Mastering Jump-Throughs

In some of our classes lately, my teacher Pio Baquiran has been making us try jump-throughs as transition from downward dogs. What we do isn’t even the full jump-through where you swing both legs forward and through your arms from Downward Dog and land with both feet straight out in front of you in a seated position. What Pio makes us do is land with legs crossed. And even that is quite a challenge.

There are days when I get through, barely. On other days, I kind of land awkwardly with a thump, cross-legged. And there was a time when I almost toppled forward as one of my legs snagged against an arm.  I also get that tensed-up feeling whenever we are asked to do this — maybe because of an innate fear of falling again.

So once again, off to the internet I went trying to find out what suggestions were out there to make jump-throughs less “painful”.

Tim Miller, an Ashtanga student and a writer for Yoga Journal, makes this suggestion for those new to this transition:

To build a sense of confidence and competence, first try this maneuver with blocks under the hands. From Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog), exhale and bend the knees deeply so the ribs come back against the thighs, lift the heels and allow the hips to descend. Keep the hips as low as possible as you spring forward. Ideally, the body stays in a full forward bend even as it comes through the arms.

Remember to support the movement with your breath. Jumping through at the end of an exhalation, when you are completely empty of breath, is best because the exhalation also facilitates deeper movement into the forward bending position. You will also find strength and support by engaging the abdomen and pelvic floor in Uddiyana (Flying Up Lock) and Mula Bandha (Root Lock). So as you set yourself up to jump through, remember to exhale, keep the bandhas engaged, remain in forward flexion, and stay close to the ground.

However, he and David Swenson differ in some other ways. Tim suggests that since the legs are longer than the arms, they must be kept as parallel to the floor as possible during flight to successfully come through. He says that the mistake new students to this make is keeping their hips high so that the legs remain vertical.

In the Ashtanga Yoga Practice Manual, however, David Swenson’s original insights on the “physics of flight” suggest that we imagine ourselves like a ball being hurled across a room with a high ceiling. Unlike a low ceiling where you need to hurl the ball straight ahead and with great force, throwing a ball in a room with a high ceiling means less force and the ball actually makes a high, graceful arc which we want for our jump-throughs.

Just imagining the 2 suggestions, I would think David Swenson’s suggestion might work better for me. But I would imagine this requires practice, practice, practice before I can even make this transition gracefully and seamlessly.

Yoga instructor Jenny Sugar shows some preparatory transitions prior to the complete jump-through using yoga blocks.

And hopefully, some day, I can do a jump-through that looks like this:

Laughter Yoga Comes to Manila

They walk around greeting each other, handshaking, with resounding “Ho Ho’s” and “Ha Ha’s”. Very soon, what often starts out as fake laughter turns real.

The unique concept of Laughter Yoga and Laughter Club is the brain child of Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician from Mumbai, India, and his wife Madhuri Kataria. It does not require knowledge of asanas, no cracking of jokes — just plain and simple laughing.

Dr. Kataria believes that laughter is one of the best defenses against stress. He claims that “Twenty minutes of hearty laughter is equivalent to 10 minutes on an exercise bike.” Laughing fosters improved cardiovascular health and reduced blood pressure. Scientific studies show that laughter boosts our body’s oxygen and energy levels and also boosts levels of immune cells that attack cancer, infection and virus. Laughter releases endorphins, a natural pain killer that is responsible for the ‘runner’s high’. Those who run laughter clubs claim that laughter yoga sessions stimulate the lymphatic system and boost our immune system, and can reduce levels of stress poisons in our bodies by 50% or more within an hour.

Children laugh a lot; adults, however, need a stimuli to start laughing — which is why laughter clubs have been cropping up.

In a Feb. 10, 2008 Philippine Star article, laughter yoga has come to Manila. Elvie Estavillo, a businesswoman and mother of three, is starting laughter yoga in the Philippines and hopes to start the very first laughter club in the country soon. Elvie was diagnosed in 2000 with cysts in the breast and cervix but attributes “my healing to laughter–of course, with God’s help. But I was healed.”

Personally, I reserve judgement on the veracity of the healing claims of laughter yoga. But whatever benefits laughing brings can do no harm. At the very least, it helps one start out the day bright, with plenty of positive energy and without a doubt, laughter is definitely a de-stresser. Maybe there is indeed some truth to the title of a joke section in one of my favorite, long-time magazines, Reader’s Digest: LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE.

Want some idea of what laughter yoga is about? Watch this CNN video, thanks to Dr. Kataria’s YouTube channel.