Full Class Lecture
Topic 5: Springing Into Creation: Spiraling open our Movement Potential through the Transitional Bloom of Unmesha.
Summary: Reality doesn’t just appear— it ‘blooms’, ‘springs’ and ‘spirals’ into existence, according to the Yogic Tradition. This upward spiral of creation is known in Sanskrit as an “Unmesha”, and teaches us how to move smoother, safer and stronger through the transitional spaces on our mats in order to untap our movement potential. The principle of Unmesha also re-emphasizes the importance of cultivating more spring in our movement patterns in order to keep our connective tissue supple, healthy, and bouncy.
Springing into Existence through Unmesha
The Space of Transitions: Our training thus far has sought to show you the space between stars in our setups and foundations of postures, the primary movements of those postures, as well as the creation of sequences itself. Today we talk about an even more invisible space that exists between the postures themselves, or sequences themselves. This is the space of unmeshas, the space that exists in the space between dissolution and creation. It is that which creation springs up.
5 Acts of Shiva: The dance of Shiva and Shakti is often described as the 5 acts of shiva: creation, sustenance and dissolution, but wait that’s only 3. Sometimes these acts conceal our true nature from us, other times they help to reveal our true nature to us, depending on the fullness of our awareness. These are the fourth and fifth acts. These 5 acts continually dance into and out of existence, dissolving and then re-forming, much like the seasons every year. And just like the seasons, the space between the dissolution of winter and the flowers of summer is the spring of creation, a “blooming into existence” known as Unmesha. (2.7)
The Space Between: Jai Deva Singh quotes Krishnamurti in describing Unmesha as “A creative moment. It is not thought, but a flash of Understanding. Unmesa literally means opening of the eye-lid i.e. uncovering, Self-revelation.” Ksemaraja, the principal commentator of the Shiva Sutras from the 10th century, teaches that every individual can experience unmesha for themself by paying attention to the the spaces between thoughts during our day— “While one is engaged in one thought, and another arises, the junction-point between the two is the unmesa, i.e. revelation of the true nature of the Self which is the background of both the two thoughts.” (JDS, Shiva Sutras, XXXV). This class looks closer at identifying the transitional space of unmesha on our yoga mat and proposes that when we learn how to move with the energy of these transitional spaces, the 5 acts of Shiva reveal our true nature to us, instead of conceal them— meaning that we move smoother, safer and stronger on our mats and in our lives.
We are Built to Spring
Springing is Natural & Essential: The springing or flashing forth of Unmesha is one of its key characteristics. It is not something that is grasped by the 1s and 0s of the mind, it is not a linear understanding, it requires a vulnerability and whole hearted participation that is much like the act of springing in everyday life. When we try to practice movement in isolation, it can be a helpful way to understand movement, but even the simplest act of walking requires that we start to flow and move with momentum. Go out in nature and move from A to B, and you’ll find that movement doesn’t look like walking on steps with a handrail, but more often than not requires a leap of faith getting from one surface to the next. This level of movement was once required for survival, but now is considered acrobatic. In either case, we are currently endowed with an incredibly elastic body wide web of connective tissue that is unmatched on the planet in its balance of strength and suppleness. And what’s more, studies have shown that the act of rolling, springing and moving with momentum is required to keep this all pervasive connective tissue supple, healthy, and bouncy.
The Spring of Collagen: The fascia that forms a scaffolding of both support and high speed neurological coordination between our muscles teams is primarily composed of Type 1 collagen. Described as a “God-Like building material”, type 1 collagen is much like the ‘mild steel’ used in skyscrapers, a technology that allowed them to be strong enough to support amazing weight loads while simultaneously also being able to flex when needed. As fascial researcher David Lesondak writes, "Gram for gram, Type 1 collagen is stronger than steel, thus it can withstand tremendous force and still be able to bend with the wind."
Spiraling Collagen: In the 1950s, Dr. Ram showed that the atomic structure of collagen was a spiraling triple helix, much like our DNA, another spiraling helix discovered in the same decade. Under a microscope. healthy collagen is organized in wave like patterns, literally like a spring, allowing it catch and receive energy like a trampoline.
Keeping Collagen Healthy: And when we’re young, our healthy connective tissue makes the world look like a trampoline, and so does your dog jumping into the car, or your cat onto the fridge— the elastic spring of fascia creates movements that seem super heroic. Yet, in reality, this is simply how we were meant to move. Which is why Patanjali taught 2,000 years ago that the movements of our yoga asanas should have the qualities of effortless effort, perseverance without tension, this is exactly how one would describe the effort of a child or animal as they move— they are the most natural way to move, a living example of effortless effort as they move. The problem is that when the less we move, the less wave like our fascia becomes. Researchers have described the fascia like a garden, planted in rows, and when we don’t visit that garden frequently enough through natural movement patterns, weeds grow over it and inhibit its spring like structure. This is more than a metaphor, its a viewable reality from the microscope. And like any slinky, if we kink the spring, the ease and fluidity of its movement is lost. Without our spiraling spring, we lose our efficiency, which means we eventually lose movement itself.
Repatterning our Connective Tissue: But the spiraling spring can be re-trained and re-patterned, which is something we hope today’s work will allow us to incorporate into our classes even more effectively. And when we re-find those pathways, we naturally unlock our untapped potential. For example, in World War II, there was a time when women took over factory positions for men who had gone to war. In one of those factories, the women were instructed how to do the work in the same manner that the men did prior to them. This type of movement didn’t work for their bodies as well, they were trying to lift with muscles alone, in isolation, and productivity slowed. In this particular workplace, though, they worked at finding a way towards a new solution, and one of the methods was to use more springing momentum in how they lifted and moved boxes around the factory. Instead of relying on individual muscles, they used teams of muscles, and the springy connective tissue that unites them, and in time productivity was back at its original numbers. The martial art of Wing Chun is one of the only martial arts began by a woman, and was well known for utilizing the springy strength of connective tissue as its main power source. Bruce Lee as a practitioner of Wing Chun, and the Ip Man series of martial arts films is based on this art form.
Springing unmeshas
Springing through the Spiral Line
Moving is spiraling: To better understand why springing is so essential to our movement, it can be helpful to look at the team of muscles responsible for this movement in our bodies, the Spiral Line. The Spiral line is by far the most complex team of muscles in the body, yet it is also the most intuitive. 88% of the Spiral line itself is composed of muscles from other movement teams. This means that spiraling and springing is a full body action, moving us through all planes of motion holistically.
The anatomy of the spiral line might seem epic, and it is, but it is also simple. Let’s trace the path in detail, and then simplify it for practical use.
Trace the path.
back of shoulder
opposite ribs
same side hip
cross front of leg
under foot
up outside of leg
up back of thigh
crosses sacrum
up the back to skull
A Practical Spiral Line: Practically speaking, the spiral line can be thought of as a large X on the front and back of our body, two diagonal lines that cross near our core. Spiraling occurs whenever either of those diagonal lines contract or lengthen. An example of this is the simple act of walking. Visualize a diagonal line from the left hip to the left shoulder— step forward with the right foot and feel that diagonal line lengthen, like the string of a bow being pulled back, and then as you step forward with the left foot, feel the string of that bow release forward. Your connective tissue is literally storing and releasing energy with each step— a step with your right foot loads the left diagonal, and then then a step with your left foot unloads it, while simultaneously loading the right. This is literally the closest thing to a perpetual motion machine we have on the planet, coiling uncoiling at an almost 99% rate of efficiency. When we walk without springing and spiraling, though, we tire quickly. Think of how tired you are after walking around a museum for a few hours, compared to walking on a trail for that same amount of time.
Walking with and without spirals and springs
Moving with Momentum in the Sutras: Walking requires momentum to be effective, and so does our practice. As the Shiva Sutras teach, “Just as when the archer, placing an arrow on the string of a bow and then pulling back on that arrow and letting it go, where it flies swiftly, striking the point at which it was aimed. It is in this same way, O Devi, the supreme light of God Consciousness (prakāśa) is attained by just one thrust of awareness. If the yogī is not successful in one push, he will not be successful at all. It must be attained in one thrust of awareness” (2.3)
Learning to move with momentum can teach us how to surrender more effectively. The space of transitions, unmeshas, are a wonderful way to insert this essential natural movement into our classes. The marine and fire fighter adage, slow is smooth and smooth is fast, alludes to the fact that we must learn how to move seamlessly and without resistance in order to perform small or large tasks.
Up and Down through Spirals: Because Larger movements also benefit from spirals and springs. For example, the act of coming down to the floor from standing, and vice versa, is not only smoother and more efficient, but safer than moving without spirals. It is both a preferred method for movement experts, as well as elderly movers.
Coming to floor and standing up demonstration
The following examples combine the work of springing with that of spiraling, as well as moving you significantly across your mat, from one side to the other, or from one level to another. Although these movements are intended to be the most efficient, as well as most conscious, means of getting from point A to point B, one should always seek the balance of effortless effort. If it doesn’t feel like a balance of effortless effort, come back to it, modify it, or drop it all together. The whole point of spirals is to get you in touch with an infinite means of motion, as Patanjali himself described it. So as Paul Reps put it, Until its fun better left undone.