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Yoga Workshop Fridays: Chair Pose

December 2, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Welcome to yoga workshop Fridays! Don’t know what I am talking about, check out this post.

This series will be each Friday explaining how to do a particular pose leading up to a peak pose on the last Friday of the month. Throughout this series, I ask that you listen to your body to prevent injury and warm up for a pose when needed.

Disclaimer: Though I am a certified yoga instructor, please consult your doctor before you begin practice and note that everyone’s practice may look a bit different as you align the pose to your body.

Is it really the first Friday of December?! I have been doing this series for 5 months now and absolutely love it. I hope you are enjoying it. As always, if you have any suggestions or specific requests on what you would like me to add, please comment or email me.

I have a good pose for today. Maybe one I should have brought out weeks ago as it is the beginning of sun salutation B after all. Today we are doing chair pose or utkatasana in sandskrit.

This is such a fun pose. Don’t you think fun when you think of core exercises?! Actually my favorite core exercise involving this pose is going from chair pose to boat pose. I learned that from Yoga Girl earlier this year and it always gets people laughing in class…like you want me to do what? Laughing plus core exercise makes it even harder! But anyway that is fun to try if you are more advanced.

Before we get advanced though, let me break down the basics of the pose.

How to do the pose:

Begin in Tadasana, inhale your arms overhead with palms facing towards each other. Relax your shoulders down and away from your ears. Exhale as you bend the knees and sit back like a squat. Put the weight towards your heels (though you can play with coming onto your toes in this pose if you feel comfortable). Keep your knees behind your toes and squeeze the thighs together. A good way to get the feeling of squeezing the thighs together is to place a block between your thighs.

As you breathe here, you can try to sit more deeply as you exhale. Lift through your low abdomen, pulling the belly button up and in. After a few breaths, exhale to a forward fold or inhale as you straighten the legs to standing.

You can add a twist to chair pose or add it as the start of a flow (sun salutation B). Maybe even just challenge yourself to hold this pose for a longer time. I know I always feel those core muscles working.

Benefits:

Tones the leg muscles
Strengthens the core and lower back
Increases stamina
Stretches chest and shoulders

Share your pose on Instagram, tagging @bridgesthroughlife and hashtags #bridgesthroughlife #yogaworkshopFridays

I hope you enjoy this series. If you have any suggestions for what poses you would like me to break down, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email [email protected]

Yoga Workshop Fridays: Half Moon

November 25, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey there! Happy Friday!! Wow where did this month go?

Welcome to yoga workshop Fridays! Don’t know what I am talking about, check out this post.

I am happy to introduce our peak pose for the month, half moon, ardha chandrasana (meaning half moon) in sandskrit. I love love love this pose for the challenge it offers me in balancing and yet how strong it also makes me feel when I can really hold it. I used to not understand half moon. It frustrated me. Then a teacher cued to stack the hips and adjusted me with hands on assistance and I was like woah, it clicked. This is what my half moon pose should feel like. I wish I could give you each adjustments in half moon so you can get that sense, but since I can’t, I just was to re iterate to not give up if you don’t get it the first time. Also don’t jump right into it. It really is best to open up the hips with butterfly pose and a quick warrior flow and triangle from last week.

I will also mention some ways to start working on the pose if your balance is not quite there yet. See below for prop options.

How to do the Pose:

As with any pose, there are a few different ways to transition. I like to come into half moon from either warrior 2 or triangle as your hips are already facing the correct direction and you mostly just have to float your back foot off the ground. Now that I made it sound so easy, let me break it down a bit further.

Starting in warrior 2 with your right foot in front, heel toe your back foot in a little closer as you begin to put most of your weight into your front foot. Slowly come onto the toes of the back foot and then put all your weight into your front foot as you lift the back foot off the floor.

Begin to tilt forward over the front foot, lifting that back foot higher and higher. Begin to bring your right hand (likely you will be on your fingertips and not your palm) to the floor, just outside of the right foot as you straighten the standing leg. Flex the toes of the lifted foot and stack the hips on top of each other. Reach through the top arm towards the ceiling aiming to form a straight line up and down with the arms. This can be hard to find by yourself and it helps to have a friend nearby that may be able to assist with guiding your top arm to be over the bottom arm. Hold here for a few breaths.

To release, gently bend the knee of the standing leg and lower the lifted leg down to the mat, bringing the arms out to a T and finding warrior 2 again.

With Props:

Block:

If you are a beginning or have trouble with balancing or reaching the floor with that right hand, I suggest using a block. Place the block next to your front foot before going into the pose. Follow the same steps as above except when you bring that right hand down, reach for the block. Grab hold of the block as you straighten your standing leg, flex the toes of the lifted foot and really extend that leg back. Open up your chest drawing that top arm back and stacking the hips.

Wall:

Another great prop for this pose is to do it against the wall. Place your front foot so that it is a few inches from the wall and start in warrior 2. Follow the steps above and when you bring your right hand down towards the floor or block, stack the hips by letting them touch the wall. Reach through your top arm along the wall and let the wall hold you while you get a sense of what it feels like to be in the pose.

Benefits:

Tones the leg muscles and spine
Strengthens the abdomen
Stretches the hamstrings and calves
Improves balance

Share your pose on Instagram, tagging @bridgesthroughlife and hashtags #bridgesthroughlife #yogaworkshopFridays

I hope you enjoy this series. If you have any suggestions for what poses you would like me to break down, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email [email protected]

Yoga Workshop Fridays: Triangle

November 18, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Welcome to yoga workshop Fridays! Don’t know what I am talking about, check out this post.

Today we are working on triangle pose, also known as Utthita trikonasana (extended triangle) in sandskrit.

I have to admit, triangle and I have a love/hate relationship. My hamstrings tend to be tight which is why triangle is a great pose for me, but also quite difficult. As I continue to practice the pose though, I notice the pose feeling more comfortable. It is still challenging, but I have greatly improved from where I was a couple years ago. Progress may be slow, but slow and steady wins the race.

Triangle is a great pose for strengthen the core and back muscles. We could all use a little help with the core and back with all the sitting in front of computers these days, right?! Not only is triangle good for strengthening several muscles, but it also improves balance. Have you ever done SUP (stand up paddleboard) Yoga? If you haven’t, I can tell you I still can’t do triangle while balancing on a paddleboard. You really test your balance there. Anyway let’s break down how to do the pose, shall we?

How to do the pose:

Beginning in warrior 2, which we went over last week, inhale to straighten the front leg, making sure to keep a baby bend in the front knee, not locking out the knee. Send your hips back as you reach forward as far as you can, then slowly bring your front arm down, placing the hand to the floor if you can reach or just on the ankle (see below for prop options if you have difficulty reaching your ankle or the floor). Reach the back arm up towards the ceiling and open your chest to the side. Keep your gaze forward if you have any neck injuries, otherwise, bring your gaze towards your top hand. Take a couple breaths here.

To come out of triangle pose, keep your core tight and lift the arms back to a T, then bend into the front knee coming into warrior 2 and exhale to bring the hands down to the mat. Flow through a vinyasa and continue to the other side.

Using props:

As I mentioned in the beginning, triangle and I have a love/hate relationship. It is important to listen to your body and only stretch as far as you feel comfortable, in order to avoid injury. This is where props come in handy. If you are having trouble reaching the ground or your ankle, place a block next to your front foot. Blocks have 3 heights, so you can start at the tallest if you need to and then work your way to the lowest.

In my photo, I am demonstrating the middle height. While I am able to do triangle without a block, you may have noticed my hand kind of floats by my ankle as I cannot reach the ground, so a block is a HUGE help if I have one. It helps me lift my chest and correct my form.

Benefits:

Strengthens the muscles in thighs, hips and back
Stretches the hamstrings, groins and hips
Improves stability and balance
Lengthens the spine

Share your pose on Instagram, tagging @bridgesthroughlife and hashtags #bridgesthroughlife #yogaworkshopFridays

I hope you enjoy this series. If you have any suggestions for what poses you would like me to break down, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email [email protected]

Yoga Workshop Fridays: Warrior 2

November 11, 2016 by Alicia 2 Comments

Welcome to yoga workshop Fridays! Don’t know what I am talking about, check out this post.

I started this series back in July and somehow we haven’t covered warrior 2 yet. Don’t worry guys, today is the day!

This was one of the first yoga poses I ever knew. Warrior 2 is called virabhadra II in sandskrit. The sandskrit name is the name of a fierce warrior. I want you to feel strong, fierce and beautiful in this pose. So let’s break it down.

How to do the pose:

Begin in high lunge with the arms overhead, exhale as you lower the back heel down and open the arms out to a T. Check the alignment of your back foot, either the heel or arch should be in line with your front heel.

Gaze over the front fingertips, keeping the front knee over the ankle. Roll the back thigh in. Think Tadasana while you are in the pose, torso up tall, arms even (as possible, we aren’t perfect). Remember to breathe here and think of your arms being so strong that someone is pressing down on them and you are still holding them up.

When you are ready, exhale to windmill the hands down to the mat, lifting up the back heel coming to a low lunge. Step back to plank and flow through vinyasa if you would like, then continue to the other side.

Benefits:

Strengthens the legs and ankles
Opens the hips
Improves balance
Stretches the chest, groins and shoulders

Share your pose on Instagram, tagging @bridgesthroughlife and hashtags #bridgesthroughlife #yogaworkshopFridays

I hope you enjoy this series. If you have any suggestions for what poses you would like me to break down, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email [email protected]

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