Week 202: Motor Neurons on High Alert

This week I tried something different...

With the kids not napping or shall I say napping shorter, I've come to the realization that for my yoga practice to happen on a weekly basis, I will need to start a morning practice.

Don't get me wrong, I love morning workouts BUT I'm not at my peak intellectual self in the morning. Well, what does that have to do with it?

My mind, body and spirit love the practice yet my brain isn't ready to write or even contemplate the practice like I do in the daytime.

Hence, it will take me a bit more effort to compose a blogpost after a relaxing and nourishing practice before I *actually* wake up!

This week I thought it was suitable to practice an actual morning practice - Greet the Day Yoga. And thank you Adriene!

I love sequences. Maybe its from my step aerobic days or even further back, my synchronized swimming days. Each asana has a particular order it follows and they usually stay in that sequence. But when they DON’T, it really can be a shake up. Like I said, my brain is not in high gear so when Adriene threw an alternate way to sequence the asanas, I really had to stop and think it through!

Let me explain…

Moving on the sagittal plane, I followed the direction into the low lunge transitioning into an overhead arm position. The first sprinkles of the frontal plane movement began as we moved into half moon-like arms. The lower body maintained the sagittal position while the upper body was moving on the frontal plane.

Okay - done that before…

But what was different was how we moved the lower body into a frontal plane. Now simple as it is, it really changes the sequence of the asanas. No critique here, only a reflection on how it is possible to move the body in this way. I had never done this before.

The arms retreat from overhead with the hand on the same side as the front leg coming down to the foot. The back leg then rotates at the knee, which “forces” the hips to open and the body arrives on the frontal plane. The other arm joins in by reaching overhead in a modified extended side angle pose.

Never once had I moved from a low lunge into an extended side angle pose. It had never occurred to me that that was an option.

It was smooth and boy, did I like it! It almost allowed for an alternative way to open the hips while the knee stayed on the ground. Possibly more focus on the upper body too (no longer worried about keeping the leg up and the back foot grounded).

So, for a morning practice, I had to have my motor neurons firing!

Who knew that such a small and simple change could open my eyes into something new.

Contemplating alternative asana sequencing…and switching my hours around,
LW