Very nicely put Bill… 
Thank you David and Bill for your perspective. The chest exercises help a lot. It’s nice to have something that can make me feel better for free.
Great! And thanks to Jim for bringing the chest exercises info here a few weeks ago. It has proven to be to me one of the best Yogic gifts in quite a while. I hope you continue to use it well and get great benefit from it too, Tros.
-D
2 years back I did Pilates for a while and the instructor used to make us lie down on a foam swimming noodle… one end below the neck and the rest following the back bone. She had said it was esp. good for me since I have scoliosis and this would help open up my back… So… would this be similar to what you are talking about?
It sounds to me as if in this exercise you mention, the supporting noodle is along the spine. In the exercise Jim mentions, the support is across the spine and situated below the shoulder-blades.
Got it? In amazon, you should be able to check out the cover of the book Jim mentions, which has the posture in a picture… (That picture has an extra support under the neck, which is not included in the version of the exercise Jim mentions – it is the large(r) bolster in that picture which corresponds to the support in the version of the exercise Jim gives. Also, in the picture on the book, the bolster is lower on the back than it is in the stronger exercise Jim proposes. But you get the idea.)
The situation of the body in this family of exercises is similar to its situation in ‘the fish’ asana. In fact, this family of exercises could be considered a set of supported variants of ‘the fish’ asana.
Got it. Thanks David… the picture really helped
Every time I tip my head back in this asana (or any asana), I feel like I’m going to toss my cookies. 
I seem to be averse to inversions. I’m told that it will subside with regular practice, but it hasn’t yet. Admittedly, my asana is anything but regular. Does anyone else have this problem? All I have to do is think about tipping my head back and I want to ralph. 
I used to have tinnitus, and suspect this may contribute. I’d be curious to hear if anyone with tinnitus has this problem, and if you’ve found any solutions.
I think I’ll post this again as a new thread, since it’s hopped off on its own trail.
David and Jim, I would like to thank you for this suggestion. 
I could not have even imagined the effect it has had on me… Its been 2 days that I have done this… My chest has really opened up… I can feel it when I meditate… My mantra generally stayed at my throat and chest… but since yesterday it is not resting any place… it moves freely through my upper body… if you know what I mean… I cannot put it in words what this has done to me in terms of meditation… and in just 2 days. I used to have trouble breathing… getting my lungs full of air… this has opened up my lungs too. My back was really sore this morning… but the asana’s to stretch the back released the soreness a lot. I would agree with David on… [quote]
It has proven to be to me one of the best Yogic gifts in quite a while
[/quote]
I ordered the book by Judith Lasater an am interested in checking out the relaxation technique. I spend way too much time leaning forward at computers all day and I’ve felt blocks in my chest area. I’m hoping it can help me to feel more open and have more energy!
Hi Decon… you made a very interesting point… I work on the computer all day… never associated that with my chest area blockage… Thanks. Let me know if that book helps you
-Shanti
dont’ thank me, thank Iyengar yoga.
A few quick pointers on depression:
this book gives more tips on restorative yoga (yoga done with blocks and such): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0962713848
Please buy wooden yoga blocks. Plastic and foam ones should NOT be used to support your entire body weight.
depressed people always have caved-in chests. The move with the block reverses this. But also, as you go about your day, supplement by thinking about making your collarbone WIDE (all caps because not just a little bit). Don’t necessarily squeeze shoulders back hard into military position…do what I suggest and no more: collarbone WIDE (pull it, laterally, tight like a string). Chest WIDE.
A good rule of thumb for depressed people: when in doubt, choose action. Go out and do stuff. Engage. If you simply can’t…then there’s no doubt. But when there’s doubt, choose action. Someone invites you to a movie and you’re just not sure…go. Even if it’s a sucky movie. This is an easy habit to acquire.
ONe very important factor of depression is that it’s the result of a certain amount of self-indulgence. You’ll find, in the pit of your depression, that it’s all about letting your mind roam back in time (regrets over past experience) and forward in time (worry and mulling over future experience). This insight proved helpful for me: right here, right now, there’s no reason to be depressed. The depression is always in the past or the future. It’s over literally nothing, because we exist only in the present. Stay with what’s happening now as much as possible. Until you advance in yoga, you’ll have trouble keeping your mind in the present, but at LEAST (this is the crucial part) learn to not super-indulge your mind as it lingers in past and future. Depressives don’t just allow this, they encourage and enjoy it. They stew and steep in it, and the suffering feels good to them. Cut that habit.
Very very helpful (especially concurrently with the tip above): aerobic exercise and a strong asana practice (I recommend Iyengar; there are teachers everwhere; see <http://www.iynaus.org/Search/search.aspx>). Be a jock. Big difference.
Try to center your awareness in your heart rather than your head. Chest wide!
Thanks Jim.
This is working so well for me so far that there is one question that is popping into my mind: any idea how long approximately, do I have to look forward to potential continued improvements?
ONe very important factor of depression is that it’s the result of a certain amount of self-indulgence. You’ll find, that it’s all about letting your mind roam back in time and forward in time (worry and mulling over future experience).
Ooops. I suppose looking forward to future good things isn’t too bad – though it is certainly not as good as being blissfully in the present.
David, yes, this is a good example of granting latitude to let the mind roam back and ahead. I’m not saying one must immediately adopt a saintly in-the-present-moment scope right this sec to overcome depression. But there is a gigunda diff between that and the self-indulgent time-surfing of a depressive. Reign in (seriously!). And it helps a LOT to move your awareness to your heart. Even a little bit helps. The heart doesn’t ask “when?” or “how much?”
Nooooo, nooooo, I waaaaant my FUTURE,
I waaaaaant my FUTURE!!!
Hey David was that the grapes talking? 
I had a touch of depression today…first time in a long time. Actually, I think it’s a good thing…bumpiness from a recent opening.
I know the slippery slope well - the tendency to mire in negativity, to let the mind spin endlessly into flights of painful grasping at nothingness. I could feel it building momentum. Depression can be like a tornado…seeming emptiness can build a destructive force completely on its own.
I followed my own advice. I reached out from my negative reverie and summoned up silence…just the bit of it I could touch while walking around and going about my business. It broke up the depressive inertia, I was back to existing when and where I actually was. But a little while later, it snuck back on me. And I went to silence again. And it broke up again. And I resisted the depressive tendency to wail “what’s the use…I have to keep FIGHTING it!” I just gently applied discipline. I wouldn’t permit myself to go down that slope and play that game. Like alcoholics must choose not to drink one day at a time, so must depressives keep hemming in unhelpful impulses. Do it enough, and it will never turn into a tornado. Just an occasional light breeze (which actually gives life some richness and contrast and creative friction). It’s absolutely harmless…so long as you learn to never let your mind spin off on it, fueling “much ado about nothing”.
It’s a matter of imposing mental discipline not to drift into the pain of endlessly mulling over past and future. Training, no more and no less. You mind may slip into reverie, but you ought not let it stick there, digging a deeper and deeper hole.
Tomorrow I’ll wake up refreshed, and it’s a gym day. Should be fine.
I hope you are feling better today. Sorry…
Shanti, your feelings are appreciated, but please reread. I wasn’t “feeling bad”. I just felt an impulse arise (which, unchecked, would have eventually spun into a tornado), and deflected it by moving to silence and pulling myself out of the depressive reverie. So no sympathy necessary!
Wow, Jim. Inspiring indeed. No sympathy here - that was a feat. I"m mildly depressed and have been fighting indulgence myself. My therapy has been in reading the Heart Sutra:
form is emptiness, emptiness is form
It blows the mind, opens the heart.
I LOVE the heart sutra. But you needn’t resort to heavy spiritual artillery. I’ve been struggling to explain it (I think it’s getting clearer, though), but depression is incredibly simple. Let me try again, maybe I’ll hit it square on this time:
Depression is a destructive tornado built on nothingness (we know it’s nothingness… ask a depressive “what are you depressed about?” and no answer is possible, because it’s literally insubstantial, it’s all just about the mind getting fixated in fantasy and dull rumination).
When little tinges of negativity arise, depressives do the wrong thing: they latch on and fixate, which intensifies things. They retreat into regrets of past and worries of future. They replay kernals of negative thought over and over and over again (if they could just watch themselves, they’d be horrified at their own self-indulgence!) until they provoke a real physiological response.
Unchecked, it turns into a tornado. But it’s suprisingly easy to reverse if you catch yourself early. Don’t allow yourself to ruminate. Take your mind out of reverie (even if it feels good or insightful…depressives fall in love with their depressive reveries, it’s the biggest problem). Your mind will keep trying to return to reverie. Just stay on it, gently and non self-critically pulling it back (exactly like returning to mantra in meditation!). Go to silence, go to activity, go to exercise, go to the birds and the trees - anything but flights of fantasy and reverie.
Don’t try to fix the depression. Just keep your mind out of the past and future, neither of which actually exists (the only place that exists is NOW, and there is no depression in the now).
As you keep tethering your mind from reverie, you’ll notice 1. how very often it happens, and 2. how light the initial impulse is (though it’s heavy indeed if you fail to brush it back). It’s absolutely nothing. So learn to catch the impulse early, at the stage of mere nuisance!
Silence helps, because silence is always NOW.
It’s about time. Depression is all about time. Control your mind’s tendency to float around in time. Again, it’s not spiritual practice per se. I’m not talking about existing 24/7 in the immediate flash of the moment, ala Be Here Now. Nothing that hard to attain! I’m just talking about not giving yourself slack to mentally waft around all over the place (gathering up bits of negativity like a swarm of bees collecting honey). It’s not a spiritual thing. It’s just basic self control (which depressives fail to develop, unless they work at it).
During my depressive period (i.e. the first 35 years of my life), when people would talk about out-of-body experiences, I’d chuckle, because I rarely had an in-body experience!