Restorative Yoga Therapy. Leeann Carey
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editor, Ralph Cissne. I am grateful for the tireless effort he dedicated to seeing this project through and for providing an organized and concise platform for my message while remaining sensitive to my voice.
And my deep appreciation also goes to B. K. S. Iyengar, Donna Farhi, Judith Lasater, and Richard C. Miller, from whom I have received brilliant teachings on the art and science of yoga therapy. It is with utter gratitude and a humble heart that I stand on the shoulders of these teachers and many more who have taught me so much.
Finally, no teacher has influenced me more than Kofi Busia. His exceptional mind and honest perspective about the yoga community and the teaching of yoga earned him a uniquely honored reputation among students and yoga teachers. I am forever grateful for his presence in my life — on or off the mat.
Yoga has been tested for thousands of years. It is more than an experiment or last resort. It is a proven path to wellness, healing, and longevity. It works.
There are eight limbs of yoga that serve as guidelines. This book addresses the third limb, asana (posture or pose). Each of us experiences challenges and triumphs on the mat. Our challenges may present themselves in flexibility, mobility, stability, clarity, or a host of other ways. I invite you to address the obstacles and opportunities you face on the mat with intelligence and a loving-kindness. This book provides the tools and understanding to meet these challenges with a unique practice that teaches we are more than our bodies and more than what we do. This simple yet comprehensive guide will prompt an inquiry about the level of support required to meet yourself where you are, a process that evolves over time. We simply need to be there.
Yapana is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “the support and extension of life.” Yapana Yoga Therapy is a physical practice that includes yoga props for strategic support to extend the life of poses, an extension that in turn supports and extends the nature of the experience. This style of yoga was developed on the basis of decades of experience in working with the physically challenged and with professional athletes, yoga teachers, and students — those with an inquiring mind who want to deepen their practice and balance their ego.
Let’s take a closer look.
This practice meets people where they are. It is designed to encourage self-inquiry, reflection, and change, not perfection — the universe has already taken care of that part.
Yapana Yoga Therapy is a hatha yoga practice consisting of a series of simple movements to warm up the body, followed by DOING (dynamic) and BEING (relaxing) poses, held for an extended period of time with the support of yoga props, and ending with a STILL (final relaxation) pose to complete the practice.
This practice meets people where they are. It is designed to encourage self-inquiry, reflection, and change, not perfection — the universe has already taken care of that part. It is a gateway to discover how to apply its therapeutic outcome on and off the mat. The objective on the mat is to promote both balance and a positive and enduring effect while supported in both the heat-building and passive phases of the practice.
For purposes of this book, the BEING and STILL segments of the practice are deconstructed and explored. Oftentimes in a classical hatha yoga practice, yoga instructors and students value the stronger segment of the class more and, as a result, do not give ample time for the rest and relaxation phases of the practice. Because we live in a fast-paced world, restorative poses are a necessary part of our practice to help restore us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We all require recovery time, some of us more than others. Incorporating this part of our living into our yoga practice will take care of the stressors that may lie ahead.
BEING POSES (SUPPORTED PASSIVE POSES)
BEING poses are the essential core of the Yapana practice. This is where the body/mind is supported into a state of relaxation and recovery. BEING poses give the body an opportunity to stretch passively and the mind the opportunity to experience what comes from doing nothing while supported in a yoga pose to elicit body/mind relaxation.
BEING poses are unique in that they help to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, often referred to as the “rest and digest system,” which is responsible for the stimulation of bodily functions that occur while at rest. Although the body is in “rest mode,” this does not always mean that the mind will settle into a quiet place. As with all other styles of yoga, however, practice and patience are the doorways into stillness and the settling of the mind.
The ample use of yoga props and their strategic placement are crucial to encouraging a peaceful experience in the BEING poses. One of the roles of the musculoskeletal system is to support the bodily organs. The better the musculoskeletal system is supported to meet you exactly where you are — stiff, flexible, or with a wandering mind — the more fully the body/mind can relax. When all urges to “do” are relieved, the body/mind can surrender and relax into doing less and feeling more.
BEING POSES ARE PERFORMED IN ALL CATEGORIES OF PRACTICE:
• Back bends
• Twists (seated, supine, and prone variations)
• Forward bends
• Inversions
• Miscellaneous (seated, side lying, supine, and prone)
BEING poses are held with support anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes. Refer to the practice timetable in chapter 10 (page 167).
I often hear from yoga students that practicing BEING poses has better prepared them for DOING, or classical, poses. And yoga teachers often tell me they learn more about the DOING poses while working with students and their own bodies in the BEING poses. This happens because whoever you are in any given DOING pose — however you avoid or overwork an area — presents itself quite loudly in the BEING poses. For instance, you can practice Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose) classically — standing upright in the middle of your mat. Any difficulties with front leg alignment, femur rotation, hamstring flexibility, or perhaps a neutral pelvis position will show up in the BEING version of the pose. But in the BEING version, you will have to address the challenges. The floor beneath you will prevent you from doing anything other than facing yourself, and so it goes with all BEING poses.
The support that is required in the BEING variation sheds light on what is or isn’t happening when practicing the pose classically and can skillfully guide the outcome of any change necessary. BEING poses require little or no effort, meaning that they do not recruit the same level of muscle effort as DOING poses, other than getting into the pose and maintaining limb alignment. They are generally considered cooling poses.
STILL POSE (SAVASANA: CORPSE POSE FOR FINAL RELAXATION)
Savasana (Corpse Pose) is crucial to all styles of asana practices but especially to the completion of a Yapana practice. Because BEING poses have prepared the body for final relaxation, shortening or altogether ignoring this part of the practice would leave the student feeling incomplete. Savasana is a pose for integrating all that has come before. When we stop planning, organizing, and managing, we are able — if only momentarily — to experience the death of our doing. When this occurs, the full experience of a present moment’s dying is only a breath away. Death teaches us that time and space are temporary and that clinging to life is an aversion to change. Savasana acts as fertile ground that creates an opening for the passing and going of all that keeps us bound.
In a Yapana practice, we allow a minimum of 15 minutes for final relaxation. Studies show that within that time, many people can drop into a state of deep relaxation, or what’s considered the alpha state of mind, in which time and space become irrelevant to, or rather nonexistent in, your consciousness. As in all other yoga poses, levels of experience occur and change with time