Side Body

Class this past week focused on opening the side body to energize and enliven the body, mind and spirit. The intercostal muscles underneath each rib are part of your respiratory muscles. When they are open, you can breathe more deeply.

In class, we created an environment in the body to breath deeply and to bring in health, freedom and an openness to new possibilities. The ability to breath lets us feel and be sensitive and open to our practice, the new day, the new year. We approached practice following the breath as the teacher.

Students took deep inhales to feel their ribs expand. We did two breathing exercises with our hands on our ribs, and then our hands on our heart to feel where and how the breath moves through the body. Students noticed when the ribs opened that the intercostals got a deep stretch which lead to wide open breathing which energized and enlivened the body!

Poses included lots of side bending! Within a vinyasa practice, yogis felt how cobra backbends were great for opening their ribcage. They found in plank pose if they pressed their heart forward, pressed their heels back, lifted their belly away from the floor … then they could expand the back of their lungs. As students practiced exalted warrior and exalted triangle poses, I asked them to feel space open up between every rib.

Free time mid way through class allowed students to chose a pose that helped them get longer and stretched their side body and ribs. Many chose handstand variations, but a variety of asanas were explored. Second half of practice included side plank, Goddess, gate, thigh stretch, pigeon, backbends and closing with a side stretch in janu sirsasana plus a closing supine twist with abs. To deep, nourishing breaths, Lynn

Balance

This week we explored balance. Balance looks different in each of us. You may not be able to see balance, but sometimes you can sense a person is connected with their center. Last week we explored the energy of deep listening and tuning into our inner voice. Our inner voice, our inner balance knows when we are vital, healthy and in deep harmony.

We explored balancing poses, but we also explored balance in a broader fashion. Students looked to balance their in breaths and out breaths. They aimed to balance their bodies from right to left, front to back. Balance was sought between strength and rest, movement and stillness. They noticed where they were putting their effort, and if redistributing brought more balance inwardly or outwardly.

I reminded yogis that they will always feel a little bit of natural wobble, a little bit of natural instability. But to remember that the wobble is part of the fun :) Additionally, to tell themselves: “ I can breathe steadily in the midst of wobble and instability. I can relax even where there’s a little discomfort ”. Poses included gate, warrior 3, dancing Orangatang handstand, dwi hasta parsva konasana, half moon, side plank, standing pigeon, as well as playful attempts at bird of paradise. Students finished their practice with flowing bridge and an opportunity to do upavista konasana with a bolster. Some chose no bolster, others took the restorative option, and tucked 1 or 2 blocks under a bolster to prop it to a height where they could hug it and rest deeply. Namaste, Lynn

Energy of deep listening

This week we drew on inspiration from Ganesha. Ganesha is a mythical creature from the Hindu pantheon. He is a boy with an elephant head. He is considered the remover of obstacles on your path. He is found at beginnings and thresholds. He is associated with the muladhara chakra, or root chakra, that houses the low spine, legs and feet. The muladhara chakra also relates to a sense of security, trust, groundedness, safety, belonging and home. When we have fear, worry, stress, it tends to drain energy out of us. When we are grounded and secure, we are more likely to retain positive, good energy.

There is lots of rich lore and symbolism around Ganesha. If you are interested, I encourage you to read more :) But this week, we simply focused on Ganesha’s big, soft elephant ears. Letting them remind us to pause, listen, be patient & start relying on our inner voice as our guide. That’s the power behind yoga and meditation: to help us start to orient from the inner space of our hearts.

This week’s practice of refreshing twists are like the twisting, turning nature of the elephant’s trunk …. and the sudden, surprising and unexpected twists and turns our own lives can take. So the practice is one of sensitivity, attuning, listening before reacting so you can come closer to what matters most to you.

Students felt their breath. They listened and softened. Sometimes they closed their eyes to help brighten their ears. Twists throughout, humble warriors, deep balancing twists, partner squat, deeply strengthening prone backbends. Weaved throughout an energy of allowing ourselves to become sensitive to the moment so we can live a really great life in this way. Namaste, Lynn

Shake off the Leaves

Shadows of the holidays fade away

Shake off any debris, holiday excess, any deadweight and lets get spacious and invite in length and opening as we invite in the new year. That’s how we started class this week. Leaving behind anything not needed as we enter 2019.

This week’s class was about low back health. And we looked at 2 key aspects of protecting the low back. The first was lengthening. Working on lengthening the spine and using the legs, core and pelvis to protect the back. Practicing keeping the low back lengthening, we can reduce low back pain, we can reduce pressure on the disks, and we can watch for rounding. There is always going to be some rounding in daily living and even in yoga. Often what is happening is imbalances of muscles around the spine. And when muscles around the spine, hips and legs have some weakness, then the spine rounds to compensate. That leads us to the second key aspect.

This week we also focused on strengthening the hamstrings (and the glutes and their helpers). One thing that really keeps the low back from over-working is strong and pliable hamstrings. So in our sequence, I included some very specific hamstring strengtheners. Yoga often stretches the hamstrings, but they equally need to be strong. Class progressed though sun salutations, deep into standing poses. In half moon pose, I invited students to hover their bottom hand off the floor or block, if they wanted an extra challenge. By doing so, they strengthened their top side body, muscles under the ribcage that support the back. Warrior 3 founds students balancing in a pose that offers back strength and support. In tree pose, we “shook off the leaves” :)

Next came a prone backbend. Students squeezed their inner feet together, kept their palms on the earth outside their upper ribs and elevated their straight legs a little. A big challenge to the hamstrings. We did 3 rounds. Into a variation of dancer …. students stood upright, bent one leg, pressed their thigh back in space while kicking the bent leg heel to their butt. No grabbing the back foot with their hand. To stretch the hamstrings, parsvottanasana was included. After some core work and pigeon, we moved into a variation of bow pose. Yogis did not catch their feet with their hands. They bent their legs and tried to lift their thighs a little bit off the ground. No easy feat, but, yes, you guessed it ….more hamstring & glute power :) A solid savasana was offered and students relaxed into a deep well of being. Thanks for practicing, Lynn

You can heal in an Instant

You can heal in an instant. That was my theme this week. We all know someone, or maybe we’ve experienced this ourself …. when a big stressor hits, we instantly feel sick or a gray hair pops out.

When we get tight & frustrated, we close down pathways of creativity and wellness. When we embrace concepts like “you can heal in an instant”, the power of the mind kicks in and we open those pathways.

It’s so easy to assume worse case scenario, and we’re all guilty of it from time to time. But this has been one of the most useful pieces of information I have ever received. It has shifted me so many times out of the muck and into a better day.

This is a practice of calming the mind and repairing the body. Before we got moving, I gave a little back story. About 10 years ago, I was in my last weekend of teacher training in Berkeley. It was a big weekend. We were in training on Saturday & Sunday, 10-7:00. I woke up that Saturday with a sore throat. I was in disbelief, denial ... this could not be happening! My last training weekend meant so much to me. I went ahead and got ready and drove to Berkeley early to take Abby’s class. She’s an amazing teacher and I’d been wanting to take her class. In her class that morning, she spoke of how you can heal in an instant . I took it so to heart and believed those words so completely, that I swear my sore throat went away for the whole weekend and never came back that next week.

So, I encourage you to stay aware and observant of different forms of healing that are available to you. This saying may speak to you or you may have your own healing rhetoric that uplifts or re-directs you. I offered one final thought on healing before we move into our asana practice. Bruce Springsteen has been on broadway for the last year. He said that when he was young, he had 4 aces. They were: youth, 10 years of band experience, a band that respected and understood his style, and a magic trick. Well, I believe in some ways I have that same magic trick. The healing I have to offer my yoga students has less to do with my own training, studying and practicing, and more to do with this magic trick, which is “us”. When we practice yoga together, there is a oneness to our energy, we become an “us”. And I think that is one of the most healing components of the yoga.

Thanks for practicing with me, Lynn