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.

Laying down, we stretched the body diagonally with the breath. Right arm and left leg stretching the body, then left arm and right leg stretching away in opposite directions.

We also did this stretch laying face down - this time, lifting the limbs off from the ground.

Going into tabletop position, with knees and hands on the mat, we repeated this stretch. Holding the lift of the leg and arm provided a balancing exercise.

We wove this diagonal stretch in to a flow. Standing with feet slightly wider apart than the hips, we stretched up to one side with an inhale. Then, bending the knees into goddess legs, we came into a light bouncing gesture, as the arms swept out and back into a self hug. Finally, we inhaled and stretched up to the other side.

From here, we lifted the back leg forward, bending at the knee. We also sent the leg back, and lifted the calf up towards the buttocks, bending at the knee.

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 and falling the area.

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, than they would be without the strap.

2. Sit on a folded blanket to ease the angle of the pelvis. Sit a blocks-height away from the wall. Place a light block behind the lower back, and the another between the shoulder blades. As the back pushes against the blocks to keep them in place, it maintains a straight sit.

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 take the base of the skull and gently lift it up, helping to lengthen the spine and relax the arch of the lower back.

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 character, Arjuna, should fight and kill his kinsmen, because avoiding the war would taint his reputation and put him to shame.

Renate, Tiffany, and Matt are in my doodles and I need to say that they are more beautiful in real life.

Strap adjustments for Setu Bandasana - bridge pose.

We went through this and other adjustments in Iyengar-style teacher training sessions.

Given that I have 2 friends to help adjust you in the pose -
Slide two straps underneath the back.
One assistant stands near my feet. The other sits before my head. Pulling at the lumbar spine and backside of the heart, the adjustors help hoist me up in the pose. I am using my muscles to lift myself up, not merely depending on the straps.

The adjustments help extend the back and open the chest.

Giselle Mari transitioned to handstand practice from utthita hasta padangusthasana, extended hand-to-big toe pose.

From uttanasana, forward bend, cradle the hands and pick up a foot, coming up to standing with it.

Extend the foot. Forward bend toward the toes.

Let go of the foot but keep it extending forward. Remember how the core feels at this moment.

Swing the front leg back to dancers pose, and bring it down to the ball of the foot.

Kick up with the bent leg, keeping this knee to the chest. Eyes gaze slightly beyond the hands.

Jump up 5 times. When you can stay afloat for 5 breaths, come into handstand.

Come down to a lunge/hamstring stretch.

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 start taking more notes about sequences than before.

My goals are still the same as above. I’d like to find a nice way to represent sequences, and will be experimenting with the composition. I don’t expect it to be beautiful right off the bat, but hope to refine it over time.

Peace and Love!

Guide your practice with the breath.
First, become aware of your breath.
Then, encourage your breath with stretches.
In this asymmetric breathing stretch, the body position encourages air to fill in one side of the lungs.
Stretch the right side of the body, stretch the inter-costal muscles to make space.
Repeat on the other side.

Going from Bhuja-Pidasana to a fuller stretch, by holding the big toe and circling the elbow up. Tip for rotating the elbow up: fold the arm as much as possible, so that the hand comes close to the shoulder.