I've started reading B.K.S. Iyengar's Light on Life and the section I read last night spoke a lot about cultivating a sense of self-awareness by listening to and learning from the body. Things like this, coincidences, I guess, seem to be happening more and more regularly and I'm not sure if it's because I just didn't take the time to notice before or if there is some truth to the idea that what you think can really affect the events in your life. I’m going with it’s a combination of the two.
One thing really stood out for me while reading last night. Iyengar made a critical distinction between self-awareness and self-consciousness. They are two completely different concepts. According to Iyengar, "self-consciousness is when the mind constantly worries and wonders about itself, doubting and being self-absorbed. Self-awareness is the opposite of self-consciousness. When you are self-aware, you are fully within yourself, not outside yourself looking in. You are aware of what you are doing without ego or pride."
Practicing yoga with a mind that is open and observant and asks "What am I doing" and "Why am I doing it" is how we move toward a greater sense of self-awareness and away from self-consciousness.
Showing posts with label self-awareness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-awareness. Show all posts
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Proprioception
Proprioception is a term I first heard during my yoga anatomy class with Shanna Linn. It is derived from the Latin word proprius, meaning 'one's own' or 'perception'. Proprioception is a third distinct sensory modality that indicates whether the body is moving with the required effort and determines where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.
Though this sounds straight-forward, we all know where our feet are in relation to our knees, but I think for many of us it's something we take for granted. Despite being a dancer, I credit yoga with honing this third sensory modality.
Let's use tadasana or mountain pose as an example. On the gross level the body is standing upright, legs under hips, arms alongside the body. Seems simple, right? Boy, was I wrong! Tadasana is actually a very challenging pose and requires a keen sense of proprioception. Feet are parallel (which is tricky in its own right) with the second toes aligned under the ASIS bones. Toes spread wide and weight is in the heels of the feet yet you still press through all four corners of the feet. Quads are contracted but the legs are not hyper-extended. The pelvis is neither in dog (forward) tilt nor cat (backward) tilt; rather it's balanced perfectly between the two creating a sense of weightlessness. Whew! And that's just the lower body (and still there are more lower body cues!).
For most people, their ASIS bones are foreign territory even though we all have them. Spreading the toes is actually incredibly difficult especially if you spend the day in pointy-toe heels. Keeping the weight in the heels while still pressing down through all four corners is much more challenging than it sounds. And I still struggle with only contracting my right quadriceps muscles (my right leg hyper-extends more than my left).
The light at the end of the tunnel is that yoga helps us to develop a keener sense of proprioception. When you first begin practicing, your teacher will most likely focus on the gross cues - hip distance, pelvic tilt - and then build upon those moving to the more subtle cues. And as you continue your practice you'll begin to notice you can more easily find the gross cues in your body and even begin to notice other things going on in your body that your teacher might not even cue. You begin to develop a deeper sense of self-awareness, which is beneficial in more ways than one.
As we cultivate a greater sense of our physical body, I think we also cultivate a greater sense of our presence among others. Learning how a small movement in the knee can remove the hyper-extension in the leg makes us more aware that subtle changes can have a huge impact. And isn't that true in life as well? Small changes, subtle movements can have a profound effect. If we think, speak, and act with more awareness of not only our own self but also of others, we make better choices and have a more positive impact.
Though this sounds straight-forward, we all know where our feet are in relation to our knees, but I think for many of us it's something we take for granted. Despite being a dancer, I credit yoga with honing this third sensory modality.
Let's use tadasana or mountain pose as an example. On the gross level the body is standing upright, legs under hips, arms alongside the body. Seems simple, right? Boy, was I wrong! Tadasana is actually a very challenging pose and requires a keen sense of proprioception. Feet are parallel (which is tricky in its own right) with the second toes aligned under the ASIS bones. Toes spread wide and weight is in the heels of the feet yet you still press through all four corners of the feet. Quads are contracted but the legs are not hyper-extended. The pelvis is neither in dog (forward) tilt nor cat (backward) tilt; rather it's balanced perfectly between the two creating a sense of weightlessness. Whew! And that's just the lower body (and still there are more lower body cues!).
For most people, their ASIS bones are foreign territory even though we all have them. Spreading the toes is actually incredibly difficult especially if you spend the day in pointy-toe heels. Keeping the weight in the heels while still pressing down through all four corners is much more challenging than it sounds. And I still struggle with only contracting my right quadriceps muscles (my right leg hyper-extends more than my left).
The light at the end of the tunnel is that yoga helps us to develop a keener sense of proprioception. When you first begin practicing, your teacher will most likely focus on the gross cues - hip distance, pelvic tilt - and then build upon those moving to the more subtle cues. And as you continue your practice you'll begin to notice you can more easily find the gross cues in your body and even begin to notice other things going on in your body that your teacher might not even cue. You begin to develop a deeper sense of self-awareness, which is beneficial in more ways than one.
As we cultivate a greater sense of our physical body, I think we also cultivate a greater sense of our presence among others. Learning how a small movement in the knee can remove the hyper-extension in the leg makes us more aware that subtle changes can have a huge impact. And isn't that true in life as well? Small changes, subtle movements can have a profound effect. If we think, speak, and act with more awareness of not only our own self but also of others, we make better choices and have a more positive impact.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)