home play

and some homework...
Choose a normal daily activity like taking  a walk or cooking dinner and first try to do it while consistently contracting your core. Then let it go and let your core do its normal pre-conscious thing where it responds to and participates in whole body movement. What do you notice?

The myth of core stability

Doing some research....

• Podcast with Eyal Lederman from liberated bodies. http://www.liberatedbody.com/eyal-lederman-myth-core-stability-lbp-033/
• and Eyal's original paper... http://www.cpdo.net/Lederman_The_myth_of_core_stability.pdf
• an article from Peta Bee  http://www.qn-alexandertechnique.com/page13.html
• some of Stuart Mcgill's ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033ogPH6NNE

the tip of an ice berg....

gravity

"...I didn't want to stay with my ex-husband, not at my core, even though whole swaths of me did. And if there is one thing i believe more than I believe anything else, it's that you can't fake the core. The truth that lives there will eventually win out. It's a god we must obey, a force that brings us to our knees..." 

 -- Cheryl Strayed, Dear Sugar

Turn of the century stretching!

Found at SurrenderDorothy

Yoga apple found here

Core Competency

Recent article from Jason Crandell in Yoga Journal...worth a read!

"...yoga doesn't build brute force. it teaches you to cultivate a different kind of strength: the strength that results from physical integration and connection. Physical integration is that sense of coordinating different parts of the body so that they work in concert. It's the idea that we become exponentially more powerful when the body works in unison rather then when we isolate a muscle or muscle group. When we learn this, and feel it, we have the powerful and beneficial experience of being whole..."

I like this Jason guy, he seems to know his stuff.  If you don't get the magazine i'll post a link when i find it online, in the mean time try this sequence!

Core Sequence

This isn't a "get a six-pack in six weeks" deal. Instead of focusing on the rectus abdominus (the six pack) this sequence will work the deeper layers of the abdominal area, such as the traverse abdominus. 

It's important to persevere, but be careful not to work to exhaustion or you will end up using your lower back and hip flexors. Plan on doing just a few repetitions each day and work on finding that crucial balance between effort and release and your body will respond quickly.

To start take a 5 minute supine meditation focusing on releasing the muscles of the hips, pelvis and abdominals, you want to be careful not to work from a place of tension. Finish by taking a few moments rest in Padahastasana (foot to hand pose) to release the wrists after Hand Stand, moving briefly to Balasana (child pose) before resting fully in Savasana (corpse pose) for final relaxation.

1. Happy Baby Pose, variation Lie on your back, engage your abdominals, and reach your arms up. Lift your legs off the floor, with your knees over your hips and your shins parallel to the floor. Keep just below your navel drawing in as you move your arms and legs back and forth a few inches, like a baby reaching up to play with a mobile. Continue for 30 seconds and then rest. Repeat 3 to 5 times.

2. Toe Taps With your abs engaged, breathe normally as you slowly tap your right toe to the ground and return to neutral. Do the same with the left foot. Repeat 4 times. A sore lower back or hip flexors means you're relying on them instead of your TA to do the work. Reduce the number of repetitions and try it again tomorrow.

3. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) Bring both feet to the floor. Place a block between your thighs. Reach your tailbone toward your heels and lift your hips into Bridge Pose. This doesn't have to be your highest version of Bridge; focus on keeping the stomach engaged. Stay for 3 to 5 breaths. Repeat 2 to 5 times.

4. Dolphin Pose Come onto your hands and knees. Place your elbows under your shoulders and press your palms together firmly. Come into Dolphin, feeling the abdominal area hollow out and the perineum lift. Stay for 5 to 10 breaths.

5. Dolphin Plank Pose Walk your feet back until your body is parallel to the floor. Keep pressing your hands together and hug your inner legs toward the midline. Hold for at least 3 full breaths, using your core for stability.

6. Salabhasana (Locust Pose) Lie on your belly and bring your arms to your sides, palms facing up. Draw your lower belly toward your spine and lengthen your tailbone toward your heels to engage your TA. Lift your chest off the floor, drawing your heart forward and spreading your collarbones wide. Now lift your legs off the floor. Keep your neck completely relaxed. Stay for 5 breaths.

7. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) Come into Downward Dog. To feel Mula Bandha and the transversus, roll your sitting bones toward the ceiling. Then draw your tailbone toward your heels and hug your thighs as if you're holding a block between them. Exhale, then draw your lower belly toward your spine. Stay for 5 breaths.

8. Low Lunge Step your right foot forward between your hands into a low lunge. Bring your hips over your back knee. Press the top of your back foot into the ground and tuck your tailbone. Place your right hand on a block and reach your left arm up. Bend to the right to create a stretch in the left side of the belly. When you're ready, inhale back to center, then step back to Downward Dog. Repeat on the other side.

9. Adho Mukha Vrksasana preparation (Handstand preparation) Stand in Tadasana with your back to a wall. Place your feet a few inches from the wall and hug a block between your thighs.  Take your thighs back then draw your tailbone toward your heels and squeeze the block. Bring the lower ribs toward your spine as you reach your arms up, palms facing the ceiling. Come onto your tiptoes, using the wall for support.

10. Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand) Now it's time to put it all together-upside down. Place your hands a few inches from the wall. Come into Downward Dog. Inhale as you kick up. Use your core muscles to help you reach your heels higher up the wall. Stay for 5 to 10 breaths, then come into a forward bend.