Self judgement

Yoga Discussion Structural Yoga Therapy
#1

One woman who has beautiful looking asanas, finds her self-judgments being a block to experiencing a deep inner state within the poses. As I worked with her one on one it came up that while her, for example, Dog pose, looks ‘right’ on the outside she is not satisfied with her Asana and therefore feels lack in the pose. I was reminded how greatly does our attitude of our self determine our yoga experience. Perhaps one of the greatest obstacles to bliss is our own negative judgment of our self. Interestingly, this woman has no awareness of her pelvic floor. She feels a stranger to this area so I’ve had her sit in Virasana with a rolled up towel placed under her perineum. By having this reference she can at least feel the pressure and visualize Mula bandha. Aswini Mudra is also very difficult for her to practice. She is going to a specialist concerning her perineum numbness`. Is there anything else I can do to assist her to let go of her self-judgments and also to get ‘intimate’ with her pelvic floor? I have reflected that perhaps there are childhood abuse issues and don’t feel it’s my role to counsel her on this. Any other yogic tips to help in self-acceptance and also pelvic floor connection? Sending you lots of love and friendship from my heart to yours.

Namaste, A from Queensland

#2

Indeed a student’s tendency to judge and criticize themselves is a great obstacle. One help is use of affirmations; Patanjali recommends this in Yoga Sutras II, 33. My new books rendition of this line is “When one is disturbed by unwholesome negative thoughts or emotions cultivation of their opposites promotes self control and firmness in the precepts [Yamas).”

This is a block in Pitta energy, home should be in belly. My guess is that this is increased in her case and that Vata, whose home is the pelvic basin, is being denied energy expression and emotional feelings as belly is holding. Vata is the storing place for fear and is often blocked when one doesn’t feel safe. If she doesn’t feel safe she will not open this area. Indeed it is not the role of a Yoga teacher to work on such issues of sexual abuse with licensing in therapy. One way around this is to have her do neck lock (Jalandhara Bandha) while in dog. The lock should be rhythmic to breathing, locking after exhalation, opening to inhale. This can often set up a reflex that can allow the pelvis to open.

The woman can be encouraged to look at anatomy images of the internal pelvic diaphragm to see how it can move up and down in harmony with thoracic diaphragm. The ideal is to have them both move down on inhalation and up on exhalation. So natural way to give both Mula Bandha is with exhalation. As Aswini Mudra is done while breath is held she can do pelvic floor contractions as strongly as possible. I find that what works best is to have the student overly contract the entire pelvic and lower abdominal area during their initial several weeks of Mula Bandha. So they will use not only pelvic floor but also lower abdominal muscles and gluteals (knees will pull down when these are active in1)
ss legged posture).