Attention MBS Online Adaptive Students! Please be sure to add mbsregistration@mindbodysolutions.org to your email contact list to ensure you receive class links each week. Thank you!
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All Humanity Newsletter | November 2021 |
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I love doorways, especially interior ones. I love sitting in the transition between two rooms, a portal between two different worlds. I find them to be creative places. In fact, because I can bring a chair everywhere I go, many of the insights that drive Mind Body Solution comes from sitting under a door jam.
Yoga, especially asana, is a portal. It opens us to a different set of experiences between mind and body. Our nervous system is wired to experience in both inward and outward directions. Freedom is not simply being free from outer constraint. True freedom arises from the journey inward, from an integration of both inward and outward dimensions. We are amazing creatures, not because of what we can do, but because of what we are.
At Mind Body Solutions, this is a truth we work to pass on to people living with trauma, loss, and disability and their caregivers. We do not pass on an idea or a thought or a pat on the back. We pass on ‘experiences’ that travel through both mind and body. Regardless of condition, we want our students to pass through one room and into another. We want them to experience parts of their own houses that they didn’t know existed. From there, the journey into the rest of their lives is up to them.
If you are already a yoga student, what are some of your beginning portals, those first few doorways? Smile and allow for new ones. If you are new to yoga, open to the notion of undiscovered rooms in your attics or basements. If all else fails, pull up a chair and sit under a few door jams…feel what’s behind you, smile at what’s in front of you, take a breathe in, let a breathe out. Repeat.
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Matthew Sanford
Founder, Mind Body Solutions
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Pose of the month...
Dandasana
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“Remember, the entrance door of the sanctuary is inside you.” -Rumi |
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In yoga, the first step to the “entrance door” is grounding. From that point, we can reach “the sanctuary” through stillness or action. Recognizing the opening involves going inward to withdraw from distractions and attachments while still engaging with the world. Master Eckhart uses another metaphor, describing the inner man as a still hinge and the outward man as a swinging door. “The hinge” is an anchor from which the asana activates. It could be grounding through the feet or sit bones, connecting to the breath, lifting the chest, or softening the jaw. The hinge could be the realization of discernment entering through the skin or the tangible reference that announces and activates asana, subtle to overt and from the inside out.
Sit upright in a chair or on the floor with a blanket or two beneath the sit bones. As able, extend the legs out in front. Bring the arms to the sides with the heels of the hands gently pressing down into the floor or chair to encourage length in the abdomen and low back. Lift the chest and broaden across the collar bones. To your ability, slightly internally rotate the upper thighs and draw the toes back towards the knees.
Continue grounding through the sit bones, making space between the thighs and the lower abdomen. Follow the activation from the sacrum up through the spine, lifted chest, and beyond the top of the head. At the same time, observe the energy drawing up from the extended heels, through the legs, and back to the sacrum
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- Ask partner to gently press the heel of one foot (or heel of one hand) straight into the sacrum with a slight upwards lift. Only the heel has contact with the sacrum. Release, pause, and repeat. Notice the contrast between the effects and sensations of reference, followed by the absence of reference
- To your comfort, on an inhale bring arms overhead and/or have partner gently lift up on wrists to create a sense of traction
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- Have partner gently press one hand between the shoulder blades, or pull the skin on the back of the heels away from the knees
- Layer in breath, expanding upward on the inhale and down through the sit bones on the exhale
- Press down on thighs to emphasize the sensation of abdominal length
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- Strengthens the back and improves posture
- Elongates the upper body and makes space in the shoulders, chest, low abdomen, and back
- Reference encourages the mind to drop into the body, shows a sense of direction, and helps reveal the pose
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- Subtle body activation occurs, even as the spine and legs are at a right angle
- Asana opens from the inside out as the mind quiets and the body aligns
- Rising and anchoring take place as the kneecaps lift towards the groin and the sit bones ground into the base
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Join Us...
Brains, Bodies, Trauma, and the Arc of Healing - Dec 4th, 9:30am-5PM ET
A Collaboration with Bessel van Der Kolk and the Trauma Research Foundation
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Join author and adaptive yoga pioneer Matthew Sanford as he leads separate conversations with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, MD (best-selling author), Dr. Ruth Lanius MD, PhD (leading neuroscience researcher and clinician), Dr. Daniel Libby (founder, Veterans Yoga Project), and renowned storyteller Kevin Kling (author and playwright).
They will discuss body-centered rationale and treatment strategies for helping survivors heal and recover from traumatic experiences.
Each 90-minute segment includes a 60-minute conversation with the featured presenter, Q&A session, and an experiential, body-centered, 30-minute practice inspired by each particular conversation.
CE offered through APA, ASWB, and Yoga Alliance
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Yoga, Disability, and Transformation - Session 5 - Nov 17th at 2PM CT
Notes From Disability - with Matthew Sanford & friends
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Join Matthew and our adaptive yoga community as we begin creating an open-ended letter to our culture at large. This lively, fun, and well-intending conversation briefly revisits this year’s previous themes while also offering advice and insights about the universal experience of living with a disability. The inspiration for this dialogue comes from an old adage, “Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero.” This session will also include an adaptive yoga practice.
No need to register in advance, but you can RSVP below to get a Zoom link and other updates via email. Sessions will be recorded made available on The Hub.
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Introducing: Mudra of the Month
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Bud and Lotus Mudra - a two-part practice
Think of this first mudra of our series as an invitation - a portal through which a new practice may begin.
The Lotus mudra can be a symbol of light emerging from the darkness, by opening from the center. The bud is the hidden beauty within each of us, from which through its opening, transformation begins.
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If you're an adaptive yoga student who has registered for our online classes through our new website, please be sure to add mbsregistration@mindbodysolutions.org to your contact list! Doing this protects against overzealous spam filters and ensures that you'll never miss a class link! Need help? Email bethany@mindbodysolutions.org.
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