Pinca Mayurasana – a preparatory shoulder stretch

I have many favorite warm ups for this Forearm Balance Posture. One of them is this stretch over a chair. You have to have a chair with the back removed, otherwise it won’t work. Make sure the chair is on a mat so it won’t slide out from under you. Place a blanket over the chair seat to pad the back of your shoulder blades. Sit in front of the chair, facing away from it. Lean back (if this is too much of a trust exercise for you, you can sit on two blocks or a bolster to make it easier to lean back) and place your head and shoulder blades on the chair. Once you are secure on the chair, lift your hips up in the air so your torso is parallel to the floor. Use one of your hands to feel that the top of your head is lined up with the back edge of the chair seat. This is important; otherwise it won’t be a stretch in the right place! Once you are lined up, thread your arms through the chair back, reach down and grab the back rung of the chair. Take your hands wide on the back rung. The sides of the chair will not let your elbows splay out. Start with your body parallel to the floor. With your breath, gradually allow your seat to begin to drop towards the floor. You should not be able to touch the floor. If your block or bolster is in the way, you might want to remove it. It is nice to have it there when you want to come down, however. Hold the stretch for five breaths and then release down and rest. You can try it again, if you want. I like to do it three times. Each time I try to move my body so that my back is getting leveraged in a slightly different spot over the front edge of the chair seat. That does mean that one time my head is slightly past the back edge of the chair and the third time, my head is in a little form the edge of the chair seat. Be careful, this can be a big stretch. You don’t want it to move towards a painful stretch.

If you are not sure about it, please ask. Ok? I’ll see you in class! Karin

Triangmukaikapada Pascimottanasana

If you look at one side of this pose, it looks like Child’s Pose.

If you look at it from the other side, it looks like Seated Forward Bend. That tells you something about perspective, doesn’t it?

While both postures are basically forward-folding, introspective postures, Seated Forward Fold exerts a stronger pull on your hamstrings, and Child’s Pose requires a deep bending at the knee and pointing of the feet. If your body is tight or resistant in those areas, this pose can be quite daunting. Asymmetrical postures are always more challenging in that way. If you find that to be true for our pose of the month, try practicing Child’s Pose and then Seated Forward Bend separately.

I am a big fan of the divide-and-conquer school of practicing yoga poses. If both parts of the posture are hard for you, start with the easier one. Keep trying the harder part, but you don’t need to do both of them together until at least one of them feels more comfortable.Save

A Sequence for Parivrtta Trikonasana

Let’s look at some postures to prepare you for Revolved Triangle.

I like to start in an easy Lunge Twist to warm up the spine for rotating.

Next, I would progress to Side Angle Pose.  This is a good pose to get some length in the side waist.

Triangle stretches the hamstrings in the front leg and warms them up for a deeper stretch in our pose of the month.

Next I would begin working the hips square.  Try a Wide Legged Forward Fold and after holding this pose for a few breaths, lift the torso so the spine is parallel to the floor.  Keep one hand on the floor under the chest and lift the other arm up and out to the side twisting to look up at the top hand. Keep the hips level as you twist and keep the spine in a long straight line form tailbone to top of head.

Next, I would do Crescent Lunge, followed by Pyramid Pose.

From Pyramid Pose you can open up into Easy Revolved Triangle, the bottom hand on the inside of the front leg, or full Revolved Triangle,  bottom hand crosses over the forward leg and gates the outside of the shin. Remember to keep your spine long and your breath full.  Be mindful to use the arms for stability and not leverage.

Let me know how this sequence works for you.  I’ll see you in class!   Karin

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana 2

Back bends are done from leg strength. You’ve heard me say this in class repeatedly. What does this mean?

It basically means that the back bend starts in the legs, not in the back. If the legs are not working when you look at someone doing Up Dog or even Cobra, the feet will be wider than the hips and the big toes will be on the floor, but the pinky toes will be turning up away from the floor with the legs externally rotating. If you follow the lines of energy up the feet through the legs, they will converge right in the lumbar spine. Ouch! This can create pinching in the low back. In order for the legs to work properly, they must remain parallel; this means the heels are sitting bone distance apart and the legs remain parallel all the way up into the hip. The tops of the feet press into the floor with all 10 toes pressing equally down into the floor. If you were to trace a line from the center of each heel, it should run up the middle of the leg, through the sitting bones up the back on either side of the spine, and end in the tops of the shoulders. These lines would be parallel all the way through the body and not converge anywhere. In Upward facing Dog, the legs are straight, no bend at the knee and the inner thighs lift upward toward the ceiling. The kneecaps are lifted and the front of the thigh is engaged. This is where your core starts, in the feet and legs.Save