OMG! I had a blast at another Yoga Central class! I was challenged with so many different poses which I do not practice at home. It is becoming clear that for my yoga teacher journey to be fruitful and every expanding, I must get to practice outside the four walls of my basement and my Mac! The pose that gave me a jolt was one I never thought I could do.... Yes, I'd see it on the glossy pages of Yoga Journal and in advanced yoga images in books but to have really done it still astonishes me... Who knew I could hold my entire body weight on my arms...what an empowering pose! The pose you ask? Crane/Crow pose (Bakasana)! What I have been enjoying about practice in studio is the opportunity to use props I might not have at home such as a foam block (surprising I don't have one yet!).
Our teacher cued us to place a foam block at the top of our mats. I paused for a moment and wandered, what the heck are we doing with a foam block there? Maybe a supported half moon pose or a supported wide-legged forward fold, but not crane pose. We settled into a deep yogic squat to begin with and allowed a deep flexion of the hips to begin. It became clear that we were in transition to the next pose when we were directed to place our hands on the mat in front of us. Curiously, I hesitated in putting my hands down on the mat initially as I wanted to see what was coming next. As I intently listened to the cueing, I realized I was needing to release my deep squat and and shift my weight forward onto my hands. The block with positioned as if I had an imaginary triangle with the base as my hands and the top point as the block. I shifted forward and placed my forehead on the foam block. Instantly, I felt my legs come forward and naturally land behind my arms. Whoa...I got this far! Gently, I lifted my right toes and then my left off the ground with no difficulty. And of course, I heard the teacher say, "now lift your head off the block". No time to think but I lifted my head with amazement and was sitting or should I say supporting myself solely with my hands. My brain went to its chitter chatter self and I slowly lost my balance and had to come out of the pose. I was hooked and tried again and again to get crane pose! Maybe it was the rush of having my head below my heart or the power I felt in my arms, but it was one of those yoga highs! After the fact, I did a bit of searching (as I've never written about crane pose before) and found that it is upper body and core strengthener. Um, yes! Can’t wait to try crow again…even with a foam block for support! LW
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Are you getting your hands dirty this week? I sure am. I'm no gardener but I do like looking at nice flowers over the summer months. I’ve played my luck the past couple years and planted before the May long weekend. This year too, I’ve got my bag of potting soil and trowel ready to go!
Amazingly every year not only do I tempt fate with the weather but my back too. I always have some tightness and soreness after some time playing in the dirt. Does this educated exercise professional ever do a warm-up before gardening? Of course not…yikes! Needless to say, I was on the hunt for a gardening specific yoga sequence but happily stumbled upon a Do Yoga With Me video that fit the bill. Constant forward flexion. Doesn’t that sound like an every day occurrence? Well, moreso when kneeling over pots and gardening beds with the addition of a digging motion. That is an equation for back pain. Hatha Yoga for Better Posture provided a time and space for working through the supportive muscles of the core with many opportunities to extend and flex the spine through a full range of motion. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel yoga work at the wall. All though, Melissa set-up the move as an exercise not necessity a yoga asana, standing at the wall with the arms up in “cactus position”, low back pressed against the wall with the feet placed further away from the wall was a fantastic alignment tool to get the spine stacked back to its more natural state. This was one of the many seeds I needed to sow to get my back to feel better! Although I didn’t warm up, I sort of feel like I’ve been training for gardening all year long. My yogic deep squat (malasana) was the perfect position for many of my gardening feats! Even to the point that I actually wasn’t bothered to be in the position for long periods of time. Woowho! I still have more to add to my garden this year (flowers and herbs!) so I’m sure this practice is going to get me through the early days of Spring! LW I really should have known better... Sunny, blue sky. Warm air breeze. Birds tweeting a sweet tune. Perfect running conditions, right? It never ceases to amaze me how the brain can overpower the body - for good or bad! My Sunday morning run was the first real jaunt since the snow flew. I had considered a run a week but when pushing a stroller (with a fidgety toddler, no doubt) through the icy sidewalks of Edmonton, I opted to substitute my run plan for an indoor home-based strength workout. And thus, this week's run was almost a new freedom I had really missed. The cherry on top was I was solo! I went out with the mindset of a moderate pace and distance. Check. And, well, not a check. Eight point eight kilometers later, I arrived home pumped up on endorphins. I stretched and did my hypopressive exercises (more on that another day) and walked away with no apparent detriment. Wake up Monday morning, and you guessed it, my legs were stone. A quick spin on my bike should help... Not really. I winced with every step down the stairs to my bike. Whoops! Enter whiny voice, "but my run felt soooooo good!" Well, thank goodness I remembered seeing a Yoga for Runners on Adriene's YouTube channel. My yoga practice was set in motion for the love of my quads, hip flexors and adductors! Yoga for Runners was the perfect sequence of focused lower body poses. What stood out for me was lizard pose (Utthan Pristhasana). I’ve enjoyed this pose on many occasions but not more than in THIS practice. I slightly winced when we started but was able to lower my hip as I walked my front leg out to the edge of the mat. As I followed the cues, I slowly lowered my forearms down to my mat and settled into the full pose. I find it really interesting how the placement of the hands is so crucial in this pose. By having both hands on the inside of the front leg, it can lead to such an opening to the pelvis. Much more than a traditional hip flexor lunge position. It wasn’t until you watch someone else doing lizard pose that you realize the front thigh is almost parallel to the torso. Hard to believe, but true! Needless to say, lizard pose was one of the many very helpful poses that got me back to walking without discomfort this week! And I appreciated some of Adriene’s final intuitive words, “way to show up for yourself”. You have no idea! LW P.S. What to learn more about lizard? Watch Adriene's Foundations of Yoga video! Sometimes you need to take a step back, to take a step forward. This was my approach to yoga this week. I gravitated to Do Yoga With Me’s Power Yoga for Beginners. I don’t necessarily look at myself as a beginner (it’s been over 190 weeks of blogging and over 20 years of practice!), yet I am a big believer of there is always something to learn. Fiji McAlpine, led a smooth and focused practice. The generation of power wasn’t via moving through the poses quickly, rather it was in the act of slowing down the movements and emphasizing proper alignment. Whew! At first sight, it looked easy. But the amount of heat that was being generated by my body was evidence of the work being done in the static positions. It was a challenging practice both physically and mentally! Here are my learnings… Forward Fold - "make the number seven (7) with your body" Great cue! I’d never thought of it that way. I suppose I always thought of the letter L yet the number seven is a bit more fluid than the straight lines of the letter L. High Lunge - "step the left foot behind the left hip. Not in a line behind the right heel. Eventually you will stand up and you don’t want to walk unnecessarily on a tight rope” I can honestly say I have never thought of where my foot is in relation to my pelvis in the high lunge. It is possible that the balancing act of bringing the body upright was related to where my back foot and heel was positioned. Brilliant! High Lunge - “check out your foundation by letting the hands float” Whoa! If your lower body isn’t solid, lifting the hands can sure throw you off! It was a clear indication of how much the upper extremity holds you up in the position. But this doesn’t serve you when coming to an upright position. Check! Foundation awareness is key! Chaturanga - “make sure you don’t go down too far...half way down or less" Clearly, I’ve been dropping too low in this position. My arms were telling me that they were not ready to keep me up! Face close to the mat, say a couple inches - alright! Face away from the mat, say a foot or so - no way! To be frank, I actually wasn’t sure if I had been doing this right. Fiji provided a great visual of how to actually do it. Reversed Warrior - “take the energy of the upper body to the back of the mat. Take the energy of the lower body towards the front of the mat. Allowing those two pieces of the body to split energy into two directions with equal force" Awesomesplosion! Cue the fireworks! The cueing of where to direct energy gave the reversed warrior a whole new dimension. My body lengthened in both direction and the asana felt like a completely new pose. Who would of thought I was suppose to pull the lower body and upper body in different directions. Warrior I - “attempt to turn the right hip forward until the knee buckles or lose the engagement of the right foot or leg...the hips never really truly square because we have the foot planted" Hallelujah. I most certainly have never been able to square my hips in Warrior I. Glad to have cues now such as the buckling of the knee or loss of engagement in the leg so as to know when to stop trying to square my hips more. From a visual perspective, it has become clear to me that of course they can’t square because of the back foot. Such insight Fiji brings to the practice. Spinal Twist - “grabbing the left knee with the right hand, pulling the knee across the body to the ground”
By using the opposite hand to pull the knee across the body, this allows for greater range of motion. I’ve never seen this before and I will be sure to continue to use it during my practice. This beginner power practice had lots of details on positioning that was a welcomed challenge! The last gem that Fiji shared in this practice was “ask the body to work together”. If you don’t ask, then how can you step forward? Amen, LW I have something to admit. Something like a guilty pleasure that I LOVE! Ready for it? Okay - no need to be guilty about this pleasure… I love children’s books! I can hide my love of these books very easily as a mother of a two and four-year-old. I even take out all the books on my children’s library card. No one would ever know that it is me who does all the picks and gets a little high every time I pick up all my holds (36 this week!) at the library. I even have the strategy of picking only the new arrival books so we (me!) are the first to touch, smell and crack the spine!
The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) makes it very easy for those addicted to books to find and borrow what we want! Its app is frequently used on my phone. This past week I was scrolling through the books, for my children (wink), and came across two new children’s books about yoga. I couldn’t resist as I added them to our growing list of requests. The two books, titled, Good Night Yoga and I Am Yoga. Beautifully illustrated and written for their audience, these two books take children (and adults) on an imaginary yoga journey wrought with animals, bugs and nature. I've written about kids yoga before so I've dabbled a bit. Yet, I'd never seen a book (I Am Yoga) encourage such mindfulness and breath work for kids. Good Night Yoga also connects a yoga practice to bedtime, which is a brilliant way to end the day, for children and adults alike! To be honest, I hoarded the two books and the picture above what only taken when my son found the books and said, "hey mom, why aren't these with the rest of the library books?". Whoops! Now this may be a guilty pleasure! Regardless, I look at reading as another form of self-love and self care, just as how yoga fits into my world. What do you love? LW P.S. And this is my practice this week, aptly named "I Love". It never ceases to amaze me when people say things to me like, “you are so calm”, “I wish I was as laid back as you”, and “you have everything under control”. I laugh under my breath. I sure as heck don’t feel like I’ve got it all together. I would argue for days that I am much more of a Type A personality than a Type B personality. Do I hide it well? Maybe. My poker face keeps things together. Yet, this week I sure didn’t feel like I was “put together” or “in control” at all. Ready for it… I was sick AGAIN! Stomach flu resolved with minor queasiness and fatigue due to lack of food. But sure enough waking up to find I had that darn sore throat again, which followed with the nasty cough and sinuses that had never ending fluid flow (sorry, no disclaimer this week!). I feel like I am out of CONTROL! Quite literally sick for the entire month of March with little to no avail. What the heck???!!! I am a control freak and have lost all control…of my body at this point. I did not hesitate to get on the mat this week. Maybe I could gain some control. And I did. Yoga is the ultimate way to get back into your body…feel all the nooks and crannies…even just being mindful of your breath during practice delivers control…in a good way of course! Yoga with Adriene’s wonderful 30-Day Yoga Camp provided a super practice of “I Am in Control”. What a power booster and energy reviver!
I most certainly benefited from a concentrated hip circumduction. Say what?! Okay my non-anatomy friends, rotation of the hip or small circles of the upper leg. Unsure if this table top yoga pose has a sanskrit name, I hopped onto my trusty Google to see what I could find. Essentially, there isn’t a “traditional” yoga pose to label and follow. Think “fire hydrant” exercise if need be but with full rotation at the hip. Nonetheless, it was effective in bringing some focused effort and control to my body. My lovely practice pushed me but was essential in gaining some control back into my body. I love you yoga…in a non-controlling kind of way! ;) LW Rumble, grumble, gurgle… Rumble, grumble, gurgle… And repeat. That was the sound of my GI (stomach) system this past weekend. Where it came from and what caused it, I have no idea. So, when it came to yoga this week, naturally I went searching for a yoga practice that could help with my digestion and stomach cramps. My initial search, of course, led me back to my touchstone, Adriene. She provided not just one but two essential practices to help me out! Now, I realize, I’ve been pretty open, honest and quite transparent in 2016. I’ve opened up and written about many personal things. So folks, this one will be no different. Disclaimer: I will contain myself to a point. But let’s be honest, sh*t happens. Bodily fluids haven’t bothered me since taking gross anatomy in university, but for some, its too much information! I’ll save some of the details but here is what unfolded. I started with this practice first... With not eating much yesterday, my energy was low and this practiced pushed my effort. In the end, I’m glad it was only 25 minutes! The pose that seemed to really speak to me was downward facing dog twist or revolved downward facing dog (Parivrtta Adho Mukha Svanasana). I can’t recall if I’ve written about this asana before but I know I’ve done it a couple times before. Essentially, it is a downward facing dog with the opposite hand reaching for the opposite leg (body is being held up by only three appendages). Yoga Outlet states that the twisting of the torso massages and tones your internal organs, which helps to remove toxins and waste products. Cleansing these organs also improves metabolism, digestion, and overall well-being. Well, that is what I needed. So much so that… I visited the bathroom not once during practice, not twice, but three times. Thank goodness that bathroom is only a quick run up the stairs because revolved downward facing dog got things moving! I also took the time to try Wind-Relieving Pose. Yes, that is it’s real name. It amazes me that I’ve done this pose and its iterations for years without knowing its name!
Silver lining to this discomfort ridden couple days…I found out more about yoga. I don’t encourage you to give yourself GI distress just to find out more about the Wind-Relieving Pose, but yoga continues to teach me many things. Riding my body, of you know what, is just the side benefit! LW Nothing like sitting and breathing and letting the body tell you what is what! Not only does the breath bring you to the mat (mindfulness anyone?!) but the use of the amazing, physiological capabilities that provide our perception - the senses. As we all know them, the five traditional senses are: What you hear? What you see? What you taste? What you smell? What your skin feels? The more scientific definition, which I equally appreciate is: "A system that consists of a group of sensory cell types that responds to a specific physical phenomenon, and that corresponds to a particular group of regions within the brain where the signals are received and interpreted." I had never thought of starting a yoga practice by using the various senses. I have previously designed and facilitated a workshop on simulating the senses in an indoor cycling class called Reinventing Your Spin Class: Conscious Change Through Creativity!. So why not use the same principles when designing yoga practice too? The foundation of the workshop I taught was based on the book, On Becoming An Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity, by Ellen J. Langer. A great read to spark some creativity! I am always looking for ways to become a better speaker, facilitator, and teacher. This week’s practice, thanks to Do Yoga With Me, has opened the idea of using the senses to help audiences, clients, and participants to connect. And, I think I need to take another read of Langer’s book…a 2016 perspective versus the original 2009 perspective. Linking the senses to yoga practice as a whole is an interesting topic. In my internet search, I came across two opposing perspectives with the incorporation of using the senses in practice. First, Deepak Chopra talks at length about Ayurveda and using the senses for health. When thinking of a class setting, the music hits the ears, the eyes witness the namaste symbol, the scent of lavender in eye pillows, the taste of water after a vinyasa flow and the touch of a yoga mat under ones’ toes. Now I am no expert in Ayurveda (actually I would call myself a beginner) but yoga is linked to Ayurveda to some degree. Yet, my second search dropped me into the Yoga Sutras. Here we go! So much I don’t know! Pratyahara or Sense Withdrawal, is the fifth rung of the eight sutras. What it purports is to withdraw the senses instead of using them in practice (primarily in meditation). What was beautifully written as: "The senses are said to follow the mind in the same way the hive of bees follows the queen bee. Wherever she goes, they will follow. Similarly, if the mind truly goes inward, the senses will come racing behind.” My grand idea of using the senses in practice may actually be defeating one of the key parts of yoga. Well, I won’t solve this one anytime soon. But interesting nonetheless. How do your senses engage in your yoga practice? LW You can imagine that I retreated to the yoga mat again this week. It has been an emotional and mental taxing kind of week as I continually reflect on the passing of my grandma. I searched the Do Yoga With Me website to find the best way to practice and support myself. Initially unsure, I picked the Yoga for Anxiety video. Thinking, "I'm not anxious!" Yet, I was pulled to this practice. Rightly so, it was time to breath... As Do Yoga With Me's, David Procyshyn stated, "...this practice is all about getting things unstuck. Anxiety is often about holding on to stuff. So using breath and movement to push that stuff through. To feel much more relaxed and at ease." Although, I don't really see myself as anxious, what David was offering was exactly what I needed. Releasing the tension and hold of grief. It is time to get unstuck. The dominant feature of this practice was pranayama, yogic breath. So essential to yoga as it is one of the foundational aspects found in the eight limbs of Patanjali's yoga sutras. This practice began with focused breath through the "four quadrants" of the torso - the front stomach, the side ribs and the rear back. It was very beneficial and focused way to start. It foreshadowed what was to come in the rest of the practice. We covered three notable breathing practices below. 1. Breath of Joy A welcomed breathe, Breath of Joy was an amazing rush of oxygen. As Yoga International states: "The Breath of Joy awakens your whole system. It increases oxygen levels in the bloodstream, temporarily stimulating the sympathetic nervous system, circulating more prana, and gently stoking agni." Oh - agni again. Better yet, here’s a brief video that demonstrates it much better than my written words. One of my life teachers passed away this week. My 94 years and 341 days old grandma died peacefully after an extended time with some form of dementia. She was no longer herself and it was time for her physical self to surrender.
After receiving the news late Saturday afternoon, I was left to process the new information alone. I craved something to let me grieve. I found my yoga mat to be one of the safest places to let the emotion flow. Adriene never lets me down. The "I Surrender" practice was just what I needed. I sobbed during the extended child's pose as I felt the flood of emotions. Although I knew intellectually this was to be, sooner more so than later, this wasn't something I could prepare for...as much of a planner I am. From past experience of letting emotions fester, I knew that I needed to work through this process and not let it linger. I know it will take time but clearly, it wasn't something I needed hold on to. Although I recognize that one session (actually two goes at this practice) won’t take away my sadness, it has helped release some of the grief and I am thankful for that. I surrender. LW |
Aspiring Yoga TeacherI'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
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