EMBODIED YOGA PRINCIPLES POSTURE GUIDE, Slides of Yoga

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EMBODIED YOGA PRINCIPLES POSTURE GUIDE

Page Content

1 Cover

3 Forward

4 Table of contents

5 Purpose of EYP

6 The EYP Framework

7 Postures?

8 Introductory inquiries

12 What makes it “embodied”?

13 General posture guidelines

19 yin and yang

22 YANG POSTURES

93 YIN POSTURES

149 Seated poses

153 Micro poses

161 4 elements

164 PARTNER POSTURES

207 Extras section

Table of Contents

THE PURPOSE OF EMBODIED YOGA PRINCIPLES The purpose of all EYP practice is to:

- Gain personal insight and build pragmatic life skills (it’s educational) or to put it another way: - To (re)access a wider range of embodied possibilities or to put it another way: - To create awareness and choice all through asana practice

“Postures”? The words “posture” and “pose”* are used here for ease but this is not really the most accurate way to think of the forms within the EYP model. Each “posture” is a gateway to access an archetypal essence, and while knowing the forms throughly can be very helpful for revealing tendencies though seeing deviations, it’s not the exact shape itself that really matters. This is why they can all be done in a chair without or adapted to suit different bodies without lessening their impact (but don’t go changing them to suit your neurosis either new teachers!). Because of their deeply resonant archetypal nature they are also surprisingly powerful-emotionally, and in generating insights. This is by design and not to be underestimated. Each "posture" is actually dynamic, and can be practised as movements on the mat (movements with a direction and quality that could be mapped in say Laban** dance analysis notation), or in any other form (see our walking yoga work for example). Often we use the traditional Buddhist model of practising each in the four positions of walking, sitting, standing and lying down. Due to the nature of the archetypes however some are better done from one position - e.g. rest is best done lying down still, and enthusiasm tends to be standing and with lots of movement! They are also "postures" in the sense of attitudes, being affective frames, cognitive frames, relational frames, perceptual frames and behavioural frames. This means they are the implicit “ground” of how we feel, think, see, relate and act. The purpose of EYP is got create awareness of unconscious frames and add choice. They are a way in accessing the substrates of out being. This is no small thing, and this is why they can be used to work with many wide ranging themes. I dislike the word as it’s used by many very loosely, but you could also call each an “energy”. More dryly one could refer to them as "somatic structures to aid psychological enquiry”... but that's a mouthful… or more poetically as an "architecture of the soul". *NB: Interestingly “posture” and “pose” also don’t really have traditional Sanskrit usages, with “seat” being the best translation for “asana”, and other words being used for flowing and spontaneous practices. ** a form of movement analysis used in dance - e.g. “direct, linear and sustained”, vs “indirect, circular and abrupt”

Introductory inquiries The next few pages have examples of inquiries which can be used as an introduction to an Embodied Yoga Principles workshop/class. Offering simple postures which people are likely to be familiar with from regular yoga classes and pointing to HOW people do them, is often an easy place to start (i.e. from the “known”). You can explore the quality of effort made - a little or a lot - and ask them to reflect up on whether that is familiar for them, is that how they usually practice, is that how they are in life? I.e. the “familiarity” part of the classic EYP method. This gives people the fundamental idea that what they do on the mat reflects what they do off the mat. The next thing you can add is, “how would you like to be in life?” which gently introduces the idea of embodiment - that we can build a way of being on the mat, for off the mat. _ “how we are” is a simple definition of embodiment in fact_

CONTRAST

- contrasting trying and allowing (yang vs yin) can be done in many postures YANG - Trying Applying more effort to reach forwards YIN - Allowing Letting go. Relaxation allowing head, neck, spine and shoulder to relax. 10 Other poses can be used, e.g. a single leg forward bend (janu sirsasana), side bend (e.g. para sukhasana), or a simple seated twist. What matters is contrasting allowing vs trying. Standing poses can also be used but may be less suitable for all in a class Yang Yin

Other possible opening inquiries

• Gentle hatha/vinyasa yoga sequence Establish body awareness and then bring awareness to “how” people are doing poses
• Cat-cow Flexion and extension of the spine and “creating” postures from that. Then: “notice how are you doing it”, “now choose another way to do it”
• awareness and choice - the heart of EYP and all embodied work
• yin (flexion) and yang (extension) can also be explored this way
• can be done sitting, standing or on all fours (most typical)
• Freedom vs form Establish a form then encourage freedom from the form, or breakdown stages of different possibilities until free from the form. “Just do some yoga” is another way into this (starting with freedom). This can also be used as an enquiry into your relationship to authority - very useful when teaching in the early stages of a workshop to avoid both habitual conformity and blind rebellion - creativity and more.
• “Do yoga like your life is!” Then, “do yoga how you’d like it to be”. This is a simple yet profound enquiry that can throw people right into the deep-end and highlight some painful things, so take care with this. I will do it in a fairly short light-hearted way if an introductory enquiry and in a deeper longer way in an extended enquiry (see later in this guide).

GENERAL POSTURE GUIDELINES Comfort and body types EYP postures should never be more than a little physically uncomfortable, though they may be emotionally so and yang poses should have some effort in them. If the poses are too demanding physically people will not be able to focus on the subtler feelings beneath screaming muscles* and using the pose as an enquiry. Postures are largely non-athletic and can be adapted to different body types and physical limitations once a teacher understands the essence of the posture. Disability, pregnancy, unusual body types etc; need never be a barrier to practising EYP with a well-trained and considerate teacher, though people are always free to choose to skip a pose if they like (true for any reason, any time in fact). *why a more intense style of yoga can be used NOT to feel (as a sad aside) The next section the common patterns of the usual EYP spine, feet and hand positions. Many postures share such features so it's actually simpler to learn the forms than there being 26 postures may suggest! These can also be used in daily life as part of micro-poses (see later section on this, as while it’s often socially unacceptable to say pull a warrior pose, you can usually subtly change one’s spine or hand position without it being obvious or strange.

SPINE POSITION NB: Sometimes I show this from kneeling cat-cow which is familiar to most yogis, and often illustrated the point clearer than in standing. Spine flexed Yin spine position: e.g. receiving posture Spine extended Yang spine position seen in many yang poses, e.g. giving posture cat (shows yin spine) cow (shows yang)

Feet and legs - yin base Here the weight is on the back leg. 60%, is ideal, and there should be some width, but this should not be physically uncomfortable for people or stress the knee. The important thing is just that the weight is back.

Pics: yin base from both sides

In a handful of poses the weight is evenly weighted (e.g. care and support poses), and in some the feet are in a straight line not wide (e.g. warrior and entering), but many EYP poses uses one of these two bases.

Yin - Released Completely relaxed (including wrist)

• as in letting go posture Yang - Firm Fingers together
• e.g. warrior or authority HAND POSITIONS Yang - Extended open Fingers spread widely away from each other -
• e.g. taking up space or giving Yang - Fist Firm but not tense fist
• as in no posture Yin - Receptive Open without excess effort
• e.g. open or rest posture There’s just a few hand positions used in EYP, but like the eyes, breath and spine they’re quite critical to a pose. In fact, if someone can only move one hand you could do an entire EYP class with them! There are more complex mudras which are used in classical yoga which can also be employed and while there’s likely some truth in such systems there’s also dogma so use with care.

Yin-yang

Yin yang overview Yang

• posture: weight forwards and up
• movement: more, linear, direct - doing more. Action
• direction: up and out
• speed: fast
• muscle tone: firm
• eyes: open, focused
• spine: extended
• breath: pushing and faster
• voice: firm, loud, more sound
• hands: extended, often palms down, or fists
• exterior of body
• warm _- broadly “expressive"
• emotions: anger and joy
• parts you could hit people with / protect yourself with (lateral surface)
• sympathetic nervous system_ Some general guidelines for yin and yang in the body: Yin
• posture: weight backwards and down
• movement: less, circular, indirect - doing less. Rest
• direction: down and in
• speed: slow
• muscle tone: relaxed
• eyes: peripheral, or closed
• spine: flexed
• breath: releasing and slower
• voice: soft, quiet, less sound
• hands: closer to body, often palms up or loose
• interior of body
• cool
• broadly “receptive" _- emotions: sadness and fear
• parts you may like being kissed (medial surface)
• parasympathetic nervous system_ In paired work competition and cooperation can be seen as more yang and yin respectively, and yang seeks differentiation and yin communion in relationship more broadly.