An opportunity to take a closer look at the role of the SI area in your yoga practice | iHanuman

iHanuman

Love, Service, Devotion, Yoga

An opportunity to take a closer look at the role of the SI area in your yoga practice

In this 85-minute audio class, yoga instructor Matt Harris takes his students on a journey through the sacroiliac (SI) joints. The focus here is more implicit than explicit, namely by concentrating on postures to facilitate freedom of movement in this area as well as finding unique paths to entering into familiar postures which allow for greater comfort in the SI region.Harris has the class begin standing. From here, he brings them into a forward bend, warming them up through bent knees/flat back, stretching the hamstrings, then moving forward into down dog and pedaling the feet. After having the students come into a plank pose, Harris cues a sort of cat/cow series from this position, adding knees in to the chest, and then moves into baby cobra and full cobra. The following series starts in downward dog, moves into pigeon lunge, and adds both a thigh stretch and a twist. (Note: between each series, Harris generally has his students repeat some version of plank/cobra.) Next comes the first standing series. Harris begins here with an unusual setup for triangle pose, which is followed by half-moon and then triangle with an alternate setup. The next standing series starts from down dog, moves into pyramid pose, and then flows into standing splits and half moon before returning to down dog and child’s pose. At this point, Harris pauses for a brief discussion with his students about the effects of these postures on their SI areas. This is followed by what was clearly the most distinctive and intriguing pose of the entire practice; unfortunately, it was also the most difficult part of the class to follow using the audio-only format, as it required a prop setup that is likely to be unfamiliar to most listeners. Harris describes the posture as a half shoulderstand. He first instructs his students to place a blanket across their mats and to lie with their shoulders just off their blankets. Then, they place a wide, looped belt under their upper backs and position just the very edge of their buttocks on a block. Finally, they loop the belt around their feet and (optional) straighten their legs. Thankfully, this pose is held for some time, during which Harris provides additional details on positioning. Upon coming out of this posture, Harris cues supported bridge pose.Harris has the class perform one final standing pose—a squat with the heels supported on a blanket—before beginning the closing sequence, which includes Sage 1 twist, head-to-knee pose (with foot on block), lying with a blanket under the upper back (with the option of moving into bridge or upward bow), and finally, savasana, either keeping the blanket under the upper back or moving it to underneath the thighs. Following the guided savasana, Harris concludes the practice in a seated position. Appropriate for experienced beginners and above, this class affords the yoga practitioner with the opportunity to take a closer look at the role of the SI area in their yoga practice.
Product Reviewing: 

Receive a Heartfelt, Inspired Newsletter with Special Features, Seasonal Updates, and Coupon Codes for Use with Our Yoga Downloads.