This week's class was called "Visualize". We visualized ourselves getting into the pose: Urdhva Dhanurasana (full wheel). I opened class discussing the concept of how athletes in competition will sometimes visualize in their mind's eye nailing their dive or serve or dismount. And those who visualize are often more successful that those who do not.
We have great power in engaging with our mind. We don't have to let our minds run the show randomly; we can actually be the gatekeeper of our mind. This is an important learning in yoga & meditation.
In our lives, we can visualize the goals, dreams and accomplishments that we're longing for by seeing ourselves accomplish those things. The idea is to visualize the successful end goal happening with as many details as you can imagine. After our opening breath work and intention setting, I took the students through a brief visualization of seeing themselves lift up into full wheel pose.
We did a well rounded practice including standing poses, thigh stretches, and preliminary back bends on the belly to warm up for our apex pose. I emphasized drawing arm bones into the shoulders sockets as we progressed through poses so that this alignment skill would serve the students when they explored the challenges of wheel pose.
In each class throughout the week, a student demonstrated full wheel with a rolled up blanket against a wall. The blanket helps students get deeper into the shoulders, chest and back without the deep bend into the wrist. The demo allowed other students to see how it was done.
Yogis practiced full wheel 3 times. They basked in the potent heart opening feeling after each round. I reminded them that this pose takes lots of practice and lots of warm-up. It just takes time, but the body will respond and open overtime. If visualization helps you, then jot ideas down, journal, contemplate, and continue practicing. Namaste, Lynn
