Yoga Yoga Yoga

October 19, 2009 Yoga Session #13
Monday Week 8

This week we’ll talk a little about twists and triangles especially with twist in our triangles and triangles in our series. Now that we’ve got the basic asanas down we can finally do them in series. Triangle poses have many variations but they are suppose to tone the ligaments and increase flexibility of the spine. It definitely stretches the hamstrings because you feel sore after holding a few breathes in triangles, it also strengthens the waist. It can help with back problems and reduce discomfort during your period, if you’re a girl of course . One of the easiest ways to get into a triangle pose is to start in warrior two and place your forearm on your upper thigh of the front leg then you open your chest and reach up into the sky with the other arm. Some variations include your hand on the floor either behind or in from of your foot. You can even do triangle poses with both your legs straight but it is also a little more difficult to hold and you can definitely feel the stretch.
There are also triangle poses that strengthen the quadriceps and stretch the inner thigh and waist. To make it challenging you can bring your elbow to the ear to increase the stretch forming a straight line from the wrist to the heel. But before I get into the challenges of the triangle pose is from reverse warrior two you get lower and place the right hand on the inside of the right foot and extend the left arm straight up while keeping the knee bent and the back contracted.
We did some series and we are getting faster at them, because we are learning to move from pose to pose with inhale to exhale. Like the king pigeon we went from the pigeon and lifted the back leg with our knee and we grab the inside of the foot and lift the other hand into the sky straight and look at it. It is one of the most empowering moves ever and it definitely stretches the thigh and quadriceps.
We also got our midterm today. We again did about ten minutes of freelancing it was really cool. I did the bridge and the plow and the shoulder stand…those with the dead bug / happy baby are some of my favorite poses.

Sleeping in Yoga

October 14, 2009 Yoga Session #12
Wednesday Week 7

This week we did a little bit of stretching from half moons to tree poses and so on just to get stretched and warmed up.

Then we circled around a radio because Sharkie said her throat was hurting and listened to a male therapist take us through a few elevators. I think i saw my elevator it was a hotel elevator. Since we were laying down without moving i saw myself sitting on the bench looking relaxed. I saw the numbers changing and could feel going up but then i think i fell asleep because the mans voice was relaxing. I dont remember dreaming which was good. The only thing was that i did lay straight and still for 30 whole minutes which is nice to do in the middle of the day. Apparently i did not move because the towel on my face did not move.

Warrior King!!!

October 12, 2009 Yoga Session #11
Monday Week 7

Overview
- Warrior I, II, III
- Breathe in cold and breathe out hot relaxation

We’ve done triangles before, we’ve done warrior lunges and poses before and we’ve definitely done these poses in series with sun salutations. This week though we focused on warrior series and we also did half moons in series with twists.

The half moon is suppose to improve your balance and concentration and I can totally understand why because it requires a lot of concentration and balance to do. It stretches the hamstring and hips. The half moon also strengthens the outer thighs and obliques. The first time we tried this pose a week ago we did it up against the wall and it was definitely easier for me to do, because it took the balancing out of it. The way to do the half moon is while in series you start from a triangle pose or warrior two, straighten the front leg and put your hands down into pyramid pose. Then lift the back leg so it is parallel to the ground and when you feel stable lift the top hand to the sky expanding your chest.
One of the series that we did this week I think was called warrior series A with the half moon balance pose. The warrior series starts in warrior 1 but we always start in mountain pose and swine dive down to monkey and from their breath our way into warrior 1, warrior 2, reverse warrior and back to warrior 2. From warrior 2 we do a triangle pose and breathe into half moon, forward fold to downward dog and then we get up and start all over with the opposite side we started on. In class we always start with our right leg in the back and then the second round we start with our left foot in the back.
Warrior one is suppose to help tone the hips and legs and release the stiff in your shoulders and back. I have to remember that when I am menstruating I should practice this poses because it alleviates cramping while toning my abs. Start in a runner lunge but standing, with your front leg bent at a 90 degree angle and the back leg straight. Make sure the heels are in a line and your back toes should be facing to the side. The hips should be squared and facing forward and your arms high in the air straight.
With warrior two what we want to do is move our back foot, pointing our toes out while facing to the side and turning our hips to the side as well so that they are parallel to the floor. While contracting your abs, and holding your knee bend over the heel you spread your arms completely parallel to the ground while making sure the back leg is straight. It is easier to go from warrior one to warrior two. Warrior two develops strength and endurance in the legs, back and shoulders while making your hips and knees flexible. The reverse warrior from warrior two: we lift the forward arm into the sky and look up at it, keeping the hips straight we drop the back arm onto our hamstring. The reverse works out your core body, the abdominals.
After we were done with our stretching, our series moves and our balancing acts we did a mental relaxation in which we were to imagine breathing in all the cold and positive energy and releasing or exhaling all the hot and negative energy stored up in our bodies. It was a nice exercise I did it with my eyes closed and although I didn’t mean to I was imagining a gum commercial which from one moment I went to a hot place to a frozen cold place. When I was done I felt like I let go of all of the tension and stress of the body and of the day.

A Challenge

October 7, 2009 Yoga Session #10
Wednesday Week 6

Segments:
1. Coming Into Practice
2. Flow Preparation
3. Flow/Breath Moves
4. Balancing
5. Deep Stretch and Relaxation

***Chaturangas

Today we went through a CD that Sharkie made, it was actually really good, and made me feel like the class that I took with Jacqueline in rolling hills. We actually started with some breathing poses but we quickly moved into all of the sun salutations we’ve known and did A and B over and over again. If I remember correctly I think it was more B but we definitely did an A.

Sun Salutation B is the hardest set, mostly because it is a lot longer than the other series. We started in chair pose and with each inhale or exhale we went into standing up, then swine dive to let our hands touch the floor, half way up into the monkey :) and then the Chaturanga which is a high push up before we do the upward facing dog, then we went into downward facing dog. Sharkie's CD took us straight into the dog but in the other class I had we had to do a push up in between. It was tough either way. Then we lifted one of our legs straight into the air and lunged forward into runners mark and held warrior one for a breath and then we exhaled back into Chaturanga and again upward facing dog, downward facing dog and we put the other leg up into the sky, then into runners lung and back to warrior one into our third Chaturanga. Then again we did upward dog, downward dog and back to forward fold and then to chair pose. Sharkie warned us that it would be hard, and if we needed to rest that we should but I didn’t really have trouble keeping up. But I did have trouble because my hands were slippery; because I get sweaty (which Sharkie says is good). All of these movements are suppose to strengthen your body and organs.

That was part three of the CD the first part of the CD is breathing and stretching and the forth is balancing and the final is just laying back and relaxing. It was nice and supposedly if you do it a twice a week for a few weeks you can get into great shape, especially in the abdominal areas which I need

Shoulder Stand

October 5, 2009 Yoga Session #9

Monday Week 6

Overview:
**laying down downward dog (plow pose)
**Shoulder stand

One of the things about yoga that i really enjoy is that i feel really relaxed and stress free on a Monday afternoon. Usually the start of the week is really hard because i have alot of work to do. But with yoga scheduled early on in the week. Its really really helpful.

This week we did a lot of the usual moves but we did add in a few new moves. We added a little bit of expertise into our bridge pose. Because we did will be doing our midterm in a few weeks i am going to be a little more detailed about what each series is or the steps to each pose. Of course before we did the two new poses we warmed up by doing some warrior poses, some balancing moves and setting up to move to our breath

For example this week we did the plow Pose (Halasana) which is an inversion pose or any pose where our legs are raised above the head. Inversions are suppose to help tone the organs, stimulate the glands and regenerate the body. Sometimes they refer to it as anti-aging poses. To get into plow pose start by lying on your back, bring legs over your head (use your hands to support your lower back if you want to) and if you can let your toes touch the floor but make sure your weight is on your upper back and not your neck. To challenge ourselves we tried to touch our ears with our knees.


From the Plow pose we went into the shoulder stand (Salamba Sarvangasana) but instead of touching the floor we lifted our feet into the sky using our stomach to lift and not our necks. It is suppose to reverse blood flow which is probably not a good exercise to do when you are on your period because it can cause blood back flow. If you are menstruating it is recommended that you just lift the legs up against the wall. It is suppose to help with insomnia and calmness

Yoga on Speed

September 30, 2009 Yoga Session #8
Wednesday Week 5

So this week I had a dentist appointment which made me miss the Wednesday yoga class, so instead I went to a yoga session in ranchos Palos Verdes at a studio on silverspur that was really small. It was hot and the yoga session lasted two hours and was really intense.

The instructor a young dancer who use to be a cheerleader for the clippers taught the class and told us that only the first hour would be for beginners and the second half of the class would be for individuals who did yoga regularly. She had us working with our mats a lot but there was also blocks she had us working with.

The yoga session was very different then what we have done in class, it was a lot faster and there was a lot more movements. From runners lunge wed kick our legs in the air and then knee to the forehead, which was included in a sun salutation. There were a few exercises that I had never done before and it was really fast paced. We did say Namaste a lot more than we do in class.
After going through the first sequence of poses which included the “Runners Pose,” “Crescent Pose,” and all of the variations of the “Warrior Poses” I could definitely feel my body stretching out. Which was Sun Salutation B I learned but with variations. We started in chair pose and with each inhale or exhale we went into standing up, then swine dive to let our hands touch the floor, half way up into the monkey :) and then the Chaturanga which is a high push up before we do the upward facing dog, then we do a push up and go into downward facing dog. Then we lifted one of our legs straight into the air and lunged forward into runners mark and held warrior one for a breath and then we exhaled back into Chaturanga and again upward facing dog, a push up, downward facing dog and we put the other leg up into the sky, then into runners lung and back to warrior one into our third Chaturanga. Then again we did upward dog, push up, downward dog and back to forward fold and then to chair pose

We did the Triangle Pose and Twisting Triangle. I think it was the twisting chair and the twisting triangle, but it was nice until she made us put our hand behind our back and reach it with our other between the legs. I felt like a pretzel. It was a good class and I think maybe in another five weeks I might be able to keep up and stay for the second hour.