What Do You Do When Your Yoga Teacher Asks You To 'Lengthen'?

In a previous post, I detailed how much I hated doing yoga in college and how my discovery of Alexander Technique work has transformed my relationship to the practice--in fact, it is now part of my personal morning routine. 

The key thing that made this change is that rather than compressing into poses and flows, I now know how to truly lengthen into them, so that yoga can be an experience of expansion rather than contraction.

When your teacher asked you to 'lengthen', how do you respond?

It is worth it to define some terms, as the term 'lengthening' is one that every yoga teacher uses, but can mean a variety of different things*. My experience is that most teachers actually use it to mean an engagement of the extensor muscles--essentially an arch into the back of the body (often teachers will use the term 'flat-back' the same way'. 

The idea is that this will 'draw you up' and open your front. The main issue with this is that this isn't how muscles work--they can't draw you up, they can only contract. So what feels like lengthening is actually a contraction of the muscles of the back that compromises the shape and integrity of the spine (especially loading the lower back and the lumbar curve, where most lower back injuries happen). Furthermore because of antagonistic action (nothing in your body works in isolation) the muscles of the front will also be activated by the increased pressure on the back,, resulting in an overall shortening in stature and compression throughout the body, especially in the joints of the lower body which will tighten to keep the body stable. This also contracts the three dimensional breathing surface, forcing the breath higher in the body (you will feel it in your sternum and upper chest).

Overall, the result is lowered mobility, relaxation, and ease (those tricky balancing poses become much harder). It also greatly increases the risk of injury--studies show that the spine can function quite well departing from a neutral stance when truly lengthened, but when compression is present movements like flexion and twists can lead to breakdown in ligaments, soft tissues, nerve irritation, and muscle strain. I think this is partially behind the phenomenon of yoga injury--though yoga done well can have wonderful rehabilitative effects on the body, done without proper form it is as dangerous as any more 'high-impact' physical activities. 

So how can we practice with true length? Here are a couple of ideas that can help:

• The first part of the process is to resist the urge to pull into the back and have 'good' posture. This will inevitably lead to over-contraction. True lengthening is by definition a release, not a contraction.
• The head and its balance on the neck is an essential macro-control point on the poise of the whole body. Try to be conscious of whether your head is collapsing back on your neck (typical of misunderstood yoga 'lenthening') or whether it might be collapsing forward from the base of your neck (the true place your head rests on your spine is approx. between your ears). Picture the neck gently releasing, the head floating forward and up, and the whole body following the head into gentle length, keeping a sense of opposition through your heels so you don't lean too far forward (you can see my 2 part blog on the process of directing the neck and head if you want to learn more about this). As you flow into different poses, picture the head floating into length to lead the movement, and let your body follow it. 
• Be aware of the weight in your feet. In a 'neutral' posture, you  should feel weight in your heels, the big-toe ball side of your foot, and to a lesser extent in the outside of the ball of your foot. If there is too much in the heel, that might be a sign that you are arching back. Some poses are actually meant to unbalance us intentionally to make other muscles engage, so be aware that this might shift with your flow, but many others you should feel the weight continuously distributed through your feet this way, even if your spine is out of neutral above it (yoga uses a beautiful series of counterbalances to achieve this--this support is what allows us to balance in strange and unusual ways without excess compression).

In writing this, it is plain to me that this is the first exploration in a series on yoga, but it is none-the-less the most important and basic topic. If you can release into length while practicing yoga, you will find new levels of joy in your practice.

If you are a yoga teacher, studio owner, or practitioner who has an interest in exploring how The Alexander Technique can help your students and personal practice, please contact me at freedominmotionat@gmail.com. 

​*It is VERY worth noting that this blog is a generalization drawn from nearly a decade of attending group yoga classes about the instructions received most commonly from teachers--I am aware that the best teachers have a grasp of these important distinctions. However, it is a pervasive enough pattern in yoga culture that it is worth discussing. This idea of 'good posture' is intrinsic in many aspects of our society and doubly so in fitness culture. Perhaps it is an argument for smaller classes where more attention can be given to student's individual 'Use' as even great teachers can have problems conveying this idea in large groups. 

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