November 14, 2003
Namaste Noble Fitness Warriors!
"He speaks like Ram Dass but with body better than Bruce Lee!"
overheard statement from a student describing Steve outside the High Performance Yoga studio in LA
Fresh back from his 4 Day Intensive with me, Sean "Abuddhivira" Madine, has already gotten in touch with his online WF Teacher, Grant Couture discussing the best way to incoporate his insights from LA. Here, Abuddhivira writes about some of the Strength Training adjustments i made on his form in the Iron Temple (what i call the 'gym'). May his insights deepen your Practice in some way:
"Our ST session was an ad lib version of Bountiful Basic with which I
have been working during the past month or so. The session unfolded as
follows:
Squats - Adjustment included : Incresing fluidity of the overall
movement ... taking the 'jerkiness' out of the piston. Also, quieting
the entire body except for the protagonist musculature. This included
soft eyes.
Leg Curls - Similar to squats ... using fingers to help the mind isolate
the hamstrings. Quiet the rest of the body.
Calf Raises (or my new name for them ... Toe Pressdowns ;-) ) -
Initially, I was ignoring the antagonist muscles during the downward
stroke. Bringing the front of the lower leg into the movement completed
the movement. We talked about how this relates to challenges I have
with crampon footwork while under stress. By engaging the front of the
lower leg, the mind and foot stay connected to the ice. Subtle, but
huge, huge, huge.
Pull Ups - We moved from the pullup bar to the greasy rack support
crossbeam. Also, bring v-sit position and do typewriters as able at the
top of the movement. A mental shift for me was to use my eyes to bring
the bar to me rather than pulling myself to the bar.
V-Handle Pull Downs - Open heart upwards (leaning back more that I was),
and again use the eyes and mind to bring the handle to the chest. Open,
open, open.
Dips - These are quite open right now. I need to bring awareness to the
'dismount'. Quietly lower rather than jump off.
Flyes into DB Bench Presses - Adjusted angle of flyes to eye level
rather than chest level. Also, worked with elegance of DB transitions.
Bring mindfulness to the entry, transition, and exit.
Side Lateral Raises into Front Lateral Raises - Had to hit the delete
button on my old form here ... we started from scratch. Brought the
upper body slightly forward to engage the overall shoulder musculature.
Worked also with the angle and motion of the arms. Lots to work on here.
Curls - We used the oly bar for these to better align the wrist for
climbing. Added Shivaya technique and a slight forward extension of the
arm at the bottom of the stroke. This small shift really bit into the arms.
Stiff Leg Deadlifts - Adjustment was to only move out and forward until
upper body was parallel to the floor. Previously, I was going much
lower than this."