Featured Pose Plank Pose

by Baxter

Plank Pose (Phalankasana, as it is sometimes called in modern times) often shows up in our practice as a brief way station between other poses, such as between Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) and Four Limbed Staff pose (Chaturanga Dandasana). However, more and more, I am turning to it as a held pose for the benefits it can confer on its own: improved overall body strength, more specifically shoulder girdle strength and stability, abdominal/core and arm strength, and even leg strength, too! It can challenge awareness of overall stability vs. when fatigue begins to arise. And it is a great pose to cultivate equanimity and calm in the storm of the physical demands of the pose.

I prescribe this pose for:

• Improving upper body strength
• Improving core/abdominal strength
• Improving spinal stability
• Building forearm, wrist and hand strength
• Building bone strength, especially in the wrists, for those with osteoporosis
• Improving mental focus 
• Building confidence 

Cautions: My number one caution is to start out gradually with shorter holds and slowly add more time to your pose so your body can acclimate to the challenges of the pose and you can build endurance and stability gradually. In addition, since the classic version places a lot of pressure on your wrists, those with wrist issues such as carpel tunnel syndrome or thumb arthritis should try the modified versions, especially the forearm version. In addition, since this pose challenges and strengthens the abdominal muscles, those with abdominal hernias or women with diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal wall) should be cautious to start with short holds and see if the areas of concern do okay before proceeding further.

1. Classic Version

You can enter into the pose from a hands and knees position like the one we take for Cat/Cow, but I prefer entering from Downward-Facing Dog. So, start by coming into Downward-Facing Dog (see Featured Pose: Downward-Facing Dog Pose), and then swing your body forward, bringing your shoulders directly over your wrist joints. Keep your head in line with the rest of your spine.

Once you have your shoulders positioned correctly, draw a mental line from your shoulders to your heels and notice if your hips are higher than that line. If so, wiggle the balls of your feet back a few inches until you sense the hips now in line. If the opposite situation happens and your hips sagging below the imaginary line, float them up a few inches or move the balls of the feet forward a few inches to bring your hips into line.

As you work in the pose, a few internal actions will help you to maintain your alignment, especially firming your elbow joints and imagining an inner lift coming up from the wrists to the shoulders. Also, lift your chest up into your shoulder blades to stabilize your shoulder region (your shoulder girdle). Finally, although most of the work will seem to be coming from the arms and chest, consider firming and lifting your belly up towards your spine without flattening your lower back. Firm your leg muscles, especially around your knees. (I will sometimes practice with a block between my thighs to recruit the help of my inner thigh muscles, and then try activating without the block, and it makes the pose easier for me to do.)

Start with shorter holds, say, 4-6 breaths, and gradually add longer holds over time. To come out of the pose, you can swing back to Downward-Facing Dog or simply bring your knees down to the floor. Once there, try releasing your wrists one at a time with simple circling actions. You might repeat the pose several times during a home practice. 

2. Forearm Version

This version is helpful for those who have any wrist or hand problems and are unable do the full version safely. In addition, most practitioners feel that this version requires even more upper body and abdominal strength, so it might be the next version to practice if the classic version gets easy. 

To come into the pose, start in Hands and Knees position.

Now bring your forearms down to the floor with your elbows where your wrists were positioned a moment ago. Have your forearms parallel to each other and your palms turned down. Next, turn your toes under and lift your knees off the floor pulling your hips up and back into Forearm Dog. As with the classic version, swing the your forward, this time directly over your elbows. In all likelihood, you will need to wiggle the balls of your feet back 2-6 inches until your hips come in line with your shoulders and heels. Keep your head in line with the rest of your spine. Press your entire forearms into the floor, like a big hand, so your weight does not all drop heavily into just your elbow joints.

Time your holds as in the classic version. To come out of the pose, swing back to Forearm Dog and then drop down onto your knees and release into Child’s pose (Balasana), with your arms either straight in front of your or resting alongside your body. Release your wrists with some small circular movements. Repeat 1-2 more times. 

3. Chair Version

Because the angle of your body relative to the ground is higher when you use a chair, this version is easier and requires less initial strength than the first two versions. So this version is a good one for beginners and those who are starting off more deconditioned. This version also does not require you to bend your wrists so deeply, so could be approachable for those with some wrist issues. 

Start by placing the back of the chair against a wall, so it does not slide away during the pose. Next, stand in Mountain pose (Tadasana) about a foot away from the chair. Bend your knees, tip forward from your hips, and place your hands flat on the seat of the chair, close to the front edge. Press down firmly and walk your feet and hips back into a Downward-Facing Dog pose with hands on the chair seat for a breath or so. From here, with straight arms, swing your body forward until your shoulders are just a few inches back of your wrists and your body forms a straight line from heels through hips to shoulders. Keep your head in line with the rest of the spine. 

Use the same timing as the classic version. To come out of the pose, swing your hips back to Downward-Facing Dog with hands on the chair seat, then bend your knees and walk forward towards the chair, eventually rising back up to Mountain pose. Release your wrists with some small circular movements. Repeat 1-2 times. 

4. Knees Down Version

Because this version is between the chair and classic versions in difficulty, it is a good transition from one to the other. It is also a good substitute for Upward-Facing Dog pose (Urdva Mukha Svanasana) or Cobra (Bujanghasana) during Sun Salutations if you want a beneficial alternative. 

If you know you’ll need padding for your knees, start by placing a folded blanket in the middle of your mat. Then come in the classic version as instructed above just for a moment. Now bend your knees and drop them down to the floor or blanket. With your knees touching, lift your shinbones up towards the ceiling, and bring your hips in line with your knees and shoulders, maintaining a shoulders-over-the-wrists alignment. This may require moving your hands forward or back a few inches, but do this movement lightly to keep the impact on the wrists to a minimum. 

Use the same timing as the classic version. To come out of the pose, simply push yourself back to Child's pose. Then release your wrists with some small circular movements. Repeat 1-2 more times. 

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To Peel or Not to Peel Working with Bridge Pose

by Baxter

Bridge Pose (from "Yoga: The Poetry of the Body")

I received this question a while back from one of our readers and thought today was the perfect day to address it:

“I often hear teachers instruct to come out of Bridge 'one vertebra at a time.' What are your thoughts on this? Is this healthier for the spine? Or is it in fact better to maintain the lower lumbar curve?”

It turns out that most of my first teachers would encourage just such an action when instruction for Bridge pose (Setu Bandha) with bent knees. In those days, I was practicing a style of yoga in which we would hold the poses for several minutes once in the shape of the pose. My instructors would often say to come up into Bridge one vertebrae at a time, as if your spine were taped to the floor and you were slowly peeling the tape off the floor. And they would suggest a similar action upon exiting the pose only in reverse: lower down slowly, one vertebra at a time, as if you were pressing the “tape” of the spine back onto the floor.

This way of entering or exiting Bridge pose is one of two basic ways I still think are valid and reasonable ways to work in the pose. The second way that I instruct entering and exiting is as follows: From Constructive Rest position (supine, knees bent and heels about 4 inches from your hips), establish the normal, slightly arched shape of your lumbar spine. Lift your hips straight up as you push down into your feet, like an elevator going up a few floors, maintaining the neutral arch of the lower back. To come down, lower your hips straight down, like an elevator returning to the lobby floor.

The obvious question would be what are the advantages to the two different ways of getting in and out of the pose? The Peel Method, as I call it, is particularly well suited to the generally stiff student who does not have any lower back problems, specifically, but not exclusively, lumbar disc issues. For the healthy, stiff student, this way of moving in and out of Bridge pose creates more movement in certain directions between the individual bones of the lower spine, a bit more flexion (forward bending) than extension. So you can create better movement in a stiff part of the body using the Peel Method. And it is a fine way to work with healthy students who have normal flexibility as well.

However, in my specialty Back Care class, where lots of students have bulging or inflamed discs or structures in the lower back, there may be some instability and/or too much mobility that can result in increased pain. In addition, flexion (such as in a forward folding, rounded spine) which as I mentioned above, happens with the Peel Method, could potentially worsen disc problems and even run-of-the-mill general lower back pain. So the Elevator Method provides more stability to the lower spine, as well as encouraging a more neutral or natural curve in the lumber spine. I find that almost all of my Back Care students can not only do this variation without pain, but also seem to benefit from the overall strengthening of the back body muscles that come form this particular back bend.

There will always be some students who are exceptions to the above recommendations, and so each individual has to try the methods out for themselves and see which feels better for their body and seems to have the overall desired effects from regular practice. And, as with all asana, there are certainly other creative ways to get in and out of Bridge, so playing around to find a new way of working in the pose can add some fun to your home practice as well. I personally like to mix up the way I enter and exit poses a bit, so that I don’t get stuck in a rut of doing things the same way each time. This way of varying things keeps my attention more clearly focused on the task at hand, so I am more present with my regular asana practice. And this cultivation of moment-by-moment awareness in my yoga practice has great benefit for my everyday activities as well. In this way, I can move beyond the mere performance of yoga poses and reap the deeper benefits that yoga has to offer. So, play around with Bridge pose this week and see what you discover for yourself.

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Many Right Ways To Do A Pose and a Few Wrong Ones

by Timothy

Branches and Roots by Brad Gibson

I got involved in a conversation the other day with Nina after class with our teacher Donald Moyer. Another student was wondering about the “correct” way to do forward bends. She’d just read an article in Yoga Journal by a highly respected teacher who said that the only correct way to do forward bends was with a concave lower back, that is, maintaining a normal inward curve of the lumbar spine. Although Donald sometimes prepares for forward bends like Uttanasana by doing the pose with a concave lower back, in the final pose, he suggests we allow a nice, even rounding of the spine, that is, completely reversing the lumbar curve.

Inherent in the student’s question is the notion that there is only one correct way, that everybody in all circumstances, should do any pose. The reality is that it always depends. What are you trying to achieve? What poses have preceded it and what do you plan to do after it in your practice? Are there contraindications you need to consider? Are there quirks in your anatomy or injuries you need to work around?

We could do this analysis for any pose but, since we’re on the topic, let’s stick with forward bends.

There are times when it is definitely not a good idea to fully round the spine. If you have a herniated lumbar disc, for example, rounding is generally contraindicated. When you round forward, the front surfaces of adjacent lumbar vertebrae come together which tends to push the disc material toward the back of the body, near where nerves exit the spine. This rounding the lower back could lead to nerve compression and sciatic pain.

For a similar reason, rounding the back in forward bends is generally not recommended for those with osteoporosis. Compression fractures of the spine happen when the front surface of one vertebra collapses under pressure from a neighbor. But forward bends done with a concave lower back can actually be therapeutic for those with thinning bones, and were part of the routine Dr. Loren Fishman used in his ground-breaking research (still ongoing for those interested in enrolling in the study) that is documenting yoga’s powerful ability to increase bone mineral density.

For those who lack such contraindications, rounding the spine the way Donald teaches may lead to deeper relaxation and more quieting of the nervous system. When looking at students from an Ayurvedic standpoint, long holds of rounded forward bends can be deeply calming to the vata dosha (the imbalance often tied to stress and over-activity). Long holds of such forward bends are part of yin yoga, and can be a wonderful way to open tight hips, for example, to prepare the body to sit comfortably for long periods of time in mediation.

So my way of thinking is that there is more than one correct way to do forward bends, all depending on the overall situation and what you are trying to accomplish. But that said, there are also certainly wrong ways to do poses. In my mind, any way of doing a pose that unduly increases the risk of injury, or which puts the joints or other bodily tissues in compromised positions is wrong. In forward bends, one common incorrect method is to bend from the waist rather than hinging from the hips. Although not all yoga teachers would agree, I also advise against any knee locking in the poses.

Of course, this just begins to describe all the thinking on forward bends found among different yoga teachers. Some people sit up on folded blankets or other props, which allows them to get more forward tipping of the pelvis, but not everyone needs to do this. Some people hold their toes, some hold a strap looped around the soles of their feet, and some place their hands alongside their legs. Ultimately, good teachers learn to look at students, ask them questions and determine a reasonable approach.

To me the final arbiter of whether a yoga technique is right or wrong is the breath. If you’re able to do the pose and the breath can remain smooth, deep and even, more than likely you're doing it a right way (though probably not the right way).

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Video of the Week Dynamic Extended Angle Pose Version 2

In this video, Baxter teaches you how to practice a more advanced version of Extended Side Angle Pose) Utthita Parsvakonasana), done dynamically. He also shares two different ways to bring your top arm overhead; one of those ways may work better for your shoulder than the other.

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