You may have heard of them or you may have even seen them. Hopefully you were not too intimidated by them. I have always had a fascination with Yoga Ropes Walls, typically found at Iyengar studios but in other schools as well.
As always, the job of a yoga journalist is to uncover the mystery for both yoga aficionados and newbies alike, whatever it may be. I recently set out on the road again to begin a multi-part series about yoga ropes walls.
Setting up for Triangle Pose with the sling.
Asana with ropes is often called ‘Yoga Kurunta.’ ‘Kurunta’ refers to a puppet suspended by strings—in this case, the yogini or the yogi. It’s a powerful way to feel familiar postures in a new world, a supported and often times upside down world, as well as to open the shoulders and the chest, improve backbends, etc.
Using a sling in Triangle can help you feel your feet and set a strong foundation through the back leg.
Put simply, it changes your perspective and teaches you alignment at the same time. The support and the traction allow you to feel the posture in a new way. Even the most experienced students have something to learn here with well-known basic postures like Down Dog.
Moving into Triangle using the rope as leverage.
We can thank B.K.S. Iyengar for this tool, among his many innovative yoga props. Yet there’s not a whole lot of literature out there about these walls. One popular work is called Yoga Kurunta, written by Chris Saudek of The Yoga Place in La Crosse WI, which is an instructional booklet featuring drawings of postures using a ropes wall.
We’ll begin this series in Knoxville, TN at The Glowing Body studio. Instructor Jennifer Beyt Coffin has a decade of teaching experience with a background playlist of Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Forrest, Iyengar and Yin yoga practices. She’s studied with yoginis and yogis like Sadie Nardini, Sean Johnson, Doug Swenson and Stephanie Keach.
Setting up for Side Angle pose using the rope.
Jennifer is an inspirational and fantastic instructor who will take you through a challenging sequence that combines work on the mat with that whole new world on the ropes wall. She was kind enough to take us through some postures using the wall, and below we have some demonstrations.
Now’s your chance for a sneak peak at a Ropes Wall and what it can do for us. But know that you have to try it and feel it to really know it, and please also know that these postures should only be performed in a class under the guidance of an experienced teacher.
Also, check out our exclusive feature on The Glowing Body in our Knoxville directory.
NY
Strong Foundations for Standing Postures
Triangle Posture (Utthita Trikonasana)
Side Angle pose.
In Triangle pose, you’ll feel yourself pushing into the harness with friction. You can do Triangle with the sling around your waist or just by holding the rope. Using the sling helps you feel what you have to do with your inner legs in these standing postures.
Triangle with the Sling
You start by pressing firmly into the front inner thigh and hip, using the leverage of the sling to keep your alignment. Then we tip over, keeping the left hip-crease clear, pressing the back of the hand against the thigh. We keep the pressure in the sling and feel a nice hip opening in the right hand-side of the body. In this way, we get an understanding of the importance of the back leg in these standing postures, allowing you to lengthen more through the side ribs.
Setting up for Warrior I with the sling.
Triangle with a Rope
Take Triangle stance and allow for some slack in the rope. Exhale as you fold, using the rope as leverage, and then feel what you felt before. The back leg is active, and the left hip-crease is clear. Be sure to feel your feet.
Side Angle Stretch (Utthita Parsvakonasana)
With a strong back leg in Warrior I, the front leg can even lift comfortably off the mat.
In Side Angle Stretch, we use the rope because the sling ends up sliding down your leg. Move into your lunge and let your rope pull tight. Knee and hip aligned, let gravity pull your hips down. You can take your arm inside your leg and feel the movement of your pelvis towards your back leg. We’re getting length through the ribs, feeling the feet, opening up the chest, with a nice open hip crease. Most students will keep their forearm on their front thighs when they first start out. But we use the leverage of the rope so that we learn not to become dependent on that forearm.
BW: If you were going to do a practice with the ropes wall, would you start out with some vinyasas first?
Warrior II is pure bliss with a sling.
Yes, I would warm up a little bit, maybe do some core work, get the psoas warm and then move on to the wall. But sometimes, it’s good to get to the wall, get yourself open, and remember what it’s like to be long; then you’re more effective in your Sun Salutations.
BW: How do you decide which postures you’re going to teach in class?
Sometimes I just go with however I feel the class is flowing, and then sometimes I have something in mind like a posture that I want to work towards. I use the wall to help facilitate that. We’ll get ourselves open, get to the wall to do some kind of adventurous arm balance or some kind of inversion.
Setting up for Revolved Triangle pose, using the rope arm as leverage.
Typically, I’ll sequence it so that we’re starting towards hip opening and then moving towards deeper hip opening, shoulder opening, chest opening … then moving into back bending, and maybe some twisting—progressively getting to those places.
Warrior I (Virabhadrasana)
In Warrior I, move into your stance and put your hip bones into the sling. The hips are angled towards the corner of the mat so that you have that diagonal with the back leg. We really want to feel the back leg rooting down. Take the arms up, making sure that we’re not pressing forward with the ribs; but instead, they’re moving back. So we feel the pubic bone pressing forward. The back leg is working so much that you can even lift the front foot up.
Revolved Triangle with the rope.
Warrior II (Virabhadrasana)
Getting the sling underneath the hip bones, so that it’s pulling up, make sure you have good alignment with the knees and the back leg. Remember what your legs in your Triangle pose with the sling. It’s the same activity. Pubic bone is tipping forward, hip bones are squared. We maintain our integrity and keep our alignment, really feeling the feet, feeling lots of space.
BW: If a student wanted to set up one of these walls at home or buy one of the home props like the Sacral Web pelvic swing or the Yoga Bent Might Body Band, what would be your suggestion to get started?
Using the wall for Revolved Hand to Big Toe posture.
Go to a class with an experienced instructor. I learned a lot with Yoga Kurunta, written by Chris Saudek.
BW: Is the teacher training just passed down from one instructor to another?
There’s not really a lot of information out there. Basically, I was self-taught on this wall. It has improved my practice tremendously. It’s amazing, even after taking a few classes, how your body just understands the alignment of a posture. I just got that book and started working with it, figuring it out, teaching people and learned a lot more along the way. Some of the postures you find are really advanced, but I want students to feel okay about it and not be intimidated. A lot of people walk in here and they’re like ‘wow, what is that?’
Revolved Triangle (Parivrtta Trikonasana)
Doing this posture with wall can teach you more about Revolved Triangle than you might imagine because it trains you about your back leg, which many times gets forgotten. Often in this posture, we lean forward, we take weight off of the back leg and we start twisting into the low back. So this helps you understand the difference.
Rope in hand, we take a deep breath and fold. You want the rope to pull taught, so you may need to adjust yourself. You also want to the hip of the front leg to pull back with lots of weight in the heel, just like we felt in Warrior I. Turning your rope hand out, feeling that lift through the back hip and taking a nice deep breath, we pull the ribs up and then rotate. So you’re moving back into the weight of the legs, the weight of the pelvis, hugging the ribs in and then rotating into the upper chest. You end up feeling it where you’re supposed to feel it instead of being in a battle against the hips and thighs as a big bundle of tension. If we don’t move weight into that back leg, then we just fight it.
Revolved Hand to Big Toe (Parivrtta Hasta Padangusthasana)
Revolved Hand to Big Toe is the basically like Triangle posture; we’re just doing it standing. Hand in rope, bottom toes are pointed to the wall, lifted foot pressing on the wall, the hips are squared, belly button facing the wall. Pull the ribs back, pull on the rope, and then feel the rotation, settling your lifted-leg hip down. Pull the standing leg hip back. It’s the same king of twist but almost more intense in the balancing posture.
Chest opening stretch using the ropes.
Chest Opening
To open the chest, we take the ropes and cross them into an ‘X.’ We take a rope in each hand, hug the ribs in, lean forward, and if you want some extra umph, you can spread your arms out a little wider. That’s going to get biceps, pectorals, all of that stuff in front of the chest. If you have tweaky elbows, you can always take it with your elbows around the rope.
***
There will be more to say soon … Jennifer was so generous with her teaching that day that we decided to make Yoga Puppet: Yoga Ropes Wall a continuing series. Plus, we’re visiting other studios in the southeast, like we always do, to get to the bottom of this unique type of yoga.
Again, it should be noted that these postures should only be performed under the guidance of a qualified instructor.
What is your experience on the Ropes Wall? Let us know and let’s get the discussion going and learn what we can. And, yes, Namaste, y’all!
I had the pleasure of taking a yinyasa class with jennifer a couple of years ago. She’s a gifted teacher and I hope to make it back to her class in Knoxville again.
Last month, my husband installed a ropes wall in my home and it is radically changing my practice. The traction it provides creates tons of space in my spine, hips, and shoulders. I’m also building more core and general muscle strength in ways I didn’t realize were possible. A session on the ropes wall is felt more deeply than my Ashtanga inspired home practices. In fact, the two styles seem to compliment each other nicely.