....and the sacrum unsurprisingly is linked to the element of water, where a conscious practice can
literally speed up the process of Self-transformation.
literally speed up the process of Self-transformation.
Forty years ago, before I had heard of yoga, I was living in England as a young girl, and was introduced by a friend to what was then a very unusual practice requiring great stamina, strength and flexibility. And, it was not yoga. That was to come years later as I teetered on the brink of womanhood, but this new practice was synchronized swimming. Many people may scoff at it as being mere ballet in the water but like yoga, it requires great discipline and self-awareness. It is the “watery sister” to hatha yoga in many ways.
I was never very good at all and only stuck at it for a few years. I quit only because my parents decided after seeing me in a show where they beamed parental pride, that my two sisters (who were worse than I) should also have a go at it. What my parents did point out, however, by watching me train in practice, swimming seemingly endless laps, was that I had a screw kick and I “ought to get it sorted out”. But the “how” was never explained to me by anyone.
Now, four decades later, twenty of which have been practicing and teaching yoga, I have finally got to a point where when I swim breast stroke, I don’t fall into the bad habit of childhood, and swim with a screw kick. The ultimate balancing of my hips was corrected not on the yoga mat, but as I started to spend more time practicing hatha yoga in the pool. I did not need my dad watching and telling me that it was all better, I could feel it for myself!
Hatha yoga is a great system where we can start to look at both sides of our body. We can try to address and correct any imbalances which prevent Prana from flowing and ascending in a balanced way. Over the years, I discovered that my right hip is stable and tight, and my left is mobile and unstable. Teaching yoga may have also contributed to the imbalance as I have demonstrated far more poses on my stronger right side than the weaker left. It wasn’t until I started to practice yoga in the pool that I really began to finally break down and improve a bad body habit.
Poses like pigeon, that open up the hip area, can be done very well in the pool by using a wall as resistance, and the bonus of practicing in warm water seems to lend itself very nicely to releasing deep visceral gripping. In fact, sitting in a hot tub is another way of really getting into a hip joint. I love gazing up at the full moon in the water, for it is a very feminine principle that links to the second chakra (Svadisthana) and is associated with the element of water and our emotionality which is linked to the moon and the Cancerean trait of wanting to mother, or really control others. In this case, there is a power struggle with my right and left hip. I have decided that my self-awareness is going to be the parent and sort the feud out once and for all.
Try sitting cross-legged, and like me, you will undoubtedly have a preferred side. My body wants to avoid the right hip opening, so the right heel usually comes into the perineum first. By practicing a deeper pigeon pose against the pool wall (if my right outer foot is on top of my left thigh), I can hop up and place the left shin onto the wall. By breathing into the right hip joint and noticing if I am starting to avoid tucking the right buttock flesh under the sit bone. This would have an effect of shortening the right side of my body and avoiding right hip altogether and tilting the pelvis. If the right foot is extended higher up the left femur bone near to the groin area, and then cross over the left thigh bone onto the right, you have Padmasana or lotus. Referencing the hips and sit bones in relationship to the wall may not be revelatory as you may already know your weaker side, but it may enable you to address the weaker side on deeper level and finally release the gripping.
(Note: do not force anything as on a mat and make sure that the knees are not stressed)
Here is a sequence, you may find beneficial in the pool;
Pigeon to Padmasana-a hip opening sequence in the pool
- Ardha Balasana/Half child for groin depth
- Horse stance
- Wide lunge
- Parsvakonasana (lateral angle pose) with feet to wall
- Pigeon
- Padmasana/Lotus (if already practicing this pose)
Opening the hips, gives us an entry point very often to releasing out of the lower back as the sacrum moves in. A hip opening sequence can make accessing the hamstrings a little easier too. In the water environment there are many asanas that can be adapted for students of all levels and ages. Empowerment through education is a great way for all of us to improve on many levels, and the watery classroom is a great place for us to explore the root cause of many complaints in our body, which may just be a bias in the hips.
Camella (Swami Nibhrtananda) has written a book entitled “Aqua Kriya Yoga “and also pioneered an Aqua Yoga Teacher Certification Program of the same name. She lives in California and can be reached at camyoga@gmail.com. Check out teacher training events near you at:
To see Camella’s other offerings: www.camellanair.com
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