by Nina
There seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for my recent post on upper body strength (see Building Upper Body Strength the Easy Way), so I thought I would begin expanding on some of the poses and suggestions I made in that overview. Because so many people have concerns about their wrists in this pose, today I'm going to recommend some variations on Downward-Facing Dog that allow you to reduce or eliminate pressure on your wrists.
To lessen the pressure on your wrists, you can use various props to reduce the angle at which your wrists are bent (the more deeply your wrists are bent, the more pressure there is on your wrists). Depending on which props you have available and what feels best to you, you have three possibilities:
Slant board: Set up your slant board at the top of your mat so the higher side is closest to you. If your hands tend to slip on the slant board, you can wrap the front portion of your mat on top of it. Now, starting in a kneeling position, place your hands on the slant board so the palms of your hands are fully supported and your hands angle down the slant board. Then, come into Cat pose. From there move into Downward-Facing Dog pose and assess how the pressure feels on your wrists. If there is pain or discomfort, try another modification or use one of the options where your forearms are on the floor (below).
Blocks: Set up two same-size blocks on the medium height so their long sides are parallel to the side edges of your mat and their narrow sides line up with your shoulders. Now, starting in a kneeling position, place your hands on the blocks so your fingers spill over the front and sides of the block and your wrist is at much less than a 90-degree angle. Then, come into Cat pose. From there, move into Downward-Facing Dog pose and assess how the pressure feels on your wrists. If there is pain or discomfort, try another modification or use one of the options where your forearms are on the floor (below).
Chair: Place the chair with its back against a wall and its seat facing you. Standing on front of the chair seat, come into a forward bend and place your hands on the side edges of the chair seat, so your arms turn out slightly and you can hold onto the chair seat without bending your wrists. From there, walk your feet back into Downward-Facing Dog pose and assess how the pressure feels on your wrists. If there is pain or discomfort, try another modification or use one of the options where your forearms are on the floor (below).
To prevent pressure on your wrists entirely, you can do Downward-Facing Dog with your forearms on the floor (sometimes called Dolphin pose).
Dophin Pose Version 1: In the first version of this modification, you keep your forearms parallel to each other and shoulder-width apart. Starting in Child’s pose, place your forearms on the floor so your elbows are shoulder-width apart, your forearms parallel to each other, and your index fingers are parallel to the sides of the mat. If you wish, to keep your hands in line, you can use a block between your hands with the bottom corners in the web between your thumbs and index fingers. From there, keeping your head in line with your upper arms, lift your hips into Downward-Facing Dog position. This will be a more intense stretch on your shoulders but should remove all pressure from your wrists.
Dolphin Pose Version 2: In the second version of this modification, you place your hands and forearms in a headstand position, with your hands clasped while your elbows are shoulder-width apart. This hand position is less intense on your shoulders, but may have an effect on your wrists because you are putting weight on the sides of your wrist. So check it out and see how it feels! Starting in Child’s pose, place your forearms on the floor so your elbows are shoulder-width apart and clasp your hands completely, though not tightly, together. From there, keeping your head in line with your upper arms, lift your hips into Downward-Facing Dog position. As always, assess how the pressure feels on your wrists. If there is pain or discomfort, go back to version 1.
Showing posts with label Downward-Facing Dog pose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Downward-Facing Dog pose. Show all posts
Monday, August 6, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Flexibility and Aging
by Shari and Nina
Shari and I have talked in the past about how essential it is to maintain strength as we age (see Strength and Aging), but I’ve learned from her that it’s equally essential to maintain our flexibility. I thought today I’d talk with her about this important topic. —Nina
Nina: Why is it important to work on flexibility as we age?
Shari: This question kind of has a long answer because we need to define flexibility and how it might change as we age. The first thing is that as we age we tend to only do things we like to. There isn’t anyone telling us to “stand up straight” or go for a walk or do something other than lay on the couch! I am sort of exaggerating but the truth is that we tend to have habitual postures, and if we don’t reverse these postures often during the day we end up looking like what we do all day. If you sit in a soft sofa or recliner chair all day long when you finally decide you WANT to stand erect, you might not be able to because certain muscle groups have shortened from habitual posture! Also, the adage “use it or lose it” really is true in regards to flexibility. So if you want to continue to be mobile and independent as you age, maintaining flexibility is as important as maintaining strength.
So what should the couch potato do to counteract their sitting posture? Stretch those hips, upper and mid and low back! Move those arms and legs! See yoga does affect our flexibility. But why? When we perform asana, whether it is active or more passive like supported restorative poses, our muscles are often lengthened. We know this intuitively because when we stretch TOO much, we pull back and come out of a pose (at least that is the safe and healthy way to practice asana). But we can also intelligently approach stretching in asana by understanding some fundamental spinal cord reflexes all of us have, at least those of us who are ambulatory with four limbs moving in space.
There are three main spinal cord reflexes: the stretch reflex, the autogenic inhibition, and the reciprocal inhibition.
The stretch reflex is a specialized reflex that regulates the length of your muscles. Whenever you elongate a muscle beyond a certain preset length or unconsciously stretch it too fast, this reflex makes the muscle automatically contract so you can’t lengthen it any further. The stretch reflex is governed by a long thin receptor in the muscles called a muscle spindle. The spindle’s role is to let our feedback systems know about muscle length and the rate of muscle lengthening. When a muscle is rapidly stretched, the spindle (via a loop of nerves) triggers a reflex contraction of the muscle that is undergoing the stretch and this muscle contraction limits the stretching of the muscle.
Within the muscle tendon (which attaches muscle fibers to bone) are structures called Golgi tendon organs (GTO). The GTO’s are stretch sensors, which provide the central nervous system with information on muscle tension. When a muscle is either contracted or lengthened (stretched), this information is processed by the central nervous system. The central nervous system then tells the muscle to release and be inhibited from contracting or to relax and lengthen. This autogenic inhibition protects the muscle from tearing.
The muscle spindle is also responsible for a phenomenon known as reciprocal inhibition. In this case when a muscle contracts, the opposite muscle will relax to allow the movement to occur without resistance. An example here is when you straighten your leg, the quadriceps muscles cause the knee to straighten, but for this to occur the hamstrings on the back of the leg/knee must relax or release at the same time.
We can perform static stretches where our body’s joints are positioned in their outer limits of available range and hold these positions for a certain time, this activity becomes a continuous passive stretch. This type of stretching is typically safe because we don’t go further than we are able. In this type of stretch the connective tissue and the non-contractile tissue is lengthened because of its unique structure. Muscle tissue is called viscoelastic because it CAN lengthen and then return to it’s “resting length.” This is basically what we are doing in asana. AND if we hold a pose for more than 6 -20 seconds, we can stimulate the autogenic inhibitory reflex to trigger a relaxation in the muscle.
If you are interested in a scientific approach to stretching, get Ray Long’s anatomy and asana books for clear through pictures and direct relationship to asana practice. He has six books and you can find them on Amazon. Also, see Fernando Pages Ruiz’s article What science can teach us about flexbility in Yoga Journal March April 2000 issue.
Nina: Which are the most important areas to target for maintaining flexibility as we age?
Shari: How about the entire body? Honestly, I can’t think of any area that should be neglected if we consciously stretch. Of course, we all think about our legs (hamstrings) and hips (hip flexors), but what about keeping mobile ankles and feet and hands? Think about all the arthritic changes that happen in our hands and feet as we age. Also, our spines absolutely need to be maintained to perform full range of motion for flexion, extension, side-bending and rotation. Our activities of daily living aren’t enough and we need to MOVE out of our habitual postures.
Nina: It’s true that most people think about their legs being stiff and maybe their hips, but not so much about their spines, shoulders, feet, ankles, and hands. So what are you favorite poses for maintaining flexibility?
Shari: My favorite poses for maintaining flexibility would be Downward-Facing Dog pose and Purvottanasana (Upward Plank pose). I think of these two poses going together, with the back body being stretch in Downward Dog and the front body in Purvottanasana. Shoulder flexion is nicely addressed in Dog pose and shoulder extension in Purvottanasana.
And, of course, backbends are important for stretching the muscles that get tight from typical seated positions. Passive backbends are good because they don’t take as much muscular effort as Upward Bow pose (Dhanurasana). In an ideal world we should practice our flexibility poses daily. We could do both Downward Dog pose and Purvottanasana for 30 seconds. Then, if we were on a roll, we could add Triangle pose (Trikonasana), and Extended Side Angle pose (Parsvokonasana). Simple and effective!
Nina: What a great mini practice! Both Downward-Facing Dog pose and Purvottansana are also excellent for building upper body strength. Most people practice Downward-Facing Dog pose on a regular basis, but I think Purvottansana is often overlooked and under-appreciated. Thanks for reminding us about what a valuable pose it is.
Shari and I have talked in the past about how essential it is to maintain strength as we age (see Strength and Aging), but I’ve learned from her that it’s equally essential to maintain our flexibility. I thought today I’d talk with her about this important topic. —Nina
Nina: Why is it important to work on flexibility as we age?
Shari: This question kind of has a long answer because we need to define flexibility and how it might change as we age. The first thing is that as we age we tend to only do things we like to. There isn’t anyone telling us to “stand up straight” or go for a walk or do something other than lay on the couch! I am sort of exaggerating but the truth is that we tend to have habitual postures, and if we don’t reverse these postures often during the day we end up looking like what we do all day. If you sit in a soft sofa or recliner chair all day long when you finally decide you WANT to stand erect, you might not be able to because certain muscle groups have shortened from habitual posture! Also, the adage “use it or lose it” really is true in regards to flexibility. So if you want to continue to be mobile and independent as you age, maintaining flexibility is as important as maintaining strength.
So what should the couch potato do to counteract their sitting posture? Stretch those hips, upper and mid and low back! Move those arms and legs! See yoga does affect our flexibility. But why? When we perform asana, whether it is active or more passive like supported restorative poses, our muscles are often lengthened. We know this intuitively because when we stretch TOO much, we pull back and come out of a pose (at least that is the safe and healthy way to practice asana). But we can also intelligently approach stretching in asana by understanding some fundamental spinal cord reflexes all of us have, at least those of us who are ambulatory with four limbs moving in space.
There are three main spinal cord reflexes: the stretch reflex, the autogenic inhibition, and the reciprocal inhibition.
The stretch reflex is a specialized reflex that regulates the length of your muscles. Whenever you elongate a muscle beyond a certain preset length or unconsciously stretch it too fast, this reflex makes the muscle automatically contract so you can’t lengthen it any further. The stretch reflex is governed by a long thin receptor in the muscles called a muscle spindle. The spindle’s role is to let our feedback systems know about muscle length and the rate of muscle lengthening. When a muscle is rapidly stretched, the spindle (via a loop of nerves) triggers a reflex contraction of the muscle that is undergoing the stretch and this muscle contraction limits the stretching of the muscle.
Within the muscle tendon (which attaches muscle fibers to bone) are structures called Golgi tendon organs (GTO). The GTO’s are stretch sensors, which provide the central nervous system with information on muscle tension. When a muscle is either contracted or lengthened (stretched), this information is processed by the central nervous system. The central nervous system then tells the muscle to release and be inhibited from contracting or to relax and lengthen. This autogenic inhibition protects the muscle from tearing.
The muscle spindle is also responsible for a phenomenon known as reciprocal inhibition. In this case when a muscle contracts, the opposite muscle will relax to allow the movement to occur without resistance. An example here is when you straighten your leg, the quadriceps muscles cause the knee to straighten, but for this to occur the hamstrings on the back of the leg/knee must relax or release at the same time.
We can perform static stretches where our body’s joints are positioned in their outer limits of available range and hold these positions for a certain time, this activity becomes a continuous passive stretch. This type of stretching is typically safe because we don’t go further than we are able. In this type of stretch the connective tissue and the non-contractile tissue is lengthened because of its unique structure. Muscle tissue is called viscoelastic because it CAN lengthen and then return to it’s “resting length.” This is basically what we are doing in asana. AND if we hold a pose for more than 6 -20 seconds, we can stimulate the autogenic inhibitory reflex to trigger a relaxation in the muscle.
If you are interested in a scientific approach to stretching, get Ray Long’s anatomy and asana books for clear through pictures and direct relationship to asana practice. He has six books and you can find them on Amazon. Also, see Fernando Pages Ruiz’s article What science can teach us about flexbility in Yoga Journal March April 2000 issue.
Nina: Which are the most important areas to target for maintaining flexibility as we age?
Shari: How about the entire body? Honestly, I can’t think of any area that should be neglected if we consciously stretch. Of course, we all think about our legs (hamstrings) and hips (hip flexors), but what about keeping mobile ankles and feet and hands? Think about all the arthritic changes that happen in our hands and feet as we age. Also, our spines absolutely need to be maintained to perform full range of motion for flexion, extension, side-bending and rotation. Our activities of daily living aren’t enough and we need to MOVE out of our habitual postures.
Nina: It’s true that most people think about their legs being stiff and maybe their hips, but not so much about their spines, shoulders, feet, ankles, and hands. So what are you favorite poses for maintaining flexibility?
Shari: My favorite poses for maintaining flexibility would be Downward-Facing Dog pose and Purvottanasana (Upward Plank pose). I think of these two poses going together, with the back body being stretch in Downward Dog and the front body in Purvottanasana. Shoulder flexion is nicely addressed in Dog pose and shoulder extension in Purvottanasana.
And, of course, backbends are important for stretching the muscles that get tight from typical seated positions. Passive backbends are good because they don’t take as much muscular effort as Upward Bow pose (Dhanurasana). In an ideal world we should practice our flexibility poses daily. We could do both Downward Dog pose and Purvottanasana for 30 seconds. Then, if we were on a roll, we could add Triangle pose (Trikonasana), and Extended Side Angle pose (Parsvokonasana). Simple and effective!
Nina: What a great mini practice! Both Downward-Facing Dog pose and Purvottansana are also excellent for building upper body strength. Most people practice Downward-Facing Dog pose on a regular basis, but I think Purvottansana is often overlooked and under-appreciated. Thanks for reminding us about what a valuable pose it is.
Friday, September 23, 2011
FRIDAY Q&A
Q: I'm wondering to what extent, and at what rate, we should expect to be able to increase our flexibility as we continue to age. I've made significant progress over the years, and have generally learned how to be mindful enough not to overdo. However, every so often I overstretch without realizing it - whether it's my back trying to get a fuller forward bend, or my Achilles tendon while pushing the envelope. I'm in my 50s and have been doing regular yoga for about 5 years. It's made an immense difference in my core strength and balance and flexibility and I'm much less injury prone now. And yet, every so often, it's my yoga practice that puts me out of commission.
A: Baxter and I discussed your question, and he agrees with me that there is no fixed extent or rate for increasing flexibility as we age, as this will differ from person to person. His advice is to maximize the effectiveness of your stretches while minimizing potential injury by holding your stretches longer rather than pushing harder. He mentioned that it takes at least 45 seconds to get your muscle to fully release. And my kinesiology teacher taught me that in order to change the resting length of the muscle (the length the muscle returns to after stretching), you need to stretch it for 90 seconds. So I use a timing of 90 seconds for many of my stretches. --Nina
Q: Does yoga have any good stretches for a 60 year old stiff person?
A: Yoga has a very large number of poses that allow you to stretch a very wide variety of muscles, no matter how stiff you are. So the first question to ask yourself is: where exactly am I stiff? Some of us are stiff all over and some of us are flexible all over, but it turns out that many of us are flexible in some areas and stiff in others. Identifying which areas you need to stretch will help you chose the poses that will be most helpful to you. That being said, there are a couple of poses that we highly recommend for their versatility. Downward-Facing Dog pose is especially wonderful because it stretches your legs, hips, shoulders and arms, all at the same time.
If this pose is too demanding, you can do an easy variation, Half Dog pose (also called Right Angle pose). With your hands at shoulder-height on the wall or resting on the surface of a table, walk back so your hips are directly over your feet and your arms are parallel to the floor.
Baxter recommend that you warm up for these poses with some dynamic movement, such as swinging your arms above your head or moving your legs around in your hip joints. --Nina
Q: How would one go about investigating the effects of yoga on aging scientifically?
A: This question is intriguing and so important that Brad will devote an entire post to the subject sometime soon.
Q: Just curious about how autoimmune diseases are related to aging? Some seem to be inflammatory conditions I think, and that makes me wonder about allergies, yoga and aging.
A: This is a very big and complicated question! And there’s no quick, simple answer, as the mechanisms behind many of these diseases (not to mention aging itself) are not fully understood. But Baxter says, “Not all autoimmune diseases are created equal.” Different autoimmune diseases arise at different stages in life, so not all are related to aging. Also, not all are related to inflammatory conditions. So that’s why we’ve decided that on this blog we’ll discuss the autoimmune diseases associated with aging individually, over time. Is there any particular disease that concerns you?
We are going to try to do a Q&A every Friday, so keep the questions coming. You can leave a question in a comment or you can email a comment to us at the address shown under "Contact Us" in the right-hand column.
We are going to try to do a Q&A every Friday, so keep the questions coming. You can leave a question in a comment or you can email a comment to us at the address shown under "Contact Us" in the right-hand column.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)