All posts by Nancy MacDonald

Heart Openers in Seminole Tues

Heart Openers

Welcome to all the new faces tonight, I hope you had a pleasant yoga experience.

This evenings class we will be checking on the hips from last week and working on heart openers (Backbends) this week.

While on the back using 2 blocks or  a noodle under the back to open the chest we will be doing the Pranayama practice here. We were able to get into the class room alittle early so those that were early set up for chest expansion over a block using another block under the head.  We did complete breath Dirgha which is a 3 part, full, deep breath– lower lung with the abdominal rising, mid-lung where the ribs flare open ~front, sides and back and upper lungs filling the upper chest and expanding the collar bones.  Ujjayi breath was added on ~the ocean sounding breath.

Cindy Lee warm up that opens the shoulders as well as the spine. Thread the needle~ on all 4’s in Cat one arm threads under the body, palm up stretching the shoulder and providing a good twist as well.

Toe Stretch with some more shoulder & chest openers. If this is still hard for you do this more it is so good for the feet, hips and the whole body.

Sun Salute  Surya Namaskara “A”  set. Continue reading Heart Openers in Seminole Tues →

Using Props~~ Blocks with safety Tues

Hip Openers, Yoga Moves

Lifestyles Family Fitness tech class this afternoon.

Went over the floating half moon coming from Triangle using a block.  When in Triangle with left leg forward bring right arm to side of body, bend left knee, slide right foot in ~keeping right ball mound of foot in line with left heel.  Move weight onto left foot/leg~ lift right foot off floor and immediately flex the right foot giving it plenty of energy and pressing firmly through the back heel. Left hand lightly on the block~~  The block is on the little toe side of the foot and to the left of the foot~ there is also enough distance from the heel of the left foot to the hand on the block for the torso to fit between this space. If block is too close your balance will be off and you will crunch the body this should be a very open posture. Bring right leg to hip height and open both hips to the front of the body. Begin to straighten the left leg, when the leg is straight open the chest and shoulders forward if stable and open then the right arm lifts to reach directly out of the shoulder.  The block is only a prop to bring the floor closer to your hand NOT to hold you up, the blocks can be unstable if too much weight is on it. Continue reading Using Props~~ Blocks with safety Tues →

Assisting Wanda 7pm Backbending for inversions Mon

Heart Openers

Harold is back from his shoulder surgery so I was watching over Harold and making sure he didn’t try to do things he shouldn’t do yet.  I modified the warm up as needed for Harold so I was not watching so much what everyone else was doing just listening to Wanda’s words and assisting Harold into something that would work for him.

Tonights main focus was backbends and working deeply in  Parsvottanasana.  First time with the arms behind the back and a strap buckled into a loop just below the elbow towards the wrist. Hands active and the legs working during the first chest opening backbend as well as the forward fold over the leg.  Then partnering with a fellow yogi in the room with the helper Continue reading Assisting Wanda 7pm Backbending for inversions Mon →

TriYoga Flows, Turns and Breath Mon

Heart Openers, Hip Openers

Assisting Sandi in the Tri Yoga class 530pm.  There was a request that we make sure to get enough pranayama practice in.  With having only 1 hour 15 minutes Sandi and & I try to get pranayama practice in each time, however sometimes we are wanting to work on some of the important turns and details of the TriYoga practice so pranayama practice my be shorten some.  We will be mindful of this and make sure this is not the case every week. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Breath is life, if we half-breath we half-live. We all want to live fully.

The pranayama practice tonight was parts of the trinity practice which we will bring together in the next several classes.

Cat Rolls to open up the spine. then we worked on breaking down the turns into smaller bites.   Cobra rolls as well as Cobra 1 /Boat  ~~ Cobra 2 flow  opened up the chest and spine some more. Chest expansion in camel then progressed into lifting the knee and rolling over the foot Continue reading TriYoga Flows, Turns and Breath Mon →

Don’t let your energy fly away ground your practice Assisting Wanda Wed

Yoga Moves

It was such an honor to assist and just be present for this class.  The combined energy working in the smaller room with the larger class was amazing.  Wanda as usual put together a true to form Iyengar class.  Lots of standing (grounding) postures with the focus on alignment and self awareness.

Everyone was working with  such intention and awareness that was uplifting  just being in the room.

Starting with a warm up on the floor using the core to fire up the hara of the body so the tapas of practice could burn away any self doubts and allow everyone to bask in their full potential.  Wanda’s core warm up is something special and something you should come to class to experience.  I can not do it justice in trying to describe it.

The standing postures were the ones that all regular yogi’s practice ~only tonight with the fire of the hara at work and inward attention the postures were more profound for everyone. I felt that Mr Iyengar was in the room and could hear one of his sayings Continue reading Don’t let your energy fly away ground your practice Assisting Wanda Wed →

Hip ~Hip ~~Hooray Opening the Hips tonight!! Tues

Hip Openers

We will continue with last weeks theme of opening the hips.

Starting with Pranayama in a seated position to focus and center ourselves.

Working with  Leg Stretch (Ardha Hanumanasana),  Jumping Runner, & Gate (Parighasana) will start the hip opening this evening. The Leg Stretch using blocks so that the hold can be held with some degree of comfort is important.  Either using a block under the buttocks or just to support the upper body will allow the mind to calm (exhaling fully realeases any stress and tension and calms the mind). Both parts of the Leg Stretch are very important to hold for at least 90 seconds but Continue reading Hip ~Hip ~~Hooray Opening the Hips tonight!! Tues →

Alignment 101 with chair as visual aid Tues

Hip Openers, Yoga Moves

Today in the tech session at Lifestyles Family Fitness in Seminole we will be working on hip alignment while doing lunges and the lunge twists.

Using a chair as a visual tool to see the knee & hip placement during the various movements.  We will also use the chair for Warrior II and some other moves.

Sitting in the chair on the very front edge so that both sitting bones are in contact with the chair bring right leg to outside of chair as if you are heading into Warrior II.  The right heel is touching the leg of the chair as well as the calf and the knee is bent over the seat. This is the external rotation of the femur as well as the optimal 90 degree angle of the knee/thigh.  Now lets have a look at the hips and shoulders (this is the hard part) Continue reading Alignment 101 with chair as visual aid Tues →

Turn your World Upside Down Mon

Hamstrings

Assisting Wanda in her intermediate/advanced class tonight she continued to work on opening the upper body & shoulder in preparation of inversions. Reminding often to open the collar bones from the sternum outward all the way to the finger tips. The Iyengar way of opening from the midline outward is a tried and true practice for working from your center.

Starting with breathing to center and open the full lung and chest area.  Full complete breaths to help open the collar bones lifting the sternum and opening the heart center. The pectoralis muscles as well as all the shoulder and back muscles must be warmed and open for inversions.

Working with Marjarasana moving each vertebra of the spine~ opening each space slowly and with mindfulness and love.  Continue reading Turn your World Upside Down Mon →

The Wall the Teacher ~~ Come Flow with us Mon

Heart Openers, Yoga Moves

Assisting Sandi in Tri Yoga @ Yoga4All.   Sandi’s theme for this month in classes has been heart openers- not just backbends but all heart opening postures.  One of the things in Tri Yoga that we focus on is complete spinal movements which opens the heart from inside out.  The movements of each vertebra along the spine opens the thoracic area behind the heart center which then opens as a flower does in the morning sun, one petal at a time.

Starting with breath work in L-Seat (Dandasana) and moving into Serenity L-Seat (Ardha Gomukasana) to open the hips. Not only does this open the hips it also teaches each of us if we have a side that is less open and give us the opportunity to breathe into the less open side. Other postures followed for more hip opening.

Through the cat bows we not only build strength we keep the heart open as we do the movements. Sandi always has an added tool to use in her Tri Yoga tool bag and she used one tonight.  Having us move to the wall to do our cat bows Continue reading The Wall the Teacher ~~ Come Flow with us Mon →