Pyramiding in Yoga – a Tidbit Post, # 6

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Pictured, “Everyday Gratitude Vol 1”

Small gratitudes found in the day to day living of daily life.

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“the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”

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pyramiding in yoga – a tidbit post

# 6

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Tidbits

tidbits are, by definition, tiny bits

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a google search indicates further elaboration –

qualities such as “pleasing” and “choice” are mentioned –

“small” and “bite-sized” also come up…

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thus, this series of tidbits, of small bite-sized posts, are both my choice, and, hopefully, pleasing 😉

if this tidbit comes from, or leads to, a much longer, more complex post, a link will be provided –

thank you much

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Pyramiding

General Definition

sounds like a noun gone wild 😉

so what is pyramiding?

well, a google search of “pyramid exercise definition” comes up with, as always, a wealth of possibilities to explore

a simple quick definition, from myfit.ca, appears on the search page itself :

“A pyramid is a load pattern where the load for an exercise starts low then gradually increases with each set”

and a reverse pyramid, as you can guess simply means the opposite, an exercise load starts high then slowly decreases in some pattern

so, what is load, and how is it changing in the pyramid sequence?

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Load, Within the Pyramid

another google search, for exercise load definition, finds, from knowledge-storage.com :

“Physical exercise key parametres are its intensity, duration and frequency which together define volume of a training load. Each of these parametres plays an independent role in definition of training efficacy, their interrelation and mutual influence however are not less important”

key, to me, is that all three components, intensity duration and frequency, are evidently independent variables, yet “their interrelation and mutual influence however are not less important”

typically, most people will think of either increasing, or decreasing, weight amounts, to increase or decrease load

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Applying Concept of Portability

as per my post last week, “my tree (pose) needs prop(ping) – integrating yoga & fitness” i wrote of the concept of portability, which i had seen on ray long’s daily bandha site

i spoke of how i thought i might could apply it across various ideas to help me understand, and use, the way i am able (and unable) to do tree pose, vrksasana

here, my idea is to simply show that the same process might be applied to both a yoga pose, and a sequence of pose movements

this is not new, dancers often apply this idea in developing choreography

what i do think is often missed, is the opportunity to, as in my tree-prop-pose post above, use that bit of knowledge to give ourselves credit for doing good for ourselves

in this case, with yoga, knowingly varying the triad of load factors, intensity duration or frequency, to increase or lessen the load i am experiencing doing a pose, or sequence of that pose, means :

* i can intentionally benefit from :

** needing to decrease my exertion level (for whatever reason)

** increase my exertion level to push my edge

* i can create a repeat sequence of a pose ahead of time

* i can create my forward pyramid or reverse pyramid on the fly (knowing i am adjusting myself, in the moment, in a manner that shifts me gradually into or out of the pose)

* know i benefit from either mode of pyramiding i do, forward or reverse

* can create my pyramid by :

** increasing or decreasing my intensity (degree of grounding, isometric focus, degree of “push” into the pose, or speed of the flow)

** altering the duration (time or number of breaths held)

** or changing frequency (the number of times i do the pose)

* i can create multiple sets, each with a pyramid within them, plus pyramid the set sequence itself

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Pyramiding Possibilities in Yoga

obviously, doing a pose, and holding that pose a varied amount of time, in a sequence of say, three, is one possibility

i could increase or decrease a physical component for downdog, adho mukha svanasana – such as the amount of time or number of breaths i hold downdog

i can also add or subtract :

* visualization in a pose

* a chant or audible during the pose

* props, in general, including the use of elastic bands

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Actual Example

an example i’ve used, that pyramids visualization, within a pose movement, is in “opening a view of gratitude”

the breath count was also extended, pyramided, during/within the pyramided visualization sequence

it was a fun sequence to do, and look forward to trying more of this in the future

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Final Thoughts

though my example above, regarding opening a view of gratitude, has lots and lots of benefits, the benefit i can add today, as touched on earlier in the article, is knowingly applying the concept of pyramiding in my practice

the more i become aware of how and why i’m doing and benefiting from what i do in yoga or dance or meditation, or most any other activity of being human –

the more human i feel myself to be…

namaste – con dios – god be with you

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