Core Strengthening in Yoga Part 2

So we have established in ‘Core Strengthening in Yoga Part 1 (click HERE to revisit) that the transverse abominis is the deepest of the abdominal muscles and thus is the primary support for our abdominal organs and our spine. We have also established that the transverse abominis works with the pelvic floor musculature to support our abdominal and pelvic organs. So what role do the other 3 abdominal muscles play? And how do we utilize them in our yoga practice?

Both the internal and external obliques flex the trunk and compress its contents, and also laterally flex and rotate the trunk. The internal and external obliques work synergistically; the internal obliques laterally flex and rotate the trunk to the same side, while the external obliques laterally flex and rotate the trunk to the opposite side.

Thus, the obliques are obviously used for any posture or movement requiring twisting or side bending, and yet, because they provide another layer of support above the transverse abdominis, they are ideally engaged during any core exercise in order to provide stability. To engage your obliques while lying on your back, place your thumbs on your bottom ribs and your index fingers on your hip bones. Then during an exhalation exhale draw these points together.

It is simple enough to engage the deep abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles when we are still and in a relatively relaxed position such as lying down, sitting, and standing, but when we add movement or put our body into a more challenging position, suddenly it is much harder to find the proper engagement we need. However, if we practice engaging these muscles in a pose repeatedly, muscle memory eventually develops and engagement will happen much more easily and naturally. Witnessing a yogi lightly jump forward and back and move with grace through a fast-paced vinyasa class is an example of someone who has trained their body to move efficiently such that they do not need to stop and concentrate about every posture and transition. But before one gets to that point it takes a lot of practice and often learning- or relearning- how to utilize these muscles in the fundamental postures.

To begin at the beginning, you need to begin to activate and strengthen the transverse abdominis. A good exercise which isolates the transverse abodominis: lie on your back with your knees bent (pre-bridge position) and a block between your thighs. On an exhale gently squeeze the block and lift your feet 2-3in off the ground. Make sure you leave your upper body relaxed on the ground, keep breathing, and keep a gentle grip on the block.

Once you begin to find more connection to your center, you can also use a block between the thighs in mountain pose, standing forward fold, downward facing dog, plank, upward facing dog, chair pose, and most any other posture where the legs are next to each other, as well as in backbends such as camel, bridge, and upward facing bow. While gently squeezing the block, consciously draw the belly toward the back. Notice I didn’t say ‘suck in’- sucking in is NOT helping you stabilize, it is simply forcing the contents of your abdominal cavity up or down, just as if you squeezed the center of a tube of toothpaste. If anything, when you contract the transverse abdominis and obliques, the abdomen shortens and thickens. Try it: cough, or brace yourself as if you are going to be hit in the stomach. Even though you are stretching the front body in backbends, you still want to maintain some engagement of these muscles, as failing to do so will result in more lower back crunch. Think about it: the lower back and abdominals oppose one another and contracting one causes you to stretch the other and vice-versa. Thus keeping some- though not too much, otherwise, it will be pretty hard to backbend!- tone in the belly helps attenuate some of the lower back crunch. And this is good because it allows you to focus more of the backbend into the thoracic, or heart-space, which with all of the forward rounding we do, desperately needs to be opened up!

Ok, great, so with a yoga block you can get to work training yourself to do many of the postures with proper use of the transverse abominis and pelvic floor. But, what about the postures where your legs are not together such as in warrior 1 and warrior 2? In this case you focus on your grounding, which in the case of a standing posture, is your feet. In postures where both feet are on the ground, focus on energetically pulling both feet towards each other, as if they are connected by a spring, or as if you wanted to scrunch up your yoga mat with your feet. This activates muscles (and energy lines, although I am trying to keep this discussion strictly anatomical, which is why I make no mention of mula bandha and uddiyana bandha, because the bandhas are as much energetic actions as they are anatomical) on the inseam of our legs, which has effect as a similar effect of squeezing a block between the thighs.

And with only 1 leg on the floor such as the standing balance poses? Focus on finding a lift in the central arch of the foot. Say what? you are probably thinking, so do this: Stand on both feet and lift and spread your toes. While you are doing this, press the ball of the foot behind the big toe down firmly, as well as the ball of the foot near the little toes, and the heel. Set the toes down and maintain. Repeat lifting and relaxing the toes down and concentrate on keeping the 3 points of the foot pressing firmly- for many people the inner edge especially wants to lift so be mindful. Observe a sense of lift in the center of the foot- this energizes the inner leg, which energizes the pelvic floor and so on. Once you find this action, you can begin to practice it on one foot.

All of this may mean that you devote your practice to performing basic postures for a while. This is something that a lot of us struggle with- we don’t want to do the “boring” Yoga 101 postures, we want to do the flashy “hard” stuff because it is more satisfying to the ego (guilty!). But if you truly want to advance your practice- as well as support any physical endeavor- in a sustainable way, you must train yourself to use your body properly. This is why yoga is called a mind-body exercise- it is because we are training neuromuscular pathways through practice of deliberate actions. And if you are worried that you aren’t going to get enough physical exercise from doing only basic postures, try holding each PROPERLY, using a block or other engagement trick, for anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes (as long as you can hold form and breath) and then get back to me. Never forget that the fundamentals are fundamental for a reason!

Have you noticed that I haven’t said a single word about the outermost muscle, the rectus abdominis aka the six-pack muscle? It provides that final layer of support (see how the body uses several muscle groups to do this? obviously supporting the organs and spine is pretty important!) and also allows us to perform crunching exercises and round our back by pulling the ribs and pelvis towards each other. So obviously it is useful and important, and yet I have spent more time talking about the deeper muscles for this reason:

In other words, without a strong functional transverse abdominis, everything above it is unstable.

Final thoughts for this entry: Unless we are trying to round the back, remember we are only trying to SUPPORT the movement or posture not DO the movement or posture. Overusing muscles is just as bad for throwing the body out of balance as underusing muscles. The key principle of asana is efficiency: a perfect balance of sukha or ease and sthira or steadiness/strength. So lightly hug the block, rather than try to crush it, draw the pelvic floor in and up deliberately but gently, draw the belly back firmly but gently. Even the most difficult exercises, the end goal is to be able to perform them with no strain…which means for many asana lots and lots of practice and foundation building is necessary in order to hold them.

Also, because we need to spend a lot of time engaging our muscles, we also need to spend a lot of time allowing them to relax, so that they do not become chronically overworked/tense and ultimately weaker and more susceptible to injury. The breath is a natural ebb and flow of effort in that we naturally engage the pelvic floor and abdomen to expel air up and out, and we naturally soften our abdomen and pelvic floor to allow air to fill our body. This is yet another reason why full inhales and full exhales are so important in yoga practice. Additionally, after a strong practice it is important to take savasana and after a lot of activity to take a period of rest in order to let the muscles relax and recover.

Next entry- yes there is ANOTHER one!- will talk about the abdominals in relation to the other “core” muscles.

Until next time…