Lecture 1: Deep Core to Functional Core and Back Again: The Path of Shambhavi Mudra on the mat and in our lives

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Exercises from Class

Swimming Shalabhasana

From prone deep core activation, bend one knee and notice how the hamstrings engage, then extend the spine and sway away from the bent knee. Alternate sides. Less is more, if you push too far the deep core will turn off, so try to feel how it supports you through your range of motion.

Deep Core Plank

From the deep core leg slide, step the second foot back into plank- notice how the functional core engages and the depth of the breath changes with the layers of the core

Knee Lifts

From Table with neutral spine and pelvis, Exhale to unweight the knees, notice how the functional core engages.

Deep Core Parighasana

From modified Parighasana setup, Exhale to hover bottom arm to engage deep core (next GIF shows how to layer in the functional core)

Functional core Parighasana

Once the Deep core has been established (previous GIF) release the bottom arm and slowly side bend over the bent knee. Notice how the deep core continues to support you even as the obliques flex the trunk laterally

Anjaneyasana with Unweighting the arms

See next GIF for functional Core

Deep Core Anjaneyasana

Once the deep core has been activated, slowly press into the legs and extend the spine. Keep your awareness on the deep core, even as the functional core takes you further into spinal extension

Heel to Heel Stance with Deep Core

See next GIF for functional Core addition

Deep Core Virabhadrasana 1

From the Heel to Heel Set up with Deep core activation, simultaneously bend the knee as you extend the spine, letting the arms follow. Notice a sense of support and ease through the body

Tadasana with Deep Core

Prep for the following balance poses

Deep Core Vrksasana

From Tadasana float the foot and the arms into tree. Notice a sense of buoyancy and support through the deep core.

Deep Core Natarajasana

From deep core tadasana, extend into natarajasana with a sense of ease and support. Try to feel a sense of continuity throughout the body- if you notice a lot of sensation in one place like the low back or the shoulder, come out and try again with less force.

Deep Core Natarajasana

From Natarajasana, Let the free arm release and slowly lift towards the horizon to naturally activate the deep core

Deep Core Virabhadrasana III

From Deep core Natarajasana, test out your integration by letting yourself hover forward into VIrabhadrasana III. Notice how the deep core can support the spine and lifted leg, try to see how light you can be in this pose.

Deep Core Vira III

From Deep Core Virabhadrasana I you can test your strength and suppleness by shifting forward and letting the arms swing back to help with the weight shift.

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Rough Transcript of Lecture:

The Path of the Shambhavi Mudra on our mats, cushions and in our lives

1. Overview of Shambhavi Mudra: The Shambhavi Mudra is an essential teaching that encapsulates the work of having inner awareness while working in the world. The yogic tradition teaches that there is always an urge that precedes an action, much like science teaches that there is an atomic level that lies beneath the molecular level which lies beneath the cellular level, which lies beneath the tissue level, and so on. The practices of yoga teach us how to hold our awareness at the more foundational levels of awareness as we interact with the superficial layers— this is essentially the practice of keeping one’s attention inside as we move through the world, the Shambhavi Mudra.

1. The Shambhavi Mudra reveals a new perspective: As Sri ShambhavAnanda teaches: “The Shambhavi Mudra is learning how to see inside with your eyes open. My name is Shambhavananda. It means to be immersed completely in your Inner Self while all five senses are working. You can’t close your eyes to the world and to the things that are of it. It is easy to close your eyes and daydream; it is more difficult to be present right here and now. You need to learn how you relate to the outer world. Being more in your heart won’t make you dysfunctional. It will make you more aware and more alert about what is going on around you. If you can learn how to keep your heart open and your eyes open, you will see a different world.”

2. Our Body is an amazing Shambhavi Mudra Practitioner: Physiologically speaking, our body practices the Shambhavi Mudra constantly— organizing itself from the inside out as it attempts to work through external situations.  Our deep core anticipates an action, sometimes firing before it, or firing for the first 1% of an action, in order to establish a solid foundation. This take practice of course, and Our time on the mat allows us to practice bringing our awareness ‘inside’, meaning to these deeper layers of both our physiology as well as our meta-physiology. When done with awareness, feeling the first 1% of movement allows for the 99% that follows to flow with a type of effortless effort— much like how a foundation supports a building. When the foundation is stable, the building can be built up around it.

2. The Path to the Shambhavi Mudra: The Shambhavi Mudra is a mountain top experience, quite literally the experience of being on a mountain top and looking down at our lives below. But how do we get to that mountain top? The yogic Tradition has always described the route to that mountain top as a path, and paths are made not by walking once, but by walking back and forth repeatedly towards a destination. The repetitious aspect of a path is perhaps one Yoga’s most overlooked, yet essential teachings.

1. Walking the path from the cave to our life, and back again: Our deep core is an all pervasive foundation in our postures, just like our heart is the foundation of our awareness. We begin our day on our cushions and attempt to bring our practice into our life, just like we begin our asana practice with work and awareness on the deep core in order to establish that inner foundation. But we don’t stop there, we don’t live in the cave, we walk from the cave into our lives, trying to maintain that inner awareness. In our asana practice, and in the movements of daily life too, we practice postures and movements that work larger muscle groups, assymetrical angles and differing loads. We will win some of these interactions, maintaining our inner awareness, and we will lose some, losing that inner connection. This could mean losing our center at work, letting ourselves get stressed and spin out, or working in a rush to weed the garden and ending up with a sore back. But as the Mandolorians often say, this is the way.

2. The Shiva Sutras Spark of Awareness: The Shiva Sutras teach that no matter how great our focus, it will fade, and that we then must reinsert our awareness again, only to have that inner awareness fade. We do this by going back and forth between our cave of the heart and the heart of our lives, between the deep core on our mat, and the functional core of our asanas and daily movements. We gain our center, then we lose our center, and this is actually exactly how we are meant to grow. This is ‘the path’ and this is how the path is formed in each of us, not by walking once from our cave to our life, but by walking back and forth, day after day, between our cave and our live, until that path is truly formed.

1. Shiva Sutra 2.3: “The process is to insert one spark of awareness. Let that one spark fade. Again, insert fresh awareness. Let that spark fade. Again, insert fresh awareness. This process must be continued over and over again in continuity…The yogī must return inside again and again. They must not think that they have lost anything. He need not wait for the teacher’s direction…they must continue to return inside, again and again, and maintain awareness of that oneness.” - Swami Lakshmanjoo’s translation

3. Walking the path from deep core to functional core in Asana practice: Asana practice is quite literally how we walk this path from the deep core to the functional core and back again. The functional muscles surrounding the core are there to support you in moments of increase load and asymmetrical angles, which are absolutely essential our daily lives. These larger muscles of support have the leverage and mass to generate larger movements, as well as more powerful movements. They are intended to come on temporarily, and strongly, and then to release. Muscles like the rectus abdominus, erector spinae, the internal and external obliques, gluteus Maximus , trapezius, deltoids and lats.

1. If Superficial Muscles come on too soon, they never turn off: Too often, though, these more superficial muscles of support come online before our deep core, we enter our lives and movements before we have established an inner connection. This leads to a movement without deep core support, and over burdens the superficial muscles to not only perform the action, but to provide the missing stability. This kind of over activity becomes hyper activity when we keep these muscles engaged even after the movement is over, as we saw in the list of muscles affected by forward head posture. Without any awareness or attention on our deep core, the functional muscles of support must carry the endurance as well as the sprint load, and become fatigued, sore, and eventually led to imbalances and injury.

2. Our work today centers around walking this path between the deep core to the superficial core, again and again. This is quite literally the work of establishing inner awareness amidst the outer world, the path of the Shambhavi Mudra itself.