Secure Base

Yoga for the pelvis, hips and lower back.
The spine maintains the body’s integrity as its principal axis, while the pelvis forms its base. The better the pelvis functions as a foundation, the better the spine can support us. Pelvic muscles support the muscles along the spine, provide a base for upright posture and awaken dormant energy. Secure Base specifically strengthens the muscles supporting the pelvis, sacroiliac joint, pelvic floor, glutes, quadriceps and adductors, and includes exercises for relieving sciatica. In yoga, strengthening means building muscle tissue that is both strong and elastic.

Mindfulness: The foundation of all spiritual work on ourselves is a healthy sense of self,healthy sense of self. When we begin from victimhood, trauma, pain and instability, there can be no healthy release of self,Anatta,surrender or freedom. This month, alongside strengthening the body’s base, we contemplate emotional maturity and establishing a healthy sense of self.

Yoga therapy for: 

• health of the sacroiliac joint
• strengthening the pelvic floor muscles, including for incontinence and muscles weakened after childbirth
• lordosis and lower back pain
• sciatica
• stabilising the knees
• upright spinal posture.

INTRODUCTORY TALK AND YOGA CLASS ON THE MONTH’S THEME – 75 MIN

SECURE BASE

In the introductory talk, I explain the healthy self, or healthy sense of self, in contrast with the unhealthy self on the path of spiritual growth.

How we experience the same situation, as an aware person or as a victim, determines the direction in which we grow and develop. 

We discuss how an unhealthy self develops when we lack an inner foundation and seek it outside ourselves. We therefore return to the beginning of yoga: Mula Bandha, the fundamental energetic base within the body upon which we rely. This month, we strengthen and stabilise the pelvis and work even more specifically with the muscles of Mula Bandha so that we have a healthy and secure base within ourselves. 

40 MIN

1. A ROOT FROM THE EARTH

We begin by placing the feet in an alignment that strengthens grounding: press the base of the big toe into the floor and direct the heels outwards and down, keeping the outer edges of the feet parallel through a slight internal rotation at the hips. When we establish this base of the feet in Tadasana and direct the pubic bone forwards, we feel a spiral through the legs. When the feet are positioned this way and the inner line of the legs is strengthened, Mula Bandha appears as a feeling of the pelvic floor lifting gently, without deliberately contracting its muscles. We strengthen the adductors, the inner lines of the legs, through poses until reaching a variation of Gomukhasana legs that addresses them particularly clearly. Afterwards, we relax them through several stretching asanas.

60 MIN

2. CALM EARTH

Calm earth lies beneath our feet. Lowering attention into the whole surface of the feet with pressure evenly distributed gives us the earth’s peace and a feeling of a secure base. Today, we continue grounding through the feet like a tree.

On one side, the great weight of the tree descends towards the roots, which release all that pressure into the earth. On the other, the roots draw energy upwards from the earth towards the crown.

We begin by grounding in the same way. We then move through several Sun Salutations and hold a few calm Warrior poses, still focused on steady grounding. We strengthen the legs and glutes, practise an asana that stimulates the meridians in the soles of the feet and, towards the end, gradually lengthen everything and relax into the floor. 

MINDFUL SLOW FLOW – 40 MIN

3. I RELEASE FULLY

This restorative meditation through the body intends to soften and release tension comfortably. We also establish a healthy attitude towards what intensifies within the asanas. In other words, from a calm place, we relax into intensity while remaining in hip-opening poses. We remember surrendering to the earth and explore ways of relating to the physical sensations that arise.

Relaxed body awareness requires no effort. The body already knows where it is and what it feels; we simply awaken with and within that knowing.

Take a little time, unroll the mat and let the current of the body’s inner story carry you.

40 MIN

4. FLAMINGO

A flamingo stands steadily on one leg. When we imitate it in yoga, it means that the kinetic chain of muscles is well connected and the joints of the standing leg are stable. Our intention is to activate the muscles in a specific way: standing and asymmetrically. We stand every day without thinking, always in the same manner that is easiest for the motor system. This creates nothing new and keeps us within the same patterns, which can potentially lead to pain. To leave these patterns of movement and bodily use, we arrange ourselves in unusual, unfamiliar and asymmetrical ways. Today, we spend much of the class “flamingoing”, standing on one leg and then the other.

60 MIN

5. CALM STRENGTH

The muscles tremble when the work is difficult, but this is how they strengthen and extend their limits. Yoga is special because we strengthen muscles while they are lengthened and through static rather than dynamic strength. This builds strong yet resilient tissues, different from muscles enlarged by pumping. Today, we continue strengthening the legs and working with asymmetrical positions, moving through Sun Salutations and fundamental asanas while repeatedly remembering to ground well through the feet. We build strength through every side of the legs towards the pelvis, stabilising it from within. We also remember the importance of releasing everything unnecessary in relation to a healthy sense of self.  

40 MIN

6. FREE SCIATIC NERVE

Today’s theme is creating space within the pelvis, which may help with a compressed sciatic nerve. We create space and release by stretching slowly and specifically. Reaching the inner pelvic muscles is not simple; it is much easier to lengthen the larger, stronger superficial muscles. Today, we practise with a chair, allowing us to activate and lengthen tissues within the pelvis more precisely and find positions that rotate the hips, commonly described as hip opening.
The class is calm and comfortable. If you have difficulties in this area, I hope you feel relief.

THE CLASS IS AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE

60 MIN

7. WARRIOR

We continue approaching the pelvis from different directions. Today, the theme is lateral movement, lengthening and strengthening. We warm up with lateral mobility, emphasising length from and around the pelvis, then continue with asanas from a Warrior II base. The hips are open in these poses, but we maintain strength and work with lateral movement. We seek grounding and hold the asanas calmly. After several standing sequences, we move through floor asanas that lengthen and reset the body, then relax completely. We complete one full cycle of lateral stretches connecting the class.

Enjoy, and add perseverance when the practice becomes difficult, naturally within a healthy measure.

40 MIN

8. FLOW IN THE HIPS

Continuing to enter more deeply into the connections within the hips and pelvis, today we use circular movements. They improve mobility in this large joint and contact the tissues around it. Circular movements are especially useful because they unite every direction of hip movement while successfully strengthening and mobilising deep within. The class naturally includes several dynamic elements, some strength and some stretching. 

60 MIN

9. I KNOW WHERE I AM

Attention united with the body’s position and physical sensations is mindfulness: I know where I am sitting and what is happening. Especially when we “sit” within the pelvis through attention and strength, we know where we are because this part of the body initiates movement.

Many powerful impulses arise in the pelvis, and our intentions begin there, both those we recognise and those we do not.

At the end of the month, we sit comfortably and grow from the peace and strength of the pelvis. We practise asanas that mobilise, stabilise and strengthen this part of the body, then finish with several hip openers.

We return to the beginning of yoga, Mula Bandha,the fundamental energetic base within the body upon which we rely as responsible adults and from which we can say a healthy NO, establish a boundary or leave when necessary.

10 MIN

AWAKE BASE

A short class to awaken the legs and pelvis and move your inner energy before beginning the day. We naturally practise squats with arm variations and some general swaying. You do not need a mat; simply stand, inhale and begin. :)