Lisa A. Workman M.A.
  • Home
  • Services
    • Take Your Walking to the Next Level
    • Everyday Yoga Group Class
    • Movement Rx
    • Movement Momentum
    • Professional Educational Services >
      • AFLCA Cycle Designation Course
      • AFLCA Cycle Level 2 Workshop
    • Free Online Course
    • Speaking Opportunities
  • About
  • High Fives
  • Blog
    • Letters From Lisa
    • Cycle Drills & Skills Blog >
      • Cycle Drills & Skills Glossary
    • The Journey of an Aspiring Yoga Teacher Blog
    • The Why I Move Project
  • Media & Publications
    • Media >
      • As Seen on TV
      • Web
      • Print
    • Publications
  • FREE Online Course
  • Contact

The Journey of an Aspiring Yoga Teacher

Week 167: The Sky is Blue

10/30/2015

0 Comments

 
This week I am in Barcelona, Spain competing in Life Fitness' Global Personal Trainers to Watch competition.

Since I am in the learning phase of my yoga training, yoga is always on my brain. Being in Spain made no difference. Thus, in the wee hours of the morning, jet-legged and all, I was up writing a yoga sequence that I could do on the Life Fitness Synrgy BlueSky.

Here is what I came up with!

Monkey Bar (Long)

Picture
How about a supported upside down hand stand with out the pressure on the wrists? Hanging from the monkey bars provides an easier option to the traditional handstand. Ramp up the intensity by straightening a leg - yikes!

Dip/Leg Raise Station

Picture
Unable to get your hands back behind you and reaching your heels in camel pose? Not to worry, the Dip station has your back. Kneeling in front of the station reach back to the natural curve in the bar and proceed into your backbend.

Arc Ladder

Picture
Who doesn't love a good legs up the wall pose? Position the side of one of your hips right up to the edge of the bottom bar. Swing your feet up towards the best positioned bar for your feet to rest on. And sink into the awesomeness that gravity provides in this pose.

Traverse Bar (Long)

Picture
Nothing better than a yoga strap for support! Thread your strap through the transverse bar overhead and let it dangle down with both ends equal in length. Position yourself under the bar and move into tree pose. As you bring your bent leg higher (and become less stable), reach for the strap for support. Sometimes trees need support too!

Step Station

Picture
Many yoga poses are suitable for the step as it adds extra elevation and aid. Yet, supported shoulder stand seems to be the most obvious. In a supine position, place the feet on the step and allow the hips to rise. As the torso permits, place the hands under the low back to prop oneself onto the shoulders. For a more challenging version, the shoulder stand could also be positioned with the sacrum on the step.

Cargo Net (Long)

Picture
Any yoga pose that requires the body to be flush against an imaginary wall is perfect for the cargo net. An extended side angle or extended triangle pose are perfect for positioning against the net. Even add a stability option of holding the net with the overhead hand in the extended side angle or the top hand in the extended triangle pose. Great to keep the upper body in check and chest lifting in each of these poses.

Row Station

Picture
Garland pose can get the best of any yogalini. Why not use the side bars of the row station for support? The bars are perfectly positioned to take this deep yogic squat into an assisted position without a second thought.

Press Station

Picture
A yoga session cannot forget a downward facing dog. The handles of the press station allow for various heights off the ground to place your hands in downward facing dog. Try each position with your hands...then why not with your feet as well!

Pull-Up (Short)

Picture
Not using the pull-up station in a traditional way, yet, its two tall pillars work perfectly for assisting in a supine single leg stretch. Positioning the body so the leg that is stretching is beside the pillar, place the foot up in the air and place it on the pillar. Depending on how flexible the hamstring is, will dictate how close or far you are from the pillar.

Ab Station

Picture
Everyone likes to finish a practice with child's pose. Using the ab station, place the back of the heels under the top bracing bars, sink the hips back and fold forward onto the built in bench. Alternatively, the ending of a class would be perfect with a corpse pose with the knees bent over the top bracing bar as well.
Having a chance to "play" on a new piece of equipment is always fun for me. This event was an experience of a lifetime and my yoga teacher in training came along for the ride too!
LW
0 Comments

Week 150: Insight With Ajna

7/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
After a long day of rumbling kids and many points of discipline, this mom needed a time out. 

Literally.

I was quite content to have all little ones under the age of five, down for a nap. 

*Sigh* - A quiet house. 

I could have sat in exhaustion and ran every crying/whining/screaming scenario through my head but instead I rushed to my mat!

The best cure for a timed out mom is yoga!

Adriene delivered once again. Her "Yoga for When You're In a Bad Mood" was aptly titled and it delivered. 

The practice hit on one thing I have great interest in understanding; yet have not fully taken the time to comprehend (note: I still don't completely understand!). 

That one thing is the yogic chakras.

From the reading I got to this week (thanks, Wikipedia and others), I see that there are many versions of chakras. For my purposes, I'm going to focus on the ones that fall under the umbrella that is yoga.

In practice, we worked on our "third eye chakra" or the sixth charkra. It is also known was Ajna, meaning  “Command Post” as it is the seat of intuition located at the brow point. This momma needed to recalibrate at the command post after multiple scenarios of frustration and anger. I assume like me that most people feel physically and mentally awful when they have many points of exasperation. 

Working on the sixth charka provided an opportunity to 
see the deeper meaning of the situation as it allows seeing everything as it is from a point of "witness" or "observer"
. 

Was it really THAT bad of a day?

How could I handle competing demands of multiple children under five? 

How can I be more gentle with them?

Time for contemplation and trying not to think too much allowed my physical self to calm my mental and intuitive self.

Now how did we do it?


Read More
0 Comments

Week 88: New Mom Again

5/6/2014

0 Comments

 
As any new mom can attest, after the baby is born, life has changed! Whether it be your first, second, or third (hold up, I just have two!), your lifestyle shifts into a whole other dimension. 

Juggling a newborn and toddler is a feat in itself but add the physical recovery after delivery and the lack of sleep.  The mind and body just craves attention. 

I am of the personality to never stop. I rarely slow down. I love challenges and this one is probably one of the biggest of my life. In regular circumstances I bustle through and crash one Friday night but since this is a sort of "long haul" endeavour, I look to my yoga practice for reprieve and rejuvenation.

To be frank, short walks and some gentle stretching was my extent this week. I dropped back into child's pose for 30 seconds here and there. Closing my eyes, pressing my hips back for a delightful stretch in my back. 

It was in these fews moments that I got my recharge, to help cope with little sleep and the chance to get back to my pre-pregnancy self. My back also appreciated the stretch too.

Small steps for calm in this hectic time. It will only get better from here,
LW
Picture
0 Comments

Week 13: Ready For a Heat Wave?

11/26/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
I sort of feel "behind the times". This is sometimes the case - if you only knew I just recently got my first ever cell phone and considered staying with a film camera. Hot yoga has been a craze for some time and for whatever reason I've stayed away.

I wonder if I have not done a hot yoga class because of the preconceived notion that it would totally suck...for the lack of better words. The heat and intensity would be awful and I saw myself needing to leave the room for reprieve from the heat.

This is so not the case!

I entered the room at Yoga Central and the first things that jumped out to me was the warmth (not heat) and the red floor! I settled on to my mat and waited for the class to begin. I did some initial low back stretching with child's pose (balasana) and let my body (and mind) get use to the warmth. I have to admit that I panicked a little bit and my breath shortened. But then class began...

It was a practice much similar to a regular Hatha class. I anticipated that the poses would be rapid fast and my body would be drenched within the first five minutes. Not at all. The pace was perfect and I was, let's say, glowing in the first five minutes. We practiced many downward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) poses and I felt I finally could get the release in my calf muscles that I so needed. I felt strong and stretched all at the same time.

The other real benefit beyond what a normal class provides for me is the focus on the breath. It wasn't emphasized to a great extent but for me it was how I coped with the extra warmth of the room and my body. It was something I could control in an environment I couldn't control. Interesting...

At the end of class, I felt little rushes of cool air over my body as I lay in corpse pose (savasana). Was it my mind playing tricks on me or did the teacher lower the temperature in the room? I'm not sure but it was the most refreshing end to a class I'd been avoiding for years!

Curiously, after class, I wanted to know why the class was not referred to as a Bikram class. It seems that hot and Bikram are not necessarily one in the same (kinda like all Catholics are Christian but not necessarily all Christians are Catholic). Bikram yoga has a specific prescription whereby the temperature is standardize as well as the poses, 26 of them, are completed every class. Who knew? So many things to learn!

Hot in Edmonton and ready to try it again,
LW
0 Comments

Week 8: The Many Faces of Wisdom Pose

10/22/2012

3 Comments

 
Picture
From as far back as I can remember, I really have enjoyed (and benefited) from child's pose (balasana). Having a chronic back/hip injury and the associated pain, it was a position that I could stretch my back out even as an awkward tween. Yoga came into my life because of my back injury. Hard to believe how long I've be practicing child's pose!

Child's pose is a kneeling forward  bend pose. It releases the low back and spine by letting gravity pull the torso down towards the ground. I even read how some yoga teachers encourage this pose to help energy move through the chakras (I barely know and understand chakras at this point!) All I know is that the prone position (very common) and the similar supine position (think flipped on your back with your knees to your chest) is such a relaxing pose!

In recent practice session with a DVD, Shiva Rea Flow Yoga for Beginners,  the yoga teacher provided a real unique way to look at child's pose. The teacher called it wisdom pose because "it is the wisdom of knowing when to relax and come back to yourself. It is the wisdom of knowing when you need to take a break for your body...". What a great way to think of this restful pose.

Recently a friend was commenting on a class she attended where she was doing child's pose the way she was taught, arms outstretched overhead, and the teacher told her that child's pose is suppose to be done with the arms and hands at the side of the body. This made me wonder - what is the actual way to do it? And, like with many poses, there must be modifications and/or variations on how to do it. I dove into my books and the Internet and this is what I found:

1. In most publications it shows arms resting at the side with the palms in the pronated (facing up) position. Forehead is resting on the floor.

2. An upper body option is arms stretched above the head ( in shoulder flexion). So, yes , my friend was still doing child's pose but a variation.

3. Alternatives for the lower body include opening the hips (abduction) and allowing the belly closer to the floor. This variation is something I am very familiar with. It was the only way I could do child's pose while pregnant!

4. The head positioning can also be varied. Forehead can be placed on stacked hands or fists. But also the head can be turned to one side as well.

5. The final variation that I could find was the arms by the side of the body but the hands clasping the heels. For whatever reason, I find this version the most relaxing and least taxing on the body.

So there you have it. The many faces of child's/wisdom pose. My back is better for it. So grateful for this pose!
LW
3 Comments

    Aspiring Yoga Teacher

    I've practiced yoga since I was a pre-teen and have always found it to keep me centered. I will be a teacher one day and this is my journey to discover teaching and practice.

    Archives

    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All
    Agni Sara
    Apana
    Ashwini Mudra
    Bhagavad Gita
    Bikram
    Bird Dog Pose
    Bird Of Paradise
    Boat Pose
    Bound Angle Pose
    Bow Pose
    Breathing
    Bridge
    Camel
    Cat Cow Pose
    Cat-cow Pose
    Centering
    Certification
    Chair Pose
    Chakra
    Chanting
    Child`s Pose
    Chopping Wood Pose
    Cobra Pose
    Communication
    Corpse Pose
    Cow Face Pose
    Crane Pose
    Dancers Pose
    Deep Squat Pose
    Downward Facing Dog
    Downward-facing Dog
    Dvd
    Eagle Pose
    Easy Pose
    Education
    Eight Limbs Of Yoga
    Extended Puppy Pose
    Extended Side Angle Pose
    Fish Pose
    Flow
    Forward Bend
    Four Limbed Staff Pose
    Garland Pose
    Gratitude
    Gunas
    Half Forward Bend
    Half Moon Pose
    Hand To Toe Pose
    Happy Baby Pose
    Headstand
    Hero Pose
    Hot Yoga
    Humble Warrior
    Jack Knife Pose
    King Pigeon Pose
    Kleshas
    Knees To Chest Pose
    Legs Up The Wall
    Lineage
    Lion Pose
    Lizard Pose
    Locust Pose
    Lotus Pose
    Moon Salutations
    Moon Sequence
    Mountain Pose
    Mudra
    Mula Bandha
    Music
    Namaste
    Nauli
    Niyamas
    Patanjali
    Pigeon Pose
    Plank
    Postnatal
    Prana
    Pranayama
    Prenatal
    Props
    Rajas
    Reclining Twist
    Research
    Restorative
    Reverse Tabletop
    Reverse Warrior
    Revolved Chair Pose
    Revolved Head To Knee Pose
    Revolved Standing Wide Leg Forward Bend
    Sage Pose
    Samskara
    Santosha
    Sattva
    Shooting Arrow
    Shoulder Stands
    Side Bends
    Staff Pose
    Stick Pose
    Sunbird Pose
    Sun Salutations
    Table Top
    Tamas
    Teaching
    Therapeutic
    Threading The Needle
    Tiger Pose
    Toe Squat
    Tortise Pose
    Tree Pose
    Triangle Pose
    Uddiyana Bandha
    Upward Facing Dog
    Warrior I
    Warrior II
    Warrior Ii
    Warrior Iii
    Wide Stance Forward Bend
    Yang
    Yin
    Yoga Anatomy
    Yoga Journal

    RSS Feed

  Lisa Workman, MA, BPE, CSEP-CEP, ​C-IAYT, AFLCA Instructor, RYT-200 Yoga Alliance, 500-hour Yoga Association of Alberta
​  Edmonton, Alberta
​|   Medical fitness consulting   |   Clinical exercise physiology   |   Yoga therapy   |

Privacy Policy
Photos from akunamatata, Antífama, Jinx!, PhotosByDarko, PineappleAndCoconut, jikatu, lululemon athletica, jikatu, Idhren, davewrightphotography, tracitodd, tokyosucks, amyjirsa_yogini, USAG-Humphreys, jetheriot, National Institutes of Health (NIH), distelfliege, abolotnov, wornlimtv, Courtney Dirks, allyaubry, davewrightphotography, janfredrikf, Real Cowboys Drive Cadillacs, quinn.anya, TinyTall, tillwe, Breville USA, F L I R S T - Palk Clap, lululemon athletica, quinn.anya, Inspiyr, fabola, Janitors, gabi_menashe, pbkwee, symphony of love, distelfliege, Teecycle Tim, Nicolas*, Iwan Gabovitch, mahmoud99725, KassandraBayResort, mark_donoher, jfirmenich, Yordanos Gebretatios, Robert Bejil Photography, a little tune, amyjirsa_yogini, crsan, m.gifford, amyjirsa_yogini, M.ADA, byzantiumbooks, Gamma Man, Ben Blash, RelaxingMusic, lambatofa, mikecogh, ideowl, Meredith Bell, IntangibleArts, SOMBILON ART, MEDIA and PHOTOGRAPHY, Anna Majkowska, cabancreative, Incase., alonis, torbakhopper, tiffany assman, Monkey Mash Button, Doug Waldron, J Rindrr, whgrad, Rebecca L. Daily, LoJoLu Photography, katerha, pulihora, Robert S. Donovan, torbakhopper, Mariana Heinz, Treefort Photo Dept, Free For Commercial Use (FFC), dennis, ShebleyCL, Kamala L, Hey Paul Studios, IceSabre, Andrea Castelletti
  • Home
  • Services
    • Take Your Walking to the Next Level
    • Everyday Yoga Group Class
    • Movement Rx
    • Movement Momentum
    • Professional Educational Services >
      • AFLCA Cycle Designation Course
      • AFLCA Cycle Level 2 Workshop
    • Free Online Course
    • Speaking Opportunities
  • About
  • High Fives
  • Blog
    • Letters From Lisa
    • Cycle Drills & Skills Blog >
      • Cycle Drills & Skills Glossary
    • The Journey of an Aspiring Yoga Teacher Blog
    • The Why I Move Project
  • Media & Publications
    • Media >
      • As Seen on TV
      • Web
      • Print
    • Publications
  • FREE Online Course
  • Contact