Introduction to Belly Full of Yoga

Welcome to this short 5-part Introduction to Belly Full of Yoga; giving information on some of the core concepts of the website. It will contain short videos where I discuss the topics followed by a short experiential practice. There will also be a short summary written up underneath the video.

The series is structured as follows:

• EPISODE 1: THE MIND

  • Information about the workings of the mind, especially what makes us unhappy and mindfulness practices that can help us feel more connected and joyful

• EPISODE 2: THE BODY

  • Information about anatomy, movement, how habits and stress can negatively impact our posture, conscious breathing and how movement practices to improve posture

• EPISODE 3: SOMATICS

  • Information about Somatic Exercises; what is Somatics and its origins. How to create awareness of your posture and how Somatics reprograms the brain and releases tension from the body to correct postural issues.

• EPISODE 4: YOGA

  • Information on Yoga and how it is more than a physical practice; using conscious breathing and focussed, mindful movement is the path to inner peace.

• EPISODE 5: INSIGHTS

  • Information on Yogic philosophy, Zen mind-training, mindfulness, and a reference to books which have taught me about body, mind and spirit.

I hope you’ll find it inspiring.

Episode 2: The Body

The mind and the body are intrinsically linked; many functions of the body are subconsciously controlled in the brain; our heartbeat, breath, blood pressure and body temperature to name a few.  Our bodies are amazingly sophisticated, from the complexity of the immune system, to cell renewal and homeostasis to learning and neuroplasticity.

Movement

Some of what our body does is automatic, but a large portion of what we do is learned; just think of what a baby can do, versus a person in their 20-ies who has learned to sit, walk, run, talk, and learn all sorts of movement patterns which have become automatic function. Most movement is learned. The more complex the movement the longer we have to practice to master it. Movement patterns are stored in the brain – each movement we learn consists of muscles contracting and muscles relax. Even when standing or seated muscles are being contracted and balancing to keep us upright. There is also the subtlety of how much the muscles should contract. All these patterns of movement are stored in the motor cortex of the brain. The more movement we master (imagine for instance a ballet dancer) the more is stored in the brain.

Now over time we also create little habits, maybe always carrying a bag over our right shoulder, or crossing legs a certain way, maybe we are seated behind a desk a lot; all habitual movement influence the patterns stored in the brain; the program is constantly tweaked and maybe over time you start standing with your right shoulder slightly lifted, or with permanently contracted hip flexors or rounded shoulders. This will be the new neutral.

“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional and mental state.”

— Carol Welch-Baril

Stress

Our emotional states can also influence the body; note that if you are feeling afraid, you naturally want to curl up in a ball; rounding your spine and shoulders. If you are always under pressure, driven to perform, you might start sticking your chest out and arching your lower back. Stress also sends chemical messengers; adrenaline and cortisol which make our breath shallow, speeds up our heartrate and blood pressure which has a big impact on our bodies. If we experience chronic stress or unprocessed trauma this also starts to create tension in the body. Our bodies change depending on how we move, think, eat and ultimately age.

Yoga/Somatics

Mind-body practices can really help us gain insight in our habitual movement and thinking. Practices like yoga and Somatics can really help to release tension, create awareness and as they are mindful, calm the mind.

Breathing

While we breathe without thinking all the time (which is a good thing) the way most of us breathe in autopilot mode is ‘vertically’; (short, shallow, stressed-out breaths up in our chests) as opposed to “horizontally” (long, expansive, restful breaths that make full use of our lower lung capacity). When you observe babies or animals in the wild, they have a nice deep belly breath, which many of us lose as we grow older and more stressed.

Breathing is automatic and not automatic at the same time; our respiratory function is controlled in the brain stem, the oldest part of the brain. It controls the things that keep us alive, like a heartbeat. Conscious breathing activates the body’s relaxation response, which in turn reduces blood pressure, which in turn lowers the risk of stroke and improves cardiovascular health. It’s also good for digestion and general immunity, both of which are impaired by stress. This conscious breath can be a tool for us to focus on, it makes our movements more fluid and easier to make. We see this with both yoga and somatics practice (and with other mind-body practices like Tai Chi and Pilates) 

Breathing properly is the single most important intervention you can make for your own health.

Practice

Note that the video has two practices;

• one movement without followed by the same movements linked with the breath

• a seated practice with awareness focussed on the sensations in the hands.

Return to overview page

Episode 3: Somatics

Somatic movement is one which is performed consciously with the intention of focussing on the internal experience of movement, rather than the external experience or result.   

History

Somatic education, as it came to be known, began with the work of F.M. Alexander at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. He was an actor who struggled with vocal problems during performances; not satisfied with his doctors’ diagnoses, so he set about to figure out the cause of his hoarseness. He studied himself in front of the mirror and found that the way he was using his body had directly affected the way he was functioning. He developed a technique to ensure his posture wasn’t impacted by his performance and soon began teaching others who struggled with other medical conditions caused by postural issues.

In the mid 1940-ies, Moshe Feldenkrais, was inspired to explore how subconscious muscular habits led to problems with physical functioning as a result of his personal health issues. He had suffered injuries to both of his knees, but did not want to get surgery to repair his damaged cruciate ligaments. Feldenkrais observed how learned muscular patterns led to dysfunction and physical degeneration. He observed that when people attempted to correct learned muscular habits such as standing with rounded posture, they usually ended up hiding their faulty habits with new habits instead of going through a process of unlearning the faulty habits. Feldenkrais’s refined method was highly effective in improving posture and voluntary motor control. And while he was adamant that he developed his techniques solely for the purpose of sensory-motor education and not to resolve any specific pathologies, his students experienced healing from many functional disorders.

Thomas Hanna was a philosopher who spent his life searching for ways for human beings to become free- physically and intellectually. In 1973 Hanna attended a workshop by Feldenkrais and it changed his life.

His study of neuroscience taught him that every psychological process occurs along with changes in the systems of the body. It became clear to him that issues of the psyche cannot be fully addressed without working with the functioning of the physical body, and vice versa. He began to refer to the interconnected living process as a “soma,” a term which in ancient Greece was used to describe “the living body in its wholeness.” Through years of research, developed Clinical Somatic Education

“The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one’s being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated.”

— Thomas Hanna

Principles of Somatic Education

• Chronic pain, chronic stress, muscle tension, postural distortions, joint degeneration, and stress fractures are most often the result of how the nervous system is functioning —how it is telling our body to stand and move.

• Active movement on the part of the client is necessary in order to create lasting change in learned muscular patterns. We need to reprogram the brain in order to rest the neutral body position.

• The underlying cause of a problem must be addressed. Somatics addresses the underlying cause of pain by working with the nervous system to address full-body patterns of posture and movement. Working from the core to the extremities

• Somatics works with people to create awareness and teach the movements, so people can help themselves

Clinical Somatic Education uses slow and mindful movement to retrain the movement patterns in the mind and allow chronically tight muscles to be released through active stretching (or pandiculation).

Breath

Before we start the practice one more comment on the breath; some movements work well linked to the breath (ie arching back will go neatly with inhale) but overall just cultivating a deep belly breath will calm the nervous system slowing things down - which allows better learning.

Practice

The practice at the end of the video consists of Standing Awareness, where we start creating awareness of patterns in the body. We practice this at the start, and at the end of the Somatics practice, to really notice the impact of the practice. Just stand normally, don’t try to have perfect posture, with your arms by your side and your eyes closed.

After the Standing Awareness we practice Lower Belly Breathing; this is done while lying on your back on the floor. It is great for the nervous system and we need a slow, deep breath in order for the Somatic practices to have an impact.

From Lower Belly Breathing we move to the Arch & Flatten practice, which targets and releases the lower back and abdominal muscles in order to correct any postural issues in the lower back. Try and practice with your eyes closed as this will help you tune into the sensations you are feeling.

Return to overview page

Episode 5: Insights

This episode is a short recap of what has been discussed so far, followed by a long list of books on these topics, which have inspired me along the way. The books-section is a little longer than planned, but the following quote explains how I feel about them:

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”

— John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Mind is consciousness, it is our human experience. Trying to create space, to quite this inner world is often difficult as it can be covered by waves of emotions and an endless stream of comments and judgements, memories and stories of the future, worries and plans. Modern life has added chronic stress to our lives; our breathing has become rushed and shallow and we have started “living from the neck up”. Many people are so used to being out of touch with the body that they live entirely in a mental world. The fact that body and mind are interconnected might even be hard for them to believe.

Meditation and mindfulness teach us to focus on sensations we feel in the body, but we notice that inevitably we start assessing those sensations or feelings as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Trying to grasp pleasant things, avoid unpleasant things or being ambivalent about neutral things create a waterfall of reactivity. We disconnect from the present moment, from awareness and from our heart.

To awaken from this trance, to escape the waterfall, the Buddha recommended “mindfulness centred on the body”. If we can try to return the focus on the sensations in our body, over and over, each time we notice we are in a story, we are thinking, return the attention back to the sensations we are feeling. Without judgement, but with clear focus and compassion.

Over time unprocessed emotions also start to create tension in the body. So enabling movement while practicing mindfulness or meditation can allow this tension to be released.

Somatic movement is mindful and allows movement patterns in the brain to be reset allowing the tension to leave the body. Yoga is a mind-body practice which has a rich philosophy, offering tools to deal with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual challenges.

BOOKS

Note that the section on books in the videos is quite lengthy (even after I edited it down); it’s just that I am so grateful for people sharing their wisdom that I get a little carried away at times. Below is the summary of the books in the video, note that there are so many good books not on this list and that I will be adding those to the library page which I'm developing.

on Mindfulness:

• The Untethered Soul, The Journey beyond Yourself, by Michael A. Singer

• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Eckhart Tolle

ON Mind-training:

• Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong, by Norman Fischer

ON Stress:

• Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers, by Professor Robert M. Sapolsky

• When the Body says No, The hidden cost of Stress, by Dr. Gabor Maté

• The body keeps the score, by Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk

ON Compassion:

• A Fearless Heart, Why compassion is the Key to Greater Wellbeing, by Thupten Jinpa

• Radical Acceptance, by Tara Brach

• Radical Compassion, by Tara Brach

ON Yoga:

• The old texts (the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras) which have been translated by many modern writers.

• Anything by BKS Iyengar; Light on Life, Light on Yoga

• Anything by Stephen Cope

• The Revolution of the Soul, by Seane Corn

• The Science of Yoga, by Ann Swanson

OTHER Insights ON LIFE:

• Solve for Happy, by Mo Gawdat - https://www.solveforhappy.com

• The School of Life: An Emotional Education, by the School of Life - https://www.theschooloflife.com/

• You can change your Life, with the Hoffman process, by Tim Laurence - https://www.hoffmaninstitute.co.uk/a-life-full-of-patterns-tim-laurence/

• Any books by Phillip Moffitt  - https://dharmawisdom.org/

Return to overview page