yoga workshop Fridays

Yoga Workshop Fridays: Dancer Pose

September 30, 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.

It’s the last Friday of the month, which means it is time for our peak pose. This month’s peak pose is dancer pose or Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance pose). A few things you need to do to warm up for dancer are to open the hips (which we did with downdog split), practice a balance pose such as warrior 3 from last week and do a few backbends, a simple one would be standing crescent side to side and then back. I always recommend a few sun salutations to warm up the body as well.

How to do the pose:

Begin standing at the top of your mat, feet hip distance apart. Extend your left arm forward, palm down, as if you were about to press on a countertop. Putting the weight into your left leg, lift your right foot off the mat, bending at the knee. Using your right hand, grab the right foot from the inside of the ankle. If this is as far as you can go today, that is ok.

If you would like to continue, begin to lean forward a bit, staying strong in that standing leg and the extended arm. Kick the right foot against the hand as you lift the foot up higher, keeping the chest lifted. Hug into your midline. The standing leg is rooted with external rotation. Continue to breathe and hold for a few breathes.

To release, slowly begin to bring your chest up and come to standing and release the lifted foot to the mat. Repeat the pose on the second side.

Benefits:

Improves your balance
Opens the chest and shoulders
Strengthens the legs
Tones the abdomen muscles (hug your midline!)

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 3

September 23, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

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

Are you ready for another balancing pose? I will give you a hint that next week’s peak pose is also challenging for your balance, so that is why we are preparing today with warrior 3. Warrior 3 or Virabhadrasana III as it is known in sandskrit, is another challenging pose for me. I have tight hamstrings so it can be hard for me to get that back leg parallel with the ground. I really do love the challenge of standing balance poses though. I recommend warming up with a few sun salutations and a round of warrior 2.

How to do the pose:

Begin standing, feet hip distance apart. Bring your hands to heart center to start. Put your weight into your left foot and slowly raise the right leg up and back. Keep the hips level and square with the front of your mat. Flex the back toes towards the ground. Both legs are straight. If you feel steady, you can begin to extend your arms out in front of you, thumbs pointing up. Hold here for a few breaths. Then switch to the other side.

You will notice in my photos of warrior 3 I can work on straightening my legs further. Remember you do not have to be perfect at a pose, but do keep those hips level. This may mean your lifted leg lowers a bit and that is OK. With practice, you will be able to work on lifting it higher.

Tips:

If you are struggling with your balance, you can go by a wall. Place your hands flat against the wall and walk them down the wall, while walking your feet back until you form an ‘L’ with your body. Then putting the weight into one foot, lift and extend the other leg behind you, flexing the toes of the lifted foot and checking that your hips are level (the hip of the lifted leg tends to rise). Working with the wall will help you check your form and maybe even work deeper into the pose.

Benefits:

Improves your balance and posture
Strengthens your back and shoulders
Strengthens ankles
Strengthens the core muscles

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 1

September 16, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

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

Today’s pose is Warrior 1 or Virabhadrasana I in sandskrit. This pose is one that I struggled with for a long time. It is still difficult for me if I am not warmed up. I like to warm up with a few basic sun salutations and a warrior 2 sequence before doing warrior 1. Find a warm up that works for you and then work on warrior 1.

Warrior 1 is a great pose to work on to help with opening the hips, shoulders and chest area as well as strengthening through the legs.

How to do the pose:

To get into warrior 1, you can either start from standing by stepping one foot back about 3 feet, or start from a lunge with your hands framing the front foot. From either starting position, inch the back foot towards the edge of your mat so that your feet are NOT in line. The idea is that you are on train tracks with your feet instead of them being on a tightrope. Then lower the back heel down at about a 45 degree angle. On an inhale, slowly rise up, lifting the arms overhead. Allow your shoulders to relax down your back, rotate the palms so that they are facing each other. Rotate the back thigh inward as you square the hips to the front of your mat. Rotate the front thigh externally towards the front pinky toe, keeping the front knee over the ankle. Begin to gaze upward towards your palms as your neck allows.

Take a few breaths here and then on an exhale release the arms down to the ground, coming back to your lunge position or simply stepping the back foot forward to come to a forward fold before continuing to the second side.

Benefits:

Opens hips
Improves balance
Strengthens legs through the thighs, calves and ankles
Opens your shoulders and chest

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: Downdog Split

September 9, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey there! Today is Friday and that means Yoga Workshop Fridays!! Don’t know what I am talking about, check out this post.

Today’s pose is downdog split or 3 legged dog or in Sanskrit, Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana. Eka Pada means “one foot” so it translates to one foot downward facing dog. But enough of a language lesson and time to move onto this pose. This pose is a great transition point in a vinyasa flow. In a simple sun salutation, you would go from downdog to lunge, but I like to throw in a downdog split in the middle. Not only do you get the benefit of stretching through the backs of your legs, but it also allows you to shift more smoothly into a lunge when you step through. Basically you have to use your core a bit and lift your belly up and in, to make room for your foot to step forward. This can be hard for a beginner, but I promise, you will get better with practice.

Now I will describe downdog split below and also go into a hip opener, which is optional, and a bonus of downdog crunches, because you know you still want to work those abs even though summer is over, right?! OK maybe that is just me, but really it’s a fun variation on crunches. So let’s get to it.

How to do the pose:

For downdog split, simply begin in downward facing dog. On an inhale, lift your right leg up and back, keeping your hips LEVEL. If you start lifting your right leg and noticing that your right hip is lifting too, it’s time to lower the leg a bit until those hips are in line. Remember this is your practice and you are aligning the pose to YOUR body. Flex the toes down towards the ground. Make sure those fingers are spread wide and you are evenly pressing into both hands just like regular downdog.

After holding here for a couple breaths, you have the option to open the hip. This means bending the knee of the right (lifted) leg and moving the foot towards the left (opposite) butt cheek. Try to keep your shoulders square and continue to press evenly through both hands. As you breathe here, lift the belly button up and in, really engaging the core. After a few breaths, re-square the hips bringing the lifted leg back to center and straight. Exhale as you lower the leg down to the mat and now you are ready for the second side.

Make sure if you open the hip on one side, that you do the same on the other side.

Bonus: Downdog Crunches

A little bonus for some extra core work, downdog crunches!! From downdog split with square hips, inhale, then as you exhale bend the knee of the lifted leg and roll forward, as if you were coming to plank pose, and bring your knee to the opposite elbow. Inhale, as you push back and extend the leg back to downdog split, exhale roll halfway forward bringing knee to nose. Inhale extend the leg back and exhale bring the knee forward to the same elbow (ie right knee to right elbow), inhale press back to downdog split, extend the leg straight.

Now you can practice this with those 3 touches as one rep or you can just do knee to nose crunches.

I show the first two crunch variations below with knee to opposite elbow and knee to nose. After a few reps, not only will your core be feeling it, but your arms get a great workout holding you up. Again whatever you do on one side, repeat with the second leg and most importantly HAVE FUN.

Benefits:

Stretches the hamstrings and hip flexors
Works on your balance
Strengthens the arms
Strengthens the core with crunches!!
Mid inversion that helps to quiet the mind

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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