November 2021 Tidbits
ASANA (POSTURE)
Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana
Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose
- Extend your right leg; thrust forward from hip to toes; be patient, seek maximum leg length.
- Vertically align your head, torso, pelvis, and standing leg.
- Ground your left thigh; suck your navel up and hollow your belly.
- Broaden your chest and project your collarbones forward.
from Teaching Yoga With Verbal Cues by David Garrigues
(https://davidgarrigues.com/shop/teaching-yoga-with-verbal-cues)
HEALTH
Mobilising The Upper Thoracic Spine
Did you know that when you raise one arm above your head, your upper thoracic vertebrae need to rotate and laterally flex?! When you raise both arms they need to extend. And when they can’t the soft tissues in the shoulder joint take the brunt of it. The upper thoracic spine is the part of our spine that is most prone to stiffness and congestion. Mobilising the upper thoracic vertebrae means we can raise our arms above our head with greater ease and less stress on the shoulder joints. It also takes a lot of pressure off our neck! This exercise is very simple and very effective. Try raising your arms above your head, notice how that feels… do the exercise, raise your arms again, and notice the difference. Your shoulders will be so much happier!
The accompanying video (~ 4 minutes) embedded in the article is an excellent visual; click on:
https://chintamaniyoga.com/mobilising-the-upper-thoracic-spine/
WISE ACTION
Stoicism was one of these ancient schools of thought. Stoics saw virtue as an ability that had to be intentionally cultivated, rather than a mere idea to be pondered. Like one’s capacity at warfare, athletics or carpentry, being a good person was a skill developed through years of diligent study, practice and training. This means that, according to the Stoics, all other skilled individuals become examples we can learn from. The Greek Stoic Epictetus (c50-c135 CE), for example, was particularly inspired by athletes. In his view, athletes are the archetype of self-improvement, and anyone who wanted to be a better person, to cultivate this most important skill, could learn from their example…
Epictetus implores us to look to athletes. When we do not act upon what we think is right, we are acting like an athlete who trains but never competes. What is the point? This moment that makes us uncomfortable, this action we think we should take, this is our Olympic Games, this is our chance to compete. We need to act. We need to perform. And even if we fail or make mistakes, at least we tried, and now have feedback about where we can improve further. At least we have put our skin in the game.
(Read this article in its entirety by clicking on: https://psyche.co/ideas/philosophy-is-like-athletics-theory-must-be-put-into-practice?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter)
QUOTE
Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.
~ Shunryu Suzuki ~
STORY
A wise man once faced a group of people who were complaining about the same issues over and over again. One day, instead of listening to the complaints, he told them a joke and everyone cracked up laughing.
Then, the man repeated the joke. A few people smiled.
Finally, the man repeated the joke a third time–but no one reacted.
The man smiled and said, “You won’t laugh at the same joke more than once. So what are you getting from continuing to complain about the same problem?”
Unknown Author
POEM
Fire
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
When we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible
We only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
A fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.
Judy Brown