Sometimes I create a class and figure out later why it works. That's what happened this week.
When I'm planning classes for the week and feeling uninspired, I just show up on the mat. I realized this week that sometimes inspiration is the tiniest kernel. I was looking for something that built on the last month's classes, that connected students directly to their own experience... and I was over thinking it. I finally just got on the mat figuring at least I needed to cheer myself up. I was craving twists. This class is mostly what my body did. I rearranged a few things on the basis of realizations I had while practicing. This is my favorite way to plan classes: not plan. One of the deep themes I've been studying - in bodies, in my experience, in books, blogs, watching people in class and at the gym - is "head forward posture." E-pi-dem-ic. Epidemic in our culture. And connected to so much suffering - from neck and back pain to headaches, belly disruption, even depression. The posture is so natural given our computer and screen focused activities, but the knock on effects in the body, when they go unopposed, are devastating. The posterior chain or the superficial back line is key to our ability to moving from the core and postural balance. Without strength and connection to these structures, our body has to hold up from the front rather than support from behind and inside. Learning to revolve from the deep belly up while creating a stable foundation from the pelvis down is a great way to build connection and sensation into the deep core and back body. Try it, see what you feel. Share it in the comments below!
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Restorative Yoga classes are a special treat that I recommend everyone indulge at least once a week - whether you provide this experience for yourself at home or you allow me to guide you. Restorative practice includes a gentle "warm up" - Moon Salutations, here - and then long rests (not holds) in completely supported asana, sometimes with guided meditation. In the diagram above, the rectangular paddle looking things are blankets placed strategically to support the body for maximum release of muscular effort - you shouldn't even feel as if you have to hold your arms up. Covering the eyes is an added way to trigger the relaxation response and deeper sense withdrawal, or pratyahara. While there isn't a wide variation in poses used for Restorative practice, you'll find you don't miss the variety once you sink into the experience. Your body will bring the novelty - where you feel tightness and release, how the body melts from week to week - and guided meditations will guide your monkey mind into releasing it's grippy little paws for the hour. Leave a comment below about your Restorative Yoga practice this week and be entered into a drawing to receive a guided recording of this class. Yin class this week starts with the feet: Ankle Stretch and Toe Squat. Yin yoga targets the fascia and connective tissue, so is done "cold" without a warm up and without ujjayi breath. We stay with postures for 2-5 minutes, making the sensation the object of meditation, much like you might make the breath the focal point of seated meditation.
Starting with the feet can be intense because they receive so little attention in everyday life - negative attention, even, in heels and constricting shoes! But this is also where many fascial lines are anchored and similarly many of the meridians these poses also impact. Beginning with the feet is both very focusing and a way to knock on the body's doors and request admittance to release more deeply. By applying intelligent pressure and stress to the fascia in the feet, we're opening up the entire system by which we interact with the ground, balance and move through the world. this will create effects, particularly over weeks of practice, in the joints and balance in the rest of the body. No pose impacts a single meridian or fascial line, and even one meridian or line has knock on effects on the others. These poses will create systemic changes, though the focus of many poses in this class are the Stomach and Urinary Bladder meridians. The Stomach meridian has to do, not surprisingly, with nourishment and balancing the differing substances we take into our bodies and lives. the Urinary Bladder meridian impacts balance of the fight-or-flight and rest-and-relax systems known as the autonomic nervous system, making it's balance crucial in healthy handling of everyday as well as extraordinary stress. Add a Yin Yoga practice to your week and see the transformative effects in your active asana practice as well as your ability to settle in seated meditation as well as move through your world with ease and grace. Leave a comment below about your Yin practice this week and be entered into a drawing for a recording of this practice! Sensing and mindfully releasing and activating the bandhas is key to balance on and off the mat: the bandhas define your center and create your stable core. Once you're established in your center, you can choose to move out, around or even upend yourself and you'll feel solid and oriented, because you can feel and return to center from any position.
The bandhas coincide with the three structural diaphragms of the body: the pelvic, respiratory and vocal diaphragms, or the pelvic floor, breathing diaphragm and vocal "cords." Learning how to activate and relax these areas is key for modulating - not controlling - the breath. Allowing the movements to synchronize is helpful for freeing holding patterns, the breath and allowing yourself to move as a unified whole. Often in yoga classes we focus on how to engage these areas - pelvic floor, respiratory diaphragm and vocal cords in mula bandha, udiyana bandha and jalandara bandha respectively, as well as ujayyi breathing - without focusing on how to also mindfully release. The point of the bandhas is not to always engage but to mindfully engage, making intelligent choices about how we're most supported in various activities. Activation of the bandhas supports the spine through complex movements and meters the breath. Release allows stress relief and activation of the relaxation response. Learn how to choose your state of mind through physical engagement: do yoga! Leave a comment about how the bandhas help you do what you do and be entered into a drawing to receive a recording of this week's class! The difference between restorative & any other style of yoga is both intensity of effort and duration in poses. Rather than working with muscular opposition, hugging in, radiating out, spirals, loops, etc you create a space for your body to melt into the pose. The time spent in both preparation and melting can more greatly emphasize the already meditative possibilities in asana practice. It’s useful to warm the body up to the practice with chandra namaskar – moon salutations. At least one practice a week should be restorative. The effects of restorative practice are hormonally supportive, metabolically positive, meditative, stress relieving, rejuvenating and can supercharge your regular practice.
"Heart Opening" poses, a.k.a. backbends, are accomplished with spinal and shoulder mobility, a large infusion of core strength and core sensation. Core - deep core - are muscles interior to the "abs" forming the very basis of our ability to walk, sit and breathe: respiratory diaphragm, psoas and pelvic floor. Learning to sense your ability to move and engage these muscles transforms backbends by moving the arch up into the less mobile rib cage and away from the more mobile and in need of stability lower back.
In this class, explore openness in your shoulders and upper back along with stability in your pelvis and legs while enjoying how they interact to allow you to move with grace, freedom and generosity. The * poses are advanced to intermediate and not at all necessary to feel the benefits of the class. Find the backbend in triangle as well as camel. Feel the awesome strength of Anjeyanasana, and ground it in the stability of Warrior I. Finish with a lovely Supta Baddha Konasana and melt in Savasanahhhhh! Where do stability and openness meet in your life? Tell me in a comment below! You'll find class plans and themes here every week. I share these for many reasons and there are several ways you can best use them.
This Mother's Day Weekend we're rocking a strong side-facing flow Moon Salutation to honor the mother within us all - male or female, old or young.
Mothering starts at home, both literally and figuratively. Our social images of mothers and mothering are often about taking care of others, nurturing and making the world a better, kinder, happier place for those we love. Mothering also requires power, fierceness and focus. For Mother's Day, honor your Mother - and the mother within. What does mothering mean to you? What do you need to receive to be your truest self? How can you make that happen? Maybe this class can be a part of giving yourself what you need. Expect to feel stretched, strengthened, balanced and nurtured. Let us know how you feel! This week we built on the core connection we've been building through April and start to express it 360 degrees. We added "Wiggling Mermaid" to access the multifidus, one of the lesser known and discriminated back muscles. With the knee of the active side (you choose which one to start with) lifted in dolphin plank (you can do it with the other knee on the ground or lifted), draw the top, back of your pelvis toward your back and side ribs of the same side - ever so slightly. As always, follow your inner guidance - you are the expert on your experience - and be respectful of your limits. Brahmari, or Bumble Bee Breath, focuses and calms while giving direct feedback on core engagement in exhalation. Here in Burque, Spring means wind: wind like god is mad, wind like someone poked a hole in the sky, wind like can only come off the llano and be focused by the Sandia Mountain Range. Brahmari is my personal antidote to wind-brain, which is full of agitation, void of focus and slightly on edge. This is the second of the late uploads - it's a little rough, but the schematic is there. We're continuing with building core sensation as well as supple strength that can both contain and express. We explored Kapalabhati, also known as "Skull Shining Breath" in Mountain, Malasana Prep, also called "Low Squat" and Utkatasana, sometimes called "Fierce" or "Chair" pose. Utkatasana is a great container for breath exploration because so much of the apparatus of breathing is engaged and therefore not available for free motion. You'll see a note about "Foot Series." We happened to have a lot of folks with foot tightness or other unhappiness. This is a series of stretches done from Virasana, or Thunderbolt Pose - sitting on your heels.
As always, you are the expert on your body and experience. Be mindful and care for your sensations and experiences. Don't push, particularly into sharp or electric sensations. These are to be avoided and if encountered, stop the activity and with breath, core power and possibly the help of a teacher or bystander move out of the position triggering the sensation. Do not use the joint affected to move the body. Care for yourself and your experience - it's your canvas, your paint and your storehouse of inspiration and knowledge. |
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