Folding Forward

Remember you can’t reach what’s in front of you until you let go of what is behind you.                                                                                       ~livelifehappy.com

Folding forward, one becomes immediately aware of his or her limitations. Whether it is your hamstrings, the pain in your back or simply your belly that gets in your way – something will keep you from going too deep too fast.   Even in a beginner yoga class there are so many opportunities to fold forward from Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) to Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana) to Child’s Pose (Balasana) and, with them, so many opportunities to turn your gaze inward and let go slowly.

Legs-up-the-Wall / Viparita Karani

photo credit:  Carmen’s Canvas

It is not the load that breaks you down.  It is the way you carry it.    ~Lou Holtz

Legs-up-the-wall is my very favorite pose – so easy and so profound.   The beauty of this pose starts with the sanskrit name translated into “making action by turning things around”.    The list of ailments of the mind and body that are eased by this pose are endless and yet there is no effort, no prerequisite pose and very few contraindications – you simply find a way to turn yourself upside-down and find the flow.   It is a paradigm-shift.

Good Intentions

Setting an Intention is like drawing an arrow from the quiver of your heart.   ~ Bruce Black

If you have ever been to my class, you know that I begin each class by asking you to ponder “Why did I come here today?” or  “What was I hoping to receive?”  Easy enough, you answer. “I came to stretch” or “I came to get rid of my neck (or back or hip) pain”, etc. But then it gets hard because I ask you to place a word or thought phrase on that desire. Now I may have lost you.

Downward-Facing Dog: Adho Mukha Svanasana

Sometimes you have to let life turn you upside-down, to learn how to live, right-side up.

For anyone who has ever heard “…allow yourself to rest in down-dog” this pose can quickly become the pose you love to hate.  As you turn yourself upside-side down, gravity starts to pull on you and not in the ways you are used to.  Where do you start to find yourself grounded especially if your heels do not touch the floor?

Tadasana – Mountain Pose

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.  Nelson Mandela

Here is where you may be thinking…”This is one pose I know – I can do this one!  All I need to do is stand at the front of my mat, right?”

Well, yes…and no.  Tadasana or Mountain pose comes from the ever-repeated “call to action” pose in Ashtanga yoga – Samastitihi (SA-MAS-TI-TI-HI) translated as “equal standing”.  There is a reason I am only showing my feet in the image above (and it is not because my husband thinks they are so pretty or because I love the purple polish on my toes).  

Sukasana – “Easy Pose”

“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself”      Hermann Hesse

This week’s pose is Sukasana or “Easy Pose”.  Don’t the name fool you, there are some tricks to getting this one right.  This pose is the beginning and the end of your practice.  Many students struggle to present themselves in this pose as the eager student sitting upright with their spine straight and their shoulders back.  The problem with sitting in this manner is