by Sitaram Das | May 29, 2011 | asana, yoga
Someone asked how they could use yoga to help with some sciatica that they started experiencing during their pregnancy.
Having never met them, this is what I felt like i could safely offer.
most generally, sciatica is caused by the irritation, compression, and/or inflammation of the sciatic nerve.
see, the sciatic nerve comes down the vertebrae and weaves through the pelvis, it passes under a part of the pelvis called the sciatic notch (bone). then it travels down through the glut and the hamstring.
often, what can happen, is through alignment, tension, injury, etc, is that the notch rubs against, or crushes the nerve. this is irritating. also, if there is a possibility that the nerve can get squeezed by the glute and the hamstring pushing, or being stuck together.
the best thing to do it to create space in the jammed areas, and be really mindful of your not making it worse by doing poses that jam up the area.
some poses that might be useful:
*pigeon pose while lying on the back, you can do it the normal way, if your hips are really open
*pascimottanasana with the knees deeply bent and the spine straight, to peel open the tissues in the back of the legs and butt. deeply bent knees, really really
*try putting two straps around your hips, pull one to the left, and pull one to the right. this can help open the pelvis nicely. you can keep them on while you do your practice, and it might support you nicely
*twisting triangle
*easy locust pose that will strengthen the low back muscles
avoid
*deep forward folding with legs straight
*deep backbends that jam the sacrum
hope it helps.
by Sitaram Das | Feb 3, 2011 | asana
spread your toes as wide as you can.
now take your attention from you toes, back a little, into the ball of your foot.
spread the ball of your foot as wide as you can, from the center of the ball of the foot, out to the big toes edge, and the little toe edge.
now relax the toes a little, and just let them gently extend forward.
Focus on opening and spreading the ball of the foot.
snuggle the ball of the foot into the ground, and lift from the center of the arch.
this will send more weight to the outer edge of the foot. this is good, press into the outer edge of your foot, but don’t loose your connection to the ball of the big toe.
visualize a line that runs across the center of the foot (left-right)
the front of the line reaches forward, the back of the line reaches back.
Draw your knee back a little to press weight into your heel, and lift the calf muscle upward at the same time.
let the heel flower out from the center to the edges.
by Sitaram Das | May 13, 2010 | Ayurveda
Last week was a crafty week, i decided to make both lemon pickle and saurkraut. Saurkraut I’ve made before and find totally delicious, but I haven’t made lemon pickle before. Arsha Vidya makes a slammin version, but it never occured to me that I could make it myself. However,I found a recipe online and decided to try it out. Funny thing is, is that now that this recipe is on my mind, lemon pickle is popping up everywhere! I just found a second method, which looks great as well.
Although it certainly needs a little more time, i tasted it yesterday, and it is coming along really nicely. here are the two sites: (you’ll love the website names)
Salt and Fat
Evil Mad Scientist
by Sitaram Das | Dec 24, 2009 | Book Club
Siddhar Thirumoolar
I discovered a new text recently. Love it. From the Tamil, Southern India, The Thirumandiram has a slightly different vibe from the northern, Kashmiri literature that I am a little more used to. These teachings of Siddhar Thirumoolar are said to be the seed that later blossomed into Saiva Siddhanta, a very heartfelt and devotional approach to the worship of Shiva and the understanding of the universe.
The book is three separate volumes, and contains nine Tantras within. I’ve perused up to Tantra five, at which point it was clear to me that I need to spend some more time with the first four. Which is fine, because they are plenty remarkable.
I want to share with you the first verse of the first Tantra. It is delightful, full of Bhakti, and much like the first sutra of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, seems to sum up the whole deal. If you think I’m wrong, I’m happy to hear your argument. I am new to this text, after all.
He came down from heaven, clothed in body,
Karma to match, stretched forth His cool Feet of Grace, from time immemorial
And lo! inside me He stood, melting my yielding heart;
And filled my eyes with peerless bliss, past all compare,
All impurity dispelled.
This one verb, it really does it for me, it’s a verb that shows up in other verses, and also, in the intro. It’s all about the melting. The goal, is to melt the heart into the universal love of Shiva, and to melt the mind and ego into His universal consciousness. It is similar to the melting that happens to salt when it is placed into water.
To make this practical, one can visualize their body as if it were made of a solid block of salt. Perhaps that lovely pink Himalayan mountain salt. Then one can meditate on the body melting and dissolving into a vast ocean. One realizes that the individual self is not extinguished or negated by this melting. Instead, there is the experience of expanding into and merging with this vastness. We find that while the small self still exists, the wondrous bliss of Shiva’s reality supersedes petty individual concerns.
I highly recommend this book, and wil be posting more about it in the coming weeks. The practices in the book, along with the devotional reminders can powerfully orient the mind toward the ultimate and support our soul’s illumination.
by Sitaram Das | Dec 15, 2009 | Book Club
When I was at Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree last month, i met a man named Lorin Roche. He was a scholar and meditation teacher, and had spent several years working on a beautiful, poetic, practical, and accessible version of The Vijnana Bhairava tantra. The vbt is a delightful text that outlines powerful meditation techniques that can be used both on and off the mat, and allow one to see the sacred in all phenomenon. I really enjoyed meeting him, and taking his workshop, and I really enjoy the text. In fact, I used a reading from it in the wedding I performed just recently.
Be Wildly devoted to someone, or something.
Cherish every perception.
At the same time, forget about control.
Allow the Beloved to be itself and to change.
Passion and compassion, holding and letting go,
This ache in your heart is holy.
Accept it as the rise of intimacy
With life’s secret ways.
Devotion is the Divine Streaming through you
From that place in you before time.
Love’s energy flows through your body,
Towards a body, and into eternity again.
Surrender to this current of devotion
And become one with the Body of Love.
So check him out, he has alot of fantastic readings on his website, which i have been enjoying very much
http://www.lorinroche.com
