NEXT STEP IN YOGAPEDIA 3 Ways to Modify Dandasana SEE ALL ENTRIES IN YOGAPEDIA
Dandasana Danda = Staff or rod · Asana = Pose
BENEFITS
Strengthens your back, hip flexors, and quadriceps; allows for lift and expansion in the top of your chest.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Flex your feet slightly, and keep a long, neutral spine. Visualize your torso as a firm staff.
2. Bend your elbows, dome your hands, and press the tops of your fingers into the floor next to your hips. (If you don’t have wrist issues and your arms are long enough, press your palms flat on the floor and straighten your arms.)
3. Firm your thighs as if hugging your femurs (thigh bones). Take your inner thighs down, lightly drawing your legs into your hip sockets to bring your pelvis vertical and support your lower abdomen. Reach out through your lower legs, and spread the balls of your feet.
4.Lengthen your spine without hardening your abdomen or impeding your breath. It helps to imagine that you’re a leafy plant whose leaves are growing out from your tailbone to the sides of your pelvis, from your lower spine out to the sides of your rib cage, from your heart out to your collarbones, and from the base of your neck out to the base of your skull.
5.Anchor your inner shoulder blades against your back, and draw the bottoms down without pinching them together. Gently roll the tops of your arms out to broaden your chest.
6. Breathe fully and freely for 5 breaths.
Avoid These Common Mistakes
Chris Fanning
Don’t round your back or stick out your chin, which will restrict your breathing and can strain your lower back.
Chris Fanning
Don’t overarch your back or push your chest out, which will overwork your hip flexors and put pressure on your sacroiliac joint (which joins bone at the base of your spine with your pelvis).
About Our Pro Alison West is the director of Yoga Union and the Yoga Union Backcare & Scoliosis Center in New York City where she leads yoga teacher trainings, a Backcare and Scoliosis Certification Program, and a Slings and Ropes Certification Program. She also holds a PhD in art history from New York University. Transitioning from sculpture to the human form has led her to 35 years of practice and teaching. Learn more at yogaunion.com.
“This pavilion, located in a garden city neighborhood of São Paulo, was conceived as a living and gathering space to entertain guests and friends, therefore preserving the privacy of the main house.
Due to this unusual program, we had the freedom to treat the main volume of the new construction as a transparent horizontal pavilion, located in a beautiful garden which acts as an extension of the pavilion´s internal spaces. Two wooden decks make the transition between exterior and interior. The first works as the entrance platform. The second as a continuation of the main wing of the house, extending its space towards the garden, creating a more quiet and protected patio.
The inflection made in volume, which bends it towards the garden, transforms the usual linear pavilion typology. The space is then perceived in a circular movement, which makes the two wings visible for each other through the garden, enhancing even more its inside-outside relation.
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The construction, in wood, steel and glass, strengthens the lightness of the volume, creating two light and thin planes, lifted from the ground. To complement the program of this extension, a technical basement was conceived as a series of service spaces such as a kitchen, a bathroom, and a storage. With this solution we were able to give more space to the garden and preserve the lightness and integrity of the pavilion.”
We all know what it’s like to feel knotted up in our hearts because we are holding blame and resentment toward others, shaming ourselves for past actions, or armoring ourselves against the inevitable pain of heartbreak. Humans will go to great extremes to avoid pain, but uncomfortable feelings can be fertile ground for transformation and real growth. This practice invokes the power of Tara, the Hindu goddess of compassion, to help you face the discomfort and reap the rewards. It gently opens the hips, hamstrings, and heart; in so doing, it helps us tap into the elixir of forgiveness and self-compassion that begins to flow unrestricted within as we start to dissolve the walls of hardness and separation caused by our resentment, guilt, and fear. This work can be difficult, but it is worth every bit of our effort. After all, it’s not until we can forgive ourselves and others that we are able to experience true liberation.
Sit in a comfortable position, bring your hands to Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal: hands to prayer at the heart), and offer an intention for your practice to help you with forgiveness. Inhale to lengthen your spine. Exhale and lean to the left, placing your left hand to your mat, beside your left hip. Extend your right arm overhead in a graceful way with Chin Mudra (index finger and thumb connected to make the energy seal of consciousness). Inhale back to center, exhale, and repeat on the right side. Follow the rhythm of your breath as you sway side to side for several breaths. Visualize yourself as the flow of forgiveness in the tidal rhythm of Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath or Ocean Breath).
二戰期間，堅強的美國女性體會到自己並不比男性遜色，許多過往男性從事的工作在此期間都由她們接手。然而，早期如同工不同酬等對於女性的不平等依舊持續到二戰後，且人們亦存在著「女子無才便是德」的想法，認為女性的歸屬就是家庭，扮演好妻子與母親的角色就是她們的責任，而不是進入職場，因此美國女性在1950年代進入大學就讀的比例只有1.2%(link is external)[1]。此外，人們認為，男性如今從戰場歸來，女性就該「回歸」家庭，甚至有公司直接在徵才廣告中寫明只徵男性，這讓甫證明自己才能的女性感到伸展開的手腳再度被綁了起來。
在當時的價值觀宣傳方面，電視扮演了非常重要的角色，其不斷鼓吹著「男主外，女主內」與「消費帶來快樂」的觀念。1950年代美國的經濟蓬勃發展，買車與買房對一般家庭而言並不困難，而許多新產品亦在此時期問世，例如電動洗碗機、彩色電視，以及信用卡（其更改變了往後人們的消費模式），男性因此被要求成為賺錢機器，必須不斷工作，以滿足家庭成員透過物質生活達到的「快樂」；女性則要負責在丈夫出外打拼回家後，提供一個舒服的家，例如把家裡打掃乾淨、燒一桌好菜，或泡一杯咖啡給他。咖啡品牌麥斯威爾(Maxwell)在當時的電視廣告中就穿插了一句台詞“Be a good little Maxwell House wife. ”(link is external)[2]，這從現代的角度看來簡直不可思議。
來源：維基共享資源
此外，當時相當受歡迎的電視影集《奧茲與哈里特歷險記》（The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet）中也融入了相同的價值觀，是相當典型的範例。此劇的劇情圍繞在尼爾森（Nelson）一家，男主角尼爾森先生是個整天穿西裝打領帶的上班族，而女主角尼爾森太太整天圍著圍裙，沈浸在諸如煮飯與打掃等家務中，家人之間穿插了不少笑料。另一例亦是當時相當受歡迎的電視影集《我愛露西》（I Love Lucy），女主角露西（Lucy）是個相當神經大條的家庭主婦，有著能把一般家務變成災難的能力，笑料想當然是圍繞在她身上。
由此可見，看似和樂與繁榮的美國1950年代其實埋了不少隱藏的衝突，並為往後的年代安了不穩定的因素。自1890年至1985年，美國25至45歲女性的工作比例從15%成長到71%，而1950年代至1980年代的美國已婚婦女工作比例也從26%成長到了67%，其中的關鍵就在1950年代(link is external)[3]。女性對於性別不平等的抗議聲浪在此期間逐漸增強，而當中推了一把的是，被視為是女性主義聖經的著作，法國作家西蒙．波娃的《第二性》在1953年被譯成了英文版，種種跡象都為往後1960年代的「性革命」作了預告。
相信不少家長聽過「多讓孩子吃魚會變聰明」的說法，2017年底，學術期刊《科學報告》（Scientific Reports）刊登由美國賓夕法尼亞大學針對中國青少年取樣的研究結果，發現每週至少吃一次魚的小孩，不僅睡眠品質較好，智商也比不吃魚的孩子高，相信這樣的研究成果，更加佐證多吃魚的好處。然而2014年《保育生物學期刊》（Conservation Biology）刊登集結各國學者、政府官員、非營利組織成員發表《海洋的71個痛》（Seventy-One Important Questions for the Conservation of Marine Biodiversity）的漁業專篇中，列舉11個衝擊海洋環境的重大問題。
作者：周桂田、張國暉主編
【◎心靈研磨坊 – 曼陀羅藏(Ⅲ)◎】 
【容大千量】