What's Your Core Strength?
It's just after Valentines Day, and I got two bouquets of flowers. One from my husband, and one from Sadie Nardini. That's me.
While at the flower store, ordering a nice bunch of orchids to honor the longest-term relationship I've ever had--with myself, I noticed that many people were more focused on what to get or do for their significant others, or what they were getting done for them, than how to celebrate their own selves.
In fact, out of the 20 or so other people who were there, not one of them were wrapping up blooms from them, to them. When they found out I was, it was like a kitten had popped out of my jacket pocket. "Ohmigosh--That's SO cute!," they said, eyes wide with the sheer quaintness of it all.
It struck me then, how weighted we can get towards our external offerings and relationships. It's rare to see someone taking themselves out for dinner, and choosing the nice restaurant over the quick fix, or taking the time to appreciate themselves with a love letter, a kind remark or even the simple beauty of flowers.
I'd like to see this trend reverse. I began turning it around personally a few years back when I realized I was speaking to, feeding, and loving myself abysmally. If I was dating me, I would have been well on the road to a break-up or a breakdown.
It's the same with yoga. When I say I teach Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga, people usually point to their bellies and say, "Yeah, I need some of that!" or "My roommate does Pilates!"
As we progress in our practice here in the West, I see many students and teachers are beginning to get so outer-body strong that they have begun to freeze themselves out of the deeper power that lies in their internal core. I was one of them, until my too-tight abs and back muscles began compressing my spine and causing me pain. I knew I had to find some length, and let go of my ego-driven tendency to want to get into the advanced poses at all costs. It's easy to get externally-focused, and use the outer body too strongly in the asanas, which can harden it into tension or put added strain on the joints, instead of using our outer selves in balance to support a much more profound inner strength.
It's not serving us to practice with a focus on our external bodies only if we want our yoga practice to be a balance of Sthira-Sukha, or stability and mobility. There are a whole lot of things the core is, and one thing it's not: just the abdominal muscles. Your spine and pelvis, taking in prana (life energy), your inward attention, and the muscles that support your skeleton all comprise my idea of the deeper core connection we can each make happen more profoundly in yoga and in our lives.
In my teaching, I focus on our Deep Core Line, or the series of muscles that line your legs, pelvis, spine and skull, and I invite students to release any death grip on the poses, and instead focus on a softer strength at the level of the superficial body (Think Rodney Yee's abs vs. the cover of Muscle Magazine) in order to access the support at true center.
This experience of diving inside has a bunch of happy side effects, including empowerment, self-centering, and the ability to rock your Handstand much sooner than if you try to just power into it.
In my view, the abdominal muscles should serve the underlying structural strength, not the other way around. When you can move your poses from the outside in, some of the pockets of tension found at the legs, hips and lower back, shoulders and neck will start to dissolve as your inner takes over for the outer, and they both begin to move back into harmony.
Best of all, when you move from center as your practice on the mat, you'll begin to experience vijnana-maya-kosha, a state of all-pervading recognition that who you are is strong, capable, and worth nourishing on all levels. And one day, I'll be in the flower store, peering into the case to see what Sadie might like best of all, and someone will say "pardon", and reach past me to grab their favorite tulips.
Core Questions: Where are you on the journey to cultivate your inner relationship as much as your outer ones? And how do you practice this in your yoga poses? Do you think it's harder to give in than give out?
To try moving from your inner body: Next time you're doing Handstand preparations, no matter how low or high you're hopping now, keep your top leg straight but bend your bottom knee into your chest as you lightly jump. As you kick, pretend you have a golden egg at the pit of your belly, which you'll squeeze around as you exhale. This will reduce the tendency of your lower back to arch and take the pelvis out of alignment. It will activate your low belly and still let you practice pulling the stacked hips up with the squeeze of your deeper pelvic muscles.
yogajournal.com
vegetariantimes.com
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optimumwellness.com
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Comments
I met my core for the first time today. I just want to share the happy news! http://www.lovehateflow.com/2010/02/16/inside-out-yoga/
Posted by: sarah | February 16, 2010 4:36 PM
Love how you connect taking care of yourself with core strength - very insightful. Will use this today during class - Thanks
Posted by: Donna Freeman | February 17, 2010 5:37 AM
I'm still trying to find my core strength. I so wish I was staying home this weekend so I could come to your workshop at SBY. I suffer from chronic back problems - I have disc degenerative disease, and I have 3 torn discs in my lumbar spine - and I have back pain every single day. I'm an advanced student by all definitions, with the exceptions of some inversions and "core strength". I'm also an instructor, and feel my limitations are also now limiting my students. For me, my ideal core strength would be at a level where I could come into headstands and handstands and all the versions of both without a wall and more importantly, without fear of crushing my spine. And at the utmost importance, I just want to have the strength to allow me to be pain free on and off my mat.
Posted by: Nicole | February 17, 2010 7:59 AM
Hi Nicole,
It sounds like you are dealing with a really challenging physical situation--I feel for you. Can you make my Yoga Journal Boston workshops? If so, I would like to talk to you more after class about your alignment, once I can see it in person. Namaste, and thanks so much for sharing! Sadie
Posted by: Sadie Nardini | February 17, 2010 8:30 AM
what a fantastic idea! i completely agree that we do need to love ourselves more! i am always suggesting to people to take at least 1 day to dedicate to themselves and do something THEY want. we spend 90% (if not more) of our lives trying to please everyone else that we usually forget (or don't make time) for ourselves.
as someone who is still battling self image and esteem issues i know how hard this can be. and some of us (myself included at times) feel we don't deserve self love. the thing that we don't realize is that in order to truly love others we must love ourselves first.
for me personally it depends on the day, some days it's easier for me to use my inner than outer core, other days it's the opposite. but maybe for that day that's how it was suppose to be.
i have worked through a lot of physical barriers; back, neck, hip, elbow, and knee problems, so on days i am unable to go as far as i would like, i remind myself of how far i have come. i think having all of those issues makes for a great learning experience and something to let everyone who comes to my classes and can barely bend over know that they aren't alone. so many people think it's just about being flexible, but it's sooo much more than that, and when people discover that it's amazing! who cares if you can't rock a crow pose today, just as sadie says, "chip away" and when the time comes when you are suppose to master that pose it will happen, but not a moment sooner or later.
i tell all my clients to listen to your body and you will never go wrong. (even if your body says to really take it down 12 notches for that day.) if you listen and take care of it, it will take care of you and even let you move into some poses you never knew you could!
thanks again sadie, loving this blog of yours!!!!
namaste
Posted by: april | February 17, 2010 8:48 AM
Thank you for this perfectly timed reminder of what being centered and strong in your core is really about. This is one lesson I am really trying to focus on right now both in and out of class.
Posted by: Maggie | February 17, 2010 9:13 AM
This was a great article that nicely interweaves both the physical and mental/energetic principles of what it means to be "core centered". Thanks Sadie!
Posted by: Drew Corrigan | February 17, 2010 2:31 PM
After having just transitioned out of a long relationship with someone else, moving and feeling like I'm constantly working for balance, this is such a gorgeous and powerful reminder to always cultivate what matters most. Love that you're sending out this powerful and positive call to action. The best support ever.
Xo
Jody
Posted by: Jody Christopherson | February 17, 2010 6:00 PM
Sadie... it's always a pleasure to come across something you've written!!
It always strikes me as funny how the things in life that are easy--taking care of ourselves--are the hardest things to do. I mean, really... WE KNOW OURSELVES. We know the best gifts to buy--no questions, no stress. We know what we like to eat, the music we like--shouldn't it be an easy relationship? My last two yoga classes got cancelled on me (just funny timing) and instead of still practicing I took it as time to get more dishes done... wedding planning (yeah for me). But the gift of yoga would have been fabulous--I need it daily. The irony is that because I missed my routine my neck went out of place and now I have to go see my physio, get it back into place, and THEN start my practice again. Had I just been good to myself and honoured myself I would not have to stretch inbetween sentences as I type!! :)
Thank you for the reminder... I'm going to hug myself, call Dave (physio-God) and then do some of your fists of fire to energize myself.
Posted by: Joanne Pettit-Myers | February 18, 2010 5:54 AM
Thanks, everyone--It's nice to hear from the yoga community on these topics and share in your yoga practices! The beauty, and the challenge of yoga is that it asks us to get out of our own way, so we can step back from all the resistance and negative self-image and see the luminous potential inside ourselves. When we come into an experience of awe for how magical and valuable we really are, that perspective of self-respect takes over for a lot of less-constructive patterning. I try to speak to each of you from that place in me, to that place in you.....or in other words: Namaste!!!
Posted by: Sadie Nardini | February 18, 2010 7:01 AM
Hi Sadie, it has been really useful to me how you have tied the physical core with the core that is the depth of our being. It has helped me further tie in my asana practice with my spiritual practice, as well as the proverbial "taking your yoga off the matt." For example, tapping into my core is currently helping me recover my health - I have become way more attentive to my body's subtle messages whenever I eat something & the effect it has on my body, or my energy levels during asana, whether I should go deeper or back off, intensify or chill out. Even in the types of assignments that I take on at my job, if they do not align with my core values, my stomach tightens up and I know I have to pass on it.
Thank you for spreading this important message. I can envision this concept helping many practitioners make the jump into that deeper space within themselves if they have not done so already, and deepen the practice on and off the matt of those who have.
Hugs,
Sandy
Posted by: Sandy | February 18, 2010 11:29 AM
I love this post. I have experienced my own transformation in my practice from a more superficial one, to one of harmony and trusting myself and being "okay" with where ever I am.
I love that you take the time to love yourself. I am married, but I often times take myself out for coffee or lunch, etc. I've had friends say they'd feel weird eating by themselves, but why? I deserve going into a nice restaurant to eat rather than hitting up a drive thru, just as I deserve the time to sit and enjoy my coffee rather than getting it to go and drinking it mindlessly (and recklessly) as I drive.
Posted by: Kris | February 18, 2010 12:58 PM