I have already broken my New Year’s resolution and did not blog last week.  That means that this week I will be posting 2 blogs to catch up…

This past weekend I had yoga on my mind… I will be back to teaching yoga at work this week for my co-workers (800 employees) and I had to start thinking about my sequences.  The biggest challenge is that the classes will be 30 minutes long (during lunch breaks), since I am no longer able to stay after work due to picking up the baby from day care.  But I think that this will also be a great opportunity for more people to be exposed to yoga in the workplace.  This week we will start off with a very gentle practice because I don’t want to scare away any new students.  I’m actually going to try doing a little bit of Kundalini mixed with my regular style.  According to Wikipedia, Practitioners call Kundalini yoga, the yoga of awareness.  It is based on active exercises, pranayama (breath), and meditation to release Kundalini energy and the activation of energy through the chakras (focal points for the reception and transmission of energies).

I took my first Kundalini class this weekend and was amazed at how challenging it was…  To be honest, my yoga practice over the past 6-months has pretty much been dwindled down to only meditation.  I take small moments of my day to reflect on my life and what I am grateful for (which is so much these days!)  Having a baby has changed my life in so many ways.  My favorite meditation time is when I do baby massage with Bode.  We listen to soothing music and both he and I relax/reflect as we bond during this time.  I have to say it is one of my favorite times of the day (just before bedtime).  I’ll talk more about this subject in a future blog…  This Kundalini class happened to be one of the first classes I had taken for myself in a long time.  I found the link between breath (pranayama) and movement (asana) energizing and awakening.  I walked out of this class feeling confident and empowered.  These are 2 things that I want my students to feel this week when I teach.  I’ll let you know later this week how my first class back went!

Namaste

Since returning to asana (body positioning or postures in yoga), I have once again learned to appreciate the poses that are building blocks to the rest of my practice.  I will break down the poses and let you know what the benefits are to your practice.  The first pose I will break down is downward facing dog – Adho Mukha Svanasana:

Come to the floor on your hands and knees.   Place your knees directly below your hips and hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms, and press down into your mat evenly with your fingers and palm.

Push the floor away with your hands.  Press the thigh bones back.   At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor.

Firm the upper inner arms. widen across the collar bones, melt the trapezius, move the shoulder blades down and into the back, and lift the sternum.
Inner thighs roll back, outer hips hug in.  Make sure your legs are parallel and that the four corners of the feet press down and the heel is lined up with the 2nd toe.

Keep the head between the upper arms; don’t let it hang.  Hold this pose for 5 full breaths.

Adho Mukha Svanasana is one of the poses in the traditional Sun Salutation sequence. It’s also an excellent yoga asana all on its own. Stay in this pose anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes. Then bend your knees to the floor with an exhalation and rest in Child’s Pose.

The benefits of this pose are that it calms the brain, stress reliever, energizes, and improves digestion, therapeutic for asthma and sciatica.  Contraindications, caution if you have high blood pressure or late-term pregnancy.  Some beginner tips are to use blocks under your hands, wrap a strap securely around your arms just above your elbows and press the outer arms out resisting the strap and push the inner shoulder blades outward, or place your hands wide on the top of your mat.

Namaste