Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: stretch your shoulders with an imaginary sticky mat
One of the conundrums we face as beginning yoga students is that we can’t know what the pose is supposed to feel like until we’re doing it. But if you start with the standard issue collapsed chest and tight shoulders of a 21st century desk worker, how can you even begin to know how large […]
Sadhana Days 7 to 10
Sunday, Day 7, was our day of rest. I slept in until 7 a.m. It was glorious. Since then, we’ve been working through the practice for a second time. The basic pattern for Monday and Tuesday has been the same. On Monday, we experimented with removing the Warrior poses and Parsvottanasana from the standing pose […]
Sadhana: the practice for day four
Today was the third day of summer Sadhana, and the first time we’ve come back to repeat a practice, albeit with some changes. In fact, it was amazing to see what a difference it makes to add a few standing poses and Supta Padangusthasana 1 and 2 to the practice. By the time we started […]
Sadhana: the practice for day three
Tuesday, day two, was shoulder stand variations and forward bends. It was interesting to see which standing poses were echoed in the variations. For some reason I had never seen quite so clearly before how Eka Pada Sarvangasana (shoulder stand with one leg descending) relates to Parsvottanasana (intense side stretch pose) – with a concave […]
Sadhana starts tomorrow: here’s the first day’s practice
I’ll be laying out my clothes tonight, hanging them on the hook in the bathroom in reverse order of putting them on. I’ll set my alarm clock, and then, if tradition holds, wake myself up three or four times during the night. It’s Sadhana preparation. Wouldn’t have it any other way. This year’s practice is […]
Tricky Triangle Pose: protect your SI joints
Did you know that of the three simplest shapes, circle, square and triangle, only the triangle completely reverses its symbolic meaning when it’s turned upside-down? Rotate a circle 90 degrees and it still means wholeness, unity, inclusion, and infinity. A square turned on its head looks exactly the same and still means grounding, stability, balance […]