Correctly

December 22, 2009

Sat Nam , The cobra is a type of yogi push up. Think of your sheep skin as the

beach and as you go forward from child pose let your nose hover over the sheep

skin then as you come up into cobra think of yourslf as a wave crashing against

a sea wall then as you go back to child see yourself as the wave receeding back

to the sea. Get into the flow and yes straighten the arms to full extension . If

you do not grip you butocks in cobra but allow them to relax and let the tail

bone fall freely towards the pubic bone then you will not hurt your lower back.

Also plant the hands on the floor and before you lift up draw the shoulder back

towards the buttocks so that the chest can extend through the gateway of the

shoulders thus allowing the coiling action of the spine to begin. In the

criscross think of the navel center 3 fingers below the belly button connecting

with the 4 lowest vertbrate. Think of a drop of golden liquid connecting and

dripping form the

navel to the spine . Yes the lowe back should be on the floor and mulbandh

should be engaged. Sat Nam Wahe Guru keep up

" The first sign of self love is when we put sadhana before everything else.The

first sign of self hatred is when we put everything else in front of sadhana. "

Siri Singh Sahib "

December 23, 2009

Sat Nam! and thank you. This helps some. The book doesn't have me doing cobra

from child's pose, but from just flat on the stomach, but I understand what you

are saying and it seems to be evolving that way for me.

Criss-Cross has really been a challenge for me. I have noticed a fearful

feeling before doing it, and the entire time I feel like I only have " so long "

before I will have to give up and I don't want to give up. In order to apply

mulbandh (though the directions doesn't say to do so), I have to bring my legs

up to about 60 degrees. The picture has the legs about 2 inches from the floor.

Is it normal to feel so much pain in this exercise. The other ab exercises in

this series causes no pain and I can feel myself progressing in ability and

speed. After doing the criss-cross (though I cannot do it for the full 2

minutes straight... I have to start and stop) I am shaking all over and my hips

and lower back feel tight. Another thing is I have a real hard time

straightening my legs in these poses, and most of the time keep them slightly

bent. I really want to rid myself of this fear in this kriya. It makes me sad.

I wonder about my scoliosis. It is serious and affects the 5th lumbar for the

most part. I wonder if that is my problem here.

Kelli

January 3, 2010

Hi Kelli,

I'm admiring your can-do spirit, but don't hurt yourself! It isn't correct to

feel such pain when you do the crossing legs and you don't need to be stressing

out your scoliosis like that! To be able to do the low criss-cross takes the

strength and bility to realy pull the lower back down to the floor behind the

navel. If you want to work on building up, do modifications. Try it with a

bolster under your hips, or even your hands to see what works (criss-crossing

hands at a later date). A different effect would be to try the criss-crossing of

arms and leg with the legs perpendicular to the floor- that should be more

doable for you. Ravi and Ana do leg criss-crosses at that height in their Navel

Power DVD, and they are terrific (that goes for Ravi and Ana, and the

criss-crosses!)

Kundaliniyoga , " hillfolkmama " <kudzumountain wrote:

>

> Sat Nam! and thank you. This helps some. The book doesn't have me doing

cobra from child's pose, but from just flat on the stomach, but I understand

what you are saying and it seems to be evolving that way for me.

> Criss-Cross has really been a challenge for me. I have noticed a fearful