By learning to control these relationships or do these actions individually we can more easily call them up like functions as required and as part of a larger program.

The Shoulder Blades

Serratus Anterior, Trapezius, Rhomboids

The shoulder blades are connected to the ribcage via the collarbones. The upper arms connect directly to the shoulder blades via the shoulder joint.

While the shoulder blades don’t have a direct “bony” connection to the ribcage, the two are connected via muscle tissue which can be used to both position the shoulder blades and stabilize them relative to the ribcage.

Depending on what we are doing with the arms and where they are, we can position the shoulder blades for both maximum mobility of the arms as well as giving them a stable foundation.

This can be measured in terms of shoulders that are able to last longer and don’t get tired so quickly.

In martial arts this might translate to arms that can punch continuously for longer. In yoga or gymnastics, this can mean a better ability to support ones body weight in postures where we use the hands to support our weight.

Basic actions for the shoulder blades can be reduced to spreading
the shoulder blades and retracting them.

Spreading the Shoulder Blades

Generally speaking, spreading the shoulder blades is useful when the arms are positioned forwards, to the sides or upwards or while moving, when pushing forwards, or moving out to the sides or up. The upwards and outwards positions may be accompanied by a rotation and lifting of the shoulder blades but, the emphasis in both cases can be on spreading the shoulder blades.

If the focus while doing this is on the inner edges of each shoulder blade, then this maximizes the possibility that the Serratus Anterior are used. When active, this set of muscles helps to prevent the shoulder blades from moving together.

Keeping the shoulder blades spread while the arms are forwards  the arms them have greater freedom of movement with respect to the shoulder blades, as well as a firm foundation from which to act.

Retracting the Shoulder Blades

Retracting the shoulder blades is useful when the arms are down or back, or when they are moving back from a downwards or out to the side position.

So that the shoulder blades can move closer together it may be helpful to lift them prior to or while moving the shoulder blades together.

As with spreading the shoulder blades if we focus  on moving the inner edges of the shoulder blades when moving them together, then this maximizes the possibility that the rhomboids and/or trapezius are activated.

For the rhomboids to activate we can move the shoulder blades together and slightly upwards while to contract the trapezius we can move the shoulder blades inwards and downwards.

If the arms are slightly behind the hips and supporting the body weight then moving the shoulder blades together can help to lift and/or open the chest. This happens because the shoulders then move backwards with respect to the ribcage.

Note that this action is separate and different from bending the ribcage and thoracic spine backwards.

Keeping the shoulder blades together/retracted while the arms are reaching back can give the arms greater freedom to continue to move back.

Experiencing the Shoulder Blades

A simple way to practice experiencing the position of the shoulder blades is to slowly spread them and then retract them in time with the breath. While retracting we might slightly lift the shoulders and while spreading we might try pressing them down slightly.

For maximum stability and control, we can learn these actions in the extreme and then begin using an awareness of our shoulder blades to fine tune their position based on what we are doing at the time.

In an upward dog we might try to spread the shoulder blades slightly. Then we can use the traps and/or rhomboids to help pull the chest forwards.

This will feel like “trying to retract the shoulder blades” and they may actually retract, but some of the muscle action will also help to pull the chest forwards. In any case, the better you can feel and control the activation of your “retractors and spreaders” the more likely you are to find a position that just plain feels good.

Doing a locust pose with our fingers interlaced behind our back, then in this case the shoulder blades can move together. However, we may then find it helpful to spread the shoulder blades just a little.

The process is akin to putting up a tent. You tighten one side, then you tighten the other, then you loosen the first side a little bit, fine tuning the tension in the wires on both sides till the structure as a whole has balance and the correct structure.

I didn’t mention going to teachers because for the most part I got to the stage I am at through self study.

She said that it was too difficult.

I felt my ire rise… or perhaps it was my passion.

I told her that if something is too difficult then to break it down into smaller pieces that aren’t difficult. As an example, to learn yoga, focus on one pose at a time, maybe even one a day. Learn it, feel it, practice it and each day learn a new pose. Likewise with tai ji, whether from a book, dvd or teacher, if you break it down into small bits that aren’t difficult then you can learn them and learn them well.

Of course if you are really hell bent on making things difficult then you can say that the process of breaking things down is difficult. And yes it is.

So a simple guideline is to break things down into sensible elements.

That means into pieces that you can easily describe and can feel, sense or see. There may be and often is more than one way to simplify and so you will have to make choices.

It’s too difficult.

Then go home… or give yourself 1 second for each choice.

Try it, if it doesn’t work out then at least you know. Time to try one of the other choices.

In the process you learn, you experience, and then you are able to make future choices easier.

This series of exercises is best done in sync with the breath. At each stage focus on feeling your body and your breath and on moving slowly an smoothly. The idea of moving slowly and smoothly is so that you can experience your body by feeling it.

Rocking Forwards and Back

In a standing position, bend forwards and place your hands on the floor, bending your knees as much as you have to. Place your hands shoulder width apart just in front of your feet. Lift your hips high. Slowly rock forwards until you can feel your weight on your hands and then rock back. You will still have some weight on your feet but try and position your body so that you feel most of your weight pressing down through your hands.

Pressing Down through the hands

If possible, reposition your hands so that they are besides your feet. Now instead of rocking forwards, use your shoulders to press down through your hands. Use the same feeling as rocking forwards and back. Gently press down through your hands and then release.

If you can’t place your hands next to your feet, then continue rocking backwards and forwards but while doing so, notice your shoulders, use your shoulders to press down through your hands as you rock forwards and release smoothly while rocking back.

Positioning the Shoulders

So that is is easier to balance, a part of what we can do is shift our shoulders forwards. You may already have been doing this, but now you can become conscious of it. As you press into your hands, move your shoulders slightly ahead of your wrists while inhaling. Activate them at the same time. Move back while exhaling. If you can move your hips forwards at the same time this is even better. See if you can get your hips over your shoulders and your shoulders slightly in-front of your hands. You’ll more than likely have to come up on tippy toes.

Engaging the Abs

The next step from there is lifting the pelvis. Instead of using the legs though, we use our shoulders, ribcage and waist… Basically we use our abs to unify our ribcage and pelvis so that we can they use our shoulders to lift out pelvis and ribcage together.

So continuing with the previous exercise, with hands slightly forwards or besides the feet, and while moving shoulders and hips forwards, engage the abs so that it feels like you are using your arms to push your pelvis up. At this stage you may find that your feet come off of the floor.

Lifting Up

Rather than trying to jump up, see if you can get your shoulders and pelvis far enough forwards that they come up by themselves.

Once there you can then lift your legs with knees bend. While doing so you’ll have to move your shoulders and pelvis forwards even more to stay balanced.

Once you get you legs up to the same height as your pelvis, you can continue to lift them but now you move your shoulders and pelvis slowly back, so that they are over your hands, to stay balanced.

So that you can more finely judge how far forwards or back to move your shoulders and hips, feel your hands. Use them to feel where your center is. If you feel your weight moving towards the front of your hands then move your shoulders and hips back. If you feel your weight moving towards the back of your hands then move your shoulders and hips forwards to balance.

Remember to keep your abs engaged. Even better, use your side abs (the obliques.)

The better you can feel your weight via your hands and the better you can control the relationship of your shoulders and hips to your hands the easier you will be able to balance.

This video also includes jumping up to handstand from down dog.

Positioning the Shoulders

In order to balance we need to get our center of gravity over our hands. Our center of gravity is mainly focused in our pelvis. However, when jumping up our legs may be trailing behind our pelvis so that our body forms a inverted L shape. To balance the weight of our legs and our pelvis over our hands it is handy to have our shoulders vertically just in front of our hands.

We can practice this even before we jump my moving our shoulders forwards while our feet are on the ground. (If your downward dog is really long you might need to bring your feet forwards slightly.) From downwards dog then practice moving your shoulders forwards so that they are slightly in front of your hands. Then move back. Practice this enough times that you get used to putting your shoulders in this position. In addition, use your eyes to see when your shoulders are there.

After that you can practice a few test jumps in front of a wall if you like, to get used to jumping and placing your shoulders there. So that you don’t get tired out, try jumping up with an inhale and coming down while exhaling. Also practice smoothly using your legs to jump up.

Using the Abs to Unify Ribcage and Pelvis

So that it is easier to control our body, we can use our abs to “unify” ribcage and pelvis. Squeezing our abs to lock ribcage and pelvis together, our upper body is that much easier to control and balance over our hands then if our ribcage and pelvis act independently.

For the next practice, move forwards from down do with abs engaged. you can release them when moving back. At the same time move your shoulders so that they are forwards of your hands and then move them back.

Feeling our Center

Jumping up from down dog, once our feet leave the floor we can allow our knees to bend and we can focus on getting our pelvis over our shoulders so that our spine is vertical. Remember to keep the abs engaged. So that we can feel when our center of gravity is over our hands we can use our hands.

As an example using our feet, we can rock forwards so that we can feel our weight over the fronts of our feet. We can then rock backwards to feel our weight over our heels. Being able to use our feet to feel where our weight is we can fine tune how far forwards or backwards we rock.

Using our hands to stand on, we can position our weight slightly forwards so that it is over the fronts of our hands and our fingers press into the floor.

We can practice rocking in and out of Bakasana (crow pose) to practice using our hands to feel where our center is.

If we start of in a deep squat with our heels close together and our feet turned out, we can place our upper arms in front of our shins. From here we can practice rocking back and forwards just on our feet. Next we can lift our hips high, place our hands on the floor and press our shins against the back of our upper arms. We can rock forwards on to the fronts of our feet and then further forwards so that our weight is on our hands. In case you roll forwards, make sure that there is nothing in front of you that will cause a painful landing.

Practice rocking forwards and backwards slowly, and at the same time use your feet and hands to notice your weight shifting from your feet to your hands and back again.

Memorize the feeling of having your weight on your hands.

Jumping Up

And so the final step is to practice this when jumping up. I’d suggest jumping up while using a wall to help “catch” you.

Position your finger tips about 4 inches away from the wall and make sure that there is nothing on the wall or either side of you that could cause injury should you fall.

When jumping, first focus on getting your shoulders slightly in front of your hands. Remember to engage your abs. Then focus on getting your pelvis and legs over your hands.

If you can balance in this position, then you might try lifting your legs up into full handstand. As you lift your legs you can move your shoulders so that they are over your hands. Do these two actions together so that you stay balanced. Use your hands so that you can feel where your center is and so that you can keep it over your hands.

Jumping back 1

Jumping back 2

Jumping back 3

Jumping back 4

If we pull up into a half handstand from a forward bend we can then bend our elbows and reach our upper body forwards as our legs go back to keep our center over our hands. We can then gently land in Chatarunga Dandasana.

So that we know that our center is over our hands we can use our hands to feel where our center is. Whether jumping forwards (from down dog) or backwards (to chatarunga), to float, we have to find the balance point and keep it over our hands.

Key elements in this are the hands to feel where our center is and help control our relationship with the earth, the shoulders to help position our center relative to our hands, and our pelvis (and legs) which for our intent and purpose we can consider synonymous with our center. If we move our pelvis relative to our hands then our center of gravity moves with it.

While I do this with the legs bent, the same principles apply if lifting the legs with the knees straight. Use the hands to feel where your center is, use the shoulders to help position it where you want it to be.

]]> http://zeroparallax.com/blog/2010/09/jumping-back-to-chatarunga-a-variation-on-handstand/feed/ 0 http://zeroparallax.com/blog/2010/09/handstands-jumping-up-and-pulling-up/ http://zeroparallax.com/blog/2010/09/handstands-jumping-up-and-pulling-up/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:41:46 +0000 neil http://zeroparallax.com/blog/?p=708 Jumping up into handstand from downwards dog, as we jump we can try to first get our shoulders slightly ahead of our wrists. With our shoulders ahead of our wrists we can then focus on getting our pelvis forwards and up so that it is over our shoulders. With our torso vertical, we can adjust the position of our shoulders so that our upper body is balanced over our hands.

The reason for positioning the shoulders in this way is to make it easier to get our center of gravity over our hands with our spine straight. If however, we jump with our spine bent backwards we might then be able to get our center of gravity over our hands while keeping the shoulders over the hands. In either (any) case, we have to get our center of gravity over our hands in order to balance.

So that this is easier to practice we can focus on jumping up to a “half-handstand” where the knees are bent. Once we can do this consistently and easily we can then focus on moving up into full handstand. We can also swing the legs down or forwards into sitting from this position and we can reach the legs back and chest forwards while lowering down into Chaturanga Dandasana.

While jumping we can use our eyes to see how our shoulders and hands relate. We can then see when we get our shoulders where we want them to be, over and then slightly in front of our hands. At the same time we can use our hands to feel when our center of gravity is over our hands by feeling the way our weight presses down through them.

Pulling up into handstand from a standing forward bend, we can position our center of gravity over our hands before we lift up. That way we are already balanced. We can move our shoulders forwards so that our pelvis is over our hands. We can push through our arms prior to lifting our feet so that our arms bear some of our weight. We can then engage our abs so that our ribcage and pelvis are unified. We can then use our shoulders to help push our pelvis upwards-to take the weight of our body.

Pushing down with our hands and keeping our shoulders forwards, we can lift our hips and get our feet off of the ground. We can then bend our knees to lift our feet higher.

We may also then choose to lift our knees. From there, keeping our center over our foundation we can then move up into handstand.

In the first part of this video you see me pull up and then hold with my knees bent. From there I then straighten my legs upwards. I subsequently fall for no apparent reason.

Half handstand: notice the angle of my arms and the position of shoulders and pelvis relative to wri

At any rate, we can still use this to learn from. For example, when I pause with my knees bent, my shoulders are in front of my hands. Notice the angle of my arms! Also, my spine is vertical. In this position at least I am balanced. My center of gravity is over my hands.

Handstand-Notice relationship of shoulders, pelvis and legs to hands.

Just prior to falling my legs are straight and my shoulders, hips and legs are all aligned over my hands… Which begs the question, why did I fall. I felt a small perturbation and got scared. Plus I forgot to check my relationship to those bits of pipe sticking out of the ground before I jumped. I didn’t want to fall and land backwards on anything.

Half handstand from down dog: notice the relationship of my upper body to my hands

In the second part of the video I jump up into half handstand from down dog and I hold it. You can again see the angle of my arms and how that helps be to get my upper body balanced over my hands.
(I then try to get my legs up but without success.)

Un-finite… undefined.

In ratios of money used vs money made, if zero money is used and a lot of money is made, (money made/money used) then the return is infinite because there is no relationship between money used and money made. The two do not relate. Or another way to look at this is that there an infinite number of ways to make money without using money.

(The reference is vaguely remembered as being from one of the Rich Dad book’s. I picked up on the fact that he said he had an infinite rate of return because he didn’t use any money to make money.)

Measuring triangles, the tangent of an angle not opposite the hypotenuse in a right angled triangle is the ratio of the opposite side over the adjacent side.

However, if that angle is 90 degrees then the tangent is infinite. We can’t have two right angles in a triangle. So what we have then is no longer a triangle. Or it is a triangle but not on a flat plane.

So in this case again infinite is undefined or outside of the boundaries of what we define as a triangle.

Mass and Energy

When something with mass approaches the speed of light it gets heavier and heavier. It’s mass get’s very big. (The energy used to speed it up adds to its mass.)

(An unlimited amount of energy… this doesn’t necessarily mean lots of energy, it just means unlimited… undefined, unrestricted, perhaps in the way that a river that is un-damned is relatively unrestricted.)

It gets so big (almost infinitely big) that it then would require an infinite amount of energy to make it go any faster.

What does this mean? That the mass or the energy are no longer relative to time and space as we know it. Or something that is moving really fast relative to something else moves beyond time and space into the realm that contains them both but is beyond them.
We could call this space “hyperspace” or “all that is.”

Speed Through Time and Space

From another point of view, the faster something moves the more it is in space and the less it is in time.

Its speed through both is constant, the speed of light.

So when something does cross that boundary into the speed of light, it moves out of time completely. If that something is all in one dimension (and it could be time or space) then for it there is no longer a relationship between time and space. Again we can guess that it moves into a realm that is beyond them both, or is unlimited by this definition.

Consciousness in Time and Space

What if consciousness is something we can define as being able to expand in time or in space but because it is limited, the more it expands in one dimension the less of it there is in another.

Suppose at the limits, completely expanded in time or completely in space, it moves beyond the limits and becomes unlimited or infinite. We could model this as the state where it has the potential to connect to everything, be one with it.

We can think of thinking as our consciousness being expanded in time and when we are using our senses, feeling, that is when our consciousness is expanded in space.

The more we are in space, the more present we are, the more we sense.

The more present we are the better we can use our senses and the easier we can respond to what we sense. We can respond based on having a clear idea of what we are trying to do.

Clear Ideas and Knowing

If we have a clear idea of what we are doing, if we know, we don’t have to think. Instead we can do. As a result we can act with one that is all around us. We can sense change as it occurs and respond to change, like a flock of birds or school of fish turning in sync.

One reason they might do this is that they are all using their senses and the same sensory data is made available to them at the same time. Used to flying or swimming in groups they respond in such a way that the group moves together as one.

Soldiers trained together and unified with a simple clear idea of what they are trying to do can work together in the same way. (Or at least that is the way it appears in movies.)

Super Sentience

By using our senses that we can approach this state of super sentience. Rather than being limited by thought, by thinking, by time based consciousness, we become unlimited. We can respond as change happens.

Doing yoga or tai ji, this can mean moving slowly and smoothly so that we can feel our body as we move and so that we can make adjustments as we go. Once we’ve got a feel for our body we can carry this feeling into doing the same action fast and smooth.
Initially we can practice feeling parts of our body and how they relate. In this case we define finite elements within our body.

Once we can feel and control these finite elements we can then integrate them and feel our body as an integrated and undifferentiated whole. We can differentiate when things go wrong or when we notice parts of ourselves that aren’t flowing smoothly.

But this can apply in any other venue of “doing.” If we find a way to use our senses then we can find a way to move beyond time and space and connect to all that is.

If we don’t have a clear idea of what we are trying to do, then by feeling our body in whatever we are doing, we can notice how we feel and in the process gain experience.

As we gain more and more experience we’ll be better able to develop a clear idea of what we want to do.

If we have a clear idea of how we want our body positioned or how we want it to move, then if we feel our body while moving it, we can check to see if what is actually happening matches up to what we want to happen.  We can then make changes where necessary.

Moving Slowly and Smoothly-

So that we can feel our body while we are moving it, one of the things that we can do while moving from one position to another is move slowly and smoothly. Yet another thing that we can do is relax our body as much as possible given what we are trying to do.

Generally the slower and smoother we move the easier it is to feel our body. Actually, in order to move slowly most of us have to focus on what we are doing. So say we are in a lunge and we want to lift our back knee and then lower it. To do this requires awareness, not only of the knee we are moving but the front foot as well since we are using it to help us balance.

In this case the slower we move the more we have to feel our body so we can tell that we are moving slowly.

If in addition to moving slowly, we are as relaxed as possible given what we are trying to do, then the actual process of making sure that we are relaxed is a way of feeling our body. Plus, the more relaxed we are the easier it is to sense tension in our connective tissue and via that tension the weight of whatever body part is hanging downwards.

Tai Ji

Practicing Tai Ji I use my feet to tell me when I have shifted fully from one position to another. I can feel when my weight is fully on one foot, or when body has shifted so that the front and heel of my front foot are pressing down evenly. Part of this is relaxing my feet enough that I can notice changes in pressure where my foot contacts the floor.

Another part of this is “shaping” or positioning my foot so that it is naturally stable. Yet another part is moving slowly enough so that I have time to both feel what my feet are telling me and to respond to what I sense.

Being able to feel my feet I can use them to tell me which foot my center is over and exactly where in relation to my feet my center is. I can then tell when my center is where I want it to be.

Applying this to a static yoga pose like Warrior 1, I can try bending my front knee. As I do so, if I feel the forces acting through my front foot I can move my foot forwards more or back so that those forces press evenly through the front and back of that foot. When this happens I’ve got a pretty good indication that my shin is vertical or that my knee is over my foot.

Yoga

Carrying this body awareness upwards from my feet, I can then focus on feeling my pelvis and hips. I can either pull my front leg hip back or my back leg hip forwards so that my hips are square to the front. (I’m still in Warrior 1 pose.) I can then adjust my feet accordingly so that there is even pressure through the front and heel of the front foot and through the inner and outer arch of the back foot.

For a more finely tuned pose, I can brace my front foot so that my front leg acts like a buttress for the pelvis, and then I can relax my hip muscles so that my pelvis “naturally” faces the front.

Practicing Slow Movement So That We Have the Option of Moving Fast

Having practiced feeling my body while moving slowly, it is then easier to carry that feeling into doing movements quickly. I can practice a Tai Ji sequence quickly while carrying the same feeling from doing it slowly. Or I can enter straight into a pose like Warrior 1 and find the sweet spot immediately without all the fiddling around.

Making Muscle Tissue Smart

Focusing on feeling, whether moving slowly or quickly, the sensation or experience is of the parts of the body positioning themselves. Muscle memory kicks in. However, this can be more than the muscles following the same groove over and over again. It is the muscles finding the best groove depending on what is happening at the time. We give our muscles a rudimentary intelligence or consciousness so that they can respond in the best way possible depending on the circumstances as they are now.

The smarter we make our muscles and the parts of our body in general, the easier it then is to get our body to do what we want it to do. We can then lead our body by looking for the feeling of what we are trying to do, or by simply having a clear idea.

Chataranga Dandasana

What is the correct height for Chataranga Dandasana (Four Limbed Staff Pose or Push up Position to you and me?) How high of the ground should our body be? What should we do with the shoulders or shoulder blades? How should the hands be positioned? Where do the elbows go?

It’s pretty complex.

I prefer simple.

Rather than remembering where everything should go I prefer to practice feeling the parts in isolation and then adding them together one by one in such a way that each part added provides the foundation for the next part. Being able to feel my body I can then position it based on what I feel and what I am trying to do.
So how do we build a Chataranga Dandasana, one that feels good and is safe in the doing?

From the Ground Up

One way is to start with everything on the ground.

This could be like building a bridge or an elevated highway. The pylons are built first and then from there truss work can be built either side of each pylon to support the framework for the road bed. Once that’s in place the road bed can be added section by section, working outwards from each pylon.

Once the framework is complete and self supporting (the cement poured,) then the truss work or temporary “scaffolding” can be removed… and used to help construct the next section of road way.

Instead of moving from plank pose down into Chataranga, we can work from the ground up. And instead of lifting everything up at once, we can practice lifting one element at a time, securing it and then using it to help lift the next element.

Measuring By Using Our Senses

Another aspect of building Chataranga or any pose for that matter is being able to feel the parts of our body and how they relate.

The same is true in any engineering work. Everything has to be measured in order to position it, so that it all fits together and works as required. In that way we have roads and bridges that don’t fall down if a truck carrying too much weight uses it.

Rapid Gaining of Experience

One of the ways that structure, relationship and proportions of a construct are decided is from experience. Based on experience (whether from previously designed and built structures or from experiment,) engineers know what works and what doesn’t. In some cases, they have massive safety factors so that they err on the side of safety, to much stuff, as opposed to on the side of failure.

So that we can measure while we build our pose, we can use our senses and feel each part of our body. So that we know where to place each part, we can gain experience by building the pose over and over again, each time noticing what our senses are telling us and then building on that experience. If we do this from the very beginning then each time we do the pose we can work at making it better, or at using less effort to do the same thing, or we can work at using our whole body to support what we are doing.

To build a pose and experience it, we can simply practice moving in and out of it repeatedly, perhaps with our breath, but more importantly while feeling our body so that we learn what feels good and is good and what isn’t.

Focusing on the Arms

For Chataranga Dandaasana, our arms can be considered our main support. While on the floor we can practice positioning our arms and shoulders. We can widen the shoulder blades and then pull the elbows back. We can then use our arms to push our hands into the floor. So that this is easier, we can keep the pelvis on the floor.

At this stage we are only concerned with lifting the chest by using the arms, and even then lifting the chest so that the shoulders end up at the same height as the elbows.

The smoother we move and the slower we move the easier it is to then learn to feel the parts of our body and how they relate.

For rapid onset of experience, we can lift up while inhaling and lower down while exhaling. So that we can continue to feel our body while doing this we can lift up slowly and smoothly and lower down in the same way.

If we practice lowering down smoothly we are practicing the same action as lowering into Chataranga but from a lower position. In both cases we practice feeling and controlling our body. If we can do both then we need not worry about what position the elbows, shoulder blades and arms should be in, we can choose a position and put them there and based on what we are feeling adjust this if necessary. See side box for soap box speech.

One position may very well be “ideal” but if all you practice is that one position then you’re not being very flexible. nor are you exercising your body’s full potential.

Rather than getting stuck on one ideal position, instead define a position you want to go to. It may be the ideal or a variation of the ideal. And then go there.

The “ideal” is one single definition. You might not even know if it is the ideal, you just have your teachers or many teachers word on it. so why not explore for yourself to find out what your ideal is.

How do you define an ideal pose? One that feels good and doesn’t have any negative after affects after wards.

The thing is, the ideal may change as your body changes. (I heard one guy, resigned or dedicated to his marriage saying “I know I’ll be married to five different women… I accept that and I accept them.” He was talking about the change his partner will go through even as he himself changes in the course of marriage.)

If you can feel your body then you can feel your ideal as well as define it on any given day no matter what mood you are in or how your body feels.

Lifting the Pelvis

Once used to lifting the chest and feeling the arms, we can then try lifting the chest and pelvis at the same time. Prior to this we might practice engage the abs once we have our chest lifted.

Like building a bridge, we don’t just throw or drop components into place, we slowly lift and place so that we can make adjustments as we do so.

So even if we only lift our chest and pelvis a little bit, that’s fine, at least we’re getting off the ground. Better yet, we’re feeling our body while we do so. And even better we’re learning that we can do instead of worrying about what we can’t do. (It’s too difficult…)

Adding the Knees and Taking a Break

Once used to that we can lift our knees as well. They don’t have to be straight, just lifted.

We can take a break if we need to and then get into it all again.

One way of taking a break is to move into downward dog.
Before doing so we can lay on the ground and practice pressing our knees straight and the back of our thighs and shins up. Then we can carry this into down dog.

Each inhale we can press our legs back.

We can also practice using our spinal erectors to bend our spine back, again while inhaling and relaxing while exhaling.

Another way we can take a break from Chataranga is to practice Shalabhasana. We can do this in stages also. We can lift and lower our head, slowly, then we can add our upper ribcage, lower ribcage and to this we can add straightening knees and elbows and reaching arms and legs back together.

When lifting head and ribcage we can reach our back ribs forwards.

Holding and Then Making Changes

Once we’ve had a break, the next step we can do is to practice holding for a breath (an inhale and an exhale) and then lowering. We can practice this while lifting only the chest, and then chest and pelvis and then including the knees. With regular practice we can skip the intermediate steps and go straight to lifting all parts together.

Once we have experience and ability to do and hold we can then work at making changes. Can we go higher and lower, forwards and backwards. We can experiment with shoulder blades together and spread apart or somewhere in-between. (Spread the shoulder blades first, keep the feeling and bring them together slightly.)

Generally, with the arms forward, the shoulder blades can be spread both for stability (using the serratus anterior) and for mobility of the arms with respect to the shoulder blades.

With the arms down or with the elbows beside the body and slightly behind it, we can retract or bring the shoulder blades towards each other.

If lifting up from the ground, since the arms will end up forwards relative to the body we can position the shoulder blades wide.

If lowering down from plank, we can bring the shoulder blades together.

These are suggestions only. I would suggest experimenting, feel the results and choose based on what you experience.

Feeling Forces

Now if we are really sensitive, we can feel the way our body weight presses through our arms. We can also feel the forces and the way they pass through our forearms. We can position our palms shoulder width and then position our elbows by feel so that they press straight down through the hands. Likewise we can feel any forces passing parallel our upper arm bone. We can feel our shoulder blade and how it relates to our ribcage.

Doing Chataranga Sensibly

Perhaps the main reason people get injured when doing poses like Chataranga Dandasana is that they do it over and over again without paying attention to what their arms are doing. The better we can feel our body and the more attention we pay to feeling it while moving it the more likely we are to make our movements safe. At the very least we can notice when things aren’t right and not do what we are doing.

Prior to that, if we work at building a pose gradually and repeatedly so that we experience it and understand our body, we can then continue to do the pose and enjoy the pose with out hurting ourselves in the process.