The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ustrasana › camel pose – strongly emotional
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ustrasana › camel pose – strongly emotional
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Hi -Unfortunately we live a fair way away from our Bikram studio but do Hatha yoga locally .I’ve only been twice to a Bikram class and despite the heat really enjoy the benefits and should be able to continue once or twice per week.At my last class I really had to stop early on in the Camel pose as I felt very ill each time . My teacher said that the camel pose was very strong emotionally .I have had a bit of a rollercoaster ride emotionally for the last 2 months .My question is – will the pose improve as my life settles down or if I can improve my camel pose , will this help smooth out my emotions.
Hello,
Camel pose is considered the most powerful pose of the series. It has you doing a very deep backward bend, which compresses the spine. It also opens up the front of the spine/chest area, which in turn, releases many emotions. It is completely normal for you to feel very emotional after this pose. Even as the pose becomes easier for you, you may continue to feel a release of emotions. It is best to acknowledge how you feel, let it pass through your body and let it go. There will also be days you might feel extremely happy after this pose, which is why it’s best to go into it with an open mind. Camel pose is proof that Bikram Yoga goes beyond a physical sense… and helps to bring spiritual and mental clarity to your life as well.Enjoy the journey,
TarahHi Rob
Great questions. They are almost of the ‘chicken and the egg’ ilk. :cheese:
So does one really come first? For me they go hand in hand. The more emotional turmoil I experience the harder it is to stay in Camel or go as deeply as I normally can. And on the converse I can physiologically create the experience of turmoil by doing the pose with poor technique. This is very important to acknowledge. If you are not just observing your emotional response but actually identifying with it you will find certain things happen. And if you practice poor technique certain physiological reactions may be triggered to make your emotions rise. It is analogous to 2 sides of a coin.
When you go into Camel the eyes must look up and back as far as they can, and then stay there. When you drop your eyes, and this means that your eyes may move from looking at the back wall or floor to looking up toward the ceiling, you tend to connect more with the feelings in your body. Breath usually speeds up and becomes shallow, panic or anxious states tend to occur, the chin starts to drop, the muscles in the neck tense, as do those in the front side of the body, the heart beat speeds up, and then you find yourself coming out of the pose often feeling like you just can’t stay in there anymore.
The ‘trick’ is to set up very well. Squeeze bottom, drop the head back completely, then stretch up and then go back. It doesn’t matter if you only manage to simply drop the head back with your hands on your hips. You can also temper the depth of your pose according to your emotional resilience. It is best to stay in it half as far as you normally go and breathe through your emotions while your eyes are looking back, than go in the normal depth, feel sick and come out early. In this way you can experience an emotional ‘breakthrough’. Test the waters in Set 1 and then push it a little if you dare in Set 2.
So to answer your question. Both your response to your emotional state and your ability to do the pose with correct technique will have an effect on smoothing out your emotions.
I hope your emotional tides calm down for you and you feel a growing sense of calm
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thankyou very much for your advice Tarah and Gabrielle- I’ll try to work at enjoying the pose and your suggestions – Rob
THough I love camel pose, I just never had an emotional reaction during it. I wonder what that’s about.
I have not either, and sometimes wonder if i’m doing something wrong? What does it mean if there is no emotional response to this pose?
I should also add, Camel is my favorite pose, too!
Ah, camel pose…kills me. I feel like I want to cry and sometimes like I want to throw up. If you do it with your hands on your heels, I sometimes don’t feel all that emotion as I do when they are on my back/hips. I always feel differently, depending on the day.
Oh, just one more note on camel: if you don’t drink water a while before it, it’s a little better!
Hi
As Kelly says, drinking before Camel is not a good idea. Drinking afterward should also be avoided.
Your job in this pose where people experience a myriad of emotional reactions from nothing at all through to all kinds of strong responses, is to remain totally dispassionate, neither caring or not caring, and certainly not judging what happens. If you do then it can set up habitual behaviors or responses for the future. Being equanimous means you can really know what the phrases “it is what it is” and “being in the present moment” mean.
If Camel is easy for you it could actually mean that it is …. well, easy! If you’re having interesting emotional responses then this could be totally normal for you too!
However (and I am not suggesting that either of you is doing anything that needs fixing) in both the above cases it pays to delve into your process and your technique. If it’s easy check that you are not leaning on your heels. So many students are passive in this pose. If your emotional reactions are strong check that you are able to breathe, that your head is fully submitting to gravity, that if you feel that discomfort during the pose that you are not physically reacting to it by tensing up through the neck and shoulders or coming out leading with your head. Stuff like that!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Gabrielle, thank you, that’s very good advice. I’ll try that in my next class!! I’d love to get to the point of not dreading that pose 🙂
I don’t know if I am doing camel pose correctly. I have no problem with it. Am I suppose to feel something?
Hi Jeffrey
I can’t tell if you’re doing it correctly either. 😉 It can be the most uncomfortable of poses for many (lots of fear with doing a backbend and not being able to see any part of yourself, an unconscious primal fear of being exposed and unprotected and so on).
As I mentioned in my last post:
people experience a myriad of emotional reactions from nothing at all through to all kinds of strong responses
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I consider fixed firm pose to be similiar to camel pose. I have a great deal of difficulties with it. Should my butt be touching the floor from start to finish? I was able to practise five times last week. My legs are starting to feel sore.
Hi Jeffrey
Are you saying that you find Fixed Firm a pose that is strongly emotional for you (the topic of this thread)?
We will continue this conversation ‘over there’. May I suggest you go and take a look at the posts for Supta Vajrasana for further information? My brief answer is this: Your butt should definitely and unequivocally be on the floor from start to finish, don’t budge it or adjust it! Please post in Supta with more details about your sore legs so I know what, where and when it’s happening!
BTW: I just noticed this post is in Chit Chat rather than Camel so I will move it now!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi everyone -Camel pose must affect each person differently at different times.Towards the end of 2009 I was confident that I was making real progress with my camel with a good backward bend even though I still can’t quite get to the stage of hands to feet yet . Last week I had to go to a funeral which was both very sad but also with some quite humorous parts.Later that same day by the time yoga started , I had really forgotten most of the days events. However during my practice I was flat out even getting past the ” kneeling upright introductory part ” of camel let alone doing any backward bending – I just felt so sick and dizzy.Since then I’ve been to two more classes and am nearly back to my previous level.It is funny though that I am reasonably good at Fixed Firm pose yet still find Camel a real challenge. Robf
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