5 Yoga Poses for Amazing Arms Do these moves to sculpt arms

Yoga helps to calm the mind and spirit, but it also creates absolutely gorgeous arms! These 5 moves from the Women’s HealthBig Book of Yoga by Kathryn Budig will help build strength in your upper back and shoulders without adding bulk. The result: long, lean muscles that will make you want to go sleeveless every single day.

1. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Begin on all fours with your knees hip-width apart and your hands shoulder-width apart. Stack your hips over your knees and your shoulders over your wrists. Walk your hands a few inches in front of your shoulders. Curl your toes under, lift your hips, and straighten your legs. Push into your palms to draw more energy into your lower body to help elevate your pelvis. Press down evenly with all 10 fingers. Keep your arms straight and rotate your outer upper arms inward to broaden your upper back. Draw the front of your rib cage in and press your legs back. Extend your heels away from your toes and pull them toward the floor.

2. Pushup (Chaturanga Dandasana)

Begin in Plank. Extend your gaze forward and keep your front ribs in as you bend your elbows at 90-degree angles. Keep your elbows in and over your wrists, and lower your shoulders in line with your elbows. Keep your gaze extended and your shoulders lifted. Keep your upper back broad and the tips of your shoulder blades drawn down your back.

2. Forearm Plank

Begin on all fours with your forearms parallel to one another and shoulder-width apart on the floor. Curl your toes under and step both feet back until your legs are straight and hip-width apart. Stack your shoulders directly over your elbows. Your shoulders, hips, and heels should all be in one straight line. Keep your front ribs in and tailbone extending toward your heels. Gaze slightly past your fingertips.

4. Dolphin With One-Leg Lift

Begin on all fours. Place your forearms on the mat, shoulder-width apart. Curl your toes under and lift your hips up. Straighten your legs and walk as far as you can toward your hands, keeping your shoulders directly over your elbows. Relax your neck and gaze just slightly forward. Lift one leg high, spread your toes, then repeat on the other side.

5. Side Plank I (Vasisthasana)

Begin in Plank. Bring your left palm to the center of your mat and roll onto the outer edge of your left foot. Stack your right foot on top of your left. Press deeply into your left palm to bring your shoulder away from your earlobe, and stack your right shoulder directly above your left. Engage your obliques by lifting and stacking your hips. Extend your right arm straight up, and gaze sideways or upward. Repeat on the opposite side.

Carl Jung's view of yoga chakra system

http://yogatheoryculturepractice.blogspot.com/2013/04/jungs-interpretation-of-chakra-system.html

Yoga: Theory Culture and Practice

Professor Douglass

April 24, 2013

Introduction

Carl Jung was the first psychologist to relate many of Yoga’s practices and beliefs into Western psychology. Rather than mystisizing Yoga, like much of the popular literature at his time, he studied the psychological themes found in Yoga (Douglass, 2007). I have found that traditional Yogic texts have a way of putting experiences of my own into words that I can relate to. It seems like human nature to give explanations of occurrences that we notice in the world or experience for ourselves. In the West, experiences are typically explained through a scientific process using empirical, observational evidence. Jung, although a Western empiricist, valued Yoga’s experiential mode of learning about the self. He found that Yoga affirmed many of his own personal experiences AND PUT them in cross cultural contexts that he could understand and further explore (Coward, 1985). Although the unconscious is difficult to observe objectively, Jung viewed the unconscious as empirically real and therefore part of the scientific study of the psyche. He believed that to understand the unconscious, one needs to clearly understand his or her individuality, without viewing it through the opinions of society. Yoga was a parallel way for him to understand the psyche (Coward, 1985). To him the study of chakras was a study of symbols that one encounters as they further develop their individuality and awareness of the unconscious (Coward, 1985). It is my purpose to understand some basic concepts of the chakra system, gain an understanding of Jung’s interpretation, and see to what extent the ancient system of chakras is upheld or dismissed by this empirically minded, yet experientially aware individual.

 Kundalini Yoga

The objective of Yoga is to create a totality of balance between the interacting forces of the mind, body, and spirit. Once complete balance is achieved the awakening and development of the human conscious is possible (Muktibodhananda, 2012). Yoga is a way of becoming aware of the distracting influences of human nature so that one can eliminate these desires. Desires come from our karma, which bring stored habits and memories from previous lifetimes (Coward, 2002). Yoga predated Western psychology in the idea of bringing to light what lies in our unconscious. In Yoga, once one takes appropriate steps towards mental and physical cleansing, then one can achieve a state of transcendent consciousness. At this state, a person is said to be one with Brahman, God or the Universe (Coward, 2002).

According to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, to achieve a balance of energies within oneself, one can look to the forces of creation and destruction within the universe. Prana shakti, meaning life force, is one energy within the universe. The other is manas shakti, or mental force. Everything that is created is the union of the two energies and everything that is destroyed is the separation of the energies. So to create a union within oneself, one must bring together the vital life force with the mental force. The imbalance of prana shakti and manas shakti can cause physical or mental disease. In the West, people tend to be weighted with much mental energy, causing a split of the self and symptoms of disharmony such as stress or schizophrenia (Muktibodhananda, 2012).

The process of Kundalini Yoga involves three flows of energy (Muktibodhananda, 2012). In Sanskrit energy flows are CALLED nadis. The three major nadis are the ida nadi, the flow of consciousness, the pingala nadi, the flow of vital energy, and the sushumna, the flow of spiritual energy. These nadis are represented as the negative flow, positive flow, and neutral flow, respectively. Typically the dominant energy alternates between the positive and negative forces, but when a balance can be achieved through Yoga, they both cease to flow and the spiritual sushumna energy rises. When a union of the three flows occurs at the eyebrow chakra, kundalini energy rises through the sushumna channel and ascends from the lowest chakra to the highest chakra. The arousal of kundalini is the ultimate goal of Yoga, which brings one to a state of higher consciousness and liberation (Muktibodhananda, 2012).

A chakra is a “psychic center in the subtle body; circle, wheel or vortex of energy; conjugation point of the nadis” (Yoga magazine glossary, n.d.). Nelson (1994) describes the seven chakras as “a three thousand year old way of integrating body, mind, and spirit…an ancient idea that has passed the test of time” (The chakra system section, para. 1). There has been a movement in the Western world to become better acquainted with the traditions and practices of the East. “Energy healing” has been influencing medicine and psychology is the Western world (Judith, 2004). The chakra system has become an integrated part of a variety of psychotherapies. Although the body of knowledge on the chakra system is great and is becoming more readily available for persons worldwide to access, this comes with the risk of dilution of the true transformative knowledge. Persons may be enthusiastic to “cleanse” their chakras without really knowing what this means (Judith, 2004). There are seven chakras which have come to be associated with different themes in the branch of psychology (Judith, 2004).  The following is a table with the Sanskrit name, the location, and the central issue of the chakra as related to psychological development.

Table 1 Correspondences of the Seven Chakras

	Sanskrit name and meaning	Location	Central issue
Chakra seven	Sahasrana (thousand-fold)	Top of head,cerebral cortex	Awareness
Chakra five	Ajna (to perceive)	Brow	Intuition, Imagination
Chakra five	Vissudha (purification)	Throat	Communication
Chakra four	Anahata (unstruck)	Heart	Love, relationships
Chakra three	Manipura (lusturous gem)	Solar Plexus	Power, will
Chakra two	Svadhisthana (sweetness)	Abdomen, genitals, lower back, hips	Sexuality, emotion
Chakra one	Muladhara (root)	Base of spine	Survival

 Note. Adapted from Eastern body, western mind, psychology and the chakra system as a path to the self, p.10-11, by A. Judith, 2004, Berkley: Celestial Arts.

Symbolic Chakras

The psyche is a rich and complicated aspect of a human being, full of thought, feeling, memory, perception, and imagination. To Jung, these cognitive functions make impressions on both our conscious level, which we are aware of, and our unconscious level, where they remain hidden (Coward, 2002). Yoga philosophy indicates that our unconscious is made up samskaras, or the traces of memory left from the accumulation of an individual’s past lives (Coward, 2002). Rather than receiving memory from reincarnation, Jung believed in the collective unconscious, a collection of memories and intuition from our human ancestral history. The collective unconscious, which may influence individuals without them being aware of it, is brought forth to the conscious in the form of archetypal symbols (Coward, 2002). These symbols bring with them wisdom to the conscious level (Coward, 2002).  Thus, symbols can relate an individual to a society at large and through different eras of time. We relate to symbols by personally identifying with them and viewing them as an aspect of our immediate life. This is our psyche’s way of processing our experiences and relating them to the big picture of things (Coward, 1985).  Symbols are images that one allows to speak from all parts of the self, engaging the parts of the collective unconscious that the mind doesn’t always have access to. Symbols form from the opposing forces- the positive and negative aspects- of one’s nature (Coward, 1978). Jung’s theory of the chakra system viewed chakras as symbols of part of the highly complex psyche. Similar to the Yogic idea that chakras are centers of energy where the ida and pingala mix, Jung sees chakras as symbols where opposing forces of the psyche can be held (Coward 1978). 

Jung saw psychic tensions, or opposing forces and urges of emotion, feeling, and memory, which influenced the personality of each individual (Coward 1978).  Eastern thought incorporates pairs of opposites, CALLED dvanda. Overcoming the conflict of opposites and rising above the opposing forces is the Eastern path toward liberation. Yoga is a practice of balancing and uniting opposing forces to create a harmonious being. Westerners, who are highly theoretical and caught up in the intellect, lack the balance found in Eastern practice. The Westerner’s common split of conscious, intellect, and mind from the unconscious, feelings, and body experiences leads to psychosis. Jung believed Westerners could be more healthy harmonious beings if they adapted some Eastern values. Jung saw that in Western culture, contemplation and self reflection were not valued. Self knowledge is judged worthless, whereas external documentation and activity is prized (Coward, 1978). Jung says that “the East teaches us another broader, more profound, and higher understanding- understanding through life” (Jung, 1947, p. 84). The practice of Yoga could connect the Western person back to his intuitive spiritual side. This balance not only brings harmony and understanding to the individual, but as Jung says, “When the opposites balance one another…that is a sign of a high and stable culture” (Coward, 1978, p.342).

           

Jung’s view of the Seven Chakras

            Jung saw the chakra system used in Kundalini Yoga as system of emerging states of impersonality which developed the separation of the non-ego from the conscious ego (Jung, 1932). The ego is the part of the self that is aware of only conscious personal experiences. Yoga develops these steps of awareness, taking unconscious material and making it conscious. Yogis develop an extremely heightened sense of awareness, to the point that their awareness feels less rooted in conscious material and more rooted in the unconscious. Jung CALLS this state a suprapersonal consciousness (Jung, 1932). Easterners work to attain higher consciousness by moving upwards. Westerners seem to travel down to awaken the unconscious from below. Although this puts the chakra system a bit upside down, Jung thought it was necessary to look at it this way to accommodate the chakra system to the Western mind. He found it important to maintain a Western way of thinking. Jung was very cautious of abandoning Western mentality and adopting the very alluring Eastern ideas, for this would inhibit the development of our own psychology (Coward, 1985).  

The muladhara is the lowest chakra, also known as the root chakra. In Eastern thought it is said to influence the excretory and reproductive organs and is related to our most basic animal instincts (Muktibodhananda, 2012). Jung saw the muladhara as our daily routine world where we act in response to our instincts, impulses and unconscious. We remain oblivious to life deep inside ourselves and simply function with little control of what goes on (Coward, 1985). Westerners stayed rooted in a life of routines, WORK, and meetings. So, Jung would actually imagine the root chakra at the highest level because it is what we are consciously aware of in the world. But, Jung says “a Hindu is normal when he is not in this world…They have the unconscious above, we have it below. Everything is just the opposite” (Jung, 1932, p. 16).  Although Jung believed Easterners and Westerns have developed different perceptions of reality, he does believe that the same unconscious processes are taking place. He believes that the moments when we feel urges that there is something more to life than our daily routine, we are traveling to the next chakra, svadhisthana (Coward, 1985).

 Svadhisthana is where self-discovery, or individuation, begins. We dip down into the dark waters of our unconscious and separate a bit from the ordinary constraints of the mind (Coward, 1985). This chakra is considered the baptismal front and is associated with water. Jung had a client who continued to dream of traveling towards water which Jung viewed as a symbol of moving to the second chakra. However, to Jung, these glimmers of the unconscious “might not be down in the belly but up in the head” (Jung,1932, p. 17). Jung’s interpretation demonstrates how he views the chakra system as a theory of the psyche, and not a physiological process that occur in the body (Jung, 1932). However, the chakra system is used in acupuncture which is based on the knowledge of chakra locations and is “a proven technique for healing throughout the world” (Nelson, 1994, the chakra system section, para. 1).  In traditional text, the svadhisthana is associated with the deeper personality, but it is low in the body and is connected to the sacral plexus, urinary and reproductive organs (Muktibodhananda, 2012). According to Jung, if the second chakra is baptism into the unconscious, then the third chakra is where we are reborn (Jung, 1932).

            Kundalini traveling to the third chakra would be a spark of interest or excitement that leads us to continue on an adventure to the unconscious. In Jung’s terms, this spark is the psychological force of the animus, or shadow side, which gives us glimmers of unconscious feelings lying dormant (Jung, 1932). In the third chakra, manipura, one discovers “the fire within one’s true self” (Coward, 1985, p. 388). One feels deep rooted emotions flare up. Fire is associated with this chakra to symbolize the flames of desire that we are tempted with (Coward, 1985). In Yogic text, it is said that the manipura influences digestion and sight. One is still immersed in a more basic, bodily level of existence and deals with sensualities, ambition, and greed (Muktibodhananda, 2012). The solar plexus is where we feel emotions such as old wounds, trauma, and memories that may have been covered up but still are painful when uncovered (Jung, 1932). Jung believed that these desires must be faced to move to reach the next chakra, Anahata (Coward, 1985).

            Anahata, the fourth chakra, is commonly CALLED the heart chakra. We rise above desires and instinct and reach a heightened level of impersonal experience (Coward, 1985). We rise above worldly passion and can reflect on the self by separating from emotions and urges. You discover that you are not these urges, in other words, you are not your ego. By disconnecting from these urges you can identify with your real self, which is viewed as “below” these distractions in the West. In the Eastern chakra system, the fourth chakra is connected to the heart and is responsible for love, hate, compassion and cruelty (Coward, 1985). Jung writes that “the contact with the sun in manipura lifts you up off your feet into the sphere above the earth” (Jung, 1932, p. 37). This demonstrates that in anahata you are above emotions and are able to reflect on emotions rather than feel their wrath. You are aware that you are not your emotions, so you discover the self.  This is the process that Jung describes as individuation (Coward, 1985).

The visuddha chakra, the fifth chakra, is the occurrence of experiences that are abstract or outer worldly. The world is no longer interactions of the ego with external objects. Instead, the world is a reflection of the psyche. It is more psychic than physical and one may connect with the collective unconscious and archetypes. It is an understanding of the self and seeing the world in one’s own individual way. This is the last chakra that Jung feels can be assimilated to Western thought (Coward, 1985).

Jung views the sixth chakra, the ajna chakra, as a psychic union of the self with the divine. Yogic text describes the disappearance of the ego, which Jung believed to be impossible for human experience (Coward, 1985).  Jung wrote that “the ego disappears completely; the psychical is no longer a content in us, but we become contents of it” (Jung, 1932, p. 57). In the seventh chakra, which Jung could hardly imagine, there is no psychological substance. He believed it was complete Eastern intuition which led them to formulate this chakra. Clearly the liberation that is the goal of Yoga seemed impossible to Jung, who believed that humans will constantly remain in a state of life tensions. There can be balance of these tensions, but they do not cease to exist. In Yoga, escape and liberation from these tensions is the ultimate, yet attainable, goal (Coward, 1985). Jung believed that the idea of one making conscious all of the unconsiocus material, becoming aware of the totality of the world and seeing things for what they truly are, is not a true state but a projection of Eastern experience. He believed that it is not possible to lose the self because when there is something observed there is always an observer (Coward, 2002). Therefore, Jung believed that once you have awakened your kundalini, or in other words, discovered your unconscious, it is important not to try to identify with it. Rather, one should just observe what takes place (Jung, 1932). If the observer is lost, Jung believed that the Western person would potentially delve into a state of craziness. He said “it is wise not to identify with these experiences but to handle them as if they were outside the human realm. That is the safest thing to do—and really absolutely necessary. Otherwise you get an inflation, and inflation is just a minor form of lunacy, a mitigated term for it. And if you get so absolutely inflated that you burst, it is schizophrenia” (Jung, 1947, p. 83). Jung indicated that outer worldly experiences could lead the Westerners to madness due to an inability to remain balanced.

Conclusion

Jung did not believe that human psychology could be completely understood with empirical evidence. He himself had experienced events that were beyond empirical facts and moved into outer realms of the spirit. He admired Yoga as a science of experiential based evidence and Jung himself had experiences that seemed out of the realm of human experience. (Coward, 1978). Yogis may have “spiritual gurus”, which Jung was astounded to find, because he himself had dreams of a figure that brought him ideas and insight. This gave him evidence that his experiences were part of the human experience, rather than personal delusions or fantasies (Coward, 1978). Jung seems to be influenced by some of Yoga’s ideas, such as karma, which his theory of archetypes in the collective unconscious seems to indicate. His belief that memory is greater than the experiences of one’s present life is a great leap from the previous Western psychological idea that humans are born with a blank slate, or tabula rasa (Coward, 2002). Although Jung believed the psyche was at times out of the grasp of empirical evidence, he did place limits on the Westerner’s ability to understand the psyche from a Yogic perspective (Coward, 1978).  

In Jung’s opinion, Europeans have not passed down ideas of the unconscious and so we have not accepted mystical ideas. The East, however, has been working on the practice of Yoga for centuries with Sanskrit texts that describe it in detail. They understand it because it is how they are raised and part of their history; it is not foreign to them (Jung, 1932). In the West, we view life in terms of staying sane, rational and stable. Going to work and appearing like a productive member of society is very valued to us (Jung & Shamdasani, 1932). Part of what Westerners consider intellect is our ability to classify and explain things with empirical evidence. Some Western thinkers believe that “Western psychology accepts and includes these first five stages of consciousness [the first five chakras] and, in many ways, characterizes them more precisely” (Nelson, 1994, Vishudda section para.12). The fact that Nelson considers our ability to describe the chakra system better than the East is far-fetched, and implies that Westerners have a better indication of what reality may be. We should consider that other cultures may not view the ability to classify knowledge into words as a true indicator of knowing. Perhaps this is why kundalini is often described with metaphors, such as a “coiled snake” (Edson, 1991). An Eastern thinker named Vyasa said “when the speaker has neither perceived nor inferred the object…the authority of agama [the process of verbal transmission] fails” (Coward, 2002, pp.13). Thus, descriptions of kundalini, by those in the West who have not experienced it, will not accurately portray its’ knowledge. Jung argues that Yoga is not appropriate for Westerners because we already have a highly developed psyche and the Yogic discipline will further enhance this mentality (Coward, 2002). It would be a mental leap for people in the West to attempt to consciously integrate ideas that they cannot experience intuitively. Instead of seeking understanding of the unconscious from outside sources, such as Yoga, Jung argues we should seek it within. An active imagination would be a better way for Westerners to come in contact with the unconscious, argues Jung (Coward, 1978). Jung sees the study of Yoga practices and beliefs, such as chakras, as compliments to his own perspectives of psychology. Jung believes that the west will perfect its own system that explains the unconscious (Coward, 1978). So, although Jung admires the chakra system, he takes it with a grain of salt. He interprets it in a way fit to his own belief system thus losing faith that the Westerner can fully comprehend and integrate it into their life and losing his own potential to understand it fully.

Yoga Balance Basics

https://leanpub.com/balancebasics/read#leanpub-auto-making-balance-easier

A Note from the Author

I’ve been teaching balance (and learning how to) on and off for the last 7 years. But even before that I had a vague understanding of balance.

While I was in the army I was posted to Bavaria, to a ski Chalet would you believe, where I had the chance to do some cross country skiing and on occasion teach it.

Learning to get up hills, I figured out that I’d get the best grip by centering my weight over the pocket that contained the wax. This was in part garnered from my study of dynamics, which I was doing in my spare time since I’d quit school before graduating to join the army.

(The chief instructor, who hadn’t studied Dynamics, at least as far as I am aware, told me to learn forward for better grip. This in fact shifted my center of gravity ahead of the wax pocket and reduced the grip.)

Despite that insight into balance my understanding was limited in other situations such as cornering while riding a bicycle or motorbike (or even cornering while speedskating.)

It took me a long time to learn how to align my bikes center, my own center and the bike’s point of contact with the earth (call it the foundation) with the forces that were acting on us.

As an example, going down a hill that a friend and I used to ride regularly, I could never get used to the idea of leaning into the turn. The fear of falling out of the turn (or into it) I carried into speed skating. Once I got past a certain speed I would get scared and it was only learning how to feel balance and understand it, and learning how to practice, that has enabled me to gradually get better at cornering.

I believe that one of the reasons that I enjoy teaching balance is that it offers a window into learning to better feel the body and control it. It is a gateway into improving proprioception, kinaesthetic awareness or simply “feeling the body.”

Plus, very few people seem to understand it very well, or they understand how to balance but not how to teach it.

(As a case in point, many of the comments I get for a youtube video include thank you’s because no one else explains it as well as I do (at least not on youtube!))

The nice thing is, that with an understanding of balance, it becomes easier to teach it and learn it. It’s not actually that difficult to learn.

And the beauty of it is that the same principles of balance can be applied whether balancing on the hands or the feet or the top of the head.

Introduction

In some ways learning to balance is as simple as learning to drive a car. You just need to learn where to direct your awareness so that you can feel the parts of your body and operate them.

This book includes simple exercises designed to help you learn to feel your body and control it. With the ability to feel your body and the understanding of how to move it, you can apply the basics of balance to any posture, even the ones not included in this book.

Balance Basics

The goal in balance is to keep your center over your foundation. To that end it helps if you can feel how your center and foundation relate. When you feel this relationship moving out of balance the goal is to act in such a way that you put it back in balance.

And so to make it easier to stay balanced it helps if you learn how to feel your body and control it. The two things that you can focus on learning to feel and control are your center of gravity and your foundation.

If you can feel and control the way these two things relate you can stay balanced.

So to start of with, lets look at the foundation of a balancing yoga pose.

Three Uses for Foundation

In terms of balance, the foundation has three purposes.

Ground Contact Area

The foundation is the area over which you keep your center in order to stay balanced.

The part of your body that touches the floor creates a shape, an area over which you keep your center of gravity in order to stay balanced.

Foundations formed by standing on one foot, bound headstand, and handstand

In each of the three pictures above, the “Ground Contact Area” of the foundation is different.

• In the first picture the foundation is the foot. You have to keep your center of gravity within the border of the standing foot in order to stay balanced.
• In the second picture the foundation is formed by the forearms and head. You have to keep your center within the triangle formed by the forearms to stay balanced.
• In the third picture the foundation is formed by the hands. You have to keep your center over the area framed by the hands. That means it can be over one hand, or the other hand or somewhere over the area between the two hands to stay balanced.

The Ground Contact Area of Your foundation marks the boundaries within which you are trying to keep your center.

Stability

The second purpose of a foundation is to keep your body stable.

For a building, stability is created by digging foundations deep within the earth. The higher the building the deeper (and/or wider) the foundation has to be.

We don’t have that luxury.

Instead we can stabilize the lowest part of our body, the part closest to the ground, to stay balanced.

Using the same three examples:

• Standing on one leg we can stabilize the standing foot, ankle and leg all the way to the hip joint and pelvis.
• Balancing on head and forearms we can stabilize shoulders and arms, head and neck and perhaps even the ribcage and pelvis (using the abs.)
• Balancing on the hands, we can stabilize hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, ribcage and pelvis.

With a stable foundation it is easier to keep our center of gravity over our Ground Contact Area. But even if our center starts to move towards the edges of our foundation, then with a stable and strong foundation, we can use our foundation to help bring our center back within bounds.

Sensitivity

The third use of a foundation when balancing is as a sensing or measuring device. We can use it to feel where our center is in relation to our foundation.

By learning to use our foundation to feel where our center is we can notice both when we are moving out of balance and when we are in balance. It’s like using a speedometer to check our speed. If we are driving at the speed we desire we do nothing. But if we aren’t then we use the brakes or accelerator as required.

Center of Gravity

The Center of Gravity is the part of our body that we have to keep over our foundation in order to balance. It’s position changes depending on how the arms, legs, head and torso all relate. This is because each of these parts has their own individual center of gravity.

By changing the shape of our body we can shift our center of gravity relative to ourselves.

Here’s some examples.

Using the Arms to Shift Our Center

To experience how our center of gravity can be affected by moving our limbs (“shape shifting” or “shape changing”) you can stand on tip toes with your torso horizontal. (More on how to balance on the fronts of your feet later.)

Start with your arms back and then reach them forwards while staying balanced. Then move them back again.

Reaching your arms will cause your body to move back so that you stay balanced over the fronts of your feet. Moving your arms back will cause your body to move forwards.

1. In the first picture my legs are more vertical. My center is further away from my head 2. In the second picture, with my arms reaching forwards, my legs are angle to the left. My center has moved closer to my head

The arms have weight. Because of this we can move them and cause our center of gravity to shift relative to our body.

Moving our arms forwards shifts our center forwards while moving them back causes it to move back. Our body then has to shift if we want to keep our center over our foundation.

Positioning Our Center Outside of Our Body

Another way to experience “shifting” your center is to stand on one leg and do a side bend to the opposite side.

Standing on your left leg, you could try pushing your hips to the left and reach your torso and arms to the right. Or just look at the pictures below.

1. Standing upright while balancing on one leg. My center is near my belly button. 2. Pushing hips towards the left while reaching arms and ribcage to the right. My center has moved to the side of my waist.

In both pictures I am balanced on my left foot.

In the first picture, with my torso reasonably upright, my pelvis is over my foot and my center of gravity (represented by the circle) is near my belly button.

In the second picture, bending to the side, my center of gravity is to the outside of my waist. It is actually outside of my body! While my center has shifted relative to my body, my body has also shifted with the net result that I’ve kept my center over my foundation.

I’m still balanced.

The point here is that when we understand that “shape changing” can shift our center we can use that understanding to make staying balanced easier.

Knowing that a shape change could change the position of our center of gravity we can move in such a way that we keep our center over our foundation.

Shifting Center In Peacock Pose

In the pose below, called peacock pose the hands are the foundation. But the belly rests on the elbow in what could be thought of as a “secondary” foundation.

One way to shape change in this pose is to bend the knees… and then straighten them again.

1. Peacock pose (mayurasana) with knees straight. 2. With knees bent.

Bending the knees shifts the bodies center of gravity and moves it closer to the head.

With the knees straight the center of gravity is further away from the head.

1. Peacock pose with knees bent, note how center is closer to the top of my shorts. 2. With knees straight my center moves towards the bottom of my shorts.

If you look at the two pictures above you can see that with my knees bent, my forearms are more vertical. With knees straight my forearms angle forwards.

With knees straight I have to shift my body forwards in order to position my center of gravity over my hands. With knees bend I have to move my body back.

Shifting Center in Headstand with Legs Straight

The pictures below show two variations of headstand, one with legs horizontal, the other with legs vertical.

1. Legs horizontal. Notice how close my pelvis is to the edge of the scroll behind me. Also my back is straight (but not vertical.) 2. Legs vertical. Notice now how my pelvis has moved further away from the edge of the scroll. Legs and spine are in one straight line.

Legs are heavy. And lifting them horizontally in headstand shifts our center relative to our whole body.

With legs horizontal, I need to do something to balance the weight of my legs. So my pelvis moves back. I then stay balanced.

Lifting my legs to vertical, I no longer have to counterbalance the weight of my legs so I can move my pelvis back over my foundation to stay balanced.

In the two pictures above, notice the difference in inclination of my upper body. You can use the edge of the scroll as a reference. In the first picture with legs horizontal my hips lean towards the scroll. In the second picture my torso is more vertical.

Control Your Center

While changing the shape of our body can shift the location of our center of gravity, our center does tend to stay within the region of our pelvis. And so one of the key areas we can learn to feel and control in order to make balancing easier is the pelvis.

The ideal is to be able to feel and control the whole body, but if that isn’t yet possible (or we are feeling lazy) then controlling the pelvis is a pretty good substitute.

If you are using your foundation to feel your center and you feel your center of gravity moving to the left then focus on moving your pelvis to the right until your center is where you want it to be.

If you feel your center shifting forwards then move your pelvis back.

I should say here that while the center of our body is pretty close to our pelvis, our pelvis isn’t our center. The position of our center of gravity relative to the pelvis is affected by the position of all of the parts of our body (each with their own center.)

So if you feel your center moving forwards it may be because your head is moving forwards, or your arms or perhaps a leg. And so you can counter the movement of your head by moving your pelvis in the opposite direction just the right amount.

How do you know what is the right amount?

One way is to use your foundation to feel the position of your center.

What if you are doing a pose or in a position where you can’t move your pelvis in order to shift your center?

Then you’ll have to move something else.

But more on that later.

Making Balance Easier

If we are aware of how to balance, we can change what we are doing to make balance easier or harder. We can vary postures to eliminate the balance component so that we can focus on some other element of body awareness. Or we can add balance in so that balance is the focus.

Removing the Balance Component (And Adding It Back In)

In yoga poses where you are using both feet, the wider your base the easier it is to balance. If you want to focus on something other than balance then it may help to make your foundation wider. As an example, in Warrior 1, you can make your foundation wider from side to side so that you can focus on, for example, reaching your ribs and arms upwards away from your pelvis.

But then if you want to work on balance in this pose, then make your foundation narrower from side to side.

Note that even with your feet on the same line, your foundation is still wide enough to give you some control over your body. You have some leverage with which you can help stay balanced. However, it isn’t a lot.

Warrior 1:
1. Legs wider from side to side.
2. With narrow stance.

With a narrow foundation you’ll have to stay focused to stay upright. (And it helps if you stabilize your feet and ankles.)

Lowering Your Center 1

Standing on one leg you don’t have the option of making your base wider or narrower. But you can bring your center of gravity closer to the earth by bending your standing leg knee.

Warrior 3 with Standing Knee Bent:
1. Arms back.
2. Arms reaching forwards.

In warrior 3, bending the standing knee lowers your center of gravity, making it easier to balance. It also gives you the chance to focus on something else such as making your body feel long.

To work towards a straight standing leg, first practice straightening your standing leg while inhaling and bending it while exhaling. Do this slowly. Then work at holding the pose with your standing knee straight.

Lowering Your Center 2

Inverted poses, like Headstand and Handstand, can also be made easier by bringing your center of gravity closer to the earth.

Headstand and Handstand:
1. Headstand with knees bent.
2. Handstand with legs reaching front and back.

In headstand you can do that by bending your knees and bringing them to your chest. You can also do the same in handstand though it might require you to angle your arms so that your shoulders are ahead of your finger tips.

Another option in handstand (and headstand) is to reach one leg forwards and the other leg back.

For headstand, once you are used to balancing with a lower center of gravity, work at gradually straightening your legs and reaching them upwards while staying balanced. For handstand, work at bringing the legs together, perhaps with knees bent first, and then reach the legs up while staying balanced.

Peacock Made Easier

If you are having trouble in peacock pose, such as not being able to lift your feet while your knees are straight, then bend your knees. You then don’t have to move your body so far forwards in order to get your knees off of the floor.

Once you’ve gotten used to balancing with your knees bent, you can work at slowly straightening your knees while working at staying balanced.

As you straighten your knees reach your body further ahead of your hands to stay balanced.

In this case we use shape shifting to move our center relative to our body to make balance easier.