Lisa A. Workman M.A.
  • Home
  • Services
    • Yoga Therapy
    • Kinesiology
    • Educational Services >
      • AFLCA Cycle Designation Course
      • AFLCA Cycle Level 2 Workshop
    • Free Online Course
    • Speaking Opportunities
  • About
  • High Fives
  • Blogs
    • 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 66: Pop and Stretch

12/5/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Extended side angle pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), to me, is a foundational pose but receives little attention compared to its sister Warrior poses. Officially, not a warrior pose it has the markings of one (such as the bent knee like in warrior II) except for the side bending.

It was an enlightening pose this week, which follows the past two weeks' pattern of bending (forward and side). To be honest, I had a major release (physical and emotionally) with extended side angle pose this week and I don't totally get why. Was it from the hips? Apparently, releasing the hips can be an emotional experience but I have no reference or source to date. Is it the place of tension that rarely gets a break?

Probably.

Especially as a pregnant women.

Yes!

I really like this pose for my pregnant body. It focuses on single leg strength and opening of the side body among opening the hips. 

One of the things I want to maintain is my leg strength. After sitting for many months nursing with my first child, my legs atrophied to a point where my pants were hanging off me. Muscle tone and strength were gone. So, continually working on leg strength now and once baby arrives is key for me.

Also, in the past couple weeks I've been stretched (read: my belly has popped). And the sensation it brings is very bizarre. It's like the pressure of the abdominal cavity is increasing and my skins elasticity is not ready for the stretch. So a dull ache. Extended side angle pose is fantastic for stretching the areas of my torso that have been under such pressure. *sigh*
Picture
Note: That's not me…yet. Nor have I ever seen something like this before!

Read More
0 Comments

Week 42: Thoughts on Using a Yoga Strap

6/18/2013

0 Comments

 
I've been yoga prop adverse in the past but have slowly incorporated more props into my regular practice. The more and more I practice, the more I see props  place in yoga. Even for someone who is relatively flexible, props allows me to move further and/or relax into the pose.

The yoga strap has found it's regular place in my practice. It's been with some trial and error that the strap has found it's place. My inability to loop the strap has been my biggest challenge! :)

And as usual I've fished around to get a couple key points about yoga straps. Here's what I found:

Typically yoga straps are made of hemp or cotton and are between 6 to 8 feet long. I opted to get two straps with different lengths just to be sure (and honestly, try to encourage my husband to use one to help with his posture!)

Duskyleaf.ca states three main reasons to use a yoga strap.

#1 - Strap in and Relax
Essentially let the strap secure your specific body part into a pose or let the strap carry the weight of your body part to increase the stretch.

#2 - Binding your Time
Allow the strap to make connections between hand and foot or hand to hand.

#3 - Better Blindfolded
In the end of practice while in savasana, use the strap just like an eye pillow to encourage the eyes to relax and block out any extra light.

What prompted my exploration of yoga straps this week is that I tried a new DVD called Hatha & Flow Yoga for Beginners by Tamal Dodge. During the Hatha portion of the DVD, he uses the strap in many unique ways that I have never tried before.  For example, using the yoga strap with the upper body during a modified warrior I pose (seemed to help stack the shoulders over the hips better and engage the arm muscles more) and single leg happy baby pose (allowed for greater hip range of motion).

Again, I can't reiterate how much I still need to learn about yoga and how to  incorporate the yoga strap into poses. All this work is building on my knowledge and experience to be a teacher one day!
LW
0 Comments

Week 37: Past to Present Practice

5/14/2013

0 Comments

 
With my goal to practice the yoga poses I journaled about over ten years ago and reflect on how they feel today, I headed into three more poses this week. To be honest, I struggle with a home practice (read: it's not exciting by myself or when it's not lead by anyone else, AND setting time aside to go through poses correctly and slowly is tough to do). I really still appreciate being taught yoga in some format instead of just doing it on my own.

But I did practice three more poses on my own (I added corpse pose to the end as well). They were the following:

Hero Pose (Virasana)

With this pose, I had to page through my various books to remind myself what this pose is all about. Based on the book Yoga for 50+ by Robert Rosen, it is a sitting pose with the legs parallel to the thighs. It is likely that you've seen a child sitting in this exact position. And you might recall thinking, Ohmygoodness - how is he/she sitting like that!?!
Picture
I completed the pose for five breaths (approximately the 30 seconds recommendation). But in reviewing what I wrote 11 years ago, it just didn't seem to fit. Again back to the books (the class manual to be exact) and there in the schematics is the hero pose but it looks more like a warrior I pose. What?!? Well, needless to say, I just did both versions. Here's what I wrote many years back:
"At the start of the movement, I allowed myself to become focused by doing five diaphragmatic breaths. During the pose, I began to warm up and became hot. I realized that I was warming up my body after all it had been resting during the night. My muscles did not seem to be tight and the stretching of the hamstrings was not difficult."

Read More
0 Comments

Week 16: Why is There No Warrior IV and Warrior V Poses?

12/17/2012

3 Comments

 
In my most recent practice session, we went through an extensive flow of
Warrior poses (Virabhadrasana I, II, III). I quite enjoy all three warrior poses
for different reasons but what I want to explore with this post is the "missing"
Warrior IV and V poses.

What? You ask. I didn't know there are more than three!

Well, I guess there isn't. But moving through the handful of
repeated Warrior poses, I started to wonder where these other two poses, Humble Warrior and Reverse Warrior, fit in.
Picture
If you are not familiar, Humble Warrior (also known as Devotional Warrior), is in the lunge
position with the arms clasped behind the back and the torso bent forward over
the front thigh. I have rarely done this pose so when I heard the teacher call it by name, I had a mental stoppage and wondered am I missing a Warrior.

Picture
As the flow continued, we moved into Reverse Warrior (also known as  Crescent Pose or Proud Warrior). I have to admit I love this pose but never knew its name  either. It is in an open lunge position (hips are  open, facing side ways) where  the back arm reaches back for the rear thigh and the front arm reaches over the head. With such flexibility in my hips and hamstrings, my body is able to reach back far and thus, I get a phenomenal stretch!

I went digging into my sources to discover that truly, these two poses are
actually a variation of either Warrior I or Warrior II. And they are not
considered traditional yoga poses as they do not have Sanskrit names. Oh,
that's why they really are not numbered like the other three distinct poses. But what I did find is that all five poses are considered Warrior poses.

Case solved. To read a comprehensive overview of a Warrior sequence, click here. And a bit more on the history of the Warrior poses, click here. It's an interesting read if you know nothing about the poses origin.

Putting the pieces together - one at a time,
LW
Photo credit: yogamama.co.uk's photostream
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, ​AFLCA Instructor, RYT-200 Yoga Alliance, 500-hour Yoga Association of Alberta
​  Edmonton, Alberta
​|   Medical fitness consulting   |   Clinical exercise physiology   |   Yoga therapy   |
Photos used under Creative Commons 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
  • Home
  • Services
    • Yoga Therapy
    • Kinesiology
    • Educational Services >
      • AFLCA Cycle Designation Course
      • AFLCA Cycle Level 2 Workshop
    • Free Online Course
    • Speaking Opportunities
  • About
  • High Fives
  • Blogs
    • 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