Gut Instinct

Go on your gut feeling when setting goals - because more often than not it'll be right, researchers have revealed.- Mail Online, 30 August 2011

     From our first days in school we are taught to think and reason.  It seems the older I am, the less in touch with my gut instincts I become and I don't like it.  Over-analyzing leads to inaction and long term frustration.  But how to change this?  I've decided my yoga practice is a good place to begin.

       Over the past several weeks, I've been playing around with the idea of center of
gravity in yoga poses.  I've begun visualizing my center of gravity like a lightning bug, just a spark of light in the body ( please forgive the drawing, but just try finding a lovely picture of a body with a lightning bug in it on the internet.... more strange pictures to follow, no doubt. I'm sitting in a coffee shop* and only have my computer and the back of an envelope).  What has been interesting is that, as my awareness develops, that darn little lightning bug is often not where I wish it were.  Even as I sit here writing, I find myself leaning forward, hunching over the computer.  The center of gravity is forward, out of my body and has slowly migrated up to my head.  So I move back, sit upright, relax the shoulders and arms, and feel much better.  The lightning bug of my center of gravity moves back into my body and down into my gut.
        Our yoga class today played around with these ideas.  How to move from the center, rather than the extremities.  How to both be heavy and buoyant at the same time.  How to use gravity and centeredness to expand the heart.  Here is a short practice to begin to play with moving from the gut.

Begin with a few moments of seated meditation.

•  As you take a comfortable seat, give your legs a bit of an inner spiral by grabbing the right thigh with both hands.  Rotate the leg by pressing down with the left hand and lifting with the right.  Do the same with the left thigh.  Rotate by pressing down with the right hand and lifting with the left.  Notice how both sitting bones are more firmly connected to the floor and it feels like more area of the back of the thigh touches the floor.
• Let your awareness come to rest on your breath.  Allow the flow of the breath to bring you into the present time and place.
• Notice if you are leaning forward (into your future) or back (into your past).  Try to bring the body to upright (ish).
• Now, imagine that your center of gravity is in the low belly.  The hips move down into the earth and the body floats upward from it.

This seated practice can be done in the car, while you watch t.v. (in an upright, not reclined position), or while you work on the computer.  If you'd like to continue with the yoga practice...
Come to standing at the front part of your mat (or stand in the middle of your space.  Look down at your feet.

• Most of our feet are initially positioned like this.  Notice how the center line is straight, but the feet fan out away.  This is usually due to overly tight hip rotators.  Notice which one is out further from center.

• Begin to find balance by moving the toes in.  Ideally the feet  are parallel through the second toe.   This begins the inner spiral, just like we did in our seated breath awareness.

• To complete the alignment, move the heels out ever so slightly. As the heels move out, the muscles of the bottom are free to relax, the tailbone moves toward the floor and the lower back assumes it's natural curve.  Notice how the balls of both feet are now touching the floor. (amazing what a small thing can do!)

• Find the center of gravity in the low belly, just like we did while seated.  Allow the hips to be heavy and connected to the legs, feet and the earth.  Really pay attention to your heels, making them heavy, bearing more weight that the toes.  You may feel about to fall down.  This is work in the right direction.  Usually we carry our weight well in front of the body, taking it out of alignment.

Inhale, stretching the arms overhead. Exhale, release the arms back to your sides. Repeat, this time noticing where your center of gravity is.  Does it rise along with your arms? Do you go back to leaning forward?

This time, as you inhale and raise your arms, keep the mind focused on the low belly, keeping the center of gravity down as the arms rise.  Play around with this idea for several repetitions.

Now continue with your regular practice, several sun salutations, standing poses and twists, (whatever you are working at the moment) but just keep bringing your awareness back to your gut. Finish with a few minutes of savasana.  Set your intentions to make decisions from the gut and rest.


*If you are ever in need of coffee in Florence, KY, check out Velocity Bike and Bean on Burlington Pike.  It is right next to Healthy Alternatives and Rettay Chiropractic.