This week's pose is Utthita Parsvakonasana --Extended side angle pose
Utthita means "intense", parsva (pronounced "parshva") means "side" and kona "angle," and asana "pose."
Standing poses like this one are fundamental to a beginner (and beyond) yoga practise. They inspire confidence, strength, and balance. They lengthen the spine safely.
This pose, as it is named, opens the hips and sides of the body, as well as shoulders.
For instructions, visit yoga journal's link:
www.yogajournal.com/poses/749
(if the link doesn't work, just try later)
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Week one for beginners
For this fall's yoga classes, I will be posting simple weekly practises and a pose of the week. This week's pose is Utthita Trikonasana --Extended triangle pose.
It is my personal favourite. Triangle pose is a standing pose so it lengthens the spine and strengthens legs and core. I love the opposing movement of reaching up and down simultaneously. I love the hip and shoulder stretch I get; unlike many yoga poses, I can enjoy it without too much strain on my tight hamstrings.
click on this link to yogajournal.com to get the full instructions:
www.yogajournal.com/poses/494
Remember that lengthening the spine is more important than getting your hand down to the floor. For most beginners, placing your hand on a chair, a block, or on your shin is better.
This week's 15 minute morning yoga practise has 5 simple exercises. Make a space for 15 minutes of simple yoga this week and begin to notice the benefits:
1. Cat and dog tail pose: Begin on all fours. As you exhale, drop your head and tailbone. Lift yourself out of your shoulders and draw your navel back to the spine. Arch your spine up like a cat. As you exhale, look up, lift your tailbone up and let your back arch down, beginning from your shoulders. Repeat with several cycles of breath. If your wrists are sore, do with bent elbows.
2. Triangle pose
3. Downward-Facing Dog pose: From all fours, extend the arms in front, palms flat and fingers extended. Tuck toes under and lift hips. Point tailbone up and keep knees bent at first. Then slowly begin to straighten legs and drop heels down. If hamstrings are tight, keep knees bent. Keep arms extending and draw chest back toward upper legs.
4. Half locust: lie on stomach on a blanket. Inhale and Lift R arm and L leg as you lift head and chest. Release with exhale. Then lift L arm and R leg with head and chest. Repeat several times on each side.
5. Good Morning Salute: This is a precursor to sun salutations. Begin with hands at namaste position. Inhale and draw arms up. Exhale release arms out to sides as you fold forward, hinging from the hips. Bend the knees. Inhale and lift the front body up halfway until your back is flat. Then exhale and release down again. Inhale and roll the body up as you take the arms out to the sides and up. Then exhale and release the hands back to heart centre.
It is my personal favourite. Triangle pose is a standing pose so it lengthens the spine and strengthens legs and core. I love the opposing movement of reaching up and down simultaneously. I love the hip and shoulder stretch I get; unlike many yoga poses, I can enjoy it without too much strain on my tight hamstrings.
click on this link to yogajournal.com to get the full instructions:
www.yogajournal.com/poses/494
Remember that lengthening the spine is more important than getting your hand down to the floor. For most beginners, placing your hand on a chair, a block, or on your shin is better.
This week's 15 minute morning yoga practise has 5 simple exercises. Make a space for 15 minutes of simple yoga this week and begin to notice the benefits:
1. Cat and dog tail pose: Begin on all fours. As you exhale, drop your head and tailbone. Lift yourself out of your shoulders and draw your navel back to the spine. Arch your spine up like a cat. As you exhale, look up, lift your tailbone up and let your back arch down, beginning from your shoulders. Repeat with several cycles of breath. If your wrists are sore, do with bent elbows.
2. Triangle pose
3. Downward-Facing Dog pose: From all fours, extend the arms in front, palms flat and fingers extended. Tuck toes under and lift hips. Point tailbone up and keep knees bent at first. Then slowly begin to straighten legs and drop heels down. If hamstrings are tight, keep knees bent. Keep arms extending and draw chest back toward upper legs.
4. Half locust: lie on stomach on a blanket. Inhale and Lift R arm and L leg as you lift head and chest. Release with exhale. Then lift L arm and R leg with head and chest. Repeat several times on each side.
5. Good Morning Salute: This is a precursor to sun salutations. Begin with hands at namaste position. Inhale and draw arms up. Exhale release arms out to sides as you fold forward, hinging from the hips. Bend the knees. Inhale and lift the front body up halfway until your back is flat. Then exhale and release down again. Inhale and roll the body up as you take the arms out to the sides and up. Then exhale and release the hands back to heart centre.
Monday, September 17, 2007
The gifts of yoga
A friend who had attended one of my classes recently asked my husband, "Why do yoga?"
For him and for all of those who wonder why they should carve out a space in their busy schedules for a personal yoga practise, here are my reasons:
1. The gift of proprioception:
Proprioception is an awareness of our place in space. Children have a sense of how to sit, bend and move as their bodies were designed to. Because of stress and too much time in a chair, among other factors, most of us have lost that sense of balance and posture. Yoga stimulates the brain centers (proprioceptors) that keep us in proper alignment. The breathing and body awareness that we develop and use in yoga class can remain with us outside of class. We find that we stand and sit and breathe taller and straighter in all of our activities.
2. The gift of a healthy back:
According to Vijay Vad, M.D., 4 out of 5 people in North America will suffer an episode of serious low back pain in their lives. In his book, Back Rx, (Gotham Books, 2004), he tells that of those, 80% will have a recurrence within one year. Yoga emphasizes proper alignment of the spine. The postures encourage back suppleness and flexibility, including extension, flexion and rotation. These movements improve the health of discs by massaging them and bringing nourishing oxygen. Yoga also encourages hip flexibility. In his research, Vad found that limited hip flexibility is a commonality among elite tennis players and golfers who suffer low back pain.
3. The gift of youthful confidence:
As we age we tend to lose muscle tone, coordination, balance and flexibility. But these diminishing faculties can be recovered and strengthened by yoga. Many exercise regimes focus solely on cardiovascular fitness and muscular development, neglecting the other areas of health that keep one youthful and confident into old age.
4.The gift of relaxation:
I think I only learned to relax during yoga class. Before that I would sleep, of course, but still not relax. Yoga can teach you how to relax at will and not just fall into bed tense and exhausted from stress and overwork. Leaving a yoga class feeling relaxed and warm and happy must be experienced to be understood.
5. The gift of the present moment:
Yoga is a form of moving meditation. When we do the poses we maintain continual awareness of our breathing and our body. We let outside worries and distractions go. By focussing on the breath during meditation and relaxation, we can learn the art of mindfulness. Staying present is a gift because it allows us to enjoy the reality that is occurring all around us and stop living in our heads.
6. The gift of energy:
Yoga wakes you up and releases tension through movement and stretching. Breathing with an open chest makes you more alert. Deepak Chopra has pointed out that energy is everywhere in nature. (Have you ever seen a tired squirrel?) When we are in harmony with nature, we have energy.
Much has been written about how the stress response affects our bodies over the long term. Yoga counteracts the "fight/flight" chemicals that raise blood pressure, slow digestion, and weaken the immune system. Exercise, Breathing, relaxation and restorative postures combine to bring the body into balance.
For him and for all of those who wonder why they should carve out a space in their busy schedules for a personal yoga practise, here are my reasons:
1. The gift of proprioception:
Proprioception is an awareness of our place in space. Children have a sense of how to sit, bend and move as their bodies were designed to. Because of stress and too much time in a chair, among other factors, most of us have lost that sense of balance and posture. Yoga stimulates the brain centers (proprioceptors) that keep us in proper alignment. The breathing and body awareness that we develop and use in yoga class can remain with us outside of class. We find that we stand and sit and breathe taller and straighter in all of our activities.
2. The gift of a healthy back:
According to Vijay Vad, M.D., 4 out of 5 people in North America will suffer an episode of serious low back pain in their lives. In his book, Back Rx, (Gotham Books, 2004), he tells that of those, 80% will have a recurrence within one year. Yoga emphasizes proper alignment of the spine. The postures encourage back suppleness and flexibility, including extension, flexion and rotation. These movements improve the health of discs by massaging them and bringing nourishing oxygen. Yoga also encourages hip flexibility. In his research, Vad found that limited hip flexibility is a commonality among elite tennis players and golfers who suffer low back pain.
3. The gift of youthful confidence:
As we age we tend to lose muscle tone, coordination, balance and flexibility. But these diminishing faculties can be recovered and strengthened by yoga. Many exercise regimes focus solely on cardiovascular fitness and muscular development, neglecting the other areas of health that keep one youthful and confident into old age.
4.The gift of relaxation:
I think I only learned to relax during yoga class. Before that I would sleep, of course, but still not relax. Yoga can teach you how to relax at will and not just fall into bed tense and exhausted from stress and overwork. Leaving a yoga class feeling relaxed and warm and happy must be experienced to be understood.
5. The gift of the present moment:
Yoga is a form of moving meditation. When we do the poses we maintain continual awareness of our breathing and our body. We let outside worries and distractions go. By focussing on the breath during meditation and relaxation, we can learn the art of mindfulness. Staying present is a gift because it allows us to enjoy the reality that is occurring all around us and stop living in our heads.
6. The gift of energy:
Yoga wakes you up and releases tension through movement and stretching. Breathing with an open chest makes you more alert. Deepak Chopra has pointed out that energy is everywhere in nature. (Have you ever seen a tired squirrel?) When we are in harmony with nature, we have energy.
Much has been written about how the stress response affects our bodies over the long term. Yoga counteracts the "fight/flight" chemicals that raise blood pressure, slow digestion, and weaken the immune system. Exercise, Breathing, relaxation and restorative postures combine to bring the body into balance.
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