Cat Cow
by Jeremy
I am personally in love with waking up the spine to Cat/Cow. I know the core needs to stay active in dropping the heart, but without ex-injury in the neck or back, is it safe to go as far as curling the head back to meet the tail way above the heart? How do I watch for over stretching?
enjoying ur blog, many thanks,
jeremy
Jeremy,
Thank you for writing. It's exciting for me to engage with other lovers of yoga this way.
As for your practice of cat cow, I can't give you advice per se, as I have no way of seeing you, or your pose. For help finding guidance that is tailored to your specific needs, here is a link to a listing of AnusaraŽ and Anusara-inspired teachers worldwide.
I can offer some thoughts, though.
I would say it's pretty clear from your letter that you have a very flexible spine, and the first concern I would have is, in fact, the over stretching that you mentioned. I did a little research on the subject of hypermobility, and put down my thoughts on a dedicated page, here. I am encouraged that you mentioned in your letter the need to maintain engagement in the core. But, as a person who tended very much in the direction of over flexibility in my early practice, I can assure you that for we bendy types, enough engagement is almost always more than we think.
Even more confusing is the strange phenomenon that causes hypermobile types to feel a constant longing to stretch.
When people are very stiff, and begin a yoga practice, they often have powerful revelatory experiences - revisiting and releasing past experiences and the emotions associated with them, as their muscles begin to let go. It is commonly believed that bodies tighten and restrict movement in response to the stresses and pain and suffering that come with human life.
It is my opinion that many naturally stretchy people hold emotions and experiences by moving around and away from them. In other words, I think natural mobility can be another way that the body, guided by the instinctive but primitive intelligence of the fight or flight response, protects us from difficult experiences and emotions, but also from our own growth and ultimate wholeness.
I have had powerful experiences of revisiting and releasing old baggage by learning to engage, and to be present with my body in the here and now. Maybe going deeper, hugging in more, and finding the true center, will finally provide the awakening that you are looking for?
namaste,
P.S For more on hugging in, you might want to check out this page, too.
