Week Four: Yoga Anatomy
The Bandhas Exercise:
I choose a sequence focusing on balance, as a thought it would be a great exercise to engage the bandhas. The Bandhas helped me really maintain my stability in standing and balancing poses. Especially with focusing on rebuilding my core and pelvic floor after birth. The Mula Bandha and Uddiyana Bandhas specifically has made a huge difference in my practice. The concept of the Bandhas is new to me but I found it fascinating that in western medicine the pelvic floor health to treat prolapse, incontinence and post partum health relatively new, but here's an ancient practice that prioritizes engaging these part of your body. I felt stronger and and more engaged in the poses. Even in a seemingly straight forward pose like Tadasana the muscle engagement and concentration required when engaging the Bandhas created a more meditative experience during the practice. The concept is new to me and really has enriched my experience. The instructor didn't explicitly refer to the bandhas but she did make mention of even distribution weight between hands and feet.
Yoga Anatomy Worksheet Questions:
How do the esoteric aspects of anatomy (as discussed in this section) contribute to your teaching?
With the rise of the wellness industry concepts of Yoga Anatomy are becoming more mainstream, especially the concept of the mind body connection.
The esoteric principles of yoga is what makes yoga most appealing to me, providing a guide on how the physical body connects with the mind and spirt, prioritizing all three equally. I find some of the only times I engage in a mental or spiritual check-in is when I'm practicing yoga and with our busy lives yoga gives us permission to take time for our mind and spirt as much as our bodies. I hope to communicate these teaching by working on the dialogue I share throughout a class, weather through sharing a mantra or attaching the concepts them to relatable situations we all face.
Create a list of poses that you could teach that represent each of the koshas.
Annamaya (physical) - Virabhadra 1, 2, 3 and headstand
Pranamaya (life force) Tadasana, Ado Mukaha Svansasana
Manomaya (mental) Utthita Hasta Padanggusthasana (Extended hand to foot balance), Vrksasana (Tree pose)
Vijnamaya (wisdom) Balasana, Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
Anandamaya (bliss) Savasana, Sukhasana
Choose one chakra and outline a themed class.
The sequence I shared represented the Visuddha chakra. I started the practice the "Ham" mantra to exercise our voice, as the throat chakra allows for clear communication. We moved on to placing our hands on our throat as a physically reminder of the purpose of the practice, bringing attention to the throat chakra. Many of the poses (halfway lifts and warrior one) included upward or forward gazes with the goal opening up the throat. Ending in Savasana and sharing a Kundalini mantra "Truth is my identity" to summarize the purpose of the practice.