Lock it down, lock it in
Lock the arms, lock the leg,
lock the elbows to the waist;
squeeze the palms,
push the thighs,
press the shin bones to your face
LOCK... YOUR... LEG!
Locked is thought of to be closed off, shut down, unavailable.
As usual, the reality of the experience is exactly the opposite. In hot yoga, the harder you lock, the lighter you feel.
More open. Energized. Soaring.
And it's the locking that unleashes your power.
How do you unlock your full potential in hot yoga?
First there is the physical benefit of the body lock.
When you lock the arms (tight against the head/squeezing the biceps behind the ears, no space between the palms) and lock the leg properly (contract the thigh muscle upward) you are facilitating blood flow: you create a continual pumping of blood through the limbs. When the arms are slack or the legs are limp, blood pools and makes the limbs too heavy to hold up.
And that's when you give up.
When you're feeling like you can't possibly hold up any longer, its time to get a grip.
If you are holding your arms up overhead in Ardha Chandrasana, or straight out in Utkatasana and you begin to feel tired, the answer is not to relieve your arms, but to re-lock them: pull from the fingertips, shoulders down and back into your rotator cuffs, elbows locked....
Suddenly your limbs feel lighter and easier to manage.
And then, you begin to lighten up outside the yoga room.
When the finally understand how to lighten your body in hot yoga, a lightbulb goes on in your life. Dark thoughts seem less intense. Your worries soften. You see light at the end of your tunnel vision. You hold steadier in your stillness.
Your body is the light of your life.
Your body is not just a vehicle, a way to transport you from home to work. Your body is a map of your mind. It takes the blows of your emotional trauma for you - disappointment, anger and negativity - and shows it back to you as dis-ease.
Your body is your protector...but from what?
Your body hides your emotional pain so you dont have to feel it - burying these feelings deep, stuffing them down and into your body parts. Thats when it shows up in your medical records: every ailment is the result of an unexpressed trauma. Even with a true physical trauma to the body, your ability to recover (which is perfect) is about releasing the pain and finding a better feeling to facilitate healing.
How do you face your emotional trauma safely?
There are those amazing people who choose to see disappointments as blessings, albeit in disguise. A good friend once told me that every person and experience is a golden cog in the wheel of your good fortune. Everything happens for the best, she says.
These are the Pollyannas, the smiling idiots. They are also the uplifters, mentors, loving friends and relatives you admire and love to be around.
And they've keyed into the most coveted prize of all: robust health.
Now is the time to decide if you'd rather be right, or happy. Right or healthy. Right or rich.
Make your choice and lock it down.
In hot yoga you are encouraged - no, commanded - to look in the mirror. See your body, feel how it moves. Your body is trying to tell you something. Stand still between the movements and listen to the messages.
Second set - your second chance. Correct and continue. Lock in the truth of your worthiness. Lock your good intentions into your body, especially those places that feel achey, heavy, unable. Catapult yourself beyond your limited beliefs about your limited abilities. Reinspire yourself with a lock here and a lift there. Lock in your resolve to stay calm, have faith, and lighten up.
And not just in the hot yoga room.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (7)
Locking my body is such a great feeling. It makes me feel strong in the most challenging poses. When I feel like I am getting tired, I lock it again, over and over, and breathe. I imagine that locking the body pushes blood towards my heart, and then focusing on breathing with it sends all of that rich, oxygenated blood to where my body knows it needs it the most.
I like to see myself now in the mirror. This is a new discovery. I like to see all that I am accomplishing and marvel at how strong and flexible I am becoming. I love to stand tall and still in front of the mirror and watch my legs as I lock them, my arms stretched down toward the floor, fingertips reaching down as I fully inhabit every part of my body. I feel my own power and strength. My happy place.
Carry that mirror with you, Marguerite, outside the yoga room and into your life. You're about to unlock a lot of secrets about yourself - that's how it happens: first in hot yoga, then in your warm and happy life. When hot yoga shows the way, you go, Girl!
Locking the right body parts feels like I'm UNlocking the pose! It's like these trap doors that you've got to press down on and they pop open with new benefits, new extensions, new awarenesses to discover. Also I think that by drawing attention to aligning your body properly in a pose, you're also subconsciously directing your mind to align your LIFE. You're expressing that desire on your body first, where feedback is immediate, but it seeps deeper and deeper with more practice. Since your attention is on alignment in the hot yoga room, that concept grows and grows in all arenas of life.
So true, Melina: because how you do anything is how you do everything. The body is the perfect proving ground for your life: you can see and feel your body easily even while the internal workings of your mind and spirit may seem hidden. But there it all is, in the hot yoga mirrors! Notice how your body looks and feels - where it aches, where it soars - and you'll suddenly understand a lot about your life. Aligning of the body gives you a taste of what feels like to align with your dreams: freedom. Ease. Happiness. The more you practice alignment in hot yoga, the more you'll live it on the outside. Now you know why we stress perfect alignment in each pose and hold our students to the highest levels possible!
Looking in the mirror and locking in bring me fully present to my body, firmly planted on the mat, and my soul--looking into my own eyes. I did not anticipate when I began this journey that so many messages would come between the movements.
So many messages between these movements…so true, Mallory!
The message to me when I am asked to lock it down, lock it in?
"What better way to facilitate the LETTING GO that follows?"
There is no letting go if I do not lift and straighten my arms above my head in Ardha Chandrasana, lifting, locking and pulling so hard that I can almost fly. If I do not do this, I do not fly. I stay on the ground.
I have been experiencing continuous pain in my left hamstring. "Your body is a map of your mind. It takes the blows of your emotional trauma for you […] and shows it back to you as dis-ease."
I learned that hamstring pain is the body's telling you that you have an issue with letting go and self-control. How convenient. An issue with letting go.
Yet, "your ability to recover (which is perfect) is about releasing the pain and finding a better feeling to facilitate healing."
My better feeling? Flying. Locking my arms. Locking my legs, contracting my thigh muscle up off the knee cap…Hot Yoga...Squeeze…Release. Fly…Let Go.
You can't Let Go if you haven't been Holding On Tight. I've been Holding on Tight to things in my life. Hot Yoga is reminding me how to LET GO.
Letting go is a beautiful and constant practice, Grace. Be patient with yourself because impatience is a kind of holding on to the way you think things should be right now. Ask yourself, what would be feel like if I didnt care about my hamstring? If I didnt constantly check in on it, worry about it, look for signs of relief? What would it feel like if I could feel relief right now, about other things? Then ask in the relief and the joy of letting go of all that is unwanted without being too speciiic about the one thing that is being held most tightly just now.
A rising tide makes all ships rise....which means when you practice the joy of letting go, it will show up everywhere in your life.
Ever wonder about the expression, "to be hamstrung?" It means, to be held back by someone or something. Interesting, yes? We know these things even in our language.