The Awakening of my Serretus Anterior -- the Missing Piece in Jigsaw Puzzle Found

extracted from http://blog.yam.com/lyoga/article/6736317

The Awakening of my Serretus Anterior -- the Missing Piece in Jigsaw Puzzle Found
I write this discovery of serretus anterior in English because I would like Bruce, who spent some time teaching me how serretus anterior lengthens, to read and share my joy. :-)There are some muscles who usually doze off in my asana practice, such as triceps, left psoas, left quadriceps, adductors yet they can be awakened if deliberately engaged. There is this one muscle which could never be activated until recently: serretus anterior. For my students reference: Serratus Anterior...
.I was first introduced to the role of serratus in Aadil's workshop this May. He construes how serratus anterior works in Dog pose and Wheel. He made us practice Dog with bent arms and push it straight on the floor and on the wall. I tried hard yet couldn't feel anything at all. It was one of the few frustrating experiences that I don't get what the teacher teaches in asana classes. When Bruce was here late July, I asked him how Iyengar's idea of serratus anterior fits into Anusara's principal about shoulder blades on the back. He demonstrated with his muscular upper body vividly how serratus anterior lengthens, shoulder blades come together and then broaden. To him, the Iyengar idea and the Anusara principal coincide with each other. I memorized the scene in my brain yet couldn't figure out with my slumbering serratus. Months later, Felina teaches how shoulder blades be squeezed into upper back in Dog pose. I saw this demo with Desiree and got lost in her muscular upper back. Somehow, I picked up Felina's demo and was able to do it myself for the first time after 4 teachers demonstrate the same thing! I confirmed this in my own practice later. Very soon, I was able to teach my students this new trick. They pick up by coming to Down Dog from child pose with slightly outspread elbows. Since then, they no longer complain about arms not strong enough to support L stands.One day when doing partner work in Naichin's class, my partner Manching曼青 skillfully elevates my left shoulder to be even with the right one in Dolphin. This so much releases my strained left rotator cuff. My collapsed left rotator cuff learned to boaster a lot to balance with the right one. Combined with these two tricks of lifted left shoulder and scapulae on the back, I started to experience no pain in left rotator cuff with Headstands in my home practice. Pain free heandstands are such desserts. Meanwhile, practicing with aligned scapulae, I start to feel serratus anterior bearing weight in Headstands, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! Once serratus anterior is awakened, it speaks in many poses, such as Down Dog, Wheel, Chaturanga (especially with Felina's lesson on Chaturanga), Drop-backs, Tadasana. Even when walking, I can even feel it tingling under the strap of the bra. The awakening of serratus anterior so much helps in maintaining an erect posture. Finally, what Aadil and Bruce taught make sense to me. The last piece of jigsaw puzzle comes up and everything now comes together. I don't have to become a big muscular guy like TJ to activate serratus anterior.What Emily told me is right: attending classes helps yet new discovery only comes in self practice. Thanks to all these wonderful teachers and friends mentioned above to help me in my sweet awakening of serratus anterior.