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Yoga for flutists

Bless all beings: Yoga for flutists

The following standing poses are a series of stretches Robert Aitken showed us several years ago at a flute masterclass in Banff, Canada. If you ever have a chance to work with him, I highly recommend it (and not just for the exercises!). The floor stretches are my own addition. With any of these poses, if you feel any pain whatsoever within a hand’s breadth of any joint, back off, you are pushing your body too far. Discomfort in the muscle area of the legs or arms, unless extreme, means you’re increasing your flexibility. I find these exercises to be great stress reducers and energy boosters, in addition to relaxing the muscles that get tense when I practice the flute. Daily yoga practice is recommended (where have we heard that before?). I generally do the standing poses in the morning when I have limited time; hence the small number of repetitions. Feel free to increase the number of repetitions as you have time for.

Standing poses:

Sun salutation – inhale, raising your arms skyward, looking up, press your palms together above your head and stretch feeling that you’re being pulled up by your arms and stretching down through your legs. Exhale as your bring your hands and head down. (Three times)

Head turn – with your head in its normal, upright position, breathe out as you turn your head left, inhale toward the center, out toward the right. (Three times)

Head roll - head forward (looking down), breathe in as you roll your head to the left, out as you bring your head around the back, and inhale as you bring your head to the right (3x) Then do the reverse.

Shoulder roll - breathe in as you bring your shoulders forward, out as you roll them up and back. (Three times) Then reverse. (Three times)

Side stretch - breathe in as you raise your left hand over your head - breathe out as you slide your right arm down your right leg, in as you come upright, out as you do the reverse. Keep your stretch absolutely to the side. You will be able to get farther down your leg if you lean forward slightly, but you will get a better stretch if you keep the movement absolutely from one side to the other. Feel as if someone us pulling on both your arms so your upper arm is stretching toward the ceiling and your lower arm is reaching toward the floor. Repeat each side, alternating, three times.

Final gesture - bring your hands, palm out, to your chest - breathe out as you extend your arms, palms down. Breath in, breathe out as you bring your arms behind your back, clasp your hands behind your back and stretch your spine up and back. Breathe in, breathe out as you lean forward and bring your clasped arms as far as you can behind your head. Hold the stretch for 3 breaths. Concentrate on each exhale to move deeper into the stretch. Release your hands and let them drop to the floor. Breathe in. Breathe out as you roll your spine up vertebra by vertebra until you're standing upright. Repeat three times.

Floor stretches

  1. Sitting with your legs extended in front of you, raise your hands above your head as in the sun salutation, lean as far forward as you can, clasping your legs wherever the farthest point you can stretch is, head down - hold pose for 20 breaths. Come upright.
  2. Bring your left foot as far up the inside of your right leg as you can, tilt your pelvis forward or lean forward until you feel a good stretch in your right leg for 20 breaths. Do the same with your right foot as far up your left leg as you can – 20 breaths.
  3. Spread your legs as far apart as is comfortable. Lean forward as far as you can - hold stretch for 20 breaths. Face your right leg & lean over it as far as you can - 20 breaths. Concentrate on keeping both buttocks on the floor. Come upright. Do the same for your left leg. 20 breaths.
  4. Bring your legs together and repeat the first stretch, seeing if you can get deeper into it now.

Between the leg stretches and the corpse pose I demonstrated the shoulder stand and poughshare pose. I'd suggest you wait to do these until you have a teacher to guide you so you avoid injury.

Corpse pose at the end of the session, lie on your back with your palms relaxed. Do your best to focus on the slow in and out of your breathing and being "in the moment." If you find you’re thinking about what you’re going to do next, or rehashing a past experience, bring your mind back to your breathing. It is sometimes helpful to move your focus from the top of your head to your toes, relaxing each body part in turn. I find this the most difficult of all the poses. My mind will wander. Do this for about 10 minutes if you have the time. Roll onto your right side and push up with your left hand to come to a seated position.

Yogic seal –cross your legs, clasp your left wrist behind your back with your right hand. Lean forward. My teacher would use this time to thank his guru and the class for sharing the moment with him. He ends with "Bless yourself, bless all beings, bless yourself again. Rise."

Yoga resources - Typing "yoga" into any search engine on the internet will bring up many links to information.

  • A good starting place is yoga.com. You will discover as you explore the world of yoga that there are many different styles: Iyengar, ashtanga, kundalini, etc., each with its particular focus. The most important thing if you’re going to work with a teacher is to find someone familiar with physiognomy, who will help you deepen your experience and avoid injury.
  • The Yoga Journal (subscription information at https://www.yogajournal.com/) is another good resource for articles and the many accoutrements that are available. The Yoga Journal website has some Frequently Asked Questions that might be helpful.
  • For a list of poses, benefits, contraindications, etc. see https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/
  • For those of you near Columbia County, New York, Catherine Folkers, of Folkers & Powell flutes, teaches classes. Information at http://yogaworkshop.org/. For those of you without internet access: Yoga Workshop of Columbia County, 49 Route 25, Hudson NY 12534.

I hope those (many!) of you who attended liked the class. I certainly enjoyed leading it. I hope we can meet again next year.

© 2000 John Ranck, D.M.A.

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