Detailed
description of beneficial positions, muscular effort and rest
of your shoulders, arms,
hands and head (9)
1 Chapter 1 describes how to place and maintain your legs, hips and
backbone in a beneficial seated position in the context of the main concerns of
simple yoga. Chapter
1 is a complete description of the method of simple yoga. All of the factors
that are described here are described in Chapter 1 enough so that you can place
and maintain these factors of your position after you have read Chapter 1.
This chapter is a detailed description of how
align the positions of your shoulders, arms, hands and head with the position
of your backbone when you’re practicing simple yoga.
The order that these concerns are
described here is the same order that these concerns are described in Chapter 1.
You can combine all of the factors of your position that are described in this
text easily when you’re actually practicing simple yoga.
2 Place and maintain your legs, hips and primarily the lower levels of
your body in firm and comfortable positions –first, before you concern your
attention with the position of the upper levels of your body, when you’re
following the method of yoga described in this text.
When
you’re maintaining beneficial positions of your legs, hips and the lower levels
of your body, you might experience a beneficial position of the upper levels of
your body –spontaneously, without needing to think about the position of the
upper levels of your body. If you don't maintain your legs, hips and the lower levels of
your body in a position that's as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you
can experience comfortably in your present
physical condition, then any part of the position of the
upper levels of your body might not be beneficial.
3 While you’re standing your backbone upright and curved forward
slightly and maintaining the supporting concerns of a beneficial cross-legged
position, -
Expand your chest (thorax, all of your ribs)
outward a small distance toward both sides, and lift the front of your chest up
a small distance higher, and maintain the expanded and lifted position of your
chest.
Don’t lift your chest upward too high because that will cause your
backbone to curve inward excessively between the level of your waist and
shoulder blades.
Allow your ribs to expand outward and to
contract inward freely with the rhythm of your breathing.
4 Lift the outer ends of both of your shoulders up at the same time,
then -
Move the outer ends of both of your shoulders
back by rotating the upper sides of your shoulders back as well as you can.
Let
the outer ends of both of your shoulders fall downward as far as they fall
naturally from those positions. Let them fall directly downward, not
forward. Let them fall due only to their weight. Don't pull your shoulders down
by tightening the muscles beneath them.
Adjust those positions of your shoulders to be even one with the other. If one shoulder falls
to a lower level than the other, raise the lower shoulder to be even with the
higher shoulder. Hold both shoulders at the lowest level where you can hold
them even one with the other comfortably. One shoulder should not be situated
farther forward or farther back than the other, as well as you can place and
maintain them. The resulting positions of your shoulders will be higher and farther
back, and more even one with the other than their usual positions.
Hold the positions of your shoulders still.
Your shoulders should not move with the rhythm of your breathing. Although your ribs
might expand outward and contract inward with the rhythm of your breathing,
your shoulders should not move with the rhythm of your breathing when you’re
seated still in a position of simple yoga.
Suspend the weight of your shoulders and arms by exerting enough
muscular effort in the muscles of equally the top, back and front of your
shoulders as well as you can. You need to
exert enough muscular effort in the muscles of equally the top, back and front of your
shoulders to suspend the weight of your shoulders and arms comfortably.
Distribute the support of the weight of your shoulders and arms, by
suspending most of their weight from above, and supporting a small amount of
their weight on your arms and wrists, with your wrists and hands supported on a
small cushion or folded cloth beneath them, the right hand supported on the
left, a short distance below the level of your navel, or with your wrists and
hands supported on your thighs at your abdomen. Tighten the muscles of your arms
with a small muscular effort or tension to hold your arms still. Holding
the muscles of your arms tightened can help to support a small amount of the
weight of the outer ends of your shoulders and arms
on your wrists and hands supported on a small cushion or on your thighs at your
abdomen.
Distributing the support of the weight of
your shoulders and arms as described here is easy to perceive and control, and
to hold still. This helps to stabilize your shoulders and
arms in beneficial positions and allows the muscles of your shoulders and
neck to rest as much as possible.
5
Extend both of your elbows outward a small distance and hold them
equally distant from the sides of your body to relieve some pressure between
the inner edges of your shoulder blades and backbone. The positions of your arms should
be as similar as possible.
Support your wrists and hands on a small cushion or a low pile of folded
cloth beneath them; the positions of your hands should be similar, the palms of
both hands upward, the right hand supported on the left.
Support your right hand on your left hand when you’re seated in a
beginner’s cross-legged position and similarly when you’re seated in a
developing cross-legged position. Supporting your right hand on your left helps
to connect the energy in your hands with the energy in your ankles, abdomen and
backbone.
The
angles that you bend your wrists should be as gradual as possible.
The
small finger side of both hands should press on your abdomen with very small
pressure, a short distance below the level of your navel, and the tips of both
thumbs should press together with very small pressure.
Align the fingers of both of your hands as well as you can, so that the
fingers of your hand that’s uppermost are located directly above the corresponding
fingers of your other hand beneath it. You can feel
the correspondence of aligning these positions of your hands with fine tuning
the alignment of the positions of your shoulders.
Hold both of your thumbs
in semi-circular positions, elevated one or two inches above your fingers, and
press the tips of both thumbs together with very small pressure. Align the ends of your thumbs so
that the tips of both thumbs press directly one toward the other, not
pointed upward nor downward. Don't press the nails of your thumbs together, nor press the tips of
your thumbs together hard.
You’ll be able to perceive and align the
positions of your shoulders easily when you maintain these positions of your
shoulders, arms and hands as well as you can.
6 Stand your neck upright and curved forward slightly. Continue to straighten and
stand all the vertebrae of your neck upright
and curved forward slightly as well as you can, during all of the time that you
remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body. This causes the
muscles at the back and sides of all the levels of
your neck to exert a small effort to support your neck and head.
Lift your head up slightly from resting on your neck, then move the base
of your head back slightly, then balance the position of your head to be
upright and comfortable. Lifting your head up slightly helps to relieve some pressure from
between your head and your neck.
Your eyes can be open, looking forward and downward, or closed. Don’t focus your
eyesight on anything that you see in the external environment. You can open
your eyelids a little more than usual to help to waken you if you feel sleepy,
and you can allow your eyelids to close a little more than usual to help to
calm you if you feel agitated.
If
you usually wear eyeglasses, you can remove your eyeglasses, or not, when you
prepare to remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body.
If your eyeglasses press on the sides
of your head, you should remove your eyeglasses when you prepare to remain seated
still to benefit from the position of your body.
Hold your upper and lower teeth together gently, and hold the tip of
your tongue forward toward your upper teeth, if you can do it nearly
effortlessly. That
allows the natural flow of saliva to flow unnoticed down your throat,
and helps the circulation of energy in your body.
Hold your lips closed and breathe through
your nose unless the passage of air is reduced due to congestion or if you need
to breathe through your mouth to be comfortable.
7 Minute beneficial relaxations occur in the positions of your backbone,
shoulders, arms, neck and head while you continue to hold the position of your
body still nearly effortlessly.
This section is being
written.