Only Girly Guys Do Yoga

I freakin' LOVE this myth.

It's SO brill' that I wish I'd thought of it myself.

Because, obviously, only an evil genius could come up with this.

Here's how it goes...

Have a personal, self-development system (yoga) that makes dudes crazy strong...without all the abs and bulk. And I'm not talking about a bit strong.

I'm talkin' so strong, that guys can levitate their whole body vertically into the air. Then touch down feather light, into some crazy pretzel configuration.

Add to this, extreme flexibility that makes them real loose.

Mix in some ultra-calmness, and top it all off with sound moral principles and a social conscience, and you have one cool dude.

Hang on...we haven't got to the kicker yet...

...put them in a predominantly female environment.

Nearly, there...here's the truly BRILLIANT bit...

...then you protect all this by floating the myth that guys who do yoga must be girly.

All the hooligans and yobos are kept out of the yoga environment by this awesome bit of
social engineering.

This is good for the guys AND good for the girls practicing yoga. You see.

Yoga is a quiet, solitary endeavor. Even though it's done in a room full of people. Weird but true.

Rowdy people don't receive whatever social signals float their rowdy boat, in a yoga class. So they don't show up.

Suits the yoga guys and suits the yoga gals.

Only girly guys do yoga...LMAO.

Good luck, J.

Yogic North: Dude Where's My Compass?

Traditionally, yogis got up early and did sun salutations.

To face the sun that early in the morning, they had to face east (sun rises in the east).

So, over time, the front of the yoga mat came to represent east.

Now this is even if the mat wasn't facing east. It was still called east.

Just because us lazy westerners refuse to wake up early, and start banging out surys, doesn't change the traditional name, of the direction of the front of the mat.

Gonna repeat...so even though it's 10pm at night and you are facing true north, if you are standing on you mat about to go into a sun salutation, you are facing yogic east.

Go ahead, turn your mat around 90 degrees. Yep, still facing yogic east. The front of your mat is always yogic east.

Now, why is this important, and why am I banging on about compass points?

Well, it's just that some pose names are called 'east pose' and 'west pose'. In fact, sometimes during a yoga class, the teacher will say "east pose".

Ok. So we've established where yogic east is (the front of your mat). Now if we take it a step further, we could say that the front of your body is the east side of your body.

So, when you are stretching the front of your body, you are stretching the east side.

Here we have east pose (purvottanasana). Aka upward plank. Purva = east = front of the body.

Now if the front of the body is east, what is the back of the body?

Yep, west.

So, if you were in a seated forward bend, what do you reckon the pose would be called?

Yup, west pose. So paschimottanasana is west pose (paschima = west = the back of the body).

Look at the dude doing the forward fold and have a think about what he's stretching.

It's not just his back. He's actually stretching from his calves, through his hamstrings, up around his butt, then down his back, all the way through his shoulders and up into the top of his neck.

So the WHOLE back of his body is being stretched. The WHOLE west side. Not just a bit of it.
There's a term for what he's stretching. In anatomy, there's a body of work called Anatomy Trains.

And this links parts of the body together. All the parts of the body that we just went through, that the guy is stretching, is called the superficial back line (SBL).

The last thing to cover off in this pose (oh yeah, before I forget, in east pose, the superficial front line is being stretched)...so last thing...oh yeah, if the front of the body is east and the back of the body is west, then the left side is north and the right side is south.

Now, I haven't heard of a north or south pose, but if a teacher refers to north or south, at least now you won't be caught out....Can't have readers of How To Be Your Own Yoga Messiah getting caught out by know it all teachers.

Ok, we're done, J.

The Perpetual Beginner Yoga Trap

There was this lady that used to go to class. In conversation, she admitted to coming to two, sometimes three, classes per day. Same studio. Weird, I know.

Full points for consistency.

The thing is, that before class, she'd be trying to handstand (she'd be using the wall). Now, a year later, there she was, up against the wall, trying the same thing.

Obviously, she wanted to get into a handstand. The thing is, that she wasn't getting very far with her approach to practice. Even after a whole year.

Now, not every class offers handstand practice. In fact, very few classes practice handstand. 

So, if she wanted to handstand so badly, why didn't she just not go to one of the classes, and use the time to practice handstand? 

I don't know the answer to that question. But I do know that if you consistently practice a pose for a year, you'll make progress.

So, what lessons can we take away from this yogini?

Well, if you want to get into advanced poses. You'll need to practice them outside of class. 

This is just because classes do not consistently offer advanced poses.  And you'll need to consistently practice the advanced pose to make progress with it.

Speaking of which...where'd the hell did backbends go? Whatevs.

Anyway, where were we...oh yeah...Not making progress...

So, one of the yogic Yamas (these are things you don't do) is dishonesty. So we are encouraged to practice honestly.

Now an honest practice is riding the edge between being comfortable and reaching for things that are beyond your current capabilities. 

So you are dishonest if you are cruising within your capabilities, and you are also dishonest if you are reaching too far beyond your capabilities. The sutras call this "steadfast with ease". 

So, back to our yogini. See, she wasn't being honest in her practice. She was being a perpetual beginner. 

If she was being honest, then she'd be riding that edge right into an unsupported handstand, one year later.

Yoga's funny eh? Damned if you do, damned if you don't. 

Keep practicing, but make sure you keep advancing, or you just aren't practicing honestly. 

Kirk out, J.

Where Does The Bottom Hand Go In Trikonasana?

WOW! This polarizes people.

Who woulda thought the placement of the bottom hand (inside foot/shin, on foot/shin or outside foot/shin) would be such a BIG deal in trikonasana.

Apparently it is.

What's the right answer? (And you know that there's gonna be a right answer.)

Got it?

Ok...Here we go...

The correct position for the bottom hand in triko...

Drum roll....symbols....

...is where you get the most spinal extension. 

Yep, screw where the bottom hand is. Are you getting spinal extension? Otherwise why are you doing the pose? To get less benefits (you crazy yogi you)?

Same if you are using triko to build core strength through the side of your body, except the fingers of the bottom hand won't be touching the floor.

Now, this may be news to a lot of yogis, but we do yoga to get stronger, longer and calmer.

Now, why wouldn't you extract every little drop of long, strong and calm out of every pose?

Every pose, in every way. You need to be maximizing ALL the benefits. Not just a few.

This is economical and effective practicing. Which means you are experiencing the yoga journey at a slightly faster clip than your average yogi. (Not your average bear.)

So yeah, experiment and place the hand where it's gonna get you the most benefits.

On or off the shin. On or off the floor. It's all good if it feels good.

Catch ya in class, J.