Independently Me

laughter is contagious

Have you heard of Laughter Yoga?  A friend told me about it a couple years ago and I've been intrigued ever since.  I love to laugh (who doesn't really) and I'm plagued with an infectious snort.  What can I say?  It's an endearing trait.

Right?

Anyway, I noticed on my school page that the college was offering an hour long introduction to Laughter Yoga.  I'm trying new things so... I went.  

Turns out, it's actually a studied, developed, and practiced... thing.  And it's more complicated than people standing in a circle laughing at each other.  Who knew?  We all know laughter is good for the mind, body, and soul.  Apparently, the body cannot tell the difference between real laughter and fake laughter.  Huh.

The majority of the time is spent fake laughing.  Which, in all honesty, feels really weird.  But once I was able to concentrate on the sound I was supposed to make, as opposed to if I really thought whatever was going on was funny, it became much easier.  

And really, the fake laughter often times became real laughter.  Whether I was laughing at the absurdity of it all, or the person next to me snorted, or the girl across the way was having trouble breathing, I was laughing for realsies.  We spent the hour laughing at gibberish conversations, doing the pinky dance, and imitating sounds in laughter.

And it was so much fun.  I left the class feeling more energized and happy and with more bounce in my already cheery step.  

So I suggest it.  If you see a class in your area give it a try.  You might be surprised.

 

Updated: Yoga Page

I've updated the yoga page to include all the poses I've covered so far.  Complete with picture to help you find the one you are looking for. 

The link is in the toolbar at the top.  Or click here.

Namaste!

 

Wednesday Yoga

Hi yogis!  Sorry I'm late.  It's a big double whammy posting today to keep us on schedule with our reguarly scheduled programing.

It's been a few weeks.  Are you all practiced and limber?

Because I'm not.  Nope.  I've totally fallen out of practice and failed you as a fellow yogi.  But, there is no time like the present to start again. 

Which, speaking of starting again, I'm contemplating training for a marathon.  Hmmm. Go big or go home I guess.

But I digress.

Today is all about PIGEON!  Which I L-O-V-E by the way.  It's brutal and emotional and wonderfully awesome all at the same time.  Overload here we come!

Pigeon is easily integrated into any sun salutation.  I will show you a variation of pigeon as well for those of you with knee and back issues.  

Before we get started I just have to say one more time, I LOVE PIGEON!!

*clearing of throat*

Now that I'm back under control, here we go...

Start with a sun salute.  Pigeon can be quite intense so it's important to warm up those legs and back.  Do a couple rounds of a sun salute before you introduce it in.  

Start with a downward facing dog.  Bend your right knee and bring it toward your chest.  Rotate your leg so the ankle is pointing to the left.  Put your knee and ankle on the ground, extend your left leg behind you and lower your hips to the ground.  Your left leg will be extended straight behind you, your right leg will be in front of you, knee bent, and ankle going to the left.

It can be stressful on the back to sit up straight.  Go ahead and lean forward.  You can support yourself on your elbows, or if you have a thick book, rolled up blanket, or a yoga brick to lean on, that is helpful and ok too.

This pose will create an intense stretch in your bum.  Yep.  It's awesome.  This pictures shows my left leg bent (I thought I had one with the right leg bent.  sorry.)  But you get the idea.  Most likely, your knee is bent significantly, your ankle may be under your hip.  Which is just fine.  

There are a couple options to increase intensity and get a deeper stretch.  Lean forward and put your forehead on your arms or on the floor.  This will let your chest sink to the floor.  Also, move your ankle from under your hip to be more parallel with your knee.  So bring it up on the mat, closer to your shoulder.  Increase the angle of your bent knee.  Make sense?  

To release from this pose, put your hands on the mat and rotate your hips up and head down.  This will take the pressure off of your leg so you can step back to downward facing dog.  Stretch the for a few breaths, let the blood flow back into your leg.  Then repeat on the other side.

TO FINISH: From pigeon return to downward facing dog.  You can 1. continue through with a set of warriors or 2. step or jump both feet between hands and finish up the sun salute with forward bend, inhale to flat back, exhale forward bend, inhale to mountain, exhale to heart center. 

VARIATION:  Reverse Pigeon.

Pigeon can be stressful for those with bad knees and weak backs.  Instead, do reverse pigeon.  This is done by lying on your back, and bending one knee.  Put the ankle of the other leg on the knee.  Thread your arms around and through the leg and interlock fingers behind the bent knee.  Pull your knee to your chest.  This will create the same stretch in the butt and release pressure in your low back. 

 

 To release, slowly release the hands and let the legs down on an exhale.

TO FINISH: Place both feet on the mat, knees bent, arms at your side.  You can go right into Chivasina from here.

*****

I really enjoy the stretch I get from pigeon.  As you continue your practice and your joints and muscles loosen up the stretch will become more comfortable for you.  

I have heard a few instructors say that if you are not emotional in your practice, keep practicing.  We know that the body stores the suppressed emotion and feelings in the hips, among other places.  When you stretch the hips sometimes those emotions come back up. Pigeon is known for this. (I have actually found myself crying in class. Uncontrollably. Not kidding.)  When this happens, it is important to allow the body to process the information.  If you find yourself crying or weepy like I did, take a deep breath and just relax.  Don't tense up about the experience, but let it happen, relax and breath through it.  If you are at home, count yourself lucky.  If you are in a class, please remember that they are not judging you.  Everyone else is focused on what they are doing and feeling.

Unless you are one of those makes-alot-of-noise cryers.  Then you might want to take it outside.  :)

*****

As always, please feel free to post any questions or comments.

Namaste

 

Yoga Wednesday

Hello yogis!  

Today we are back to one of the basic poses: Chair.  This one can be killer on your quads and hamstrings.  It burns so good.  :)

The key to this one is to throw your hips back.  Really sit into it.  Your legs will support you and pushing out your hips will actually save your back this time around.  I usually do one or two rounds of sun salutations before I throw in the variations, this one goes in first.

Do a couple rounds of the salutation first.  This post has the whole she-bang if you need a reminder.

Stand, hands at heart center

Inhale arms up to mountain pose

exhale dive forward to forward fold

inhale to flat back

exhale to forward fold 

Reach up and sit back to chair pose

add any variations

exhale back to forward fold

finish sun salute

 

Starting at the forward fold, you are going to reach your arms straight up along side your ears.  During the movement, keep the tailbone tucked to protect the back, shoulders relaxed.  As your torso comes up, bend the knees and sit into an invisible chair.  Your torso will be leaning forward, reach the hips back, tailbone up, legs supporting the whole pose.  Breath.  You stay in this pose a minute or more. 

 

Take inventory of your body.  Are your knees leaning in?  Straighten them, knees pointing straight forward.  Are your feet parallel?  Straighten them.  Stick your hips out toward the back of the room.  This will allow you to sit further into the pose.  Core engaged? Tighten those abs. Relax the shoulders.  And your mouth. (because I know that your tongue is sticking out while you concentrate.)

Send your breath to those areas, most likely your legs, that need the support.  If you concentrate on breathing, you won't notice the burn so much.

You can do a couple variations here.  One that is easy to implement is to lift one leg off the ground so you are balancing on the other.  Switch to other foot. 

To finish, exhale and straighten the legs while folding over to touch your toes, back into the forward fold.  Inhale to flat back, exhale back to forward fold. 

You can either inhale to mountain and will have done a varied half salute.  Or you can continue through a full salute.  Up to you.

As always, please comment with questions or concerns.

 

 

Namaste.

 

3-Legged Down Dogs

Are you ready for some core work?  Because this will do it for you.

If you are looking for a more vigorous sun salute, just integrate a few extra movements and poses.  The sun salute is the very basic structure and it is so very super easy to introduce some extra stuff when you are looking for that extra oomph. (I always did like that word.  oomph.)

Ok, you remember the downward facing dog, right?  We will now integrate some leg movements to create some awesome core action.  

 

Make sure you are in a stable and grounded down dog.  On the inhale, lift the left leg off the mat, straight up behind you.  My apartment only has so much room so I'm not stretched as much as I like to be in the picture.  (you should see the bruise I got from swinging my leg up the first time. ow.)  Get that leg up in the air, reach up up up.  Press back, lean back with the hips, keep shoulders relaxed and away from the ears.  

 

Now with the leg still on the ground, bend the right knee.  The hips will sink down but don't sit, keep reaching back with the hips.  Keep that leg up up up in the air reaching back.  This is position 1.

On the exhale straighten the right leg bring the left leg through and touch left knee to right elbow.  When you do this, tighten up that core.  Use the core muscles to get the knee to that elbow.  Go slow, don't just go swinging your leg around.  Control is key.  Besides, if you go swinging your leg around you'll go off balance, fall over, and hurt yourself.  :)

 

 I do 5 reps nice and slow and hold the 5th rep for 5 seconds.  After the 5th rep reach the left leg back up in the air, get a nice stretch up through the hip, then return to down dog will all limbs on the ground.  Breath here for at least 3 breaths.  Stretch the hips back, take full advantage of this resting pose.  Then get that other leg up in the air and repeat the other side.

This set fits nicely into your sun salute anytime you do the downward facing dog.  I typically do a sun salute 3-5 times, integrating different poses into each one as my muscles get warmed up.  I would start this in on the third salute and continue it in the progression until the cool down. 

Now go out and yoga!

Namaste.

 

 

 

 

Chivasina

Hello my yogi friends!  

This week I wanted to talk about chivasina.  I have had a few instructors say that they think this is the hardest pose.  Which if you've looked ahead, your laughing right now.  But I will say that I don't disagree with them.

 

You take chivasina after your practice is done.  This is the last pose.

Lay on your back, take the most comfortable position.  Arms by your side palms up, legs relaxed, allow the feet to roll to the outside.  If this is uncomfortable for your low back, it is ok to put to soles of your feet on the ground and bend your knees.  Or roll a blanket to put under your knees to relieve the pressure.  

The other thing that can help:  while you are sitting in the chair reading this, sit up straight, roll your shoulders back and reach your shoulder blades together.  Do you feel that they are kind of hugging your spine?  If you were laying on your mat, this would put the shoulder blades on the ground, lift your spine off the ground.  This helps to relieve the pressure as well.  

The goal for this pose is to bring you back to calm breaths, relax the mind, let the blood flow to all your limbs.  So while laying on the ground,  in a completely relaxed state, you dwell only on your breathing.  And do NOT move.  Do not wiggle your toes, scratch your nose, or twitch your legs.  Lie perfectly still.  If your mind wanders, push out the thoughts and come back to your breath.  This pose is the epitome of stillness.  Not only for your body, but for your mind.  This is not the time for making mental lists or thinking about the next thing for the day.  You are to be perfectly still in body and mind.

If you are anything like me, it's rather difficult.  

When you are ready, after at least a couple minutes, start to deepen the breath.  Introduce small movements, wiggle the toes and fingers.  Flex your leg muscles.  Roll onto your side in the fetal position.  Open your eyes.  This symbolizes rebirth.  Take a few breaths.  When you are ready move slowly to a seated position, careful not to disturb your relaxed muscles.  Hands on your knees, sitting up tall and straight, deep calm breaths.  Inhale arms all the way up, exhale hands to heart center.

Remind yourself of the intentions that you expressed in the beginning breathing.  Express gratitude to your body, to the universe, to whatever you feel is appropriate.  Take deep cleansing breaths.  

Namaste

 

 

 

Sun Salute: Warrior

Alright my peeps.  On to the warriors!

Starting where we left off last week:

 

Stand, hands at heart center

Inhale arms up to mountain pose

exhale dive forward to forward fold

inhale to flat back

exhale to forward fold  

hands to the mat

step or jump both feet back to plank

exhale chaturanga

inhale upward facing dog

exhale downward facing dog

Start Here:

Look between hands, inhale step right foot between hands

exhale warrior I

breath

exhale warrior II

breath

exhale hands to mat

foot back to downdog

breath

repeat other foot

Finish Here:

 

inhale to flat back

exhale to forward fold

inhale arms all the way up

exhale hands to heart center

 

Here goes...

 

Warrior I:

From downdog, look to the mat between your hands, aim, and step your right foot there.  This puts you in a lunge.  

 

 

Deep breath in, exhale while raising arms above your head, lift torso up.  Remember to keep the tailbone tucked to engage the core and protect the back.  Front leg is bent at the knee, resist the urge to cross the knee in front of your body, it should point straight forward.  The back leg is straight, you will feel a slight stretch in your hip.  Turn the toes to the side so the foot is perpendicular with the front foot. Take 3 deep breaths here.  As you exhale, go deeper into the lunge.  Reach up with your hands, keeping shoulders relaxed.  Hips are level, facing straight forward.

 

 

Warrior II:

From here, on the next exhale lower the arms to shoulder height.  Hips and torso turn to the side, look forward.  Front leg is still bent.  Relax shoulders, lift crown to the ceiling.  This one always feels good to me, it opens the hips a bit.  Resist collapsing the front knee in front of the body.  Take 3 deep breaths here.

 

 

 

Hands to mat, foot back to downdog:

On the next exhale, cartwheel hands to the mat on either side of the front foot, rotating the back foot so that you are on your toes.  This is the lunge position we were in earlier.  Exhale foot back to downdog.  Take 5 breaths here.  

 

 

While breathing, relax the shoulders.  Shake your head yes and no to relax the neck.  Press your heels to the mat to feel the good stretch in your hamstrings.  Take deep breaths.  Take inventory of your body.  How are you feeling?  What muscles are doing all the work?  Can you press your hips back to take any pressure off your back?  Can you stretch your legs a bit more?  

 

Repeat other foot:

If you started with the right foot forward, switch to the left foot forward.  Repeat all the steps.

 

to finish:

From downdog, step for jump both feet (I step) to your hands.  Inhale to flat back, exhale to forward fold.  Inhale up to mountain pose.  Exhale hands to heart center.  Sound familiar?  It's the end of the Half Sun Salute we did before.

 

 

 

OKAY!  That is the full sun salute.  

Questions? Concerns? Comments?

Namaste.

Sun Salute: Dogs!

Morning!  Did you start this beautiful day with breathing?  A bit of meditation?  Massive rehydration after a good night's sleep?  Breakfast?  Me neither.  It's a work in progress.

Today involves my favorite, downward facing dog.  I'll include plank, chaturanga, and upward facing dog.  Ready?  

Building from the the half sun salute:  

 

Stand, hands at heart center

Inhale arms up to mountain pose

exhale dive forward to forward fold

inhale to flat back

exhale to forward fold  

Start here:

hands to the mat

step or jump both feet back to plank

exhale chaturanga

inhale upward facing dog

exhale downward facing dog

Ready?

Plank:

From the forward fold, bend your knees more to reach both hands to the mat.  Step, or jump, (I step) both feet back to plank.  Plank is similar to a push-up position.  The difference being, your back is level, DO NOT drop your hips.  This will stress your lower back.  Tuck the tailbone under to engage the core.  Core, quads, upper back, all is involved in this.  Your hips should be level with your shoulders.  Remember to keep shoulders relaxed!  Adjust in the position until you feel stable, almost comfortable.  Almost.  I push my heels back, reach my head forward, push shoulder blades together.  It does help.  Breathing helps too.

 

Chaturanga:

 This one can be difficult.  Super similar to a push up, the technique is a little different.  From Plank, on the exhale, lower yourself down to almost touching the ground.  When doing push ups, elbows tend to fly out and resemble chicken wings.  In this, elbows stay tucked in close to the ribs.  Keep shoulders rolled back, never crowd your ears.  Don't drop your hips, keep the back level.  This engages your total core, shoulders, back, legs, all of it.  This one is about control so keep it slow.  In the picture, my elbows should be closer to my ribs, they are sticking out too far.  Don't forget to breath! 

 

Modification:  if you are not able to do chaturanga, it is ok to put your knees on the ground to lower yourself.  It is more important to protect your back and practice control than to do the full position. 

 

Upward Facing Dog:

At the end of chaturanga, you are on your belly, hands by your shoulders.  For up dog, straighten your arms and lift your face to the ceiling.  This creates a bend in your back and can stress your low back.  If the full up dog is uncomfortable, modify it to cobra.  This means you only straighten your arms enough to lift your chest off the ground, belly and hips stay on the mat.  Up dog lifts your hips off the ground, cobra leaves them on the ground.  As your back strengthens, you will be able to comfortably do a full up dog. So from the exhale chaturanga, inhale to upward facing dog or cobra.

 

Downward Facing Dog:

From up dog, curl toes under and push back to downward facing dog.  Hips are high in the air.  So important to keep shoulders relaxed in this one. Press shoulder blades together, reach hips high and back.  Let your head hang down, nod yes and no to relax the neck.  This is a resting pose.  Believe it sweetheart.  bend the hips side to side and feel the stretch in your sides.  Bend one knee and press out with the other foot to feel good stretches in your hamstrings.  Alot of core work can happen from here.  If you ever go to a core or power class, you will come to appreciate the downward facing dog.  It's rather awesome.

 

 

 We will break there for now.  To finish this, from down dog, look at the mat between your hands, step or jump (I step) your feet between your hands.  Inhale all the way up to mountain, exhale to heart center.

Please remember, if you feel pain or a twinge, modify the pose.  No pose is so important that you jeopardize the health of your muscles and joints.

However, there is difference between pain and sensation.  Sensation is what you feel during a stretch.  Sensation is good for you, live for it.  :)

Namaste!

Half Sun Salute

Good Morning class.  

I always wanted to say that.  Actually, that's a fib.  I used to say that to my little swim class.  But that was so so so long ago.  Eons ago.  Oh dear.

Today I will break down the half sun salute.  I always do this a few times nice and slow before I start the full salute.  It helps to warm up the arms and back.  

It goes like this:

Stand, hands at heart center

Inhale arms up to mountain pose

exhale dive forward to forward fold

inhale to flat back

exhale to forward fold

inhale arms all the way up

exhale hands to heart center

Trust me, it's so not complicated.

Heart Center - Stand, palms together at your heart.  Shoulders relaxed.  Crown lifted.

 

See?  Easy.

Mountain Pose

Now deep inhale, arms reach up.  Fill the chest with air.  Shoulders relaxed, shoulder blades back.  I lift my chin up, others lift their face up, what ever is comfortable for you.  Mountain pose is deceptively active.  Not a resting pose.  All muscles are engaged in reaching upward.  Quads tighten so the knees lift, arms are reaching, tailbone is tucked under, core is engaged.  I feel a stretch up the sides of my ribs, from my waist to my arm pits.  You are actively reaching toward the sky, tall as a mountain.

 

Forward Fold

Exhale and dive forward.  I've seen people do this two ways.  One is to extend the arms straight in front of you as you fold down.  The other is to stretch your arms to the side.  The first is useful if you are in a full class and will knock the person next to you if you go to the side.  If there is room, I prefer my arms to the sides.  It provides me a greater stretch and is nice for opening the chest.  

 

   

My feet are rooted to the floor, chin juts forward, rear sticks out, keep the back straight.  Fold completely forward, arms should hang down, neck relaxed and head hangs down.  Touch your toes if you can.   

Flat Back

From the forward fold, inhale to flat back.  Look in front of you, reach forward to make your back flat.  Hence the flat back pose.  :)  This can mean you put your hands on your knees or shins if you need to.  Keep shoulders relaxed, reach the crown of the head forward.  I always feel a good stretch in my back, below my shoulder blades and in my waist.  

 

Then exhale back to forward fold.

Inhale arms all the way up to mountain.  Open arms wide in take a deep inhale.  Do not pause at mountain, (unless you want the stretch) exhale to heart center.

 

*This is important.  If you have a weak back, as I do, this can cause stress in the low back.  To protect your back, slightly bend your knees and tuck the tailbone under.  It is super important to keep the core engaged as you stand all the way up.  You should feel this mostly in your core, NOT your back.* Capeesh?

Ok, that's the half salute.  Start nice and slow.  Maybe take a few breaths at each pose.  As the body warms up and muscles relax maybe move a bit faster.  Move with the inhale and exhale of your breath.  

One more thing, it is important to keep your shoulders from crowding your ears.  Keep shoulders relaxed and down.  Try this: Sit up straight, crown of the head reaching up, spine straight.  See how your shoulders are reaching down?  Now, hunch your back and bring shoulders to the front, roll them up to your ears and down to the back.  Your chest should be slightly forward, shoulder blades close together, squeezing together in the back.  Now reach your arms up beside your ears.  Are your shoulders still rolled back?  Now put your shoulders to your ears.  Not as comfortable?  Now shoulders back.  This is how it should be and it will keep your back and shoulder muscles engaged for a strong back.  (don't stick your chin out either.)

Alright, that's enough for now.  Let me know if I confused the snot out of you (clean it up first though), have a question, or need more detail.

Next up: Plank, Chaturanga, Upward facing dog, AND Downward facing dog.  Don't forget to come back!

Namaste

M

Podcast

I found this podcast online at Pop Fizz Academy.  It's a fun little website, though I haven't quite figured it out yet.  She's in the process of moving so there isn't much new going on.  But she has a fun rhythm and I enjoy rereading what I've already read.

I've only listened to part of it.  It's 25 minutes.  Listen to it first, then grab your mat or a towel and enjoy!

podcast

Have a good very great day.

M