Playin’ The Edge

Here’s another post for hips. This flow goes deep into the hips and is a good way to end your standing posture session.

From a Sun Salutation either at the front of the mat or from Downward Facing Dog go to:

- Wide Leg Forward Bend - with your right foot closest to the top of the mat. Make sure the insides of your feet are parallel so you get the stretch right into your inner thighs. When you do this pose the second time for the other side, put your hands in yoga mudra position. To transition, come back to standing and turn your feet to face the front of the mat. Then sink your hips down into,
- High Lunge- make sure your front knee is safely over your ankle. Keep hands on the floor, your knee or bring them up overhead for more intensity. Stay for 3 deep breaths. Bring hands down to either side of your front foot, bring your back knee to the mat and let your foot flatten out for,
- Low Lunge- let your hips relax into the pose for a breath. The bring your hands to prayer and twist right for Prayer Twist. Hold for 3 breaths. Release your hands down to the mat. Drop your right lower leg to the mat for,
- Pigeon- and stretch your left leg back behind you. Rest here for at least 3 breaths. Then shift your weight to your right hip so you can bring your back leg forward and get into,
- Bound Angle - for the second time in this pose, move feet 6 inches away from your torso and let your pelvis tilt forward. Keep your back straight. This moves some of the stretch into your lower back.

From here you’re good to go into some back bending and forward bending poses.

I downloaded the Hip Opener sequence from Yogi2Go and got through 2 of the 4 segments on the weekend. I’d recommend it - it’s a good Vinyasa flow session and just doing half made my hips feel alive. Jeanne includes alot of detail so it’s a good refresher on the refinements of each pose. Also, she did some fun things I haven’t done before.

Jeanne did Temple pose, which I hadn’t heard of but found it’s similiar to Goddess. Using the same lower body position (toes are pointed out a bit, knees are squeezed open so they’re roughly over ankles) she has you use your hands to roll your thighs open to deepen the hip stretch. Then you dip one shoulder down and press back/open the opposite one, hold and then change sides.

She did another variation on that too. You’re in the same standing squat position. Then Jeane has you bend forward so that shoulders are the same level as hips. Hands are on the floor. Then she has you lift your right arm and reach forward, stretching the right hip back and hold. Reach forward with the left and hold. Then do both and hold. Yowza!

I’d recommend Hip Openers and plan to go through others from the site. For $10 it’s good value for your yoga library.

Here’s a good strength-building flow I’ve been playing with that starts in Downward Facing Dog:

- Belly Dog - From Downward Facing Dog, slowly lower your knees to an inch or two above the floor, contract your core muscles and take a deep breath. Straighten legs again.
- One-Arm Dog - Bring your right hand up and “bind” it around your back (the back of your hand slides along your lower back toward the opposite side of your waist). Open up your right shoulder and look up. If this is too intense, drop your knees to the floor. Take a breath here as you work the twist. Bring your hand back down to Downward Dog.
- Knee-to-Nose - Drop your head and bring your right knee toward your nose - hold for a breath and contract your core muscles pressing your navel into your spine.
- Leg Up - Bring your head up and straighten the right leg and lift it up behind you. Walk your hands toward your left foot for Standing Splits. Take a breath and hold. Then walk your hands back to the top of the mat for Plank.
- Transition - Keep your right leg raised as you come into Plank. Keep it raised as you lower to Chaturanga or the floor. Then relax the leg down for Cobra and come back to Downward Facing Dog to do the flow for the left side.

Fun fun fun so much fun for your buns (and the rest of you) enjoy

I got up this a.m. and it was rainy AGAIN and really, enough already. My yard is green *and* it’s floating away. The weather dude didn’t ask my opinion before he posted the ‘heavy rainfall warning’ today and I was pretty choked about it. I was also tired and had slept on my front too long so my lower back felt like it was in a metal brace - not in a gentle supportive way but more in a hold-the-bones-so-they-can knit-together sorta way.

I got in the shower thinking “Cor. Girlfriend. Get it together or you might as well toss in the towel”. And I don’t mean a start-the-car-with-the-garage-door-closed kinda towel toss, but more like a head-back-to-bed-and-throw-the-covers-over-my-head kinda towel toss. But I’m a responsible adult. Cranky and stiff, but responsible. So I got in the shower, turned up the hot and went through a ‘grateful’ list because it’s the only way I know how to avoid thinking about what I’m *ungrateful* for. Saying to myself “STOP OBSESSING ABOUT ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE BUMMING YOU OUT” doesn’t work half as well. And I did these moves to loosen up my spine:

1. Roll-ups - start in an easy Ragdoll Forward Bend. Feet hip width apart, knees soft, back and neck loose, finger tips on the floor for support. Ideally shower water is pumelling your lower back. Try to breath without drowning and stay as long as required. Then slowly roll up one vertebra at a time so your chin comes untucked last. Press chest forward, clasp hands behind back and squeeze shoulder blades together to find a stretch across the chest and fronts of shoulders. Then release hands, drop chin to chest and roll back down one vertibrae at a time to the starting position. Repeat as often as required.

2. Round backs - with feet tub width apart and toes pointed out a little, bend knees and place palms on thighs, fingertips on inner thighs. Press chest forward, keep shoulders low but pull them back gently and slide your gaze up. Hold for a moment and then round your spine out. Your navel presses back into your spine, chin drops down. Hold and repeat. Go slow so you don’t fall over. If, or when, you have the energy you can do these with your breath, exhaling as you round back, inhaling as you press your chest forward.

I’m not saying I leapt out of the shower ready to earn a Nobel prize by Saturday, but I did at least feel like the day was worth checking into. I’ll take it.

I was in a class at the last yoga conference taught by a Kripalu teacher and she had us do the Flamingo pose which I hadn’t done before. I can’t find a photo of it, but here’s an easy description:

- From standing clasp your hands behind your back, but keep your arms loose. Or put your palms on your lower back, fingers down and press your elbows together gently.
- Bring your right foot to your left leg just above your knee. Keep your standing knee soft. Stay here if this is enough challenge or,
- Tuck your chin to your chest and round down bringing your nose toward your bent knee. Stay here for a few breaths.

I always like to have new balancing pose challenges to add to my yoga sessions and to classes. This one is a do-again!

I bought Light on Life , the latest from Iyengar, opened it up and found a little nugget that I’ve been sharing with my classes this week (page 33):

Extension and expansion always stay firmly rooted in one’s center. They originate in the core of one’s being. When most people stretch, they simply stretch to the point that they are trying to reach, but they forget to extend and expand from where they are. When you extend and expand, you are not only stretching to, you are also stretching from.

I like how he says that. When we first come to yoga we’re kinda scattered and looking around and trying to reach as far as our neighbour does in a pose. But over time as you become more centered you realize you’re reaching from your base, that foundation of who you really are. It’s not about where you get *to* it’s more about where you’re coming *from*. We talked about this in class with Warrior 1. How it’s all about building the pose from the ground up, feeling the bottoms of your feet right to the outward edge of your back foot. It’s about having strong legs, firm hips and an engage core. And then it’s from that base that you can reach and extend your spine and arms to the sky.

Also in seated forward bends newbies always work on touching their toes when really the stretch is all originating in your hips. Your sit bones need to be grounded in the mat so that they can dig in as the hips tilt forward. If it’s a Head-to-Knee pose there’s also a twist happening in the hips and torso. All those elements produce the hamstring stretch. The pose isn’t about rounding your back and diving *to* your toes or your knee (regardless of it’s name). It’s about stretching out from your center in your hips. And that’s what creates the space that Iyengar goes on to talk about.

Speaking of Head-to-Knee, here’s one to try. If you’re stretching your right leg first, get your legs in position but with a straight spine twist to the right and hold it for a few breaths before doing the pose. After twisting it’s easier to keep your shoulders somewhat square to your leg. Then twist left and hold. Then come to centre only until your right shoulder is in line with your right leg. Then drop that shoulder down toward your leg, tuck right hand under your leg and side bend, sweeping your left arm overhead and stretching your torso long from your hips. Very juicy.

So once the day is complete, fuelled by our a.m. yoga session, we want to bring it back down for a relaxing snooze. Often our hips and low back really take on the stress of the day. Rosie stands at her job and I sit at mine, so I know there are evenings where we’d both want to spend extra time loosening out the concrete that gathers there. I’ve added in a few Options for babying that area.

- Easy 1/2 Moon - Bring feet to hip width apart. Place a hand on your hip and slowly sweep the other hand up to the ceiling so your torso stretches long and then allow it to curve over your head, bringing a gentle stretch to the long side of your body. Pause for a couple of breaths, bring your arm back down with awareness before changing sides.
- Ragdoll - tuck your chin, place hands on thighs, bend your knees a bit and roll down until you’re in an easy Forward Bend. Plant your hands on the floor for support so you can sway your hips. Take a few deep breaths here letting gravity work it’s magic on your lower back. Then ease your hips down to the mat for Option: a Squat. Point your toes out and spread your knees bringing your hands to prayer position. Hold your elbows to the insides of knees if that feels OK. Let your hips relax, keep your back long and take a few deep breaths here.
-Bound Angle - come to sitting, bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together, tuck them in close to your body. Hold onto feet or ankles and stretch your spine straight. Relax your knees and let them sink down towards the mat.
- Shoulder Rolls - come into an easy seated position (cross legged) and do some slow Shoulder Rolls in both directions. Then bring your feet to the mat with knees bent, tuck your chin and outstretched arms roll down onto your back.
- Twists - bring your feet off the mat so that your knees are bent at 90 degree angles. Bring your arms to a T position. Drop both knees over to one side and hold. Keep shoulders relaxed on the mat. Change sides.
- Knee Squeeze - squeeze your knees into your chest. Stay for 3-5 breaths. Option: cross one knee over the other and squeeze both knees into your chest. Change legs and repeat.
- Reclined Bound Angle or Legs Up The Wall Bring your feet together in Bound Angle position, let your back relax into the mat, bring hands palms up. Or, move your mat to a wall, sit next to the wall and then gently bring your legs up as you let your upper body come down onto the mat. Keep a slight bend in your knees so you relax. In either pose, stay for 5 long soft breaths.

Come back to a seated position. With hands in Namaste give thanks for one thing from your day. Thanks Rosie. Have a good sleep.

My friend Rosie asked if I could suggest a few yoga moves she could do in the morning or the evening before bed. I’m going to split them up because energizing moves are ideal for the morning and ‘winding down’ moves are best for evening. Stay tuned for the evening set tomorrow.

If you’re anything like me, some a.m.’s I have no energy and need to respect that. Other mornings I *could* have more energy if I just choose to do more energizing type moves. So the suggestions below are for Rosie’s lower energy days, but I added options for each that are energizing and will make you feel positively perky.

-Sit & Breath - Sit in an easy pose, close your eyes and center. Sit and just notice your breath. Notice the state of your body, mind and spirit without judgement. Set an intention for your day. Option: take a few 3-part breaths that fill up your belly, then ribs, then chest with a long slow exhale.
-Opening Breaths - touch your fingertips lightly together at the center of your chest. Then with a deep inhale through your nose, open your arms out wide to either side. Let the movement of your arms open your chest. Press your chest and face upwards gently if that feels OK. Then exhale back to the first position. Repeat 5 or so times. Option: after warming up with the first couple breaths, put more emphasis on your inhale filling your nose/lungs right up with a whoosh of air as you move your arms into the open position.
-Side Bends - place one hand to the floor next to your hip and sweep the other up to the ceiling until you feel a stretch up the long side of your torso, then curl your arm overhead so you fill out a “c” shape. Hold for a moment, change sides, and then repeat it again Option: bend from side to side with your breath (inhale one arm up, exhale it down, change sides).
-Twists - sit with back straight, place your hands on one thigh and twist your shoulders in that direction. Let your neck stay relaxed. Hold, change sides and repeat. Option: twist side-to-side with your breath (inhale and then exhale into the twist, inhale back to center, change sides until your spine feels energized).
-Ragdoll - place your feet hip width apart and parallel on the mat, keep your hands planted on the mat as you press your tailbone up to the ceiling. It’s important to keep knees bent, you just woke up afterall. Keep head and neck relaxed. Sway your hips a little and take a few deep breaths. Press gently into any spots that feel stiff and compressed. Take two more breaths and use the exhales to try to relax deeper into the stretch. Then place your hands on your thighs and roll up slowly, one vertibrae at a time to standing, keeping your chin tucked until last. Option: roll back down with your exhale, come up again with a deep inhale. Keep hands on thighs for this or add arm motions, sweeping them wide and stretching up into Extended Mountain with the inhale. Repeat.

These are just a few poses that don’t take long to do, but they’ll get you centered and loosen up your spine and hips. From here you’ll be warmed up enough to do some standing poses, or to simply start your day. Thanks Rosie. Namaste.

At the weekend yoga conference I went to a teacher’s session Robert Weber hosted on cueing. His point was that when you rely on demonstrating the poses, students simply try to reproduce your version exactly instead of learning to fill out the pose with their own unique body. This is a great reminder as teachers not to demo to beginners the full expression of a pose that we’ve gotten to over years of practice. We want to make yoga accessible and instead we scare the living daylights out of newbies that way.

Robert’s approach is to often not demo at all, just talk the students into the pose. I’m not completely onboard because beginners who aren’t auditory learners just aren’t going to follow the verbal instructions well. Although I guess if the teacher is not demo’ing they have plenty of opportunity to walk around and help people. The other issue I have is that with cueing only the class can get really wordy and you want to offer space to just be in the pose. It’s a question of balance I guess, and does depend on the level of the class.

*Anyways* we did a cool thing - we did yoga with our eyes closed. It was amazing. The simplest thing was so challenging. How do you get your feet into parallel without visual guidelines? What does parallel *feel* like?

We did a Sun Salutation B and I felt like a uncoordinated teenager. I had to really let go of my standards of preciseness when I couldn’t see my hand placement for Plank/Chaturanga. And then getting into Triangle was a trip - I didn’t know if my feet were lined up. It felt wrong but I assumed it was just because I felt dorky trying to stand up with my eyes closed. When I got into Triangle I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff. I had to keep my “gaze” at the horizon. I was convinced if I “looked up” at my hand I’d fall flat on my back.

Ain’t yoga grand? I love it that I can still find scary edges and cliffs.

I can’t wait to do this in my yoga classes. I’ll probably wait until people are in a pose and then ask them to close their eyes. I really suggest trying it out. It makes me realize how much mind stuff is generated by our sight. With eyes closed you’re forced to really feel the pose from the inside out.

Here’s a good flow for sessions when you’re warmed up and feeling energetic:

- High Lunge - do a Sun Salution and after Down Dog come bring your right foot forward into a High Lunge. Keep your hands on the floor on either side of the foot or for more intensity, bring them up Warrior 1 style. Stay for a few breaths pushing your weight into your back foot and relaxing your hips.
- Side Plank - then bring your hands back to the floor and use them to support your weight while you scoot your right foot back so it’s under your hip bone. Pivot your toes toward the side of the mat. While you keep your left hand planted on the floor under your left shoulder, pivot your body and left foot to the right, stretching your right hand up to the ceiling. This may feel a bit clumsy the first time, but it’ll be one smooth motion with a bit of practice. Now you’re in a modified Side Plank, with your right foot helping keep your hip raised so your body is in one straight line. Go to a full Side Plank by straightening your right leg and stacking it over your left.
- Revolved Lunge - To come back, bring your right foot back to the floor under your hip, bring both hands to the floor and scoot your right foot back between them (knee should be safely over your ankle). Come up on your toes as you activate your back leg so you’re in a High Lunge again. Keep your left hand planted next to your right foot and twist to the right, raising your right arm to the ceiling for a Twisted Lunge. Sorry I can’t find a picture of this one, but your arms are in a t-position, left hand on the floor with your torso twisting right, toward your thigh.

Transition with a Plank, Cobra, Downward Facing Dog and complete the flow on the other side.