The Axis: The Back II - Muscles.

Now that we know that the spine is built by one vertebra above the other with it's healthy curves and properties, is time to talk about how the spine integrates with the other parts of the body. The measure in which we realize this and make it ours, we will transform our yoga practice (in case we have one) into a more mature practice, and most importantly our daily life.

The spine is surrounded by many muscles and ligaments on different layers. These muscles relate the spine to the pelvis, the legs, the head, the shoulders, the arms, the chest, the groins, and the abdomen (as you can see, with the whole body). Their proper use will lead to a healthy, fluid and beautiful posture in life (I am not refering to an asana) and will spare you from future suffering. The knowledge of these muscles will take you to flex or extend your pelvis, to arch or bend your spine, to turn your shoulders, yo widen the chest, or to ground your sitting bones and grow up like a tree rooting in the earth.

In between the vertebral bodies, it's possible to find some sort of cushions which pad the contact between them called intervertebral disks. When weight and pressure are too much or the discs, the semisolid content of them spills out pressing the spinal nerves and causing an awful lot of pain.

The most vulnerable parts of the spine are only protected by muscles. The cervical vertebrae which "only" carry around 5 kg are surrounded by fewer and thinner muscles than the lumbar which has the whole weight of the upper body, this is the reason why inverted postures, like head balance and shoulder balance, in which the weight of the body is very much on the head and neck should be approached with lots of care so as not to damage the cervical region permanently. The lumbar portion of the spine is protected at the front by a group of muscles called the "abdominal muscles", which are mainly three: the Rectus abdomini, the Transversus abdomini, and Obliques. The back of the lumbar is protected by the Latissimus dorsi and part of the muscular system called the "Erector spinae" which is in charge of keeping the spine upright. (See picture A)

Picture A. The many muscles of the back.

There are very many muscles that work in the spine, but the ones we will focus on for the time being are the abdominal muscles, the Latissimus dorsi, the erector muscles, and the Iliopsoas.

The Iliopsoas is a key postural muscle, it a flexor of the pelvis, that means it tilts your pelvis into the forwardbend position. It is composed by two smaller muscles (Iliacus and Psoas major). The Iliacus starts on the pelvic crest and ends on the outer edge of the femur head (lesser trochanter). The Psoas major starts at the transverse processes, bodies and disks of the lumbar vertebrae and the 12th toracic vertebra, and finishes at the same place of the Iliacus at the outer edge of the femur. (See picture B)

Picture B. Iliopsoas. Note how the insertion of both muscles is on the outer edge of the femur head (EVEN IF IT APPEARS TO BE ON THE INNER SIDE, THE MUSCLES GO AROUND THE BONE!)

Strengthening the Iliopsoas could tilt the pelvis into an exaggerated flexion which could cause the disks (rememer the cushions) to spill, while stretching it will take the pelvis into its "backbend paddling".
One way of strengthening the Iliopsoas muscle is through "ab crunches". Paradoxically, excercising the abdominal muscles is meant to stabilize the lower back, however, according to Profesor David MacAmmond of Calgary, Canada , specialized in therapeutic yoga and kineseology, very little people who practice abdominal crunches have a healthy back due to the overstrengthening of the Iliopsoas.
A good way of just excercising the abs without getting the Iliopsoas engaged is the following.

1. Lie on your back and bend your knees if needed.
2. put your hands beneath the head.
3. Try to lift your nose around 1 cm and feel your abdominals getting worked.
4. Repeat 5 times.
5. Now try to mimic that abdominal contraction without lifting your head.
6. Repeat 10 times.

Through this excercise, nobody will ever develop a six pack, but that has never been the point of working the abdominal muscles. You want to protect your back, not to be a Greek sculpture with lower back pain! :)

Another important muscle is the Latissiums dorsi (See picture C), which involves the movements of the arms with the spine. It also connects the sacrum with the back.

Picture C. Latissimus dorsi

The Latissimus dorsi is the largest muscle of the whole body. It starts at the sacrum, the spines of the thoracic, lumbar vertebrae, lower 3-4 ribs, and iliac crest, and inserts into the inner edge of the humerus (the upper bone of the arm) as shown in the picture.

The fibers of the Latissimus dorsi are transverse. Transverse muscles are not meant for making small efforts for a long time, but rather for making a big short effort, therefore, the Latissimus dorsi must not engage in carrying the spine. The best way of not getting it involved is by widening it and giving space to the other deeper muscles (Erector spinae) to act. Dona Holleman proposes quite an innovative way to widen the Latissimus dorsi while sitting: she says that through the rooting (not pressing) of the outer wrist on the thighs, the Latissimus dorsi moves out of the way of the erectors of the spine. (This outer wrist point is known in Chinese medicine as the gate of heaven)

The erector muscles of the spine are many and are the ones responsible for lifting the spine and keeping it up throughout your life (See picture D).

Picture D. Erector spinae muscles.

There is no particular way to activate this muscles since it is very hard to feel them. What I know through practice is that there needs to be widening of the Latissimus dorsi and rooting of the part which is in contact with the ground so the ground pushes your body up (3rd Law of Newton). Dona Holleman also states that one of the mantras of posture is to keep the sacrum away from the lumbar region. This is done through the rooting of the grounding part on the one hand, and the elongation of the other end on the other.

One good way of excercising these muscles is to stand up straight keeping the sacrum away from the lumbar, feet at hips distance, shoulders above the hips and ears above the shoulders (Tadasana or mountain's pose), respecting all the natural curves of the spine and placing a 6-8 kg sandbag or book on top of the head. Try to lift the sandbag with your head keeping your ears away of the shoulders as much as possible while rooting the feet without pressing or blocking the knees. Feel the widening of the Latissimus dorsi and the elongation of the Erector spinae. This is the same action that takes place in most of the asanas, particularly on the standing ones. Once you have clear mastering of this concept you will be able to stand on your head which involves among a few other things, rooting the head on the floor, and elongating the feet upwards. Doing this will allow you to stay on your head for more than 10 minutes (otherwise you would be using the Latissimus dorsi!) [Do not go into head balance until you have a steady practice, and most certainly don't do it without supervision]

Note how upright are these Gujarati women carrying water on their heads.

Gujarati women carrying water on their heads.

I hope I have given some clear and useful information. Keep tuned for more of other stuff :)

Really feeling.

I decided that from now on I won't go in detail into the core phillosophy which is interesting sometimes, but often it becomes boring. For most of us, the use of fancy names make something that would be otherwise very simple and down to earth, out of reach and elevated.
What Patanjali tried to do is to simplify the whole deal through the writing of 196 aphorisms. I have to say most of the times we get lost when we try to find a very "barroque" meaning to the sutras or by trying to impress ourselves with the use of sanskrit words like "Pratyahara". To your own practice, it is irrelevant if you know how to pronounce the word Pratyahara or any of the other seven limbs of Astanga Yoga, although it is interesting, the point of reading Patanjali is not repeating funny words. It is fun to chant the sutras, but it is better to know what you are saying and seeing it through, REALLY FEELING :)

Pratyahara is the fancy word for one of the eight limbs of the yogic road proposed by Patanjali in the sutras which we call now Astanga Yoga, or "Eight Limbed" yoga.

Out of the eight limbs (Internal and External code of ethics, Posture, Breathing, Withdrawal of the Senses, Attention, Meditation, and Full-being [Samadhi, which is difficult to translate]), withdrawal of the senses (Pratyahara) is for me the most confusing of all.

Withdrawal of the senses means literally that, to stop using the perceptive organs of the body in order to connect within, most of my teachers say it is an spontaneous process in which suddenly you find yourself not paying attention to the universe as a turtle inside its shell. It sounds extremely difficult. It was not until a few days ago that I got a better glimpse of this whole concept, and in my personal experience, what I have been previously told is a bit illogical, because I don't want to withdraw from the universe but pay attention to it fondly.

It is very nice to notice that this connection (which we used to call yoga, but we won't do it anymore) is not exclusively limited to a matt when you are open to it: it happened in one of my compulsory philosophy courses at university, when the teacher was talking about perception. He said that no other young generation had seen [or perceived] as much as ours, and that the higher the exposure and intensity to different stimuli, the higher the perceptive threshold moves. The more you feel the less you feel, the louder the music, the less you hear, feel, or see. He asked many of us to describe all that  we felt on our way from home to class. Embarrassingly, in one of the most unequal countries, none of us was able to feel the so prevalent poodom and unfairness. This got me into thinking a bit about this feeling and not feeling situation: social injustice is so common that we no longer perceive it. Isn't that worrying and dangerous? But then I asked myself if it was too much social inequality that made me feel less,  if social inequality was so overwhealming that it was easier to turn up the volume of the radio and put the airconditioning to the max or if it was just both of them happening at the same time.

The solution proposed in class was to decrease the intensity of the stimulus and to enhance the attention payed to it, and automatically I remembered about the withdrawal of the senses proposed by Patanjali.

Did I really need to go into the so-called tortoise pose (Kurmasana) in order to achieve this withdrawal as it is proposed by many yoga authorities or was it enough with lowering the volume of the radio and facing the music played by the world?   Many other events this week including today made me analyse myself in relationship to this whole concept, and convinced me that many of the problems of today's society arise from having "snail-eyed" senses which are projected outwards in search for stimuli rather than perceiving what is already there.

Parties intended towards the consumption of alcohol; meals loaded with additives; excessive use of flavour enhancers, sugars, and colors, music played at the highest end of the volume knob, sexual insatisfaction, you name it. How many times is this done in order to neglect what is really happening inside? How many times do we want to feel more because we are bored of feeling a little? How many times is being at home completely unexciting, and going out to the lights of the big city and the noise of a club feels like the best option?

Maybe withdrawing the senses is indeed, slowing down on what we are doing, and paying attention to what is really happening, to what the world needs from you. Being in synchrony with the universe means looking deep within the heart, even inside those darker parts, facing the music, the good and the bad.
Approaching the known routine with innocent eyes which want a new experience could open a door to feeling the detail. It would suck completely if you had to go into the tortoise pose (Kurmasana) everytime you wanted to get in touch with the world. What if I cannot go into a complete tortoise pose?

Mr. B.K.S. Iyengar in toirtoise pose (Kurmasana), the symbol of withdrawal of the senses.

 I assure you that you don't need any posture or any excersise but paying attention to the detail. As I mentioned previously, grounding your feet on the ground leads to a more enhanced feeling experience. Maybe, that way, a subtle caress will feel like surfing over the clouds and the unseen will appear to your eyes as if it was clear and obvious.

 It's all about daring to feel! How about trying it for a week? Would you dare??

Encountering yoga & realizing how to ground the feet on the earth.

Not being the sports type of kid, and liking food a bit too much lead me in my early years to be overweight. During all those years, I sailed through sports eventually giving up... "Other" practices were not an option at that age -- boys don't dance, or do yoga. Later in life I had an English teacher who liked to practice some asanas when the weather was cold at 7 in the morning, and I started developing some curiosity. I liked to browse through books, and see people on TV practicing yoga, my favorite, I remember was a sweet faced Hawaiian practitioner whose name I don't know if I am allowed to disclose freely since it is a trademark (One good topic of discussion) .

Eventually I did get close to Astanga Vinyasa, and I liked it, but due to lack of time and discipline, I had this on and off relationship with the practice. After a couple of years of inconsistent practice, and hearing a myriad of doctors telling me to do some excersise, I decided to do something for myself and took one real yoga lesson with a teacher my mother introduced me to. I was not even sure if I would stick to it, but there was I, trying to copy my teacher's movements, trying to get my hands to touch the floor, trying to balance on my arms, trying, trying and trying. Then I learned I shouldn't try that much, and when I realized, I was practicing yoga at least twice weekly, the feeling of slowly soaring from Uttihita Trikonasana into Ardhachandrasana, or completing a Surya Namaskar with full awareness was certainly a most gratifying experience in which I felt for the first time in many years, working as a whole body, and the best thing is how, after a couple of years, one keeps on learning new stuff, and one keeps discovering that what used to be is not more.

For me, yoga is not only about suppleness and contortionism. I must admit it is fun and challenging all the time, but being backbent has much more to it than back strength. The practice of asana demands full attention to the moment, and knowing how to play with gravity, that means, learning how to ground your feet (hands, head, shoulders...), uprooting yourself from the ground will only give you a false sense of security and support, making you work even harder, while loosing attention to the moment can even put yourself at risk.

Feet rooted with full attention to yourself as a whole makes you aware of many things: What you eat, what you think, what you do... confronting reality. As if, like Donna Farhi puts it, you were opening a box of monsters.

Grounding your feet might open your eyes to the world, maybe I was fat, but I was also lucky to be able to fight that, many people don't even get to choose, they live wars, they go through pain, lose their families, and suffer hunger. They feel, cry, smile, eat, crave for an embrace, and need love, just like you and me. I cannot change what I was born to, all I can do is to ground myself and pay attention whenever I start feeling blue and see myself in a more real and less biased perspective.
For me, yoga  does not mean Shiva, Matsyendra or Parvatti, but pulling everything together in order to be able to be a little more aware of what life is, even if I just happen to realize seldom glimpses of it, they are worth it.

This is my experience, I would like one day to hear yours!