Class 1 Content & Homework
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Time Stamps for Video
0:00 Introductory Meditation
11:23 1A. Finding Our Roots: The Physical & Subtle Path to Inner Awareness
56:00 Exercise: Talus Rocking for Ankle Stability
1:31:30 An In-depth Analysis of Foot and Ankle Structure: Functional Dynamics and Movement Integration
1:34:02 Exercise: Tippy Toe Pulses with Deep Core
1:40:15 Cont. An In-depth Analysis of Foot and Ankle Structure: Functional Dynamics and Movement Integration
1:54:07 Posture, Vajrasana Prep and Sequence
2:08:40 Harnessing the Power of Your Superficial Back Line: A Guide to Balance, Support, and Conscious Living
2:16:58 Sequence: Back Line Strength & Flexibility Sequence
2:53:00 Introductions
3:19:30 Sacred Steps: The Physical and Spiritual Dynamics of Walking
3:44:00 Exercise: Flossing Your Retinacula demonstration
4:00:00 Exploration: Daily Dose of Vitamin G
4:03:18 Homework
Homework for Class 1 (Lecture Content Below this Section)
Understanding our feet and the back line as a foundation of support can greatly enhance your connection to yoga postures that you already know and love. To discover how focusing on your feet, heels, and the back line of your body—your roots—can transform your practice, embark on a journey of exploration with the following exercises:
Analyze Existing Postures: Begin by engaging with poses such as Anjaneyasana, Parighasana, Parsvottanasana, and Trikonasana. Reflect on how bringing attention to the feet and heels alters your experience of these level one postures.
Experiment with New Perspectives: Challenge yourself to explore beyond these poses. As you delve deeper into your practice, identifying how your roots influence your alignment and sensation, you may discover new poses that respond uniquely to this focus.
Document Your Insights: Keep track of your experiences and findings. What shifts in your body or mindset occur as you emphasize the grounding of the feet and the back line? Are there unexpected connections or revelations.
Write a Sequence: Write a sequence of postures that could serve you in future classes that you teach. It can utilize any postures that you found illuminating of the back line.
Prepare to teach 8 minutes of your sequence: Be sure to include cues that help your students feel their feet, ankles, back line anatomy or back line downward pulling physiology.
The exploration of these roots within your yoga practice can lead to profound changes in your approach and understanding of the postures you embrace. Embrace this homework as an opportunity to deepen your connection to yourself and the practice of yoga.
Lecture Text
Exercises Covered:
Talus Rocking for Ankle Stability: Explore activating the arch of your foot by gently rolling the talus bone to find balance and connection, revealing a deeper understanding of foot architecture.
Tippy Toe Pulses with Deep Core: Engage in tippy toe pulses while integrating deep core activation to enhance foot stability and strength.
Vajrasana Foot Stretch Prep and Variations: Learn how to explore healthy ankle mobility to enhance functional movements like walking, running, squatting and jumping!
Backline Awakening Sequence: learn to coordinate the muscles from feet to head to restore balance, grounding, and support, counteracting front-focused tendencies and offering a new perspective on posture and movement.
Flossing the Retinaculum: Wake up your high-speed processors to improve proprioception, balance, and coordination.
Daily Dose of Vitamin G: Gain insight into navigating and adapting to uneven surfaces, fostering better proprioception and stability.
1A. Training Goals & Overview
Rooting our Awareness: This training encompasses both Physical roots and Subtle roots. The physical roots symbolize our connection and integration with our surroundings, akin to how the roots of a plant allow it to bond with the earth. While we humans are not physically planted into the ground, we possess unique ways of interacting with the earth and gravity, which allow us to remain grounded and stable in our day-to-day lives while moving across the surface. Our subtle roots pertain to our consciousness or awareness. In the context of Shambhavananda Yoga, it guides us in learning how to anchor our awareness.
As Babaji imparts: “The Shambhavi Mudra is learning how to see inside with your eyes open. My name is Shambhavananda. It means to be entirely immersed in your Inner Self while all five senses are fully operational. You can't just shut your eyes to the world and what's in it. Closing your eyes and daydreaming might be easy, but being present in the here and now requires more effort. You must understand how you relate to the external world. Being more in touch with your heart won't hinder you. Rather, it will enhance your awareness and alertness to what's happening around you. If you can manage to keep both your heart and eyes open, you will perceive a different world, a reflection of what you've created for yourself. And if you're fortunate, you might discern the illusion it symbolizes.” (SP, 53)
Babaji's words elucidate a profound teaching that emphasizes inner awareness and being fully present in the world. The Shambhavi Mudra, a practice of seeing inside with open eyes, symbolizes the journey towards self-realization and connection with one's inner self. Babaji encourages us not to detach or escape from the world but to engage with it fully, with open hearts and eyes.
He guides us towards being more conscious of our relationship with the world, enhancing our perception and understanding. By remaining in touch with our hearts and keeping our eyes open, we can see the world differently, recognizing our creations and possibly discerning the underlying illusions.
This teaching encourages a deep connection with oneself while also fostering an acute awareness of the external world. It promotes a balanced and enlightened way of living, being firmly rooted in the present moment, and fully embracing both the inner and outer realities.
Flip the Paradigm: From the standpoint of meditation, our objective is to learn to anchor our attention within our hearts, in pure awareness, all while engaging simultaneously with our external life situations. This is unquestionably a lifelong undertaking, but it's one that we can undoubtedly refine throughout the course of this training. Grounding your awareness in your physical roots will literally guide you down the path to grounding your awareness in your heart—these are not two separate practices but rather two distinct aspects of the same journey. We utilize the physical to unveil the subtle. That's the genuine potential of this training: rooting your physical body as a means of firmly planting your awareness within.
Training Goals on the Mat: During this training we will embark on an exploration of Four key aspects of the physical body's roots, delving into the profound connection between our structural foundation and our daily movement.
Finding Our Feet: Our feet, more than just the means by which we traverse the earth, are a significant gateway to holistic movement. With sensory receptors as abundant as in our hands or face, the feet act as a vital passage for all fascial lines. Though often confined by shoes and pavement or simply neglected, many movement experts regard the feet as our greatest evolutionary asset, fundamental to our connection and interaction with the world.
Reconnecting Our Back Line: The second root of our physical being lies in the superficial back line, the group of muscles stretching from the soles of our feet to the crown of our heads. Comprised of slow-twitch endurance fibers, akin to roots themselves, this muscle team serves a powerful and constant role in our movement, unfolding us from our fetal position in to our waking life. It silently supports everything we do in front of us - driving, talking, walking, carrying, and more. With mindfulness, we can learn to let this foundational support guide us through the activities of our day.
Floating Our Core: Beyond standing and the frontal operations of our body, we are complex three-dimensional beings that navigate intricate spatial patterns. Our movements are rarely simple or isolated; they intertwine in various ways. It's here that our internal root system comes into play, the deep core. This coordinated center maintains space within the body and offers the freedom of movement, anchoring us from the inside out.
Supporting Our Multi Dimensional Hips: Upon unraveling these three root foundations, we will extend our focus to the dynamics of the lower body—specifically the hips. We will study their flexion and extension, abduction and adduction, and internal and external rotation. Our exploration in the hips will seek a delicate equilibrium of sthira (stability) and sukha (comfort). Though the tendency may be to push the range of motion in the hips, we may discover that what we truly need is greater support, heightened awareness, and a thoughtful reassessment of our movement objectives.
Through this training, we aim to illuminate these complex layers of our physical roots, fostering a deeper understanding and alignment that can inform our practice and our lives.
Training Goals on the Cushion: Grounding through Walking Meditation: As we embark on a journey to rediscover the roots of our movement, our exploration extends beyond the physical to the profound roots of our awareness. Yoga transcends mere physical postures (asanas); it is an interwoven practice of the physical and the subtle. Our growth flows from the physical roots to the subtle consciousness, and one significant method we will apply in this training is through walking meditation. More than a simple exercise, walking meditation allows us to feel and connect with the roots of our awareness. It aligns our physical existence with a more profound internal mindfulness. By focusing on our feet, the very gateways that tether us to the Earth, we not only learn about them physically but also invest our attention into them, transforming them into conduits for a quieter mind. Our time will be devoted to unraveling the layers of walking meditation, transcending it from mere novelty to a vital part of your internal work—a practice that will accompany you wherever you go.
Witnessing - The Silent Roots of Awareness: As we cultivate a connection with our feet and ground our awareness, we pave the way for an even more profound meditation subject—the witness state. This state is not merely a principle in meditation but a way of being that transcends the physical body. The witness state represents the yogic tradition's approach to helping us discover the silent and subtle roots of our awareness. These roots don't reside in the feet, back, or core, but are the unseen force behind everything we say, see, do, and feel.
This foundational awareness, often referred to as the "Turya State," is termed 'the ground of all awareness.' By practicing witnessing the ebbs and flows of our minds and learning to step back from our tendencies to over-engage in daily activities, we grasp a tangible understanding of this transformative state of existence. Far from rendering us less functional, this level of detachment shapes our very definition of functionality.
As we ground our awareness in the feet we will be laying the foundation for a even more grounding meditation topic, the witness state. The Witness practice is both a meditation principle, as well as a way of being. The witness is the yogic tradition’s way of helping you find the silent subtle roots of your awareness. These roots are not in your feet, your back, or your core, per se, but are exactly behind everything you say, see, do and feel. This foundational aspect of awareness is described as ‘the ground of all awareness’ and is often called the “Turya State”. By learning to witness the coming and goings of your mind, as well as learning to step back from our tendencies to over-do our daily activities, we can gain a visceral understanding of this truly transformative state of being. As we will see, this level of detachment doesn’t make us less functional, but literally defines what it means to be functional at all.
Circular Breath: The Path to Spiritual Growth: As elucidated in Dharana 5 of the Vijnana Bhairava, the path to spiritual growth is a nuanced journey inward before rising upward. There's an eagerness among students to ascend first, which may result in an imbalance. However, by patiently rooting awareness and establishing steadiness, the natural upward ascending energy of spiritual growth can be unleashed. This philosophy is embodied by the Shambahvananda school's teachings on circular breath, a practice requiring dedication from the practitioner. Through this commitment, the practitioner refines their internal energy and sets the stage for the energy's upward rise within the spine.
Passed down from Swami Rudrananda to Sri Shambhavananda, to your teacher, and ultimately to you, this practice holds a venerable position in the ShambhavAnanda tradition. Its classification as an advanced practice reflects the requisite steadiness of mind and the persistence that usually evolves over time with consistent daily practice. While this practice demands a certain level of maturity, our guidance will be fashioned in a manner that encourages all practitioners to edge closer to this subtle experience. This approach opens the door for those desiring to delve deeper, fostering the continuation of their individual journeys.
Recap: This extensive training aims to ground participants in both physical and subtle roots, guided by Shambhavananda Yoga principles. On the physical end, the course will explore key aspects such as the feet, backline, core, and hips, illuminating their roles as roots that impact our daily movement and overall well-being. Subtly, the training will focus on anchoring awareness through practices like walking meditation and the witness state, inspired by Babaji's teachings: “The Shambhavi Mudra is learning how to see inside with your eyes open...If you can manage to keep both your heart and eyes open, you will perceive a different world." The training also incorporates advanced teachings like circular breath to facilitate a balanced spiritual and physical journey, laying the foundation for rooted awareness in both realms.
1B. An In-depth Analysis of Foot and Ankle Structure: Functional Dynamics and Movement Integration
Fun Facts About Feet • Understanding the Complexities: As Sensitive as it Gets: Your feet are incredibly sensory-rich, boasting as many neurons as your hands and face. This neural network lends a unique sensitivity to our base.
The Key to Walking: Equipped with a combination of connective tissue and extra-thick sensors, feet enable an astonishing degree of data collection and coordination. This complex structure is responsible for the intricate balancing act known as walking.
Gateway to Movement: Serving as home to all 5 Major Fascial families, the feet are quite literally the crossroads of every conceivable form of movement. Their structure is a roadmap for how we are designed to move.
These fun facts highlight the extraordinary complexity and importance of the feet in our daily lives and the myriad ways they influence our movement and connection to the world.
Exploring the Feet: The Ankle & Beyond: The ankle begins with the shins. Comprising two primary bones, the tibia (shin) and fibula (hidden), these bones taper out at both ends to form the knee and ankle.
Tibia: A hearty bone, with a deep socket on both sides. Today, we're focusing on the deep groove at its bottom and the protrusion at its end. The medial aspect of your ankle is the tibia bone itself forming this socket, known as the medial malleolus. Feel it!
Fibula: Delicate yet vital, shaped like a violin bow. It forms the outside of your ankle, stabilizing the tibia and supporting its weight-bearing nature.
Inside the Ankle: A Complex Joint: The ankle is not merely a simple joint but a complex combination of five bones. Two of these bones, the tibia and fibula, form the top of the socket known as the ankle. In the middle, there's the talus, a very intricately shaped bone that's synonymous with what we commonly refer to as the ankle. However, this bone remains untouchable when we touch the ankle, as it's deeply nested within sockets and tissue.
Let's explore the different perspectives to gain a comprehensive understanding of the ankle:
Posterior View: This angle provides a clear picture of the ankle's primary function as a hinge joint. It flexes and extends over a flat superior surface. Interestingly, the rotational movement of our ankle originates from connections at the bottom of the talus, something we'll explore shortly.
Anterior View: Looking from the front, we again notice the hinging superior surface, along with the malleoli of the tibia and fibula. Together, these elements form the top of this flexible joint.
Lateral View: From the side, the talus's unique shape comes into focus, comically resembling a Dutch wooden clog. Could this form have been intuitively understood and expressed culturally?
This exploration of the ankle joint through different angles uncovers the intricate architecture and dynamic functionality, making us appreciate the intelligence of our body's design
Keystone of the Arch: While it might not be immediately apparent when you glance down at your feet, the talus bone actually resides at the peak of the arch of your foot. Yes, even though it seems to be situated at the back of your foot, this is the reality. The keystone in any architectural structure is the critical point that shapes and sustains the entire arch. Eric Franklin illustrated this principle in his text on alignment imagery. This insight leads us to understand that the placement of our ankle might be the essential key to activating the arch of our foot holistically, from the inside out.
Exercise: Talus Rocking for Ankle Stability:
Explore activating the arch of your foot by gently rolling the talus bone to find balance and connection, revealing a deeper understanding of foot architecture.
Exercise In Detail: We can utilize the talus to discover balance in our feet by gently rolling them inward and outward until we locate a point of equilibrium. To begin, bring your fingertips just below the tibia and fibula, the ankle bones that encompass the true ankle, the talus. Gently rock the ankle side to side, paying attention to how this motion influences your arch. Try to pause for a moment in a position that feels harmonious and centered. Take the time to observe how your arch appears and feels in this balanced state. This practice may reveal a newfound connection to your foot's inherent architecture and grace.
Ankle Dynamics in Dorsi & Plantar Flexion:
The talus bone is shaped to enable dorsi and plantar flexion, allowing the foot to hinge forward and backward. The movements of inversion and eversion in the foot actually stem from the joint below the talus, specifically its connection to the heel, something we will explore later. For now, let's engage with the primary
hinge of the joint.
Exercise: Tippy Toe Pulses with Deep Core:
Engage in tippy toe pulses while integrating deep core activation to enhance foot stability and strength.
Exercise In Detail: Pay attention to the tendency to pronate when dorsiflexing, and to supinate when plantarflexing. This pattern emerges because the muscles along the back line of our body aren't fully participating in these movements. To bring support from within, we can add a simple arm lift, integrating it with our dorsi and plantar flexion to move in a more connected and supported way. Give it a try: dorsiflex and plantarflex while lifting your arms and talking. How does this feel, and what can you observe?
Soleus Engagement: When you lift your arms, you engage the soleus muscle, a profound and substantial calf muscle situated beneath the gastrocnemius. You might feel this as a "brightening" of the calf region.
While the gastrocnemius muscle connects across the knee joint, the soleus is specific to your shin and foot. Think of it as a core stabilizer for your ankle.
The primary function of the soleus is plantar flexion, but it also plays a vital role in preventing the shin from swaying forward. Imagine if you were to sculpt yourself with your arms lifted; you would need a brace on the back of the foot to keep the sculpture from falling. That's precisely the role the soleus is playing, pulling down from the back of the calf.
But this understanding extends beyond just the soleus muscle. When you lift your arms consciously, it can create an integration throughout your entire back line. This unifying effect results in a full-body "rooting" sensation, one that goes beyond merely pressing the feet into the mat. It's about a deeper connection and stability within the body.
Ankle Dorsiflexion & Functional Movement: The human body's ability to move and perform daily tasks is largely dependent on the intricate coordination and flexibility of various joints and muscles. Among these, the ankle's dorsiflexion plays a significant role in functional movement. In this examination of dorsiflexion, we'll explore its essential requirements across a spectrum of activities, including walking, running, squatting, and jumping, and the potential impacts of limited dorsiflexion on overall body mechanics.
Walking, one of the most fundamental human activities, requires 10-20 degrees of dorsiflexion. This range allows for the foot to move in a way that supports a natural and comfortable gait. Running, a more demanding task, requires an increased range of 30 degrees of dorsiflexion to accommodate the higher force and pace.
Squatting, an action involved in numerous daily tasks, requires even more dorsiflexion, around 40 degrees. This range is crucial for maintaining balance and form during the squatting motion, whether it's during exercise or simply picking up an object from the floor.
A more complex and high-impact activity, such as landing mechanics in jumping, reveals the potential hazards of dorsiflexion deficiency. A lack of adequate dorsiflexion may lead to an increase in knee valgus moment (rolling in), followed by decreased knee flexion. Such imbalances have been associated with ACL injuries, illustrating the importance of proper ankle mobility.
However, the implications of limited ankle dorsiflexion extend beyond the ankle itself. The body often compensates for such limitations by shifting the strain to other joints, such as the knees, hips, and lower back. Over time, these compensations might lead to discomfort or more serious injuries.
One overlooked aspect that contributes to all these movements is the healthy big toe flexion. It plays a supporting role in providing stability and balance, and its function is integral to the overall health of the foot and ankle.
In the context of modern living, where these movements are essential, yoga emerges as a vital practice to enhance dorsiflexion. Through mindful stretching and strengthening, yoga can help increase this range of motion, supporting the ability to walk, run, squat, and jump safely. This not only promotes physical health but also underlines the interconnectedness of the body's components, showing that even a seemingly small aspect like ankle dorsiflexion has far-reaching effects on our overall well-being.
Dorsiflexion is not merely a term confined to the anatomy textbooks; it's a practical, everyday necessity that affects our quality of life. Understanding and nurturing it through practices like yoga can lead to a more balanced and injury-free life, allowing us to engage with our world in a healthy and harmonious way.
Exercise: Vajrasana Prep
Exercise: Vajrasana Walk
Vajrasana Foot Stretch Prep and Variations: Learn how to explore healthy ankle mobility to enhance functional movements like walking, running, squatting and jumping!
Exercise in Detail: Flexing the toes and ankles can be intense, so begin table with the toes tucked under to keep most of the weight out of the feet. sway the hips to one side, back, otherwise, and then forward to draw a big circle. Notice how the back half of the circle changes the sensation in the feet and ankles. play with the size of the circles, seeing how close you can comfortably get the hips to the heels. If its comfortable to touch the hips to the heels, move on to the next part of the progression
(Place blocks to either side of the hips) With hips on heels, walk the hands to the thighs. Roll the spine up. lift the knees so you are balancing on your toes. Place the hands on the blocks to take some weight out of the feet and let the hips hover away from the heels so the legs gently activate Play with slowly lowering one knee any amount towards the floor to increase dorsiflexion on that side. slowly and consciously pulse from side to side or lower one leg then the other, lift one leg then the other.
Recap: The section provides an exhaustive analysis of the foot and ankle structure, focusing on their complexities and functional dynamics. It delves into the sensory richness and structural intricacies of the feet, emphasizing their role as the foundation for various forms of movement. The ankle is highlighted as a complex joint made up of five bones, contributing to different types of flexion and functional movements like walking, running, and squatting. Exercises and insights into ankle dorsiflexion underscore its importance in daily activities, and how practices like yoga can improve range of motion, thereby enhancing overall well-being
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1C. Harnessing the Power of Your Superficial Back Line: A Guide to Balance, Support, and Conscious Living
Our Secondary Rooting System: Our Back Line: The feet serve as our initial connection to the earth, grounding us. However, when we navigate the daily arena of our lives, another essential relationship emerges: the interplay between the front and back of our bodies.
During most daily activities—such as eating meals, conducting business, or driving—everything takes place in front of you. While you engage in these tasks, the back line of your body is silently there, providing support. It unfolds you, allowing you to face life head-on.
But an awareness heavily weighted on one side can create an imbalance. It's not uncommon to observe Type A personalities leaning forward on their feet as they push to get tasks done quickly. But what might be the unseen cost of this approach?
The back line of the body, a quiet supporter of all your work, can be harnessed for more effective and easeful efforts as you learn to hold your awareness there.
The Back Line: From Toes to Nose: From the knowledge you may have gained in previous trainings, you understand that the muscles of the body function in teams. Five major fascial lines coordinate most of our daily movement, with the back line being one of them.
The back line team begins with the plantar fascia of the feet and integrates the heel, Achilles tendon, gastrocnemius, and hamstrings. Strong fascial ligaments connect the hamstrings from the sit bones to the sacrum above, extending up to the erector spinae of our backs. This connective tissue continues to wrap across the top of the skull, all the way to the eyebrows. Physiologically, your back extends from your bottom of your toes to just above your nose.
Reconnecting the Back Line for Balance and Support: This back line team of muscles has a specific direction of pull—downwards. They anchor us, rooting us down from the back, as the front of the body tends to pull upwards. Unfortunately, many of us have inadvertently reversed this direction of pull through our forward facing less than active activities, uprooting ourselves and losing vital support.
As we awaken to the presence of the back line of the body and consciously engage with it, we can start to feel these roots pulling back down towards the earth. This reconnection lightens the load of the life unfolding before you, reaffirming the balance and support needed for a harmonious existence.
Discovering a New Line of Support Through the Heels: When you glance at your feet, you notice your toes, but your heels remain unseen. Intriguingly, what's out of sight often remains so because it serves a greater purpose – in this instance, your heels are hidden because they bear the majority of your weight.
Just explaining this back line of support isn’t enough; you must experience its potential firsthand. Many of us tend to either lean forward into our front line, overburdening it and ourselves, or slump into our back line, missing out on its inherent grace and potential.
For this reason, we want to guide you through a simple sequence that can help awaken this back line. This exercise will allow you to feel where your weight truly rests and then explore new possibilities in postures you may have previously overlooked, all from this refreshed perspective.
Back Line Strength & Flexibility Exercise: (recorded minutes 12-20 in roots of your backline)
Stand on the Blanket: Position yourself on a blanket, focusing your weight on your heels. Maintain this stance for 2 minutes, even as you converse.
Squat and Forward Fold Sequence: Begin with a squat, extending your arms back. As you transition into a forward fold, lift your arms. Repeat this sequence – squatting with arms raised, then folding with arms lowered – for 2 minutes.
Pause and Reflect: During a 10-second pause in the squat position, you may notice a newfound ease due to the offloading of the chain. As your body warms up, you might find yourself wanting to squat and fold more deeply in the next round.
Roll Up and Repeat: Gradually roll up from the squat, preparing to start over. Continue with 1 more minute of folding and squatting, always starting with the squat.
Rest: Take a 10-second break, then slowly roll up, taking the time to feel the exercise's effects on your body. After this, take a moment to explore Virabhadrasana 1 and 2 to notice the effects your unloaded back line might bring to the experience of this asanas.
Recap: The "Superficial Back Line" serves as our foundational support system, often overlooked but integral for balance and ease in daily activities. This network spans from the toes to just above the nose, comprised of interconnected fascial lines and muscles. Many of us, particularly those with a Type A personality, tend to focus on the front line, often at the cost of this essential back line, leading to imbalances. By offering specific exercises, we guide you in consciously engaging with your back line to reaffirm balance and support for a more harmonious way of living.
1D. Sacred Steps: The Physical and Spiritual Dynamics of Walking
Walking towards better movement and mindfulness: Walking is the one movement that encapsulates us both in a practical sense and in a poetic manner. It is often regarded as our most significant evolutionary asset. This extraordinary balancing act serves as the ultimate perpetual motion machine, recycling our energy to an infinite extent. It's a capability unmatched anywhere on Earth.
The physical aspect of walking is indeed profound, but it also opens a pathway for reinterpreting the essence of our movement practice. Through the act of walking, we can directly connect to Patanjali's foundational principles about yoga asana: the concepts of Effortless Effort and Perseverance without Tension. Both of these principles are inherent goals in walking, as well as in our broader yoga practice. Improving your walking ability enhances your yoga practice, whether on the mat or off.
Walking meditation was initially created to help individuals maintain an inward focus as they traveled to meet their teacher or practice at their local ashram. When undertaken with an inner concentration, walking can become a form of 'seat' or asana, allowing you to use the external world to bolster an internal gaze. Therefore, we will explore walking not only from a physical standpoint but also in light of its spiritual complement.
Meet your Retinacula: Walking epitomizes our most distinguished evolutionary triumph, a genuine upright bipedal balancing feat unique to humans on this planet. It represents the pinnacle of sustainable activity, an almost perpetual motion machine made possible in large part due to the profound processing capabilities of our retinacula, the extra thick band of connective tissue wrapping our ankle from all angles.
The function of the retinaculum is both mechanical and neurological; it not only secures our tendons to our legs but also fosters an intricate connection to every nuanced movement across this joint. This connection empowers the retinaculum to sense every subtle variation of motion traversing the ankle, communicating that knowledge instantaneously to the surrounding musculature. This harmonious integration allows us to walk or run on uneven surfaces with a grace and endurance that seem both effortless and boundless.
Understanding the Retinacula: Flex your foot and feel the foot extensors crossing the top of the ankle. There's a thick band of retinacula here. Invert the outside edge of your foot, and you'll notice the fibularis brevis and longus passing under the ankle's fibula head, crossed by a reticulum. Press down on the big toe and feel the engagement behind your ankle's inside – the flexor hallucis longus and tibialis posterior, making up your medial arch, with retinaculum across this space. The tendons and retinaculum can get stuck together, causing restricted movement patterns. But you can "floss" your retinacula with simple movements like kneeling and rocking back and forth with your foot, fully on the floor.
No Small Feat: ”Walking, according to researcher Bernstein, uses synergy among many different muscles, coordinated without any input from the brain, relying on self-monitoring by the proprioceptive system" – Born to Walk.
This quote illustrates that walking operates as a closed-circuit system, independent of conscious thought. It functions at speeds faster than our nervous system and reveals walking as a subconscious process. Literally and figuratively, you can walk in your sleep.
The retinaculum plays a crucial role in our ability to pivot and sense what's happening across the entire foot. It coordinates our movement more rapidly than our nervous system can send and receive information.
This achievement is no small feat (pun unintended). The act of walking on two feet is unique to humans. It's an energy-saving balancing act compared to our quadrupedal friends. Our weight is balanced vertically over our legs, rather than spread out horizontally, using less energy, and giving us an evolutionary edge.
Now, with an awakened understanding of your retinaculum, feel your feet beneath you. Stand and walk around the room, connecting with this vital part of your anatomy. Perhaps this is the source of Happiness that Charles Schultz one wrote, “happiness is walking in the grass in your bare feet.”
Flossing Your Retinacula demonstration:
Flossing the retinaculum does more than unstick your tendons; it allows them to perform an even more crucial task: sending and receiving proprioceptive information to coordinate our movements better. The retinacula are not just an ankle brace but a specialized fascia band densely packed with nerves. They can sense micro changes in the tendons they pass over, orchestrating the balancing act of walking.
The easiest way to do this is in a short lunge, but you are welcome to explore different set-ups. From a short lunge, hands on blocks, anchor the foot (it is important that foot stays planted throughout the exercise. Push into the foot to extend the leg any amount that feels comfortable, feel free to walk the back knee back any amount to make this more interesting for yourself. Then bend into the front knee, keeping the heel anchored. Pulse between these two positions, noticing the plantar and dorsiflexion in the front ankle. Option to allow the movement to get more organic by letting the hips draw a big lateral circle so that you can also explore the sides of the retinaculum.
Vitamin G:
Stepping beyond the monotony of flat surfaces is like giving your retinaculum a daily dose of 'Vitamin G.' Navigating uneven terrain enlivens the sensory capacity of the foot, activating the intricate band of tissue known as the retinaculum. This specialized structure around the ankle serves as a high-speed processor for movement, rapidly communicating sensory information to help us walk with grace and efficiency. On flat, predictable surfaces, the nuanced sensory capabilities of the retinaculum can become dormant. However, when you challenge your feet with uneven ground, you awaken these dormant sensory pathways, fostering a vibrant connection between your retinaculum and the surrounding musculature. It's a dynamic dialogue of sensations and adjustments, helping to maintain your natural sense of balance and coordination. That's why we recommend spending at least 5 minutes a day on 'uneven foot therapy,' consciously treading on various terrains to keep your retinaculum alert and your sense of movement finely tuned.
Recap: Walking is both a physical and spiritual practice deeply aligned with Patanjali's principles of Effortless Effort and Perseverance without Tension. It's a balancing act unique to humans, optimized by the retinaculum, a special band of tissue around the ankle. This band not only stabilizes our tendons but also acts as a high-speed processor for movement, making walking both graceful and efficient. "Walking, according to researcher Bernstein, uses synergy among many different muscles, coordinated without any input from the brain, relying on self-monitoring by the proprioceptive system," as noted in "Born to Walk." This suggests walking is a subconscious process, and the retinaculum aids in this by coordinating our movements faster than our nervous system. Learning to "floss" the retinaculum can improve this innate capability, enhancing both our walking and broader yoga practice. So, walk mindfully, understanding that perhaps, as Charles Schultz wrote, "happiness is walking in the grass in your bare feet."