Lauren Cahn's Question About SthiraSukham Asanam Post and My Response

In response to SthiraSukham Asanam Lauren Cahn aka Yoga Chickie wrote: How do Ashtangis, with their strong adjustments past the point of comfort oftentimes, fit within this framework?

My response: As always, Lauren, you have an insightful and probing mind and come up with complex questions that present a wonderful challenge.

My first answer to this question is actually already presented in my piece on hands on adjustments. One would have to read that entry to parse out my perspective though, so in a few moments I will present my perspective in a way that will more directly address your question.

My second answer to this question is presented in my quote from Osho. In truth I don’t think there is a need for more of an answer than this but, since I like thoroughness, I will answer directly instead of obtusely.

For the purpose of what yoga would call viveka (incisive clarity or discernment) I want to explain a few things. When you are being adjusted while performing a yoga pose, the adjustment itself is not the yoga pose, and what your body is brought into, since it is brought into a position by external means, is not necessarily a yoga pose either. It might be, but it might not be. And if someone else is bringing you into a posture then it is not exactly YOU doing yoga. However, this still may be okay. Lets look at what is at play first to see if we can decide when this might be okay and when it might be not as useful.

I will deal with the idea of adjustments to start. When I am explaining to a teacher or someone wanting to learn to teach, about physical adjustments, at some point I usually explain the difference between active and passive range of motion. I like using movements of the thumb to explain this. The thumb has a variety of movements available to it. It is the only finger that has as free a range of motion in what is anatomically referred to as circumduction. You can get your thumb to create a circular movement that combines abduction, adduction, flexion and extension with very small amounts of rotation occurring. These movements could be called part of your thumb’s active range of motion.

Now if you took your thumb and it was straight and you took your other hand and rotated the thumb, twisting it gently, you could get your thumb to rotate on its axis. This is a movement that your thumb will never be able to do of its own volition. It needs external aid to create this movement. This would be an example of a passive range of movement. The movement is possible. There is nothing wrong with your body being brought through a certain amount of this passive range of movement but it is not something that the muscles of the hand and thumb could create without help from an outside source to generate the movement.

There are other examples of passive range of movement that are worth noting as well. If you extended your fingers as far as you could, many people can extend their fingers past straight, you would reach the end of your active range of motion for your fingers in the direction of extension. Then if you take your other hand and bring your fingers back farther into extension, you can push your fingers back considerably farther than they were able to go just by the action of the muscles within the forearm, hand and fingers. This would be a passive range of motion. If you brought those fingers as far as they could go before injury would occur, this would be referred to, anatomically, as end range of motion, which means as far as you can go.

You can take this information and apply it to almost any joint in the body.

Hopefully this is self explanatory enough that I don’t have to connect the rest of the dots on that subject. Now I am going to talk about different kinds of adjustments from fields other than Yoga for a few moments.

In physical therapy, often a therapist will use certain kinds of joint manipulations that are designed to remove stress or tension or stretch connective tissue that is obstructing free range of movement in a joint. Some of these techniques are glide, traction or thrust techniques. Chiropractors use certain kinds of manual adjustments that can also free up movement in joints. Many of the most commonly thought of techniques that a chiropractor is known for are thrust techniques where a sharp, short movement creates a joint manipulation where, if the technique is successful, you can here a popping or cracking sound in the joint. But chiropractors have other kinds of techniques that are not as aggressive. An osteopath sometimes uses similar types of bone and joint manipulations as well. And then there are things like Rolfing or Structural Integration where some of the techniques used are about manipulating the fascia around the joint including the ligaments, tendons and joint capsules. Some of this is to lengthen the fascia being manipulated itself, to get it to unbind and create more freedom of movement in the joint; but some of this is to affect the golgi tendon organs which can be stimulated to create a relaxation response in the muscles; some of this manipulation can be used to affect the muscle spindles which are sort of like the mind of the muscle (a muscle spindle is a proprioceptor in a muscle, part of the nervous system, which helps tell the muscle when and how much to contract) which, when given certain stimulation, can cause a muscle to tighten or release and open.

While these kinds of manual manipulations might not be the yoga, intelligently applied, these kinds of adjustments or body work can free up movement and make a person capable of moving through increased ranges of motion that were previously not possible, and they don’t always feel that good while they are being applied.

Now the truth of the matter is that there are yoga teachers of all levels out there and I am not going to make value judgments about things I have not seen or people I do not know. I have watched Eddie Stern teach and he has a great deal of skill in applying adjustments that are powerful and yet thoughtful. A friend of mine who practices at his studio once said to me, “he always knows just how far to go. His adjustments are firm but he never pushes me past my limits.” I have watched David Swenson teach as well and his adjustments are amazingly thoughtful while being powerful as well. If these kinds of adjustments free up space in joints and help a practitioner achieve something that was previously not possible they might be quite useful. But the adjustments themselves are not the Yoga, at least not for the person being adjusted.

There are some great teachers out there with a lot going on. There are some teachers out there who know some if not all of the stuff I mentioned above and seamlessly slip these kinds of techniques into their adjustments so that a person’s range of motion is increased without them even fully realizing exactly how such a change occurred. Personally, I usually don’t do stuff that is all that flashy when I adjust and when I am doing a joint manipulation on a practitioner I don’t necessarily let them know exactly what I am doing that is freeing up the space in their body. For my part, I want the practitioner to feel good without thinking that I did something too special. I do use adjustments that, in my opinion, are pretty simple and I try to be as non-invasive as possible, so I don’t usually use thrust techniques or try to get bones to crack. Sometimes those kinds of things happen naturally but that is different. Or, once in a while, when someone really needs an adjustment for their neck or back and something that is simpler is not effective enough, I might use a deeper adjustment. In the end, I want people practicing in my classes to be empowered to do as much of the work from within themselves as possible so they don’t feel they need me in an unhealthy way. But I see nothing wrong with someone who knows some of the techniques I was referring to above, using them to help his/her clients. And thrust techniques and fascial release techniques can feel pretty intense and uncomfortable but the end results when performed by someone who knows what they are doing can be quite beneficial.

This might not be exactly what Lauren was asking about but the issue is how do intense adjustments fit with my explanation of asana as defined by the Yoga Sutras.

Now even the best of teachers can make a mistake in adjusting a student. Hopefully with the more skilled teachers that happens less frequently, but then there are other teachers who don’t know as much but saw a teacher they admire do something and are trying to emulate that teacher without having the full knowledge base that was behind the adjustments that they are attempting to duplicate. And that can create some problems. I would still say, for a teacher in that category, it is worth attempting to learn and help their students. Usually part of learning and growing as a teacher occurs through the direct relationship between student and teacher and if you don’t put yourself into your work, make yourself vulnerable and take some risks where you are open to making a few mistakes, the maturation process will probably not progress quite as fast, which might be okay, but there is nothing wrong with trying to increase your rate of learning either.

Caring, wanting the best for your students and doing your best not to cause harm within this process would be the best formula I can come up with for how to minimize those mistakes and the problems that might arise from them. Second to that, good solid anatomy and kinesiology training is the only other thing I can think of to help keep students safe. The better you understand how the body works and moves, the more capable you will be in adjusting your students and the more capable you will be in using your own body during your own practice.

Where do strong adjustments fit in with the information that the Yoga Sutras presents that what a yoga posture is, is a combination of strong and soft, powerfully and enjoyable, stable and comfortable, alert and relaxed? An adjustment that increases your range of motion could make it so you could ultimately go farther into a pose while maintaining those qualities. But inappropriately applied, applied to enthusiastically by someone who might not be as experienced, who might be trying to compensate for a lack of experience with intensity, an adjustment that is seemingly the same could cause injury. In the end I would rather not judge, but if I had to I would judge by the results. If, in the long run, which can best be gauged over the next thirty to fifty years…if over an extended period of time the results of the adjustments are beneficial then they were probably helpful to that person, on the other hand, if adjustments that are too aggressive cause injuries that end up harming the person and his/her practice then it is worth looking hard and questioning their appropriateness. And an adjustment that might be extremely beneficial to one person might be damaging to another and an adjustment that might be beneficial to a person at one point in time might cause damage to that same person at another point in time.

I think I will mention a quote from David Swenson here since he is really my favorite ashtanga teacher. I remember a student once asking him if he had ever been injured practicing yoga and his answer was, “I have never injured myself.” His implication was that he had been injured but not by his own practice, by an adjustment from someone else.

I would also ask teachers, practitioners and readers to question whether farther is always necessary. There is this huge impulse in our methods of practicing that are about going farther and increasing range of motion. There are times when this is useful. But further is not always deeper and increased range of motion is not always what a practitioner needs. In my opinion the practice should be based on the actual needs of the practitioner. I can find support for this perspective from within the Yoga Sutras. There are several Sutras that appear to be about this including Sutra 1.12 (practice without attachment to the results) 2.1 (yoga practice is the discipline to practice consistently, self observation while practicing and the understanding that there are things that are beyond your control and so surrendering to this understanding, in other words practice should not be driven by the imposition of the conscious will or the ego which is what practicing for range of motion can sometimes become), and Sutra 3.6 Tasya Bhumishu Viniyogah (practice needs to be adapted to the current circumstances of the individual, the practitioner needs to start from where he/she is). In my opinion the goals of the practitioner ought to be continually reassessed and respected but it is also worth helping a practitioner put his/her goals in line with his/her needs and abilities because sometimes these are not exactly aligned.

And then I will ask you to think about that quote from Osho and its meaning and I will add my own thoughts. The techniques are simply techniques. If they help that is great. If they make things worse you might need to start questioning how you are doing things. The practice of Yoga is for you, for your life, for each of you individually. It is to help make you integrated and whole. It is to help calm the incessant and erratic actions of the mind, which cause us to become fragmented, so that we can become unified, centered, whole. If learning to increase your range of motion so that you can manipulate your body into a pretzel helps then that is great. If deep adjustments ultimately end up causing you to have that depth of internal stillness that can come from practice then they might be useful. Usually injury causes a person’s mind to become overactive in a disconcerting way and if this occurs then the techniques probably did not have the desired results. And if the techniques you are using are not having the desired affects for you, then there are always other ways of becoming whole. The practice is for you, the practitioner, not the other way around.

Peace.

Osho on Yoga Techniques

This quote comes from Osho's, The Path of Yoga: Commentaries of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. These are dialogues from Osho that were recorded and then transcribed. I liked this quote. And I would say it reflects a deep understanding of the full scope of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

upsidedowncarl

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All the techniques, all the methods, all the paths of Yoga, are really deeply concerned only with one problem: how to use the mind. Rightly used, mind comes to a point where it becomes no-mind. Wrongly used, mind comes to a point where it is just a chaos, many voices antagonistic to each other, contradictory, confusing, insane.

SthiraSukham Asanam: The Postures Should Be Strong and Soft

My most recent offering is my theory about the postures. If you understand what is presented here you will understand how the approach to asana I present in classes is so effective.

upsidedowncarl

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SthiraSukham Asanam: The Postures Should Be Strong and Soft

Asana means seat, or connection to the ground. Sometimes the term even refers to a cushion you would sit on. However, most of the time, in the west, when the term is used it refers to the physical postures. What follows, in my opinion, are the fundamental details of what you would want to do, to keep yourself safe while performing the postures. These principles always work. If you are truly following these principles you cannot go wrong. The only thing is that these principles are quite a challenge to achieve and to cultivate these qualities you need to possess a considerable amount of awareness in your body/mind.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali define asana as sthirasukham asanam, (Sutra 2.46). This translate roughly to “The postures should have the dual qualities of strength without tension and softness without laziness”, or “The postures are strength and softness”. Sthira means strength, stability, solidity, power and alertness without unnecessary tension. Sukham means softness, relaxedness, comfort, enjoyability without laziness. So a more complete translation would be “The physical postures should contain the qualities of strength, stability, solidity, power and alertness without unnecessary tension, and softness, relaxedness, comfort, enjoyability without laziness.

If this is truly happening it is not possible to hurt yourself. As soon as you start moving towards a position where there is a potential for injury to occur the body begins to tense up. In physical therapy manuals this process of tensing up to protect yourself from injury is called muscle guarding.

The problem is that many of us do not realize that the body is tensing up against the work we are imposing on our bodies until far too late. So part of the process of Yoga when working with the postures would be to try to become aware of these kinds of things. The issue here would be how to become aware of something you are not aware of especially when you are not aware that you are not aware of it.

The Yoga Sutras instruction on how to try and cultivate these qualities in the postures sounds simple. It says, “To find these qualities you need to look for unnecessary tension in the body and remove it and you need to look for unnecessary tension in the breath and remove it,” (Sutra 2.47). Again, this sounds simple but the question is how can you begin to become aware of something that you are not aware of: how can you become conscious of something that is unconscious?

In reality all we can do is try and understand that we are all human and sometimes our best efforts can be misguided.


Sutras 2.46 and 2.47 that I am referring to above are the only Sutras out of almost two hundred Sutras that address the physical postures directly. In just 2 short aphorisms Patanjali says just about everything that needs to be said and that can be said about the physical postures.

However there are other Sutras that have few insights about how to move towards that state called Yoga and to be in that state of Yoga your body would have to contain those qualities referred to in the Sutras that define the postures. Sutra 1.12 says practice without attachment to the desired results can bring you towards the state of Yoga. and Sutra 2.1 says that the discipline to practice consistently, self awareness while practicing and the understanding that there are things beyond your control and so a sense of openness and availability to the present circumstances of reality, a sense of surrender to the vastness of the universe and all that is beyond your control, is what makes up the practice of yoga.

So, if this sensibility is applied to the practice of postures, you might have a better chance of having those magical circumstances of sthirasukham falling into place. I think John Friend and others from the west might refer to this as grace; a beautiful concept.

All this being the case, I have a feeling that some images would be beneficial in helping to provide an understanding of this complex and magical process and of course I am using the term “magical” metaphorically.

When you see a beautiful dancer like Mikhail Baryshnikov he makes the amazing things he can do with his body look effortless; it looks like he could do these complex movements in his sleep. When you see a dancer who is not quite as graceful it looks like there is a little extra effort. You see hints of struggle and it is not quite as fluid and graceful. This fluidity, this gracefulness that appears effortless even when a movement is extremely powerful is sthirasukham.

What separates a great gymnast from the pretty good gymnast is that quality of effortlessness. In men’s gymnastics there is a move on the rings where the gymnast is trying to hold himself parallel to the ground while holding onto those two rings which are suspended by two ropes. The move takes an amazing amount of strength. A great gymnast will make even this move look effortless despite the amount of real strength it takes. That is sthirasukham.

Any great athlete has this quality as well. While Michael Jordan was playing basketball, when you would see him alone in the open court he usually looked so relaxed that it did not look like he was doing all that much. When you look at a lot of other players they look like they are working hard and going fast. And then when you would see Michael Jordan next to those players he looked like he was running circles around them. It was hard to tell where he was generating all that speed and power from because he looked so relaxed. He sort of looked like an adult playing with children a lot of the time. That effortlessness and power is sthirasukham.

I could say the same thing for the way Barry Bonds swings a baseball bat. The speed he generates is amazing. I personally don’t have an opinion on his use of steroids. It is possible that he obtained a certain amount of his strength from the use of chemicals. But the strength without the coordination would not get him very far and what I am interested in here is the coordination. When he swings a bat it looks effortless. There is no wasted effort. At least part of the power is not in trying. Someone trying to swing like Barry Bonds would never succeed. There is an innate knowledge that his body has. In many ways this achievement of swinging a baseball bat so that it hits a baseball at just that right point is an amazing feet in itself. A bat whose barrel is at most 4” in diameter is being swung at a very high speed, too high a speed for the batter to really cognitively plan the mechanics or where the barrel will cross the plate if he is trying to adjust the swing to meet a ball without knowing beforehand where the ball will cross the plate. The mechanics already have to be learned through years of practice. The bat is being swung at a ball that is usually going at a rate somewhere between 80-100 mph. The ball is about 3” in diameter. The precise timing and control needed for the barrel of the bat to hit the ball at just the right time and angle is pretty remarkable given all the variables. And when you see a baseball player who can really make that swing look graceful and effortless and generate that kind of bat speed and power, there really needs to be, no wasted effort.

You can see this quality of power and effortlessness in the animal kingdom clearly and quite beautifully. When I was working at the circus there was a leopard that did not perform but that would be exercised with the other cats. I have a photograph of this cat jumping and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The speed, power and agility that this leopard possessed was completely natural. Words cannot describe what this cat looked like while jumping. My memory tells me that it was about 15 feet up in the air and that its jump spanned 25-30 feet, jumping off a little platform and landing precisely on a matching platform on the other side of the ring. I can only imagine what it would be like to see a cat in the wild doing something similar.

It follows that in Yoga during the practice of asana, when you see someone who really knows what they are doing with their body, it is hard to miss. That balance of power and relaxedness, effortlessness and gracefulness are evident. The interesting thing about asana practice is that there are styles where you move and styles where you hold poses and styles where you combine the two. When someone is really accomplished in the physical practice the movements have this quality of strength and softness and that quality remains present when the postures are held. During the movements, having this quality would be an issue of dynamic alignment; keeping alignment while moving. Whereas in the held postures it would be an issue of static alignment, which is how alignment is most commonly taught in Yoga. But dynamic alignment is extremely important in the process of asana practice, even though it is often neglected. If your form in the movements does not have those qualities of strength and softness then you are not in a yoga pose until you find alignment while holding. If you have the form while moving, then when you arrive in the pose you already are aligned. I have seen people who have beautiful form in the postures but have horrible form in moving from one pose to another and you can tell there is something missing from their practice. And when you see someone who has that quality while moving, his or her form in the poses is almost invariably spot on.

A teacher trainee was recently watching me give a one-on-one session to an extremely accomplished asana practitioner and had the experience of how good her form was while moving and while holding the postures. It was like a revalation to the trainee. It was almost like she had never seen asana practice that looked like that, that magical dance of fluidity and grace that was not only reserved for the postures but was present in every movement. I would imagine there was some useful food for thought there, as though she was seeing asana practice for the first time, or with a new set of eyes.

Strength and softness are qualities that don’t usually just happen naturally, at least for adult human beings, so there are just a few things I have come to understand about the process of moving towards them. For human beings, these qualities often need to be cultivated from deep understanding within your body. They need to be practiced and learned. And they are the result of body intelligence, not an imposition of the conscious will, which is how people often try and achieve these qualities. All of what I am about to say is hinted above. The quality of effortlessness is by definition a quality where there is no wasted effort, no extra effort, no unnecessary tension. The amount of strength used is precisely the amount necessary; no more, no less. When moving the body or holding it in a position, if this quality of no unnecessary effort or apparent effortlessness is actualized, the movement or held posture will appear graceful, fluid, relaxed and alert, strong and soft. When a movement or posture has these qualities it will be safe, it will be beneficial, it will unlock the healing potential of the practitioner’s system. This is where the practice of Yoga postures can potentially become such a powerful tool for healing. This is where the magic is. It is not in achieving strange feats. It is not in a force of will on the body. It is in finding that magical quality of sthirasukham, strength and softness, effortless stability and balance, which unlocks the healing potential of our systems.

I think what I am about to say is one of the most complicated concepts for yoga practitioners to understand. Good alignment is not the specific position you place your body into; it is not what position your hands and feet are in. It is that, while you are in whatever position you are in, you have the dual qualities of strength and softness. There are thousands of appropriate versions of any posture. If you change the details of alignment in a posture it will not make it right or wrong. Almost any position the body can be placed in is a position where sthirasukham can be found. It is finding sthirasukham that would make the posture you are in useful and therefore, “good”, beneficial or appropriate alignment.

Again, since it is worth repeating, it is in finding that magical quality of sthirasukham, strength and softness, effortless stability and balance, which unlocks the healing potential of our systems. When you find that you will find stillness whether in movement or in a static posture and that is Yoga with a capitol Y.