Heather - Days Seven thru Fourteen: Part One

Hey Everyone!!!

It has been too long since I made an entry here, but here is why: I was on vacation and came back just in time to move. So I am not going to try to put in an entry for each day that I was gone, just sum up the experiences I have been having.

RMV Yoga.
You wouldn't think it was possible, but yoga can be done ANYWHERE!!! The story goes a little like this: I rented a car in my name but in order to pick it up, I needed a license. It turns out that not only had mine expired last year (don't really need one in Boston) but I had lost it as well, so I needed to get my driving record from Missouri (where my old license was from). Got all that squared away, double and TRIPLE checked to make sure I had the right list of documents in order to get a license. Got up bright and early Monday morning to do the evil work of waiting at the RMV where they seem to universally take pleasure in making you wait as long as possible to find out that you don't have the right documents even when you double and TRIPLE checked them with the list on the wall. After two hours I discovered this fact first hand. My proof of residence was not acceptable (don't get me started, I followed the wall posting rule to. the. letter.). So the quickest way for me to get what I needed was to register to vote - been there done that, got some paper work to prove it - an hour later I am good! I return to the wretched RMV to take a new number and wait, this time without my wonderful and entertaining boyfriend to keep me company. So it was yoga. Mind you, I was in a dress, so I wasn't doing standing forward folds or wide leg ANYthing. Mostly I was seated on the bench and opening the hips with Yin Yoga pose called square pose. I also found that seated like normal in the chair and bending forward between my own legs is calming like child's pose. Standing backbends work really nicely too to re-open the front body after being seated. But, be warned there are a ton of people, so you don't want to be flailing around creating discomfort for others or drawing too much attention. Mostly at the RMV, it was meditative effort to keep me from screaming at the RMV for killing my first whole day of vacation when I have had only two other days off in the last two months! So to sum up recipe style - here is what I whipped up:

"How NOT to lose your mind at the RMV" Yoga Flow:

1. Begin with a comfortable seated posture: in a chair, or perhaps against a wall. Close your eyes (but not your ears so that you don't miss your number being called). Breath and try to center your attention on where your body is coming into contact with the chair, floor, wall, etc, etc. Be there for a few minutes, really allow your focus to come inward - allowing all other sounds and movements to become periphery. Don't shut anything out, but maybe let it become part of the background of your present experience. Once you feel truly grounded you can allow your eyes to open, but keep your focus soft and low.

Remember, no matter how sucky it is for you to be stuck at the RMV, everyone else feels just as annoyed, anxious, frustrated, and is just as busy with the other demands of their lives - including the RMV employees. If you can bring some peace to your own mind, then you will be like a drop in the proverbial pond and a tiny bit of that peace will move like a subtle wave through the crowd. Perhaps VERY subtley, but peace nonetheless. =)

2. Then move into square pose (for not-so-flexible people try simple cross legged, right leg in front first. for REALLY flexible people, you could also try half or full lotus - but only if you know what you are doing): Right leg on top first and fold forward. Stay for at least five minutes - you don't have to fold deeply let it be a natural, gravitational fold - don't muscle your cold body into some deep forward fold. If you have room twist to the left. Once that is done switch sides and repeat the same sequence. If you feel this in either knee at any time, DO NOT PROCEED. Knee sensation is NEVER good. Don't forget to breathe!

3A. If you are on a chair, uncross your legs, open them as wide as the chair will allow and fold yourself - at the hip - over your legs. Really allow your body to come to rest as deeply as possible without using muscle to force it. Nod and shake your head around gently to make sure that your neck is relaxed. Stay there for awhile, like I said, I find this to be very soothing. Don't forget to breathe!

3B. If you are on the floor, come to child's pose if there is room, but be sure to rest your head on the backs of your hands rather than the floor for obvious reasons. Don't forget to breathe!

3C. If there is not that kind of room, stand up and bend over for an easy rag doll - keeping your knees as bent as you like them. This should NOT be a muscled hamstring stretch. Just let your body come forward as nature allows - be kind to yourself as the RMV never will be! =P Release your neck like mentioned above. Don't stay here more than a couple of minutes though, you need blood all the way through your body. Don't forget to breathe!

In any of the last three poses, when done, roll up slowly vertabrae by vertabrae on an inhale.

4. Once that is finished move back to upright If you are not already standing, come to standing. Set your feet somewhere between three inches and hips width apart - whatever makes you feel solid and grounded. Bring your attention into your feet. (Take your shoes off if you can or if you dare!) Really try to feel for the four corners of your feet. Get solid, grounded, rooted then do a mental scan up through your feet. Feel energy moving the up the insides of your ankles, shins, knees, thighs, through your pelvic root to your tailbone. As you move through the awareness of your spine, begin to feel the energy lifting, stacking each vertabrae on top of the one below it, allow your body to shift as you breathe and maintain awareness. Feel your spine gently lift and even straighten a bit as your tailbone drops, your shoulder blades fall down your back and your chin drops. Don't forget to breathe!

5. Once you come to that relaxed and "dignified posture," you can work towards a small, standing backbend. Place your hands just below the small of your back - the back of your hips, really, or just above the butt. Now, from here, still grounding into your feet and engaging your legs, use your hands to keep your lower back long and stretch up (not back). Really work toward a sense of pulling out of your hips and reaching for the ceiling with your heart (not your shoulders). We aren't going for a deep back bend here, just something that opens the heart and gives the ribs some space. So on the first try don't bend back, just lift and feel into your body. Do this two or three times for three to five full rounds of breath. Each time you may work into a slightly deeper back bend, but not by sacrificing the length in your lower back. Engage your abdominals! Don't forget to breathe!

6. Carefully come up to straight on an inhale then take some sort of gentle forward fold: rag doll with knees strongly bent, child's pose, or seated in a chair and folding from the hips. Once there, take three full, deep inhales into your lower back. Use your air to expand just that area. Then you can return to normal breathing.
Don't forget to breathe!

7. When you are ready come back to upright whether standing or sitting and come to some sort of supported seated if possible, or at least lean against a wall while standing. Find a way to bring as much of a svasana like feel to your mind and body as possible. Give yourself a face massage, rub out your neck, do some shoulder rolls, give yourself a hand massage. Something I love is to draw - ever so lightly - long lines with one fingernail over the surface of the inside of my lower arm. It is a light, pleasing tickle that can be very soothing - at least to me! Or maybe sit or stand in meditation with your eyes mostly or completely closed. Whatever you do, remain aware of the numbers being called out - don't miss your long awaited turn!!!

****Words of Advice for this type of practice****

-Remember to stay aware. You need to respect the limited space of those around you. You also need to not get so zen that you don't here or see your number called out.

-Use your cell phone or watch to time your poses. Don't just think you will know how long to stay in a pose. The anxious energy around you and perhaps within you will make time seem much longer. Your mind and body deserve the time!

-If people talk to you, be as friendly as you wish. Tell them what you are doing, invite them to join, or if you don't feel so extroverted, be politely short.

-Shutting out any aspect of your experience of the present moment closes you off to what is actually happening in your life in the now. There are no distractions in this practice: the poses, the breathing, the body scanning, the smells, sounds, thoughts, judgements, interactions, etc. All is included in your life right now. Include it. Observe it. Embrace it!

Wishing you happiness and mettA from a little dot in the universe called Boston,
Heather

PS. Stay tuned for Car Yoga! I had two thirteen hour and two nine hour drives to get to and from Iowa last week and the stuff I discovered to be car and seatbelt friendly will blow your mind!!!