Warm Greetings. I am still looking at doing a 200 hr TT program in India and possibly Europe. I will be doing a 100 hr Advaned Vinyasakrama TT program in New Delhi and Chennai. There has been some response from Europe too—from Spain, Germany and London. I have to investigate the kind of effort needed to get work permit etc.
In Los Angeles teaching the 200 Hr Teacher Training Program in Vinyasakrama Yoga.
Another three weeks to go. Just completed 20 hrsPranayama and Yoga Sutra courses. The participants took me for lunch on Guru Poornima Day, very nice of them. Most of them did 80 Viloma Ujjayi pranayama for five days in a row and also did pranayama with them, good for the old man. See picture above picture
SPINE
Yogis have a fascination for the spine. It is said that one of the main goals of the yogi is to maintain the health of the backbone. The spine is not straight but the yogis aspire to keep the back straight. One reason would be to keep the subtle sushumna nadi straight which is said to run through the center of the spine in order that the prana would move upward through the sushumna as per the goal of the Hatayogis. The Kundalini yogi would also like the spine to be straight to enable the kundalini sakti to traverse through the sushumna and reach and unite Siva in sahasrara. The age of yogi is as the condition of the spine. Most yogis train to keep their spine straight. See the stature of my guru in the picture below shot in 1968 when he was 80 years old. (Please ignore me in the picture above).
Indra's weapon “Vajrayudha” is said to be made from the backbone of a great Yogi/sage Dadhichi who did meditation in the famous Vajrasana. The spine should be strong,supple and straight as an arrow like that of Dadichi Mahsrshi. Here is a picture of my Guru with a straight back facilitated by the three bandhas
The one spine has different sections. So even as we speak of one spine each section requires a somewhat different treatment.
The vertebrae of the spine align so that their vertebral canals form a hollow, bony tube to protect the spinal cord from external damage and infection. Between the vertebrae are small spaces known as intervertebral canals that allow spinal nerves to exit the spinal cord and connect to the various regions of the body.
There are 5 major regions of the spine:
- Cervical: The 7 vertebrae in the neck form the cervical region of the spine. Cervical vertebrae are the thinnest and most delicate vertebrae in the spine but offer great flexibility to the neck. The first cervical vertebra, C1, supports the skull and is named “atlas” after the Greek titan who held the Earth on his shoulders. The skull pivots on the atlas when moving up and down. The second cervical vertebra, C2, is also known as the “axis” because it allows the skull and atlas to rotate to the left and right. This portion of the spine is curved towards anterior. How does yoga take care of this portion of the spine? Since the cervical spine is curved concave, to maintain or even reduce this curvature the yogis used to stretch this section in the opposite direction. By stretching the neck and placing the chin against the breast bone they attempted to keep the cervical spine straighter and more elongated.
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This Jalandharabandha is facilitated by sarvangasana. During the duration of yoga practice of asana and pranayama, the default position is Jalandharabbandha so that the yogi maintains the traction of the spine even in some involved backbends like adhomukhasvanasana Thereafter the Yogi may keep the head straight for meditation as instructed by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavat gita (rju kayaH samagriah)![]()
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2. Thoracic: The 12 vertebrae in the chest region form the spine’s thoracic region. Thoracic vertebrae are larger and stronger than cervical vertebrae but are much less flexible. The spinous processes of the thoracic vertebrae point inferiorly to help lock the vertebrae together. A unique feature of the thoracic vertebrae is that each one forms joints with a pair of ribs to form the sturdy rib cage that protects the organs of the chest.
The spinal cord is inside the thoracic region of the vertebral column.
So when we move the arms and do the various movements the spine at the
thoracic region does not stretch as the ribcage moves up and down as
one unit. The intervertebral discs in the region of the thoracic spine
are much thinner than in the cervical and the lumbar regions. As a
result there is generally less movement between the vertebrae of the
thoracic spine. The yogis have found a unique way of stretching the
thoracic spine. This is achieved by doing all the movements with deep
breathing, especially inhalation. When we do deep inhalation, the
chest expands side to side, front to back and also up and down which
will help stretch the vertical thoracic spine and maintain a good
intervertebral space for mobility and freedom for the nerves. Hence
the vinyasakrama method of doing asanas with good breathing has this
additional advantage. Again a good stint of Pranayama practice
especially Nadisodhana (nerve cleansing) with an easy, graceful and
secure Jalandharabandha should be very useful for the spinal cord
So when we move the arms and do the various movements the spine at the
thoracic region does not stretch as the ribcage moves up and down as
one unit. The intervertebral discs in the region of the thoracic spine
are much thinner than in the cervical and the lumbar regions. As a
result there is generally less movement between the vertebrae of the
thoracic spine. The yogis have found a unique way of stretching the
thoracic spine. This is achieved by doing all the movements with deep
breathing, especially inhalation. When we do deep inhalation, the
chest expands side to side, front to back and also up and down which
will help stretch the vertical thoracic spine and maintain a good
intervertebral space for mobility and freedom for the nerves. Hence
the vinyasakrama method of doing asanas with good breathing has this
additional advantage. Again a good stint of Pranayama practice
especially Nadisodhana (nerve cleansing) with an easy, graceful and
secure Jalandharabandha should be very useful for the spinal cord
What are the other yogic procedures that are helpful to maintain the thoracic curvature or even reduce it ? As we get older due to changes in the quality of the bones in the chest especially the spine, the thoracic spine tends to become more rounded and become more kyphotic.
The yogis would want to keep the thoracic spine straighter to help the flow of prana and kundalini through the sushumna. Apart from the pranayama mentioned earlier to stretch the spine back bending exercises particularly engaging this section will be used. Several back bends like in ushtrasana would be helpful. Even the back bending with the palms kept in prishtanjali which would nicely support the backbone would be ideal, especially done on inhalation and antah kumbhaka. Other spinal exercised like parsa bhangis in tadasana, back rounding procedures like akunchnasana or forward bending exercises like paschimatanasana with a rounded back will all be helpful.
3 Lumbar: The 5 vertebrae in the lower back form the lumbar region of the spine. Lumbar vertebrae are even larger and stronger than thoracic vertebrae, but are more flexible due to the lack of ribs in the lumbar region. All of the upper body’s weight bears down on the lumbar vertebrae, leading to many back problems in this region despite the size and strength of the vertebrae.
The lumbar region is curved anteriorly. Because of the stress on this region and also lack of support like the thoracic or the sacral region several problems could arise in this area. People who are obese, or during pregnancy this curvature could get exaggerated leading to intervertebral prolapse and lordosis. The yogis would like to keep this region straighter and maintain a healthy intervertebral space.
Regular inversion practice like sirsasana and sarvangasana would help the lumbar vertebrae to stretch due to gravity. A healthy relaxed lower back is necessary to do several yogic postures like the paschimatanasana said to be an important asana for forcing prana and kundalini towards sushumna through uddiyana bandha. One of the safe and effective procedures all can do for the lumbar region is tataka mudra where uddiyana bandha is done with the lumbar region nicely supported on the floor.
4.Sacral: The sacral region of the spine contains only the sacrum, a single bone in the adult skeleton that is formed by the fusion of 5 smaller vertebrae during adolescence. The sacrum is a flat, triangular bone found in the lower back and wedged between the 2 hip bones.
5. Coccygeal: The spine’s coccygeal region contains only the coccyx, a single bone in the adult skeleton that is formed by the fusion of 4 tiny vertebrae during adolescence. The coccyx is often referred to as the human tailbone, as this region is homologous to the tail bones of animals that have tails. In humans, the coccyx bears our body weight when sitting down and provides attachment points for muscles of the pelvic and gluteal regions. While most people have a coccyx made of 4 fused vertebrae, the coccyx may consist of as few as 3 or as many as 5 vertebrae. The length of the coccyx has no effect on the body’s function.
Coccyx or the tailbone is the bottom portion of the spine. In many people it is stiff and contemporary yogis do not include it in their spinal exercises. Most of all backbend exercises like dhanurasana done these days are practised with the legs kept wide. This legs apart position excludes the coccyx. Coccyx can be reached by mulabandha and mulabandha can effectively be done when the legs are kept together. With a good mulabandha and holding the coccyx firmly at the bottom end and holding the upper cervical part of the spine by jalandharabandha, one can exercise the whole spine like in back bending, turning, twisting, side bending, rounding the back. Mulabandha, uddiyanabandha and jalandharabandha can directly and comprehensively affect the spine. Consummate yogis would try to keep their spine straight.
Srivatsa Ramaswami http://vinyasakrama.com/Main_Page