From Mountain to Mat - Coordinating Hips and Shoulders for Better Turns and Twists
From Mountain to Mat - Coordinating Hips and Shoulders for Better Turns and Twists
Hips turn one way, shoulders face forward. That's how you turn on skis or twist on the yoga mat. Intuitively obvious? Not for everyone. This essential Awareness Through Movement® lesson first isolates the hips' movement, then the shoulders, then ties them all together so you can twist the way the teacher or coach keeps telling you is possible.
One student, an aspiring ski racer, has bragged about how this lesson has made him faster through the gates. I hear his "Innkeeper's Race" team is leading the pack. Yoga, of course, is non-competitive, but I have found this lesson helpful in aligning my hips for the twists I love to hate.
Focus this week: Coordinating Hips and Shoulders for Better Turns and Twists
How you might feel afterwards: a new awareness of when your hips are level; connections between where you press your foot into the floor and the movement of the hips; new awareness of the connection between the shoulders; and connections between the shoulders, neck and hips. In other words, deeper twists on the mountain and the mat
Stop Light Mini Lesson: Creativity Challenge - Find at least three ways to tip legs to one side
From the outside, it might look the same. But how you start a movement, where your attention begins and where it moves to can make a huge different is the way you experience it. Try tipping crossed legs to the side three different ways. Which is easiest for you? Easiest because it's your habit, or because it helps you get around a block or injury?
If you have 15 seconds, try this mini-lesson:
Either lie on your back and cross your right leg over your left. Or sit and cross the right leg over the left. Keep your knees together.
Tip both knees together to the right. How do you do that?
This time, start tipping the knees by letting the weight of the knees launch the movement. How is that?
Second try - push the left heel down and out to push the knees to the right. Try to keep the outside of the heel connected to the floor. Notice the feeling in the ankle and how the knees move.
Third try - Roll the hips to the right and let the knees follow. How do you like that feeling? How far up the back can you feel the movement?
What about the other side? There are going to be differences. Is it different to drop the knees, push with the heel or roll the hips on this side? Notice how changing the way you start the movement affects the overall feeling. That's Awareness Though Movement!