Keeping your mouth, throat, and chest soft, begin to pant. Allow your mouth to hang open by relaxing your jaw and your tongue. Breath of FireĬome to a comfortable sitting or kneeling position. Stay here for at least ten breaths, perhaps feeling an activation at the solar plexus (the area associated with the third chakra, the chakra that is said to be responsible for digestion). When the mind is clear we can experience greater depths of inner and outer stability. Connecting with the breath can clarify the mind, helping us to relax and ungrip from habitual thought processes. To tap into your core, breath is the place to start. By doing this, your diaphragm “strokes” the vagus nerve, like a massage therapist, enhancing the parasympathetic response of “rest and digest.” Consciously smooth out your breath cycle, eliminating any gaps between inhale and exhale. As the belly presses into the floor on each inhale, the added resistance ( much like a sandbag) helps strengthen the diaphragm and increase sensitivity to any areas of tension in the respiration process. If you sense strain in your neck, move your elbows slightly wider. Lie down on your belly and stack your forearms, resting your forehead on top of the forearms. The following core-focused sequence is designed to help you get in touch with your core and to help you to activate a felt sense of physical and emotional strength, adaptability, and integration.Ĭontraindications: pregnancy and herniations. From a yogic point of view, when the core of the body is balanced, muscularly and through digestion, this can help us to experience a stronger sense of Self. A strong core should allow us to stand tall and to move and live with ease. Accessing the deep core muscles (which also include transversus abdominis, internal obliques, and multifidus) and building strength and heat in the center of the body supports and enhances functional movement. In addition, the yoga tradition holds that it enhances both our physiological and emotional digestion.Īccording to yoga and ayurveda, this digestive function results from the stoking of agni, an inner fire that helps us digest and assimilate not only food, but also emotions and life experiences.įocusing on only the outer aesthetics of the core can undermine this deeper function, and an emphasis on only the physical can thus cause a kind of emotional/spiritual immobility. While “core ” is often thought of as just the abdominals, anatomically speaking, the core comprises everything that keeps the extremities (that is, the limbs) connected to the trunk-including the major muscles of the back and deep-set stabilizers like the psoas and quadratus lumborum. “Core” is likely derived from the Old French cuer or the Latin cor, which means “heart,” or from the Old French cors or Latin corpus for “body.” A core is the “crux, kernel, or quintessence of a thing.” This is one of the most highly “prized” areas of the body in mass media, and “six pack abs” are often extolled as a true measure of fitness. But focusing on muscle groups separately is not only an anatomically inaccurate way of approaching movement (as no muscle exists in isolation), it also undermines a foundational idea of yoga: that we are more than just muscles and bones. Often, popular core work focuses primarily on the superficial abdominals (external obliques and rectus abdominis), which makes sense. But it’s not important for the same reason that it’s popular. Core work is popular, and it’s important.
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