Stuff Your Yoga Teacher Tells You To Do That You Shouldn't

Smiling

Smiling is awesome. It actually makes you happy. Try it the next time you are down. Force a smile.

Betcha it lifts your mood.

Now read that last sentence again "Betcha it lifts your mood".

What do you think your mood is when you are meditating? Answer: There is no mood. It's kind a neutral. Yet.

The yoga teacher is asking you to alter your mood. From mediative neutral to happy. So.

The teacher is actually working against you if you are in the zone. Chances are.

The teacher has seen a couple of practitioners straining, and wants them to back off. Trouble is.

Everybody, including people in the zone, hear them say this.

It'd be much better if they said something like, "Try not to force the pose". The strainers would back off, and you'd stay in the zone. Whatever.

Your challenge is to ignore the "Smile" or other cute "Turn your mouth up at the side", cues, and try not to let them take you out of your meditative state.

In Plank Lower Your Bum

All poses have progressions. 

Crow to crane. (Crane is just a really straight crow.)

Crane to handstand. (Handstand is just a really straight crane.)

Ustrasana to Kapotasana. (Kapo is just a really deep camel.)

Urdhva Hastasana to Urdhva Dhanurasana. (Urdhva dhanurasana is just a really deep urdhva hasta).

Same with plank. Literally, with plank you want to end up on the tips of the big toes. 

Then you roll over the toes (so the tops of the toes are on the mat). 

Then you drag the toes to meet the wrists. Then you drag the toes up  the wrists and press to handstand. I know.

You're thinking that's impossible, or that you'd never be able to do that. Sure you can. Now you know what you are looking for.

The trouble with plank is that very few practitioners (teachers included) ever get enough strength to understand the progression. So.

They end up telling you to "lower your bum" and "push the mat away from you with your feet and hands". This is so wrong.

In plank, you are pushing down through the hands and down through the toes. Notice I said down, not away. Big diff.

But the main thing with plank is to engage your core, so much, that you actually start to round upward (think about it) through the back.

Hang on...I'll try to get a pic....

Ok...got one. Sad that it's not a yoga pic. Which shows you how little this progression is understood in yoga. Anyway, you get it now.

So, in the pic, look at the guy's toes in both shots. He's higher on them in the bottom shot. Now.

Imagine in the bottom shot, that his core is turned, on so much, that it's actually causing his body to round upwards. So he's actually doing a crunch in plank.

His hands are rock solid, and if he turns his core on any more, he'll start dragging his toes towards his wrist. Welcome to plank :) 

Ok, that's it for now.

CU in class (not smiling), J.