Day 16
Timer on…
Well, I did the actual series five hours ago, but Nick and I had to go to a dinner, and I did it while I was preparing my dishes for the dinner, and then we had to drive there, so I had to wait until now to write this.
Nothing really exciting happened today during the series. Garudasana came back to haunt me and not work so well on the left standing foot…I was only able to hold it for 36 Kapalabhati breaths, but…the other side was fine…I’m not sure what is going on there.
So…since nothing exciting or interesting happened today that led me to a theme on what to write today; I thought I might quote what the chakra that occurs the most in this series stands for…that would be the Manipura chakra, as we discovered yesterday when doing the quantitative counting of the poses in the series.
And, again, this quote is coming from the Noa Belling book THE YOGA HANDBOOK:
“Chakra 3: Manipura (solar plexus). Color: yellow. Element: fire. Endocrine system: none; it is instead associated with the largest bundle of nerves, the solar plexus. Vital organ: pancreas, which influences the stomach and liver. General function: the emotions, relating first to the relationship with the self and extending to relationships with others. This center can also be understood as being related to awareness of self.”
Well, I guess my intuition yesterday was, mostly, accurate. That area feels as though it is full of nerves, and in voice training it is where we are taught that all our breath should begin, and, obviously, good art/voice/music comes with emotion…so…I suppose it is natural that this chakra’s general function is the emotions. And, if one’s emotions are awry, like when one is mourning, then it makes sense to warm-up, practice and revisit the area that needs the most release and attention…and, in this case, that would be the emotions, especially the emotion of sadness.
Okay, so each pose of this series also has meanings for the Chakra Manipura, so…I guess it would be good to start examining each of these:
· Flying Cow: Januhastasana/Bidalasana/Gavasana = Flying Cow is a mixture of several poses, so we’ll look at Bidalasana (The Cat Stretch) first, and because it is detailed in the Noa Belling THE YOGA HANDBOOK. “This posture resembles a cat stretching and may also be referred to as Chakravakasana or Utthita Kummerasana. It offers a gentle and effective way to warm up and stretch the back and abdominal muscles. Bidalasana is a good warm-up for the spine to prepare for back bends.”
· Benefits of Flying Cow (from the Bidalasana page): “Relaxes the back, particularly the lower spine, Can relieve backache and fatigue, the full Cat Stretch relieves tension in the lower back and aligns the vertebrae in the area, Improves blood flow to the spine and spinal nerves, opens the chest area, helpful for asthma and other respiratory disorders, strengthens, tones, stretches the abdominal and back muscles, massages the abdominal organs, improves spinal flexibility, helpful for constipation, helpful for diabetes, very beneficial during pregnancy…”
Well, that’s all for today, but it is fun to examine the fact that every pose has a lot going for it…I hope to learn more as the rest of the 69 Day Journey progresses…
Timer on…
Well, I did the actual series five hours ago, but Nick and I had to go to a dinner, and I did it while I was preparing my dishes for the dinner, and then we had to drive there, so I had to wait until now to write this.
Nothing really exciting happened today during the series. Garudasana came back to haunt me and not work so well on the left standing foot…I was only able to hold it for 36 Kapalabhati breaths, but…the other side was fine…I’m not sure what is going on there.
So…since nothing exciting or interesting happened today that led me to a theme on what to write today; I thought I might quote what the chakra that occurs the most in this series stands for…that would be the Manipura chakra, as we discovered yesterday when doing the quantitative counting of the poses in the series.
And, again, this quote is coming from the Noa Belling book THE YOGA HANDBOOK:
“Chakra 3: Manipura (solar plexus). Color: yellow. Element: fire. Endocrine system: none; it is instead associated with the largest bundle of nerves, the solar plexus. Vital organ: pancreas, which influences the stomach and liver. General function: the emotions, relating first to the relationship with the self and extending to relationships with others. This center can also be understood as being related to awareness of self.”
Well, I guess my intuition yesterday was, mostly, accurate. That area feels as though it is full of nerves, and in voice training it is where we are taught that all our breath should begin, and, obviously, good art/voice/music comes with emotion…so…I suppose it is natural that this chakra’s general function is the emotions. And, if one’s emotions are awry, like when one is mourning, then it makes sense to warm-up, practice and revisit the area that needs the most release and attention…and, in this case, that would be the emotions, especially the emotion of sadness.
Okay, so each pose of this series also has meanings for the Chakra Manipura, so…I guess it would be good to start examining each of these:
· Flying Cow: Januhastasana/Bidalasana/Gavasana = Flying Cow is a mixture of several poses, so we’ll look at Bidalasana (The Cat Stretch) first, and because it is detailed in the Noa Belling THE YOGA HANDBOOK. “This posture resembles a cat stretching and may also be referred to as Chakravakasana or Utthita Kummerasana. It offers a gentle and effective way to warm up and stretch the back and abdominal muscles. Bidalasana is a good warm-up for the spine to prepare for back bends.”
· Benefits of Flying Cow (from the Bidalasana page): “Relaxes the back, particularly the lower spine, Can relieve backache and fatigue, the full Cat Stretch relieves tension in the lower back and aligns the vertebrae in the area, Improves blood flow to the spine and spinal nerves, opens the chest area, helpful for asthma and other respiratory disorders, strengthens, tones, stretches the abdominal and back muscles, massages the abdominal organs, improves spinal flexibility, helpful for constipation, helpful for diabetes, very beneficial during pregnancy…”
Well, that’s all for today, but it is fun to examine the fact that every pose has a lot going for it…I hope to learn more as the rest of the 69 Day Journey progresses…
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