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june / july 2018yogajournal.com.sgIFROM TOP: ILLUSTRATION: MICHELE GRAHAM; PHOTO: JEFF NELSONWhy do so many of us often
feel stressed?
One reason: We find ourselves somewhere between standing
neutral and athletic neutral: not aligned and at war with gravity.
When gravity doesn’t fall cleanly through your skeleton, your
ligaments and muscles have to work to keep you upright. Over
time, this creates pain, tension, and a near-constant revving of
the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system.FIGURE E
How to find
your neutral
ONE KEY TO FULLY STEPPING INTO YOUR TRUE RESTING NEUTRAL, or
at-the-ready neutral—rather than something in-between—is learning
how to access the balls of your feet.
In Tadasana, allow your toes to rest lightly on the floor, like a piano
player’s fingers rest on the keys before playing. When you’re standing
upright, your toes may exhibit a slight prehensility, gripping the earth
lightly but without grasping.
If your toes habitually lift off the floor in standing poses, this is an
indication of malfunction in your feet or lower legs; some tension is
pulling up the toes. See if you can let your toes go, or try some ball work
on the muscles in your calves, which can help those poor, overworked
toes to relax. Keep in mind, however, that when you’re standing with
your toes on the ground, they shouldn’t exhibit a white-knuckle grip. Test
this: Can you lift all ten toes and one foot without feeling your weight shift
backward? If not, your pelvis is likely forward of true neutral, so bring it
back until your toes relax and you feel more weight in your heels.
Your weight should be distributed between your heels, the balls of
your big toes, and the balls of your little
toes—a tri-point contact, three-legged stool,
or a tetrahedron (if you’re into geometry)–
with an arch in between each of these
three points. Once you find balance in your
feet, come into Adho Mukha Svanasana
(Downward-Facing Dog Pose), and notice
how the position of your foot is closer to the
at-the-ready neutral position.
My hope is that this practice helps you
understand this: If you’re standing, really
stand. Stay back where your toes are free and
your hips are directly over your ankles. If you
need to be ready for action, bend your knees
and hips, lean into your toes, and embrace
being fully prepared to move. Just don’t
get caught in no-man’s land, which usually
amounts to pretending to be calm while
feeling underlying anxiety. After months and
years, this creates a pattern of strain that tugs
on your muscles and ligaments, leading to
pain.
This is why Tadasana is such a deep and
worthwhile pose to practice (and practice,
and then practice some more). If you can
find true neutral in this pose—and you can
carry this knowledge off the mat and into
how you move and stand throughout your
daily life—it will have long-term benefits for
your physical and psychological well-being.WriterTom Myersis the author ofAnatomy Trainsand the
co-author ofFascial Release for Structural Balance.He has
also produced more than 35 DVDs and numerous webinars
on visual assessment, Fascial Release Technique, and
the applications of fascial research. Myers, an integrative
manual therapist with 40 years of experience, is a member
of the International Association of Structural Integrators
and the Health Advisory Board for Equinox.
Learn more atanatomytrains.com