Volume 4 Issue 6

June, 2003

A Yogi's Story

Those of us that have lived in northwest Arkansas for any time at all know Joe Alexander’s work.  We asked him to paint our first Yoga Room sign.  People coming into the Yoga Room knew immediately that it was Joe’s work.  He is, as he says in this story, a very busy man.  Nonetheless he has found the way to have time when there seemed to be none.  Bikram Yoga is not taught at the Yoga Room, however, Joe knows that yoga is yoga.  He was able to use information from our teachers to help him with his own practice. 

I've been practicing hatha yoga for about a year. I got started because I had gotten into some interesting correspondence with a woman in France who told me she was really feeling terrific as a result of doing the exercises in the book BIKRAM'S BEGINNING YOGA CLASS by Bikram Choudhury. She suggested I get this book and try it also. I was so impressed by her testimony to the benefits that I did get the book. When I looked it over I felt very discouraged. At 50 years old I was definitely not a kid any more and  although I had always kept active and was in pretty good shape, I was pretty  stiff and didn't bend all that much. I could see that most of the exercises  would be very difficult for me, very painful, and some of them impossible.  Besides which, the recommended routine took an hour and a quarter every day to do. I was busy. Very busy! I had a commercial art business to run full time, plus I wanted to keep painting pictures a few hours every day to keep my lifelong dream of being a fine artist alive, plus I had work in the  garden to do, plus various political causes to which I wanted to keep  devoting some time, plus of course all the unforeseen things that come up  every day that gobble up your time. I didn't see how I could possibly find  an extra hour and a quarter every day for yoga. Nevertheless, I didn't want  to absolutely give up without even trying, I had paid a lot of money for the  book and I didn't want my correspondent to think I was a total slug. So I  decided to try doing the first half-dozen exercises, about 20 minutes worth, and if I experienced any good results then maybe I'd try doing some more.   After the first week I was quite amazed at the results. I felt about 20 years younger, had a lot more energy, and a backache I had as a result of doing a lot of work with the axe, sledgehammer, shovel, mattock and hoe was about 75% gone. So I felt like I just had to do more. So I started adding one more exercise every day until I was doing them all; Bikram has a recommended routine of 26 poses in his book. The more I did the better I felt. Some of the poses were impossible for me at first but gradually I became able to do them. Some I still can't do all the way, nevertheless the daily effort to do them the best I can gives wonderful benefits. The energy yoga gives you is just amazing, much more than you get by taking drugs like speed, and it's all good clean healthy energy that improves your health and makes your personality more noble, rather than dirty energy that degenerates your mind and body like drugs give you. I really feel much better now than when I was a teenager. I'm able to do more hard physical work now than ever before in my life, gardening and construction, without getting particularly tired or getting really bad backaches.  It's got so that the most important thing for me every day is to make sure I do my yoga exercises first thing in the morning before I do anything else. So if you've ever thought you might like to try doing hatha yoga, my advice is, start  immediately, don't let another day go by without it, I wish I had started doing it when I was15 instead of waiting so damned long.

By the way, I want to put in a good word here for Dale Hails. I was having some trouble with one of the poses, the Fixed Firm position, it was hurting my knee. Dale gave me some advice that has cleared up the problem, what helped most was that she told me to make sure my feet are really pointing backwards, not stuck out to the side somewhat.  Dale also said something very good, she said you have a choice in life, you can have either have the pain of doing yoga or the pain of not doing yoga. In my experience the pain of not doing yoga is definitely much worse! 

-Joe Alexander

The Fixed Firm position is Supta Virasana.  There are many of us who can commiserate with Joe’s problems in this posture.  “The pain of doing yoga or of not doing” is a teaching directly from Judith Lasater. 

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SUPTA VIRASANA

Virasana

Supta Virasana

Supta is supine.  Vira is a hero.  Supta Virasana is reclining hero’s pose.  It is a reverse prostration.  It demands extreme flexibility of both the knees and the hips as well as lengthened iliopsoas muscles.  There are many who are unable to accomplish this posture without pain in the knees or the lower back.  These both indicate there is something wrong in the pose and adjustments need to be made.  Do not suffer these pains, change your posture.

1.        Kneel on a padded surface with the knees close together and feet hip width apart. 

2.        Reach your hands down and pull the flesh of the calves back away from the knee.  Holding the flesh back, sit down so that the buttocks rest on the floor between the feet.  Do not rest on the feet.  Pull the hands from between the calves and thighs.

3.        With thumbs press the inner heels out.  With the fingers press the outer ankle bones in.  Release.

4.        Lift the chest.  Increase the length of the front spine.  This is Virasana.

5.        Lean back on the hands and lengthen the spine onto the floor.  If you are unable to lie flat on the floor, place a bolster with a folded blanket for a pillow and lie back on it, buttocks extending towards the floor.

6.        Stretch the arms overhead (if you are lying flat).

7.        The feet are stretching back with pressure on both little and big toe sides of the foot. 

8.        Lengthen the front of the spine.

9.        Hold this pose from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. 

10.        Come up to all fours and move into Adho Mukha Savanasana (down dog) for a minute, then to Uttanasana (standing forward bend) for a minute.

11.     If there is pain in the knees do not attempt this pose without further instruction and support.

Both Virasana and Supta Virasana are good for the digestion and can be done after meals.  These postures are good for flat feet and pains in the knees.  Relief from the pain of heel spurs is also reduced.  With continuous practice the heel spurs will also disappear.  It’s great relief for tired legs.  We often will do Supta Virasana following a standing pose practice.

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