For my love, Jessi!

Today, after class ended I called Jessi to check in. We ended up talking about yoga for quite some time. How wonderful! She had a few questions that I wanted to post the answers to. If you all ever have questions - let me know and I’ll do my best to find out the answer!

Jessi and I talked about being open in the hips - Jessi is much more open than I. She asked - but Corey, I have a hard time doing just a seated forward bend. Why is that?

I realize that I answered this question completely wrong, on the phone with you love. I talked about your quads being tight -when in reality the focus is on your hamstrings. I should’ve asked you about your forward fold - can you stand up straight, then bend at the hips, and let your hands come to the ground? When you do this, can you touch the ground or your feet? Standing forward fold and seated forward bend work the hamstrings. So, what I’d suggest to lengthen them, is more folding and bending! When you’re doing the standing fold, try and put more weight into the balls of your feet. That’ll help lengthen a bit. When you’re seated, you can put a strap or any long piece of cloth (sheet? pillow case?) around your feet and use that as resistance to pull your body closer but still keep your back straight. You can do these stretches everyday!

 Jessi also told a story about going to a yoga class where her friend was corrected in front of everyone about how to do Cobra. Cobra with arms straight or cobra with bent arms, was the theme of the correction. Jessi and I talked about the fact that Cobra requires a lot of strength (as does downward facing dog) and that sometimes people cheat in Cobra by straightening their arms and letting their bodies sag.

Cobra, arms bent, belly lifted, shoulders down

Cobra, arms straight - everything is sagging!

 

Cobra, arms straight, stomach lifted, shoulders down and back

 
I think some teachers prefer students to build strength in cobra by keeping their arms bent and really feeling the sensations of keeping the stomach lifted, shoulders down, feet engaged. One thing we have a tendency to do as well is to lock the elbows (see the middle picture- how I locked my elbows?) and that’s not good for anyone! I’ve seen very experienced people do cobra with a slight bend in their elbow to keep it soft and active.

Cobra arms bent, stomach engaged, shoulders could be a bit more back

Cobra, arms straight, stomach sagging, could be pressuring the lower back, shoulders pinching the neck

Cobra, arms straight, stomach lifted, shoulders back and down, back is arching with the support of the stomach!

So, regardless of how you practice cobra - straight or bent arm - you want to firmly press your feet into the ground (don’t tighten your butt!) press your hands into the ground, let your head come up last, your back will round, lift your stomach and press your shoulder blades down and back, which allows your neck to be free and chest is lifted. Tah-dah!

And one last pose for Jessi! I started to talk about Virasana (Hero pose). This starts out as a stretching pose for most people and is meant to end up as a relaxing pose.

Hero!

Try it!

Knees together, feet apart, butt on the ground, shoulders above hips!

Topics: Uncategorized, Yoga Adventures |

4 Responses to “For my love, Jessi!”

1. Jessica Says:
   October 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

   YES!! What a happy and informative post! I passed the link along to my friend Ginny, since we were wondering about Cobra. Thank you so much.

   I think the pictures of you in the poses really help illustrate your blog and also give us readers some pics of your pretty face! I miss orange leaves and Corey Ann.

   Keep on walking the walk. It was great talking with you today. More soon, yes?

   Thailand, June 2010.

2. Jessica Says:
   October 25th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

   Also, I think I can use a scarf for the forward stretch…I have many and they’re just hanging in my Miami closet without any love.

3. Ginny Says:
   October 25th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

   Hi Corey,
   So…I’m the “friend” in Jessi’s yoga class-the one that was called out. ha. I wanted to say thanks so much for the great info - and pictures! I have one question - can you explain what you mean by stomache lifted in the Cobra pose?
   Thx!

4. Corey Ann Says:
   October 25th, 2009 at 11:21 pm

   Ginny! Yes of course. And I’m sorry your teacher called you out but didn’t properly explain the different options you have in this pose!

   When I said “stomach is lifted” what I meant is that it’s engaged - or contracted. It’s not just “hanging out” - it’s active. If you look at the second and third pictures from straight on, you can see more of a bit of my pants - which is because I am “lifting” or tightening my abs which allows me to raise up higer in the pose. Same for the side view, my stomach is not inactive.

   That’s the best way I can describe it. Does that make sense? The idea is that everything in the torso is active - the back is bending, the abs are flexing/tight, the shoulders are opening, the chest is lifting, the arms are supporting.

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