Intermediate Practice: Moving from the Core 2

January 12, 2010 | 07:00 AM | By: Witold Fitz-Simon Filed in: Intermediate | Practice

Intermediate Practices Once again, we are taking a more integrative approach to practice, moving from the core channel, this time connecting the head and the tail directly.

Find and Move from the Core Channel

Think of the word core not in its sense of abs and lower back, but in its sense of a deep axis of the body. That axis will follow the line of the primary hip flexor muscle, the psoas, running from the inner feet, through the hip crease, coming together behind the navel and lengthening along the spine towards the head. Initiate all your movements from the center of that core channel, specifically from a place somewhere between the navel and the spine.

Separate Out the Tail

Think of the tail in less anatomical terms and more as an extension of the spine. Separate out the tail from the two sides of the core channel in your awareness as they feed onto the legs, elongating it back from the same center point behind the navel where the left and right sides join together.

Separating the tail from the legs, along the core line.

Link the Head and the Tail

Reach the head and tail evenly away from each other from the center point behind the navel. Allow the two to communicate with each other as the movement of the breath flows between them: from head to tail with the inhalation and tail to head with the exhalation.

The Sequence:

Resting Position

Lie on the back with the feet flat on the floor and the knees up, the feet and legs parallel to each other and a folded blanket under the head.
Belt the thighs so that the adductors to not have to work to hold the legs up and let the thigh muscles relax.
Rest here for at least 5 minutes, and even as long as 10. First, allow the body to settle into the floor, both the external body and the organs deep within. Then, take a few minutes observing the breath as it alternately empties out of and fills the body. After that, find the core channel, releasing down from the inner thighs on either side of the pubic bone and coming together somewhere behind the navel to flow in front of the spine towards the head.

Adho Mukha Shvanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose) on ropes

Uttanasana (Intense Stretch Pose ) with the feet apart on ropes

Rope Shirshasana (Head Stand)

Rope Child’s Pose

Vinyasa Cycle #1:

[Initiate the movement of the limbs from the center point behind the navel where core channel and tail separate. As you meave, reach evenly in both direction: towards the head and towards the tail. Cycle through the poses three times]

Child’s Pose with the toes curled under

Plank Pose