April 2013
1 post
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Diagonal breathing stretchs
Hattie’s flow class at Avalon Yoga studio emphasized diagonal breathing stretches, which surfaced repeatedly along the sequence of poses. Variations on the breathing stretch, and modifications to deepen the poses built up the sequence to a point of challenge, before we lay down to Savasana.
We started the class by laying on our mats, sweeping our arms with the wave of the breath.
...
March 2013
6 posts
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Yoga for pregnant students
We had a four-hour course on pre-natal yoga. Since it would require much, much more than four hours to cover this subject in depth, our experienced instructor Ro Mamone treated the workshop theme as, “how to design poses for pregnant women if they walk into your yoga class.” In addition to going over poses, we learned effective tips on managing the classroom when there is a mix of...
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Classmate, Tiffany, listening.
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The Prison Yoga Project
James Fox taught a 4-hour class, introducing us to the Prison Yoga Project, and guiding us through a sequences he teaches prisoners at San Quentin.
He takes a trauma-informed teaching style, focusing on self care and creating a nurturing atmosphere.
Traumatic situations lack three characteristics: Predictability, Safety, and Control. The class is designed so that these elements are given...
February 2013
16 posts
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Girish - mantra and chanting
Girish was in the studio yesterday, introducing us to chanting and the harmonium.
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A session on teaching and practicing breath...
Richard Rosen from Piedmont Yoga taught yesterday’s yoga teacher training session on beginning pranayama at Avalon Yoga studio.
The following posts present ways to approach a breathing practice.
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Beginning Pranayama #1 - Savasana
One of the most important poses for Pranayama, or breathing, practice is Savasana, or corpse pose.
Lay down on a mat, and adjust the position of the body starting from the feet.
Do this yourself, or through an assistant.
1. Place the feet at hip distance apart or narrower. Roll them inward and outward to relax the muscles at the hip creases.
2. Widen the pelvis at the bottom where...
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Beginning Pranayama #2 - preparation
Prepare for pranayama, or breathing, practice by opening the chest.
Place a block so that the long side goes parallel to the shoulders. Lay the block flat, and lie down on top of it, placing your shoulder blades on the block.
Raise the arms and space out the shoulder blades to a comfortable position.
Focus on the breath at the backside of the sternum.
Chest opening, and resting the...
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Beginning Pranayama #3 - breathing into the body
Start to bring awareness to your breathing, by detecting it in three areas of your body.
Lying down,
1. Bring your hands below the belly button, and notice it rising and falling with the breath.
2. Bring your hands above the belly button, and notice it rising and falling with the breath.
3. Finally, bring your hands to the area right below the collarbones, and detect the breath raising...
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Beginning Pranayama #4 - ajapa mantra
Make a “pillow” out of a folded blanket, by creating an accordion fold and doubling that thickness at the end.
Practice oojai breathing from the back of the throat.
Oojai breathing, or, ajapa mantra has three affects
- having to audibly breathe slows down the breath
- steadies the breath
- brings attention to the breath
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Beginning Pranayama #5 - getting up from lying...
To come back to alertness from savasana, corpse pose, start by wiggling the fingertips and toes, stretch the body, and roll to one side.
Cradle the head with the arm folded.
Come back to sitting by propping yourself up with the hands and arms.
Let the head trail the torso, to keep it from being shaken up.
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Beginning Pranayama #6
Lie down on a blanket with the shoulders extending beyond the blanket’s edge and resting on the floor.
Practice viloma:
inhale in 4 parts - taking a breath in 1/4 of the way, pausing, then continuing to inhale another 1/4, and so on. Breathe all of the air out in one continuous exhalation.
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Beginning Pranayama #7 - preparation
A 3-step support, using folded blankets and/or blocks and yoga pillows comforts and prepares students for breathing practice.
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Beginning Pranayama #8 - preparation
Supta Baddha Konasana - lying down with feet together, knees apart -with a block.
Place the block beneath the sacrum to lift the back and help relax the upper spine.
Start from the lowest height of the block, and increase it as is comfortable.
Beginning Pranayama #9 - preparation
Supta Baddha Konasana stretches the groin area and releases the lower back.
Place a sandbag along the hip creases, and blocks beneath the thighs to assist.
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Beginning Pranayama #10
Pranayama practice begins with a comfortable position - either lying down or sitting. In fact, the sanskrit word Asana means, “a comfortable seat.”
Here are two ways to sit with props:
1. Get two straps, and loop each around the lower back and a kneecap. Sit cross legged. The strap brings the lower back and knees to a comfortable balance. The knees are kept closer to each other,...
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Beginning Pranayama #11
This exercise brings awareness to the sternum.
The goal is to try to lift the sternum up toward the sky while avoiding the common mistake of bending the ribcage forward.
Stand against a wall and place a light block under the chin.
As you breathe, try to slide the block up on the wall.
An assistant may use two fingers to push forward and up between the shoulder blades. The assistant may also...
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A discussion of yoga texts
Instead of doing Asana practice, we read the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras, in which ancient accounts of meditation and yoga can be found. These texts, compiled over a span of hundreds of years, don’t always contain the “truth” which we may use to guide our modern lost lives. The Bhagavad Gita presents a moral dilemma, with the suggestion from Krisna being that the main...
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December 2012
5 posts
reachnewhghts asked: You are great! I love your blog.
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Teacher Training, Week 8
When I started this blog in October 2010, the goal was to
1. draw like a habit, keeping the drawings simple
2. find a way to visually explain the physical sensations and alignment of yoga poses
It’s now December of 2012, and as I’m training to be a yoga teacher, I’m finding sequences to be more interesting than representations of a single pose.
This means that I will now...
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October 2012
2 posts
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“Take deep, luxurious breaths.”
– Rebecca Kovacs, at Avalon Yoga Studio.
August 2012
1 post
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March 2012
1 post
February 2012
1 post
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October 2011
1 post
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August 2011
1 post
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June 2011
2 posts
April 2011
13 posts
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How to breathe
When lots of things are going on in your life, it’s easy to tense up the body and stop breathing naturally, without even realizing it. The body starts using its energy inefficiently, spending it on things like “worrying,” “tensing the facial muscles,” and “tightening the torso and back in a fight-or-flight attitude.” Then, you feel even more tired and...
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“If you miss the bus, just get on the next one. If you can’t do a pose, and...”
– Tara Stiles from one of her podcasts
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“Don’t shoot holes into the wall. Relax the eyes.”
– from one of Tara Stiles’ yoga podcast
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