Following on from the last blog- yoga with Diane Long -UTTIHITA TRIKONASANA
Into the reverse -PARIVRTTA TRIKONASANA , focusing on connecting from the feet up through the legs to the spine.
So that the axial skeleton (from the base of the spine to the crown of the head) is moving on it’s axis taking the appendicular Skelton( the pelvic girdle and the shoulder girdle)with it.
Rather than the shoulders and head pulling the spine around, so it then loses its alignment up towards the sky.
We have a tendency for the head to lead and the body is then dragged along. However if we come from the connection of the feet spreading into the Earth with gravity, all the way up to the crown and on towards the sky, the body then moves as one with the mind and heart.
Photo 1
Will lifting the back heel to turn from the heel up through the thigh to the spine to begin to bring the spine and so the whole upper body around over the front leg
Photo 2
Will adjusting his shoulder to enable the release out through the upper back to broaden and open across the shoulder blades into the arms.
Photo 3
Shows Will now in PARIVRTTA TRIKONASANA as though he has his hands on a wall, which we had practised inside Milland village hall before coming out onto the field.
The hands spreading ((not pushing) into the wall bring the whole axial skeleton around on it’s axis from the base to the crown.
‘Will’s additional comments:
The links I feel moving up from the feet are: ilio-tibial tract to it’s origin (behind ASIS) which takes me in and up through the sacrum. Further to this, the sense of lifting the 5th lumbar vertebra of the sacrum then brought a lift to the whole spine.
The lift in the outer legs to the sacrum and spine (as discussed) was balanced in the front body from the lift up via adductor muscles to the pubic bone, then up through the breastbone.
The lateral breadth and opening came to my shoulders and chest from a motion of lengthening in to fingertips and a subtle lowering of elbow tips. A subtle ‘Indian head wobble’ helped connect my head to neck, shoulders, and spine, bringing release and alignment.
On a more subtle note, I had a sense of spiraling lift from the IT band to the sacrum, then in and up through each side of the back through the spine. Think of Victor Van Kooten’s art visionary yoga artwork!’