I've also included five popular articles that discuss key aspects of Zen practice and philosophy. I hope you find these Zen teachings as useful to your spiritual and personal growth as I have.
Yoga for Back and Spine - Prasarita Padottanasana Variation, Seaweed Spine
Most of you are likely familiar with Prasarita Padottanasana - Wide-Legged Forward Bend.
Usually when we work with variations of this posture we're changing up the position of our arms and hands. We might interlace our hands behind our spine, slide our hands underneath the outside of our feet, hold our big toes, or place the palms flat on the ground between our legs.
However, there are other ways to vary the posture that help the pelvis and spine to open - like this variation I learned form Shiva Rea called Seaweed Spine.
Why Seaweed Spine?
Because once you get going into this dynamic posture, your spine moves like seaweed waving at the bottom of the ocean in the sea currents.
How to set up Seaweed Spine:
Your set-up is exactly the same as it is for Wide-Legged Forward Bend.
Stand tall in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Jump your feet four feet or so wide (exact width will depend on the proportions of your body). Make sure your feet are slightly pigeon-toed.
Moving into Place:
Place your hands on your hips, inhale and then as you exhale hinge forward from the hips lengthening your spine towards the ground.
Bring your hands to the ground so you're resting on your finger tips.
Setting a strong foundation:
Make sure you're grounded evenly through all four sides of your feet and your pelvis is hinging forward, hip bones towards the front of your thighs.
Your tailbone is reaching up to the sky behind you.
Neck is relaxed, and so are arms.
Creating the set-up for the legs:
Seaweed Spine is a dynamic posture - meaning we move with the breath. Start by exhaling and deeply bending one knee shifting your weight over to that side. Keep your shoulders in front of your hips - don't lean toward the side you're moving toward.
Inhale back to centre, both legs straight, maintaining lift our of you hip joints by firmly pressing through your feet and lifting your tailbone up to the sky.
Exhale and deeply bend the other knee.
Move from side to side with the breath ensuring that you stay out of your joints by pressing down through the feet and engaing Mula Bandha and Uddiyana Bandha.
Adding a Seaweed Spine:
As you move from side to side, allow the movement to become more circular and organic, with less rigidness.
Drag your fingertips along the ground is a figure of eight shape, leading with your elbows and allowing that pulling sensation to then move your spine.
The position will naturally being to soften and become less linear and more curvy.
Make sure you allow your head to hang so there's no tension in your neck at all.
Move back and forth in time with your breath, allowing yourself to be swept along.
When you've had enough, allow the movement to slow down like a pendulum, coming to rest at the centre and taking a few breaths in stillness before inhaling back up to standing.
This is a beautiful opening posture for the hips and the health of your back and spine.
Top 5 Zen Articles:
Below are 5 articles which all explore aspects of Zen and Zen teachings (Zazen). Enjoy!
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2011/04/15/what-is-zen-buddhism/
I feel the teachings from this school can profoundly impact ones life and greatly help one in their spiritual evolution. Fortunately Zen teachings have been spread far and wide by many recent Zen Masters and so are now more easily accessible to us all.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2007/12/21/zen-definition-of-spiritual-enlightenment/
Spiritual enlightenment is the greatest mystery and the greatest Truth available to man. Many explanations, descriptions, views etc., exist for enlightenment and each of these gives us some insight and understanding into what this great phenomenon is. In this series, I would like to provide these various definitions on enlightenment from various great teachings in order to help you understand better what it is for yourself.
We will start off this series with the Zen Buddhist definition of enlightenment and who better to quote, than one of my favorite Zen teachers Charlotte Joko Beck.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2008/12/26/zen-meditation-effortless-effort-zen-teachings-suzuki/
Zen Meditation is without a doubt one of the greatest tools for enlightenment and Self-realization. This meditation technique is simple in it's design, watch your breath being it's core requirement, but fully appreciating Zen Meditation and Zen teachings requires a vast and open mind.
One aspect of Zen meditation or Zen teachings that often lead to confusion is the idea of effortless effort, or the role of effort in one's spiritual practice and meditation practice.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2008/10/27/spiritual-test-spiritual-growth-the-zen-way/
To approach something as complex as life it is important to keep things simple. Zen Teacher Joko Beck does exactly that in how she describes what Zen considers to be spiritual living, spiritual growth and spiritual tests.
Below you will find an excerpt from her excellent book, Everyday Zen, which I think clearly explains how to gauge and grow your spirituality.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2008/12/11/the-secrets-of-the-universe-a-zen-story/
Is reincarnation true? How about an afterlife? Karmic Laws? Now, that absolutely must exist. Heated debates and discussions swirl around these and other such fascinating questions, but what are the answers? Well let's head over to Nowind Monastery and see if Master Blumise can help shed some light on these intriguing questions.
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