Universal Alignment Principles
Hello Everyone, As I always say, " Alignment based Yoga is Primary Medicine as it is the balanced relationship between your body, mind, and higher subtle body to Gravity. Our life force is carried by our blood. If your circulation is more efficient, your whole life will become more efficient. When you become "out out of balance", everything else, besides your knowledge and alignment in your posture is a band aid or, Secondary Medicine. " Sincerely, Todd Johnson P.S. See Universal Alignment Principles Below.
Universal Alignment Principles:
Working on our Universal Alignment Principles in every pose (asana).
From our foundation up: (Samasthiti or "Equal Standing, Sitting, or Lying")
Example: Tadasana or "Mountain Pose "
Legs/Feet together, pressing evenly into the floor.
Micro bend in the knees, raise the kneecaps up by engaging the quads (front thigh muscles).
Scoop the tailbone and lift the pubic bone 2/3rds up towards the navel.
Inner rotate the mid thighs towards your mid line 50% max force.
Draw the navel back and up towards the rib cage by engaging your core muscles.
Draw the spine up towards your head and away from your hips.
Spread the shoulders out towards your sides and then down towards the floor.
Chest and space in between the shoulder blades should not get shorter here, rather, they should expand evenly 360 degrees.
Outer rotate the upper arms close to the shoulder socket while keeping the elbows close to the rib cage.
This will help the expansion of the chest and shoulders while providing protection for your shoulder joint, especially when bearing weight and when your arms go up over your head.
Extend the crown (the highest part of your skull towards the back of the top of your head) towards the ceiling.
Keep your chin parallel to the ground, while you extend your crown towards the ceiling.
Last of the body engagements, but not least, bring the front rib cage back towards the spine. (I like to put this last because by the time we do all the above, that front rib cage likes to jut out forward and cause the spine to lose length, the space between the shoulder blades to become short, and the lower back to hyper flex.
Breath - Keep the breath even, inhaling and exhaling through the nose.
As you draw in the breath, the lungs should expand in a 360 degree direction, filling the body with oxygen rich red blood cells to nourish and help every cell in the body to metabolize properly.
Draw the air in through the bottom of your throat by constricting the muscles around the bottom wind pipe. Try not to use the nasal and sinus part of your face to draw in the air. The former is more effecient for balanced health.
See you in class!
Todd Johnson teaches these universal alignment principles in his yoga class at Energies Balanced Yoga Studio on Thursdays from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm.