Janu Sirsasana C - Hip Openings

[Guest guest]

That's something I would like to hear about. I

sometimes hear that what keeps people out of lotus is hips

that still need work. I wonder what asanas are

supposed to specifically work on opening the hips?

[Guest guest]

I wholeheartedly agree with sixtinian. Do not

force any pose at the expense of the knees. The knee

joint is a hinge joint, meant only to open and close.

It's ability to rotate with integrity is minimal. I've

met quite a few yoga practioners (ashtanga as well as

some Iyengar) who've had to have knee surgery by

pushing too hard.<br>My sense of "JanuC" is that openness

is required throughout the entire leg--that is from

the hips all the way down to the soles of the feet. I

sprained my left ankle quite badly almost a year ago, and

JanuC is still very difficult on that side, there's a

lot of resistance in the joint. The ankle joint is

fairly complex, something like nine different bones.

<br>The right side of my JanuC however, seems to

challenge the front and inner front of my right

hip/thigh.<br>I've discovered that almost all poses require stable,

strong, and supple hips.<br>A good way to work the hips

in a balanced way is to stay in the standing poses

longer during the warmup section of the series--when I

was recovering from the acute phase of my ankle

injury, I would do the warm up section twice

through.<br><br>Good luck

[Guest guest]

In my view, much of the primary series is devoted

to hip-opening.<br><br>My first teacher always used

to talk about making "baddha konasana thighs" in

trikonasana and parsavakonasa (both regular and parivritti),

and in both warriors. Other clear hip openers are

utthita padangusthasana (both standing and lying), janu

A, and of course baddha konasana. Of course the

hip-opening gets applied in the all of the lotus-like

postures (ardha baddha padma pasch, janu C, marichi B and

D, etc., and of course padmasana itself).<br><br>I

was fortunate, and got into janu C on the first try,

but nevertheless I was not comfortable sitting for

long periods in lotus -- even though I had been

meditating in lotus for about a dozen years up to that time.

But during the first six months of primary series,

lotus-sitting became gradually easier. I believe that the

aforementioned asanas did more to help my lotus than diret

sitting in lotus ever did.<br><br>So hip-opening seems to

be useful no matter where we stsrt out.<br><br>Peace

and Good,<br>Homer

[Guest guest]

The safest hip openers are right there in the

Primary Series -- all the standing postures are the

safest way to gradually over time open the hips -

trikonasan,parvrtta trikonasan, parsvottasansan, vira 1 & 2, etc. for

a beginner practicioner -- doing the sun salutes A

& B plus the standing postures 6 days a week &

closing or modified closing (perhaps with variation on

lotus if necessary) will begin to open hips, strengthen

the legs and prepare the body for what's to come.....

[Guest guest]

<< ...doing the sun salutes A & B plus the

standing postures 6 days a week & closing or modified

closing... >><br><br>Yes. That's exactly the sort of

"short form" I've chosen to do from monday to friday: I

do suns A & B 5x each, then the standing pose

sequence, then I go on "stilling the waters" - as John

Scott poetically calls it - with the padmasana series

before lying down flat on the mat into savasana. On the

weekend I do the rest.<br><br>Since I am a born snail

when it comes to practising astanga, it takes me up to

1 hour to complete suns A & B + standing poses +

padmasana sequence + savasana. Just the amount of time I'm

ready (at least for now) to take off for my astanga

practice during the week.

[Guest guest]

That makes sense. Its all built-in to the

series.<br>Thanks to everyone for comments on hip openers.<br><br>I

know this is a bit simplistic and maybe not totally

correct, but I have heard it said the purpose (or one

purpose) of asana practice is to get to where you can sit

in lotus comfortably for hours at a time so that you

can work on meditation.<br><br>Lotus does seem to be

very difficult for lots of people, including me, which

makes it tempting to force the knees, which I'm sure

can be dangerous. But with practice, I'm sure its all

coming.

[Guest guest]

<< I know this is a bit simplistic and

maybe not totally correct, but I have heard it said the

purpose (or one purpose) of asana practice is to get to

where you can sit in lotus comfortably for hours at a

time so that you can work on meditation.

>><br><br>That's not a bit simplistic and totally correct.

[Guest guest]

shining skull,<br><br>I've have been taught that

one should always do all the finishing postures when

practising, even after only 5+5 sun salutations. Think that

you are missing out from shoulderstand and headstand,

the Queen and King of Asanas. If you have only one

hour, maybe you should consider doing only part of the

standing sequence in order to be able to do the full

finishing sequence with inversions.

[Guest guest]

indeed, physical postures bring the body to

perfect functioning and train us to let sensation drift

from the mind. as a result there is no distraction

from the body in meditation or any other activity.

pain and pleasure are recognized as illusory and are

transcended. any dis-ease not removed from the body through

yoga practice is accepted with contentment. our

experience in the manifest world becomes effortless. we can

stop reacting to sensation, emotion, memory, *all mind

fluctuation, and are free to self-realize as pure

consciousness. asana is referred to in patanjali's description

of the ashtanga in the most succinct way, with no

specific sequence of postures mentioned.<br><br>when

people injure themselves in asana practice, and do so on

a regular basis, something fundamental has gone

awry. patanjali's criteria for a yoga posture --

stability, comfort, release of all effort, mind in

meditation -- should prevent any injury.<br><br>practicing

as the ashtanga teaches gives the body the chance to

adjust in its own time. forcing the body goes against

satya, samtosha, ahimsa. we must acknowledge the truth

of the body and be content with it. to deny the

truth and pretend one is in a body that is more

flexible than it is, not to be content with the truth in

any given moment, causes one to force and strain and

injure oneself.<br><br>yoga as cheerleader camp, yoga as

darwinian contest, yoga as status symbol to strive for --

this is not yoga at all.<br><br>still think it's all

good that yoga proliferates in popular culture. any

backlash from those who will inevitably throw it into the

back of the closet along with the rollerblades, fad

diets, etc., is of no consequence.