Category Archives: Hip Openers

Open the Heart & Open the Hips for a peaceful Thurs

Hamstrings, Heart Openers, Hip Openers, Spinal Flows

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

Mandala Mandala round & round we go Tues

Hip Openers

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

When the Moon’s in your eye you do Chandra Namaskara.Fri

Heart Openers, Hip Openers

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

Bridge over peaceful waters, swan Fri

Core Work, Heart Openers, Hip Openers

Back from Teachers training and looking forward to seeing everyone.

Checking in on those lovely feet & toes are they opened and stretched?  We shall see….

On  to the core  Navasana flow that we haven’t done for a bit.

Sun Salutations with some hip openers. Finding the Goddess in all of us (Deviasana)

Bridge over peaceful waters .. finding a stable peaceful bridge using blocks as an alignment tool as well as a support.  Low Back bliss

Aromatherapy today Energizing Blend from Yoga Flow Oils thank you Susan

Susan is giving a workshop in Tampa Sunday check out the link.  I will be there too.  http://tinyurl.com/yauolcp

Getting Hippy tonight at Tyrone Thurs

Hamstrings, Hip Openers, Toe Stretch

Subbing for Tee tonight at LFF Tyrone.

Breath work to bring everyone into center  Dirgha, Nadi Shodhana

Toe stretch to remember our feet and be grateful to them for all they do. On to the core work.

Reverse table to open the shoulder find strength in the core. Navasana flow core and balance. Waterwheel to polish off the core.

Leg stretches, hip rotations, spinal rolls. 

Lets get hippy.  Swan outer leg, Penguin and Frog opens the inner leg, Cobbler and Firelog for inner & outer leg. Bridge work with a block for alignment between the legs. Block under the sacrum in bridge for more leg work and a quad opener.  Rock the clock, hip side stretch other twist and folds seeing what needs to be worked on.

Aromatherapy tonight will be Relaxation Blend from Yoga Flow Oils thanks Susan

Wild Things, Crows, Happy Baby ?? Tues

Hamstrings, Hip Openers, Standing Strength, Upper Body Strength

What is going on tonight in class…. wild things, crows, happy babies.  Yes its is a night of legs, hips and arms.. something for everyone.

Pranayama tonight Dirgha and Box Breath.

Moving right up to standing. Legs, legs, legs will be found tonight.  Lunge a deep lunge both knees bent at 90 degrees pulsing this to feel the heat build slowly in the large muscles of the legs.  Chair ~~ rising knee to chest balance~~ Warrior III~~ Knee to Chest Balance ~~ Warrior II ~~ sets of 3 work for me.  Chair coming up on toes hold and breathe.  That famous other side……. 

Sun Salutes with Down Dog, Wild Thing and Belly of the Dragon,  Dolphin, Dolphin walking the plank, Jumping to Crow, Crow Balance.  As always there is the Cobra’s, Upward Facing Dogs to add to our animal pack tonight.

Reclined Trees, Cobblers (not the fruit kind), Butterflies, Spiders, Happy Babies will close out the class tonight.

Aromatherapy tonight  Relaxing Blend from Yoga Flow Oils  thank you Susan.

Legs & Hips Warm, Fluid & OpenTues

Hamstrings, Hip Openers, Yoga Moves

Pranayama  Dirgha & Nadi Shodhana.

Spinal Rolls, Sun Salutations to warm up the body. Standing strength is mixed into the Salutations tonight to add a flowing movement to the postures. No long holds tonight in standing postures.

The longer holds are in the hip openers.  Swan with Swan bows to stretch the outer leg. Runner & extended leg stretch using blocks really opens the hip flexor as well as the hamstrings.

Applying aromatherapy early tonight before heading to the floor for supine leg stretches with a strap. My hope is the aromatherapy will allow the inward focus to come more easily so the stretches can be deep and mindful.

Hip Side Stretch, a nice twist before Happy Baby and Cradle (4 square stretch). Supine wide leg stretch for the inner thighs then releasing to Reclined Cobbler.

Savasana     The hips & hamstrings should be warm and open now allow the heart and mind to do the same.

Aromatherapy tonight is Yoga Nidra by Yoga Flow Oils ~~ Thanks Susan

Tomorrow your journey through the world should be fluid with the opening of the hips and legs. This is my wish for all of you.   Namaste  ~~~~

Getting ready for Kaliji Mon

Hip Openers, Spinal Flows

Wow Kaliji the founder of Tri Yoga is coming to Yoga 4 All in Seminole Fl April 9-11, 2010.  Check website www.Yoga4All.com or www.TriYoga.com to register. To get our flows ready for this workshop the next few weeks will be devoted to refining the movements of the standard flows that are done in most classes.

Tonight’s focus is Natural Seat to Cat, Cat to Extended Child and back to Cat, Cat Rolls, Mountain Heel press,  Cat ~ Mountain~ Cat,  Natural Seat to Runner with blocks,  Mountain to Runner with blocks, Mountain ~ Runner~ Earthtouch. If there is time Mountain ~ Swan ~ Swan Bows ~ Swan ~ Mountain.

Ending with Leg Stretch, Spider, Reclined Butterfly, Reclined Twist to Tranquility

Aromatherapy tonight is Open Heart by Yoga Flow Oils~~ thanks Susan

Spinal flows, dancing with Shiva, hip openers Thurs

Hip Openers, Standing Strength, Toe Stretch, Yoga Moves

Subbing for Erin tonight.   It is a wild a rainy evening ahead,  thank you all for coming out this evening.

Starting with breath work and moving into Sun Salutations to warm up the body adding a few Kapotasana’s in there to open the hips.  Then to open those feet toe stretch with balance, I just love this new move and hope you all do too.

Gentle wave spinal work to allow the spinal discs to open and get juicy.

Supine hip openers.  Cat-Cat flow for our dental floss for the spine then back to standing.

Dancing Shiva Balance, remembering to breathe deep no holding.

Standing strength to ground us in this Vata wild weather.  Wide leg forward fold be mindful of too much stretch to the attachment of the hamstring to the pelvis.  Don’t “sit back” into the stretch. Placement of the hips in the same plane as the ankles insures that the whole hamstring gets the stretch. To the floor for twists and forward folds.

Yummy part now is the Aromatherapy tonights blend will be Relaxation Blend from Yoga Flow Oils  Thanks Susan.

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 →