Seniors mobility flow

FLEXIBILITY V’S MOBILITY
Yoga gets typecast as being all about flexibility. Yoga is not a measure of how far you can touch your toes, it is about finding mobility movements that suit you in order to keep your body moving freely in your everyday activities with longevity. Think of how a hinge works. If you repeatedly push the hinge to its furthest points it will eventually snap. On the other hand, if you don’t move the hinge at all it will get very stiff. The hinge works best when it is kept moving fluidly - the hinges of the body are no different, to work optimally they like to be regularly moved. A hinge might need oiling every now and again, but as an added bonus our clever bodies have their own built in oiling system, as long as we keep our hinges moving.

It is important to understand the difference between what is challenging but valuable for you and what might not be suitable for you. A bit of a challenge is a good thing to help maintain and build mobility and stability, and help you feel strong and well in your everyday movements, but you should feel safe within this challenge. When you find something challenging ask yourself ‘will this movement help me in my life off the mat and is it suitable for me’ – learning how to safely get up and down off the ground is a valuable life skill, working on your balance in standing poses is a valuable life skill, doing fancy picture perfect yoga poses is not a life skill!

EXPLORING SENIOR MOBILITY IN YOUR PRACTICE
This sequence is designed to help you work on your balance, keep your joints moving, maintain bone density and build muscle strength. It will gently move your spine in all directions to help spinal health and ease out any held tension. It will also help you beyond your physical body. Movement, yoga in particular, is very good for building focus, concentration and all round mental health.

We all have areas of tenderness or stiffness that need an extra bit of care and attention. The best way to approach this is to bring them onto the mat with you as part of your practice that needs to be considered rather than a hindrance. Moving slowly as you practice will give you space to listen to your body for feedback on how it is reacting to the practice. A slow practice will also build better strength and stability to all the muscles and joints of your body.

There is a lovely principle in yoga of ‘Sthira & Sukham’ which means ‘effort and ease’. Look for the effort and the ease in each pose and in each transition between poses. Take as many breaks as you need. Taking a break gives your body the chance to assimilate all the wonderful benefits of each pose in the practice and is never considered a failure of stamina in yoga.

This sequence will teach you how to get up and down from the ground. If this is difficult for you at the start place a chair at the top of your mat and use it to help support you. Props are very much a part of the yoga practice and are used in many poses to help adjust a pose to suit the student.

ALIGNMENT CUES
On the first row of the sequence you will find a guide for ‘coming down’ and ‘getting up’ from the ground. To come down to kneeling , bend your knees and press both hands into your right knee, step your left foot back and gently bring the left knee down to the ground. Then place both hands on the ground, step the right foot back and bring the right knee to the ground to a kneeling position. To get up from kneeling, step your right foot forward between your hands, press both hands onto the right knee, lift your left knee up and when you are ready step the left foot forward. Visit my YouTube channel to see a practice tips tutorial on getting up and down from the ground and how to incorporate a chair to help you if needed. Use these through your practice to help you come down and get up as needed. You will also find a ‘½ Sury’ these are optional extras at the start of each mini flow. Start your practice by coming down to the ground and lying on your back, with your hands on your belly, and take a few rounds of Viloma breath. Viloma breath breaks the exhale into three and helps to naturally lengthen the breath without tension – inhale completely, then exhale, pause, exhale, exhale pause the full breath. Take two to three regular breaths to prepare you for your movement practice.

• You can practice the whole sequence or dip into a few of the mini flows which are indicated by arrowed lines.

• You flow through these connected poses on the right side first (right foot forward) and then take those poses on the left side (left foot forward).

• If you encounter a pose that doesn’t feel right for you simply skip it and move onto the next pose.

• As you move try not to get caught up too much on whether it should be an inhale or an exhale, just don’t forget to keep breathing!

• If there is a pose that you’re not sure of you can find all 108 poses in my asana section. You can narrow down your search by clicking into the asana families in the bar on the right.

• Take plenty of rests during the practice in either Balasana/Child’s Pose or Tadasana/Mountain.

• Take a few minutes at the end of your practice in Savasana/Corpse to give yourself a chance to get reenter your day.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

A gentle morning flow

ROUTINE, ROUTINE, ROUTINE
Starting your day with a morning movement routine is the best way to get the day started physically and mentally. It gets rid of stagnation and brings mobility and stability back after a prolonged static period of sleep. Starting the day with your practice ensures that it is consistently part of your routine and doesn’t get lost on a busy day. Gentle movement realigns the spine and helps you to stand, walk and sit more comfortably throughout the day with awareness of your posture. This more upright posture has a very positive effect on your mood and creates emotional openness for the day. Embedding a self care routine into your day cultivates a sense of calm, makes you feel more cared for and listened to – and in return makes you more caring and available to listen to others too. You are also more inclined to make healthy choices throughout your day when you have started with some self care.

Before each morning practice take a few moments to work out how your practice can support you today. Ask yourself what do you need physically? What do you need mentally? What are your energy levels? What is your mood today? What are your limitations? What is the rest of your day like? Where do you need mobility? Where do you need stability? You may not easily have the answer to each question but it will help remind you if you have an injury you are minding, if you need to go easy because you have a full day ahead or if you are dealing with something else in life that might require you to be extra kind to yourself.

THE BENEFITS OF A MORNING PRACTICE
Morning yoga stimulates the gut, promotes good digestion for the day, boosts the metabolism, builds a strong immune system, balances hormones, tones your muscles, improves posture and spine health, gives you energy, improves circulation, supports good heart health, builds healthy lungs and most importantly is proven to make you happier! Breath awareness in yoga triggers the ‘rest, restore and digest’ nervous system through the vagus nerve which runs from the brain stem down the spine. When this conscious breath is practiced as part of your daily routine it rewires your brain to naturally reach for this calmer reaction rather than a ‘flight or flight’ response to situations. In this calmer state of mind you are focused and able to make informed decisions.

WARMING UP
Before you start it is good to gently warm up all the joints and muscles – like you are politely asking them permission to move. Warmed up muscles will be more obliging and supple. Your muscles are like Blutac – if you spend a bit of time gently lengthening and contracting the fibres of the muscles they become more stretchy and smooth. If you pull Blutac without warming it up first it will rip in two!

In the sequence there are two different ways you will warm up the muscles. The first, which you will be more familiar with, is through a series of gentle mobilising movements at the very start of the practice. The second way is with isometric contraction, or by actively pressing against a surface until you feel a warm sensation in the muscles. In the following poses after the initial warm up you will find three isometric poses – Tadasana/Mountain, Plankasana/Plank & Utkatasana/Chair. These poses will strengthen and warm up your muscles by using a pressing action into the ground. These three foundational poses are very strong poses when they are approached by actively pressing into the ground, hugging the muscles to your midline and drawing your navel towards your spine.

EXPLORING A GENTLE MORNING FLOW IN YOUR PRACTICE
There are two main aims, from a physical point of view, you want to achieve in your morning practice – mobility and stability (flexibility & strength). This sequence will gently mobilise all the joints and surrounding muscles first before progressing towards actively stabilising them.

You will also tap into the calming effect of yoga and embed it into our mindframe for the day ahead. You will do this by bringing your attention to the breath before you start which will give you an anchor to come back to when you get distracted with your ‘to do’ lists throughout your practice (which is completely natural and part of the practice!). Sit in a comfortable seated position with the hips raised on a brick or a cushion. Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly. Start by just noticing the breath before you change it in any way. Is it short, is it long, is it more in the chest or can you feel it in the belly too – notice without judgement. Close your eyes and visualise a box. You will use this box to gently guide a full breath using the count of four for each inhale, pause and exhale, pause. Starting at the left corner of your box, inhale for the count of four and travel across the top of the box, pause for the count of four and travel down the right side of the box, inhale across the bottom of the box, pause and travel up the left side of the box back to the start. Continue to draw the box with your breath for ten to twenty rounds or set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes. The more in tune you become with your breath, and learn how to tap into this simple technique, the more it will help you in your day to day life off the mat. Now you are ready to start the movement part of your practice.

ALIGNMENT CUES
Moving slow and keeping it simple builds strength and stability in the joints and the surrounding muscles. In some of the mini flows in the sequence there are two poses linked together with a ‘x3’. You will move in and out of these two poses using the ‘+’ and ‘-’ breath cues and then settle into your version of the second pose. This fluid movement will help the muscles to hold the pose more comfortably and help you find which muscles are stretching and which you are strengthening in the pose.

Have a read of the tips below and either print out the sequence or save it onto your device:

• In the first four warm up poses on row one sit up on a brick or a cushion to align and lengthen through the spine first.

• After cat/cow, bring your knees together first for balance then starting on the right side lift your leg to hip height and bend your knee. Circle your knee for your hip circles, straighten and bend your knee for your knee kicks and keep the knee bent to do the ankle circles.

• Before each mini flow, which are indicated between the arrowed lines, run through ‘mini flow a’ and ‘mini flow b’. Use downward dog to link your flows.

• Incorporate at least 2 minutes for Savasana at the end of your practice to assimilate the practice and get yourself mentally ready for the day ahead.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Anatomy 101 - the spine

THE PILLAR
Bringing our attention to the spine in our practice is one of the many ways we can see how the practice positively affects our life beyond the mat. The spine sits in the centre of our body and forms the midline. This pillar holds us up against gravity, houses the spinal cord and is at the core of all movement. Our limbs and the pelvis move in a harmonious dance with the oscillation of the spine that facilitates seamless and smooth movement.

The thoracic spine (referred to as one of our primary curves) was the first curve to appear in evolution as we moved towards becoming land creatures. It is also the first curve to form prenatally, with the cervical spine (referred to as one of our secondary curves) only starting to form as the baby begins to feed and to hold their head up within a few months of birth. The lumbar spine was the last to appear in evolution to allow us to stand upright and find our centre of gravity. We start to develop our lumbar spine when we begin to walk as a toddler at 12 to 18 months.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE SPINE
The spine is made up of 24 vertebrae and the sacrum (5 fused bones):
7 cervical vertebrae (neck) – smallest vertebrae, good rotation, flexion, extension & lateral bend.
12 thoracic vertebrae (upper back) – each attached to a pair of ribs, good rotation & lateral bend, limited flexion & extension.
5 lumbar vertebrae (lower back) – largest vertebrae, limited rotation & lateral bend, good flexion & extension.

The bone structure of the spine is complicated and fascinating. Similar to the pelvis it is a hard structure to visualise simply from a picture. The size of each vertebrae gets incrementally larger as you travel down the spine to assist in weight bearing. Although unique in shape and size, each vertebrae has a main round body at the front of the spine and three protrusions – two on the sides (transverse process) and one on the back (spinous process) of the spine. The protrusions form a circle called a foramen which contain and protect the spinal cord. As illustrated above each group of vertebrae have a different version of this formation. The body of the vertebrae mainly deals with the forces of gravity and the protruding arms deal with controlling levels of movement – both working together to protect the spinal cord and the central nervous system.  In yoga forward bends bring the round body of the vertebra closer together and backbends bring the arms of the protrusions closer together. Each vertebrae is separated with a cartilage, jelly filled, shock absorption disc. If these discs rupture the protein rich jelly can leak out and cause intense pain to the surrounding tissue. Long ligaments run the length of the spine to support the discs in their position and help prevent them from bulging and rupturing. It is important to maintain these ligaments and assisting muscles to allow them to continue to do their important job for the long term health of the spine. The curves of the spine play a role in shock absorption too. If the spine was a simple column with no curves eventually gravity would compress it down. The curves work as a spring to protect the spine against the forces of gravity as we walk and run. The spine is held together with a suspension system of muscles like a web – each one reliant on the other to perform appropriately to ensure there is perfect balance in the formation and function of the spinal column. Habitual patterns can easily throw this balance and can cause postural issues and spinal conditions.

THE MOVEMENTS OF THE SPINE
Flexion – where the spine bends forward.
Extension – where the spine bends back.
Rotation – where the spine twists to either the right or left side.
Lateral flexion – where the spine bends to either the right or left side.

THE MUSCLES OF THE SPINE
For those of you who love to go deeper into the actions of the spine I have also listed the movements of the spine with their assisting muscles in the chart below. I have also added the three main stabilising muscles of the spine. Grouping the muscles to the action rather than looking at each muscle in isolation gives a better understanding of how the spine works.

EXPLORING THE SPINE IN YOUR PRACTICE
To help you find your primary and secondary curves come into Savasana. The primary curves (thoracic & sacrum) rest on the ground, and the secondary curves (cervical & lumbar) are lifted off the ground. In spinal flexion/forward bends we increase the primary curves and in spinal extension/backbends we increase the secondary curves. Taking two simple poses like cat & cow we can see the spine in action. Notice what each curve is doing – in spinal flexion of cat the curve of the thoracic spine (primary) is deepening and the curve of the lumbar spine (secondary) is flattening; in spinal extension of cow pose the curve of the thoracic spine (primary) is flattening and and curve of the lumbar spine (lumbar) is deepening.

ALIGNMENT CUES
This simple sequence will bring you through the five movements of the spine – lateral (side bends), rotation (twists), extension (backbends), flexion (forward bends) and axial extension (vertical extension). As you move through the sequence bring your full attention to the position of your spine from your tailbone to the tip of your crown. Notice what the primary and secondary curves are doing in each pose. The sequence is numbered to highlight sample poses from each movement of the spine to give you a better understanding of the role of the spine in the pose. The first four seated poses bring you into gentle spinal extension, flexion, rotation and axial extension. Cat & cow are also two invaluable poses to link with the movement of the spine and warm up the supporting muscles, and are excellent poses to add at the start of any sequence. Below are a few alignment cues in each of the five spinal movements:

1 – Flexion
Flexion into forward bends can be the most challenging family of poses for most people. The action of a forward bend must come from the pelvic tilting forward first before we flex the spine forward or it will place an imbalanced load into the most vulnerable part of the spine between the last thoracic vertebrae and the first lumbar vertebrae. To round the spine or not round the spine is a personal preference in forward bends. For the purpose of this sequence I would suggest you gently allow the spine to round forward after you have found your pelvic tilt to feel the action of spinal flexion that we are looking for.

2 – Extension
The breath plays a major role in extension into backbends. We use the expansion and contraction of the breath to help us find our backbend. When we are backbending prone from our front (Salabhasana/Locust, Bhujangasana/Cobra, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana/Upward Facing Dog) we inhale into the pose. When we are backbending supine from our back (Camatkarasana/Wild Thing, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana/Bridge, Urdhva Dhanurasana/Wheel) we exhale into the pose.

3 – Rotation
As we have seen above the spine is not a simple straight column from a side view. The curves make twisting a little more complicated than the idea of a spiral staircase which is an image often used to help you visualise your twisted spine. Each section of the spine has its own unique range of twisting movement – with the cervical spine having the most and surprisingly the lumbar spine having the least. Twists are good prep and counterposes for backbends. When twisting ensure you are equally grounded on both sides so the hips can stay stable and allow the twist to come from the spine alone. Take you twist in the trunk of your body first before you include the neck to avoid over twisting into this more mobile part of the spine.

4 – Lateral flexion
For most, lateral bends are a more accessible stretch than a forward bend and backbend and a great way to prep the spine for these two families of poses too. In lateral bends press strongly through the foundation of the side you are reaching away from to anchor you down and facilitate a lovely stretch through the whole side body. Take a moment to find your natural spinal curves first enable the side stretch.

5 – Axial extension
Axial extension can be of benefit to some pose, for example twists, where a lengthened spine will give you added space to come into the pose. If you take a twist with the spine that is not lengthened you will reach your end range of motion, as bone hits bone, much sooner. When you find an element of axial extension first before you come into a twist you will maximise the space between the vertebrae and help you find a more satisfying twist within your anatomical limitation.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru