Hot Yoga Topics > Posture Questions
So here are my first two questions:
1) Are there other poses other than Half-Tortoise that can safely be held for a double set?
2) Are there poses other than Half-Tortoise that can safely be done out of the series? I had an instructor recently tell a class that if you’re stressed out, you should get down and do a five-minute camel and everything will seem easy after that. That advice seemed really odd to me. What's the conventional wisdom on this?
Mary-Rush
Mary-Rush:
1. After 40 years teaching, I offer double Ardha Kurmasana certain it is safe for everyone. That being said, know that two sets are important in every pose; the first "sets you up," and the second allows you to go deeper. As a new teacher, stick to two sets for every pose.
2. NO on the 5 minute Camel! Without the 75 minutes of preparing your spine in the heat, this is trouble. Many teachers joyfully share their own Master experiences - take it as a personal AHA moment, not a new rule. The consistent rules: only these 26 poses, in this sequence, in 105 degrees/40% humidity, with a Hot 26 teacher.
Always safe to do on your own? Savasana.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
For starters,
* Trikanasana- Some propmt the top hip to move up and back, and others for the hip to move down. I believe at River-Flow we are keeping it at a 45 degree angle so I am following that approach. Anyone else consider this?
*Utkatasana- After third part, when down low hovering over hips with knees together they perform a significant bouncing action- up and down typically three times. To me this seemed hard at first, but seems a litle like cheating as it makes getting back up on ten count easier as they "spring" up.
AmyA
Yes - hip in and down for Trikonasana.
Bouncing is a common prompt in Utkatasana - not a big fan. Seems to be a newer Bikram yoga instruction - I was trained without it.
As a cheerleader, I did this (we called it bopping...let the jokes begin) and except for yoga I would have ruined knee joints like all other Far Rockaway High School cheerleaders. We wont be teaching bouncing.
HOWEVER...you must be a Great Student. There is no absolute right or wrong. When you are in class, follow your teacher. When you are the teacher, insist that students follow you - no matter what they hear elsewhere.
Create - and attact - a strong context.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I know at River Flow that Supta Vajrasana (Fixed Firm Pose) has been held for a double set with the teacher leaving it as an option to choose to do a single with savasana in between or a double set held.
JaneC
Jane - this is a Music Class prompt only and not something you will have in your scripts. It can cause lower back stress if you underestimate your students' proficiency level or neglect to prompt them to be careful on the next sit up. With double sets come even greater responsibility.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Yes Rhonda, I do as I'm told in each yoga location. Trikanasana seems to have the greatest variety I have experienced.
Another one:
*Standing separate leg stretch, at a Bikram studio it is not allowable to bend your legs at all, even to get your hands under your feet. Tough for me and my pulled left hamstring and I love how we do it at River-Flow and I can wiggle and stretch a little at first.
AmyA
Personally, when my right hip is really stiff, I have found doing Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) to help me open up my hips, back and shoulders. It has also helped relieve some of the tension in my shoulders. I have found that has helped get a little deeper when I include it with other basic stretching to warm my body up for the day. I will start with the Pranayama breathing to help generate a little heat. Again this is only for my personal stretching.
JuneS
Great June - but please don't do any of this without high heat. Ardha Chandrasana is moving your spine, the main structural support for your body, 360-degrees in every direction...imagine trying to bend steel rod supports without heating them first.
Use your personal heater til the sweat flows.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I love the advice about standing separate leg stretch: suck in your stomach before reaching over and down to grab your foot. I've made that a habit in my daily life to suck in and keep my lower back safe (and it helps keep my darn hips from getting out of alignment as they seem to do too often)!
Laura
Rhonda - correct - I neglected to add that I will fire up the heater in the "hot yoga" room in the house.
JuneS
Rabbit Pose (Sasangasana).
Bikram's book allows for the student to use a towel if they are having a hard time grasping hold of their heels, other Bikram studios I attend allow for the same. River Flow does not; stating it improves grip strength.
Where I think the strength claim is marginal at best, I think it is believed by someone that obviously does not sweat as much as me.
JenniferD
Jen...thanks for the laugh. It is possible to hold on and sweat much. I, too, sweat A LOT.
JaneC
Hi-,Adding to Jen's mention of Rabbit, at times I have definitely strained my neck during rabbit. Now, I have just been stretching less and trying to be aware of my lower back stretching instead of anything else and it is helping ( I really don't get the towel thing ).
AmyA
Amy, Jenn, Jane: Riverflow...not River Flow or River-Flow. Speaking of flow - we all sweat a great deal. Yes, gripping while you're sweating will build hand strength. Yes, Bikram studios do allow hand towels. Getting the poses to feel just right is exhilarating, fun and interesting, but don't forget the most important part of every pose is your belief. When you observe how you feel in a pose, ask yourself if you are believing in your limitations or limitlessness. Whatever you say about your ability or inability in the poses is the rule you are now creating for yourself; your word IS your law. Not because it is absolute; but because you believe it.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I have practiced in Bikram studios where the towel is allowed and loved to use it because it takes the frustration of slipping fingers out of the pose. Not using a towel for certain poses has forced me to focus more on finding where the balance point is for the pose and focusing on not creating tension in the wrong areas - specifically the neck and shoulders.
JuneS
My question is on Utkatasana – As a vinyasa flow instructor, we are taught to tuck the tailbone down toward to floor and keep the spine long, instructionally in hot yoga I have often heard the teachers say stretch you tailbone towards the back wall. It sounds oxymoronic to do both. Would you please clarify?
Secondly, not to gross anyone out, but should you be doing hot yoga during menstruation?
LeeheF
Amy - Neck strain in Sasanghasana usually results from either too much pressure on top of the head (or God forbid rolling forward to the back of the head and putting pressure there) or lifting the hips without forehead against knees. Strong grip comes in handy (pun intended): strong grip + hard pull means maintaining that sliver of space between the top of the head and the mat - voila, no pressure. Thus, the case for building strong hands and not relying on hand towels.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Leehe - Tailbone down/top of the head up is a good cue for creating traction during standing to lengthen the spine. In hot yoga, we move the spine in all directions - safely. When you pull the tailbone back hard in Utkatasana, you are stretching your Life Nerve - the kundalini that we usually sit on which results in sluggishness and calcification in the tailbone. Always tucking the tailbone is like hiding your kundalini. There is a time for both.
Hot yoga is fine during menstruation and all times of your cycle (even pregnancy - just ask Jaime, entering her 7th month)
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I have a question about Kapalabhati Breathing. Some instructors tell you to make a "Shhhh" sound like you’re telling someone to be quiet. Others want you to take your teeth out of it completely—more of a “Huh” sound—but I’ve also heard that breathing in this way can lead to nightmares.
I do enjoy encountering teachers’ different methods--it's fun to experience the variety and feel your way into the continuity among sets of instructions that seem at odds with each other. But as with the five-minute Cold Camel, I just get nervous when those instructions are potentially... unhealthful.
Mary-Rush
I'd like to add to Mary's Kapalabhati breathing question... I have had instructors tell me to breathe from my nose, can it be done either way?
LeeheF
I had a sore throat the next day when I breathed through my nose after a core strengthening class!!! Never again!
Laura
Kaphalbhati breath is in and out through the nose. Breath of Fire, or Bastrika, is in and out through the nose; we dont do this one. The SHHH exhale sound is the best explanation because the breath should hit the palate; but once you get use to this, you can separate the teeth and make it more of a softer SHHH sound, that does sound like HUH....but if you teach it as a HUH sound, people will not get it right and tend to hyperventilate.
Laura - what is a core-strengthening class?
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
It was a vinyasa class where they focused on the core. And we actually did that dragon breath of fire now that you mention it--I didn't realize they were different.
Laura
Since I seem perpetually to be in transit lately, I’ve been doing the Hot 26 in a number of different studios. This is great, because it gives me a chance to see so many different teaching styles and so many different studio and class dynamics.
But it’s also led to some confusion because sometimes, different instructors give conflicting information about how to do the same pose. I thought it might be useful to start a thread where we could ask questions about all things pose-related. I know it will be for me—hopefully it will also be for others!