The details of hatha yoga practice invite us to notice the many dimensions of physical and energetic alignment that are possible for our bodies. We get to know our habits, the places where we struggle to hold ourselves up and the places where we tend to collapse.
My long time teacher, Lisa Clark, helpfully translated the challenge of being upright into a matter of learning to balance the front and back body. Through conscious, subtle movement, we can learn to find a centered home for the skeleton and internal contents (organs, fluids, etc.) of the body.
Here is a simple example: Stand up. Now let more weight drop in your heel than your toes. Feel your tail drag a bit on the floor. Even feel the weight in your spinal column shift back towards the spinus processes (small boney fingers on the back of your spine). Let your head drop forward of your spine. See how you feel. You might notice tension in the shoulders, a sense of withdrawal, or even passivity. Then explore the opposite: Weight the toes. Move the ribs forward of your pelvis. Prop the head up, maybe poking the chin out. Feel the tail flip up behind you. This has a different sensation most likely, but is also likely to feel tense—just in different places.
Now, see if you can find some middle ground by weighting the whole foot, releasing the tail and pubic bone softly down towards the floor, allowing middle of the disks of the spine to transfer weight up and down your body, and gently knitting the ribs in towards your spine. Allow the skull to balance on the spine, while you gaze softly at the horizon. Feel what this is like.
This type of experimentation is a wonderful way to explore your current habits and to develop new, more healthful and aligned patterns. Figuring out how to be upright in balanced alignment is really an on-going project. Mindful movement can encourage us to attend to this as a balancing process—so that we notice both sensations of alignment and feelings associated with losing it.
As an avid dressage student, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out balanced alignment on horseback. Fortunately, I have the help of my horse to do this. When I lose my upright alignment and compromise my spine, my horse inevitably starts to rush and worry. She notices that I’ve “lost it”, and she loses it, too!
Lately, I’ve been trying to improve my rising trot position. I’ve figured out that I often lose my balance at the top of the rise by allowing my ribs to shift forward. This also affects the alignment of my pelvis. I can feel this hollowing happening, and I instantly become a less effective rider when my body goes into this position. I often go to this hollow pattern when I am nervous or worried about my horse’s behavior. The funny thing is, this worry habit actually makes both me and the horse feel more panicky!
To help me change this habit, I’ve thinking “Keep the back body involved” so that I don’t over stretch the front body and abandon the support of my back. I also think about knitting in the ribs towards my spine with each rise. When I get it right, my horse rewards me by moving more freely, with greater balance and power. When I lose it, my horse lurches, surges and hollows her own back, in reflection of my own imbalance.
While you may not be an equestrian, see if you can notice the effects of alignment and misalignment in your daily activities—whether walking, running, biking or lifting children. You can also observe how your physical alignment shifts or becomes challenged when your are in different situations. The first step to repatterning alignment is noticing what is happening. Then you can begin to explore different choices.
Happy practice!
