collar bones is better!

Here's how Richelle and I adjusted the tip she was given by her ballet instructor to take advantage of what we know about the benefits of level collar bones:

Move your shoulders forward.
Shrug your shoulders up slightly,
Then draw your upper arm bones back into the shoulder joints.
Now slide your shoulder blades down your back, as if you were tucking your shoulder blades into your back pants pockets.

It's a more specific instruction. The shoulder blades move down, while the collar bones stay level. Notice also that when you press the bottom tips of the shoulder blades into the back side of your body, your chest rises.

So if I were Richelle's teacher and I were trying to accomplish improved function (not simply an ideal form) I would say this: "Your shoulders should be back, shoulder blades down and neck slightly shortened, like a turtle drawing his head into the shell."

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., By the way, there's a hidden yoga tip in the message I wrote today. Notice that we really want the upper arms back and the shoulder blades down. But Richelles' teacher told her to start by doing the opposite, push the shoulders forward and shrug them up! I give this instruction frequently when the action or movement I want is difficult to accomplish. I think some actions are difficult because I can't feel them very well. You can make the feeling of an action more vivid if you begin by doing the opposite action first. You get a more dramatic experience of the action that you can then build on and refine.

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