This is a basic 45-minute practice for the working adult who wants to maintain functional strength and body mobility as a supplement to, or in between, regular strength training or power yoga practices. This sequence emphasizes postures or exercises which enhance function of lower body and core, and with attention to postural alignment of spine. Some upper body work is included, but specifically for people looking for some (overhead and rowing) pulling training work… and a few push-ups for horizontal pushing work. (The video is raw footage without edit… and is intended to be used by personal coaching clients who are at home during the holidays.) As always, I include some time for mindfulness.
Finding Balance from the Center of Four Perspectives
This is a graphic from a workshop I presented at Heart of the Village Yoga Studio on the Four Directions. We went into the woods, walked by streams and ponds, and paused to reflect on what we were experiencing together. We discussed finding balance in our lives when we see from the center of our consciousness and look at four aspects of our being, integrity (virtue - respecting purity of life) and kindness (compassion - loving all of life), truth (being true to life purpose) and contentment (being open to life learning).
A Beginning Sequence to Develop Core Awareness
As a yoga teacher, I’m often using postures at the beginning of class to assess each student’s body-awareness and to determine appropriate postures for the rest of class and appropriate modifications. Many of my classes are focused on activating the body’s core so that postures can be performed more effectively to promote spine health and reduce back pain. I like to think of the core area as our power center, our center of balance, our energy center from which we have the courage to express our true nature. An unstable power center manifests itself at all aspects of one’s being.
This 20-minute video explains some of the preliminary movements that I usually include in classes as a means to assess physical bodies from a strength / flexibility perspective as well as from a pure awareness perspective. I usually include these postures (or movements) into a class before performing Sun Salutations, certainly before performing low planks, upward-facing dog, downward-facing dog or even forward bends.
I made this video for the benefit of some of my clients (and I narrated it as I did it, so it is somewhat rough around the edges), but others of you might find it beneficial as you work towards understanding your own movements (and areas of body physical strength or weakness).
Remember to utilize your breath as a tool to enhance your physical awareness, your focus, and your present power!
A 35 Minute Basic Core-Focused Practice for Athletes
Here is a video of a short practice focusing on core, hips, and lower back. It is intended for athletes who are just beginning a yoga practice. In the video, I attempted to make breathing practice audible (there is no music), as a reminder to work towards keeping ujjaya breathing active throughout practice. That is, breathe deeply through the noise, keeping pelvic floor lifted, lower abdominal muscles lifted up and in, and work towards maintaining a neutral spine (in most postures) through the engagement of a stable trunk. In this video, I also emphasize some hip hinging movements to activate glutes and hamstrings.
A basic yoga sequence focusing on core strength and stability, hip mobility, focused breathing, and postures intended to ease potential lower back pain (for athletes new to yoga practice).
Bringing Yoga Practice to Life
Last week at Heart of the Village Yoga Center, we started a new class entitled Yoga Philosophy: Bringing Yoga to Life. Formerly a subject presented largely in our Advanced Studies and Teacher Training programs, our hope is that these ongoing classes might help open the door through which yoga practitioners deepen their practice on and off the mat. We begin and end each class with guided meditations: opening with some Yin Yoga postures to help us settle into a place of presence, safety and ease; ending with an intentions-focused meditation to help us bring insights and teachings into our daily lives. For most of the class, we discuss some of the teachings of yoga through the vehicle of a weekly reading. We attempt to see our daily lives through the eyes of yoga philosophy.
This month, we are reading “The Untethered Soul” by Michael A. Singer. Last week, we discussed Part One (Chapters 1-4); this week we will discuss Part Two (Chapters 5-7). From the teachings of Patanjali’s Yoga-sutra, we learn that yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. That is, through yoga practice, we systematically learn to still the mind and find peace of mind and focused awareness. First, however, we must acknowledge that our thoughts are indeed busy – that there is a constant dialogue of thoughts! Our senses are constantly taking in what is going on in our lives and our mind is constantly working to organize this information in a manner that makes us feel “safe” or “in control”. It’s a constant dialogue of voices.
In Part One of the book, the author does a wonderful job helping us observe the “busy-ness” of our thoughts, these voices! He helps us see that the beginning of a happy and more satisfying life begins with our ability to observe these thoughts and not get lost in them. Certainly, just as we intend to do as we practice yoga, we are taking our first steps towards awakening consciousness!
In Part Two, we will explore how we can open ourselves up to the ongoing flow modern world information that we take in through our senses, so that we do not close ourselves (and hold on to) the changing circumstances and experiences of life. The author helps us understand these concepts by explaining how everything is energy, energy that flows through us, or energy that gets locked up within us. Here, we learn how to open our “spiritual” hearts and to empower ourselves to choose a life of openness and unconditional happiness.
Each week, we will use the readings as a basis to dive a little more deeply into various yoga topics. As is our mission at Heart of the Village Yoga, each discussion is facilitated in a manner that respects the integrity and heart of each individual, and in a way that acknowledges our enhanced power of understanding (and intention) of the group through the diverse shared perspectives (and questions) of multiple individuals. Each discussion is also facilitated in a manner that drop-in students who have not done any of the reading will still find a class atmosphere that will invite them to be engaged.
Through our weekly discussions, it is our hope that our yoga and daily-life practices evolve and help us each find sustaining happiness. And, of course, through our yoga and daily-life practices, we hope that our weekly discussions evolve too in a manner that spark interest, and become more and more relevant to each participant and their daily lives.
For future months, we will continue to choose books that will continue to weave together the fabric of the many schools of yoga philosophy and practice, all in a manner that helps make our yoga practices come alive, and helps bring our yoga practices more deeply into our daily lives.