This is a post related to all professions where we sit for a long time. Long time means for an hour at a stretch. Specifically for potters , since i happen to be one. In my decade of practising this craft I have faced quite a few challenges. Also potter friends have physical problems surfacing. Hence this post. However, you can use these techniques anyways just to be balanced and healthy.
Sitting on the wheel we are contracting our hip muscles, the psoas and the illiacus muscles. These are one of the strongest muscles in our body. If these muscles are contracted alot they tend to not strech or release fully when we stand up. This limited release can show up as pain in lower back, hip, groin and even in our neck. It also intereferes with taking full breaths. So all these make us tense and tight affecting how we feel overall, not just physically.
Basic practises.
1. Shavasana.
Focus is on relaxing, releasing every part of the body, systematically allowing all parts to drop towards the floor. Breathing is slow and deep without effort. Just observe the breathe and let it go the way it wants to. gradually it opens and slows down. Keep 5 minutes minimum for this to happen.
2. Pawan mukta asana.
Holding one knee to chest at a time , releasing gently.
then practising with both knees . Breathing gently.
3. Setu bandha or bridge pose.
Lying on back bend knees with feet a few inches from buttocks, on floor.
Gently lift the hip up, pressing the feet into floor. transfer the weight into thighs and then to the feet.
use a bolster to keep hip up for some time. Feel the stretch from inside the hip to front of legs.
keep breathing gently.
while lowering imagine the spine to land one vertebra at a time on the floor. slowly when the sacrum is to land pull the belly button in so it curls inwards. This lenghtens the spine and stretches it out.
Try a few times.
Relax in shavasana noticing any changes like relaxation in lower back, release in sides of waist.
4. Trikonasana or side bends.
keep the feet apart 3 feet. Right foot inward slightly, left foot fully flexed to left. swing hips slightly to right, bend to left, right arm up to sky and left arm on left leg or if you can reach to wards the left foot. Make sure that the breathe is smooth and not constrained. Ease up a bit to allow this.
Practise on other side.
5. Ardha chandrasana
in this pose keep focus on both the feet. Do a lunge and push the hip down towards the ground.
Right foot onground, left knee on ground. Arms up joint .
Sitting on the wheel we are contracting our hip muscles, the psoas and the illiacus muscles. These are one of the strongest muscles in our body. If these muscles are contracted alot they tend to not strech or release fully when we stand up. This limited release can show up as pain in lower back, hip, groin and even in our neck. It also intereferes with taking full breaths. So all these make us tense and tight affecting how we feel overall, not just physically.
Basic practises.
1. Shavasana.
Focus is on relaxing, releasing every part of the body, systematically allowing all parts to drop towards the floor. Breathing is slow and deep without effort. Just observe the breathe and let it go the way it wants to. gradually it opens and slows down. Keep 5 minutes minimum for this to happen.
2. Pawan mukta asana.
Holding one knee to chest at a time , releasing gently.
then practising with both knees . Breathing gently.
3. Setu bandha or bridge pose.
Lying on back bend knees with feet a few inches from buttocks, on floor.
Gently lift the hip up, pressing the feet into floor. transfer the weight into thighs and then to the feet.
use a bolster to keep hip up for some time. Feel the stretch from inside the hip to front of legs.
keep breathing gently.
while lowering imagine the spine to land one vertebra at a time on the floor. slowly when the sacrum is to land pull the belly button in so it curls inwards. This lenghtens the spine and stretches it out.
Try a few times.
Relax in shavasana noticing any changes like relaxation in lower back, release in sides of waist.
4. Trikonasana or side bends.
keep the feet apart 3 feet. Right foot inward slightly, left foot fully flexed to left. swing hips slightly to right, bend to left, right arm up to sky and left arm on left leg or if you can reach to wards the left foot. Make sure that the breathe is smooth and not constrained. Ease up a bit to allow this.
Practise on other side.
5. Ardha chandrasana
in this pose keep focus on both the feet. Do a lunge and push the hip down towards the ground.
Right foot onground, left knee on ground. Arms up joint .
