After the weekend workshop with Kaliji the only thing to do is a pure flow class.
Starting with Pranayama complete breath done over 2 blocks.
Flows for this class came from the Flow Manual with cat bow 1 with the added breath change from the workshop. Second round will have cat bow 2. Swan rolls and Swan bows. Standing posture flows.
Seated twists and supine twists.
Savasana and Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy tonight is Ananda blend from Yoga Flow Oils thank you Susan.
Pranayama breath Dirgha, Sun Breath to build some heat for the leg work.
Sun Salutation with hip opener added in see how you like one new one from Tues class. Onto the real work for today finding the ease within the pose while holding challenging postures that are using the large muscles of the leg. Lunges, Chair, Balances, Deviasana, horse. Trust me you will find the strength that we all have in our legs. This is how we move through our days keeping them strong and lean will bring ease to the movements.
Core wore with dolphin/leg lifts, cobra, sphinx.
Releasing everything with leg lifts to settle the hips and sacrum, hip side stretch to twist the spine, happy baby and rocking the clock for the final releases.
Aromatherapy today is Vata Blend from Yoga Flow Oils. Thank you Susan
Pranayama by popluar request will be over 2 blocks tonight, just feel the heart opening to receive.
Doing a little core work before moving on to opening the hips and hamstrings with leg stretch, hip circles. Hip side stretch holding this long enough for everything to let go. Reclined Cobbler up we must go.
Toe stretch, reverse table for more heart opening. Camel allowing the spine to curve in and up to go back…. yum. Facedown work with cobras this is a must do for all of us to keep our spine young.
Opposite arm and leg, locust, Bow with assist from me to feel how effortless it can become.
Bridge rolls to full wheel if that is your practice.
Rock the clock low back release, twists and folds.
Aromatherapy what else Open Heart by Yoga Flow Oils. Thank you Susan
Pranayama practice will have complete breath and then adding on with Kapalabhati alternate nostril breath.
Warming up was flowing and one right after the other with a very warming for the legs Sun Salutation. Onto the core with reverse table and added dips for the upper body. Hip openers fire hydrant with a few things splashed in. Hold everything the hip openers have changed!! Found something new and WOW oh WOW will these open your hips. Tried them out on my husband and I think everyone will like them. Don’t have time to write them all up here will update tomorrow with url to the article these came from. Hold onto those hips they are going to open tonight!! Here is the link to the article about the hip work we did tonight I hope everyone enjoyed it and your hips feel juicy http://shar.es/mqfPM Good work for dancers, runners enjoy.
Mandala work that we did last week will have some things added. From mandala moving a 1/2 turn to seated for 1/2 cow face pose, Lord of the fishes, runner, standing split balance. Doing it all in reverse to come back to front. Circles are magic and I hope everyone finds some fun in this.
Nice slow forward folds and deep twists to finish off the class
Aromatherapy tonight Vatta/Pitta blend from Yoga Flow oils. Thanks Susan
Extra class this week on Thurs LFF 730pm-830pm will be nice complement to this class a hamstring- backbending class. Join me to open the heart and legs for spring.
Namaste
Kalijiis almost here so we went over a few more moves that we do routinely in TriYoga. There is still some space on Sat & Sun contact Sandi http://bit.ly/bizcCk
Pranayama tonight was on the back with a block supporting the heart chakra under the shoulder blades. Another block was on the tall end under the head to allow the neck to lengthen and the shoulders to open and relax from the days journey.
Cross squat to cat one common turn, 1/4 turn cat, natural rolls.
From Mountain a gentle light hop to Pyramid 1 then hopping lightly back to toe balance, Monkey to Mountain.
The beautiful moves from pyramid 1 through the standing posture flows working the transitions and the postures. Mountain to swan noticing the placement of the knee to the inside of the wrist to help align the femur bone with the body. Swan to extended Mountain. Wrist rolls and carpal tunnel openers.
To the floor for toe stretch, prep to lower down and the roll down and back up, hip side stretch, spider, reclined butterfly. Roll up for aromatherapy.
Aromatherapy is Anxiety ease from Yoga Flow Oils. Thank you Susan
Closing Pranayama Alternate nostril breathing and Energy Light Meditation.
Hope to see many of you at Kaliji’s workshop or Sandi’s class on Thurs. Namaste
The reflexology chart free download is http://bit.ly/1n0rSk
I have been enjoying the moon and the weather so much that I had to add some of that to class.
Working with the legs we went through cat movements, nose to knee then long through the leg. My favorite Dog on a Fire hydrant, Mule kicks, Fire hydrant stretch. Opening the shoulders with thread the needle.
Few wrist rolls and a carpal tunnel opening before moving on to Mandala movement to further open the hips.
Moon Salutation (Chandra Namaskara) starting with a standing side bend that looks like a crescent moon. Five point star through the Warrior postures to Crescent warrior, Half moon balancing asana finishing twist and Deviasana.
Face down to work on strengthening the back muscles. A Physical Therapist friend of mine mentioned how important these postures are to keep the strength in the back & upper body to fend off the rounding of the shoulders that is so common in our society. As she reminded me the first move a baby does is lifts its head from a prone position then pushes into the hands to lift a little higher (sounds like cobra postures to me) so that it prepares the body for walking and standing. How often in our normal motions in life do we do this? Lift our head, shoulders and torso while in a prone position? Not often enough so we did a few back postures of cobra, cobra1/boat, cobra 2 then the releases for the low back including flopping fish (my favorite). No rounding shoulders and humped backs for us.
Forward folds and twists ended the class.
Aromatherapy today was Prana blend to help with all the pollen in the air. Thank you Susan with Yoga Flow Oils who does all of my aromatherapy for me.
Many Blessings…….Namaste
Centering Pranayama Found a new poet that I love will offer 2 of her readings tonight.
Cat rolls opening the spine. Allowing the movement to flow into circles perhaps to updog.
Dogs peeing on fire-hydrant to circle here (I know it sounds strange but you know what I mean when I say it) Opposite arm and leg balance. Toe stretch with shoulder/arm openers.
Upper body work with Dolphin and moving into more advanced forearm dog.
Instead of Sun Salute tonight will be part of a Mandala Namaskara to open the hips and legs.
Standing postures tonight Triangle, 1/2 moon, revolved Triangle, revolved 1/2 moon, Pyramid.
Hand balances with blocks Tolasana or Lolasana
Few twists, pelvis leveler then Savasana.
Aromatherapy tonight Dharma by Yoga Flow Oils thanks Susan.
Found a great website for reflexology and a good free print out for foot reflexology I will be bringing copies soon. Enjoy the full moon it was beautiful this morning around 5am I was on the Skyway bridge and it was so wonderful seeing the moon beams kissing the water below. Above and below we are all connected.
The new release is fun and it does have lots of “animal” postures in it.
3 Leg dog with alignment detail on keeping shoulder square. Lifted legs armpit is aiming toward the floor, both arms elbows are straight. Hips are what is moving and opening.
Swan to double pigeon or fire-log stack. Keeping the feet flexed and folding forward leading with the chest.
Single leg stretch. Knee to shoulder other leg long but not on the floor
Plank feet walk out and in and also walk in place. The position of the back is more important than the leg movement.. No plank hammocks here please.
Prone back work. Physical Therapist new study reports the importance of these types of movements to prevent, stop and reverse the rounding of the shoulders that is brought on by our sedentary culture. The study shows that women in particular are prone to this kyphosis of the upper body. The onset is highest between ages 50&60, however younger women are showing up with this due to the fact of using the computer starting at a young age. So we should do these prone alternate arm and leg lifts, cobras and others of this movement daily.
Wanda is back to working on headstand or working toward headstand on Mondays through April. So if you have wanted to learn how to do a safe headstand or what needs to be done to work towards headstand then don’t miss these Mondays.
After a few postures Wanda noticed many tight shoulders in the class so she went through some shoulder openers as well as Anatasana warm up that she loves, it does work well.
There were choices tonight between headstand work standing on the feet and using the wall for the shoulder/upper arm work and working the legs or L shape on the wall either in handstand hands or headstand hands feet on the wall. For those that practice headstand they went up. Some worked on moving away from the wall and moving more into a free headstand away from the comfort zone of the wall.
Twists using the wall then Savasana. Well done everyone.
Sandi continued to work on the basics that will be seen throughout the weekend with Kaliji.
Bridge rolls, partial reclines, roll down and back up, hip side stretch on to gentle flow from standing taking us through the flow to runner, mountain, extended child, cat bows 1 & 2, mountain, runner, standing. We also worked on monkey and the jump back to mountain.
Sandi’s classes the next two Thursdays as well as next Monday will be the last ones to practice before Kali. If you have any requests or questions email me or Sandi and we will cover them in class.
Next week standing flow as well as 1/4 turn cat and cross squat to cat and anything Chandra thinks we need to cover.
Aromatherapy Vata blend from Yoga Flow oils thanks Susan.