02
Nov

Pose for November: Pavritta Trikonasana (Rotated Triangle)

author: Area Yogini       category: Classes, Mats & Props, Pose of the Month, Yoga

Pavritta Trikonasana (Rotated Triangle)

The arrival of November signals an emotional and spiritual turning inwards as we examine our lives to appreciate what we are most grateful for. To inspire your sense of gratitude, practice seeing things from a different and challenging point of view. Practice pavritta trikonasana (rotated triangle).
 
Melinda in rotated triangle.

Melinda in rotated triangle.

Getting In: Even if you’ve done this pose dozens of times, try it with a block, as shown in the photo. Start in tadasana (mountain pose) at the front of your mat with your feet hip distance apart. Step your left foot directly behind your left hip about halfway to a low lunge. The distance between your two feet should be less than your typical warrior pose, so that you can place your back heel on the ground. Usually about 4 ft. does the trick. Place your left foot so that your toes are aimed at a 45degree angle off your mat, in the direction of the top left corner of your mat. Make sure your feet haven’t cross in line behind you and instead, place your left foot slightly to the left. (If you were to step forward, your feet would be back at hip-distance apart.) Take your hands to your hips to direct your left hip in line with your right. Begin to fold forward, hinging at your hips while directing your left hip forward and your right hip back. Either take your hands to the floor to frame your right foot or place your hands on two blocks on either side of your right foot. Whatever forward bend you are in, inhale to lift your spine slightly away from the ground and lift your lower belly up; keep this lift through your exhale to lengthen the crown of your head down the inside of your right leg toward your right big toe and soften your rib cage in toward your center. Enjoy a few breaths in the foward bend to focus on lengthening your spine. When you’re ready, use an inhale to carry your spine parallel to the floor, place your left hand (and the block, if you’re using it) slightly ahead of you, and an exhale to lift your right arm into the sky. Keep your left hand on the ground or block near your right foot (or try taking your hand to rest on top of your right foot or even to touch the ground to the outside of your foot). Be sure to practice this pose with your left foot forward, too.
 
Lining Up: Focus on balancing your weight between your two feet. Use the heel and outside edge of your back foot to roll your left upper femur bone into your hip socket while carrying your energy forward; use your right big toe and outside of your right foot to spiral your upper right femur bone into your hip socket while moving your energy back. Reconnecting your legs into your hip sockets steers your hips back to center to balance directly above the triangle of your legs. Your left hip moves forward to free your left shoulder and your right hip draws back to lengthen your right side waist. Move your kneecaps up your legs. Your feet and legs are scissoring towards each other, almost drawing the earth underneath you closed. From this strong base, reconnect with your breath: lengthen your spine when you inhale by taking your tailbone toward the space directly behind you and the crown of your head forward; twist further toward the sky when you exhale by sliding your belly button up and over your right side. Stack your arm joints from the floor up, with your left wrist directly beneath your elbow, beneath your left shoulder, beneath your right shoulder, beneath your right elbow, and right wrist, all lifting up towards your fingertips. Revolve your torso from your lower abdomen lifting away from the floor and your left shoulder moving under your rib cage to the right. As you twist deeper, you may need to adjust your left hand so it falls directly below the new placement of your left shoulder. Allow your shoulder blades to slide away from your ears. Draw your left shoulder blade towards your spine to encourage your heart even more into the twist. Smooth out the back of your neck by sliding your left ear flat against the floor forward; your right ear is open to the sky. Maybe you’ll turn your head from your ears moving together to look to your right hand.
 
Tuning In: Highly challenging pavritta trikonasana strengthens your feet and legs, stretches your hamstrings and hips, and wrings out your abdomen all the while encouraging flexibility in your spine. Twisting poses in yoga are intended to detoxify your body, much the way you wring water from a towel. As your body twists to face three different directions at once, use your breath to sooth the stretch in your legs and to soften the space between your eyebrows. Take notice of your personal reaction to this pose and how it challenges your unique body. Return your focus back to your breath to stay with the pose. Sometimes it takes a true challenge in order to see and appreciate things in a new and different way. Sometimes it takes an intense asana to truly reconnect us back to what’s most important, our breath.  
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24
Sep

Tea with Our Teachers: Anne on Restorative Yoga

author: Area Yogini       category: Classes, Health & Yoga, Mats & Props, Tea with Our Teachers, Teachers, Yoga

Here at AREA Yoga, we have a great variety of teachers from many different yoga schools and backgrounds. We seek to share our teachers’ knowledge and style with the AREA community as a whole – even if you can’t make it to each teacher’s class. “Tea with Our Teachers” is our way of fostering satsang – a forum to discuss our yoga practice.

Last month, we heard from Erin about restorative yoga. This month, Anne shares her take on the same practice of restorative yoga. Ask the same questions, and get very different answers.

Anne TaylorAY: What does “restorative yoga” mean to you?
AT: I trained in restorative yoga under the supervision of Bo Forbes PsyD, a bio-psychologist and yoga therapist who looks at restorative yoga in the context of the nervous system — i.e. as a way to cultivate balance for the body and mind. Much of my experience teaching restorative yoga has been as a tool to promote healing. I have taught restorative yoga to persons with chronic pain, immune system disorders, as well as persons with heightened or depressed nervous system functioning (anxiety, insomnia, PTSD, and depression). I see restorative yoga as an antidote to our accelerated pace of life and a way to clear the mind and learn to be comfortable with who we are.
Read the rest of this entry »

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31
Aug

Pose for September: Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)

author: Area Yogini       category: Classes, Health & Yoga, Mats & Props, Pose of the Month, Yoga

Salamba sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)

The weather is shifting and fall is on the horizon — school is starting and our biggest harvests are ripening. The extroverted days of summer are coming to a close. Take salamba sarvangasana (shoulderstand) to give in to the last heat of season and begin to turn your attention inward.

Tina demonstrates salamba sarvangasana

Tina demonstrates salamba sarvangasana

Getting In: We highly recommend you practice shoulderstand with a folded blanket under your shoulders to avoid crunching or pressing your neck into the floor. Yoga Journal has a clear photo demonstrating how to use a blanket in shoulderstand. Place a neatly folded blanket (an inch or more in thickness) at the middle of your mat. You will eventually put your shoulders on the smooth edge of the fold; take the end of your mat and fold it over the smooth fold of the blanket. Lie down, with your shoulders about an inch down from the end of the mat and blanket. Your head is off the mat and on the floor; when you touch your shoulders, you should feel an inch of mat underneath your neck. Bend your knees and place your arms along the sides of your body. Lift your knees toward your head and beyond to lift your hips. As your hips move higher, place your hands with fingers pointing towards your feet at your mid-back. With bent knees, shimmy your shoulder blades toward each other and narrow off the space between your elbows. Once your hips are directly above your shoulders, begin to lengthen your legs towards the ceiling. The higher your legs lift, the more you may want to walk your hands down your back — towards the ground and your shoulders. Take your gaze to your toes, your breathing belly, or close your eyes.

Lining Up: Lengthen your chin away from your chest to keep an open throat for steady and even breathing. Energetically move your elbows and upper arms toward each to reinforce a strong base to hold up your lifted body. Your hands press into your back to encourage your hips to move higher up off your shoulders; narrow the sides of your waist and hips to support your pelvis from the sides and underneath. Allow your abdomen to relax and move naturally with your breath. Draw your legs toward each other, as if you were standing in tadasana on the ceiling; both knees are directly facing the wall behind your head. Draw your kneecaps down your thighs. Simultaneously reach for the ceiling with your feet to ease the weight in your shoulders as gravity sends blood and energy back down into your heart center. Relax your jaw and your eyebrows to allow your head to fully release into the floor. Once you have established your alignment, you can play with variations of your legs. Be sure to also enjoy at least a minute of stillness.

Guiding light in shoulderstand
Guiding light in shoulderstand

Tuning In: Salamba sarvangasana is said to be the mother of all the poses for its healing qualities. Indeed, BKS Iyengar says in Light on Yoga that shoulderstand is, “one of the greatest boons conferred on humanity by our ancient sages.” This gentle inversion is something of an antidote to standing on our feet. Shoulderstand allows your precious blood to seep down from your feet and legs back into your heart and lungs with gravity instead of the hard work of your heart. Thus, this pose promotes better circulation, a healthy heart, and flushed glands. The end of summer often signals the end of carefree, leisurely days and the beginning of a new time for introspection and turning inward. In this pose, you cannot help but observe your own self and body. Watch your belly breathe and your legs sway without any conscious movement on your part. See your torso and legs as a candle, with a bright flame at your feet. As the flame slowly burns and the wax drips down, feel your own body melt and give in.

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31
May

What to Do with a Worn Out Yoga Mat?

author: Area Yogini       category: Mats & Props, Yoga
The Prana E.C.O. Mat

The Prana E.C.O. Mat

Looking to put your old yoga mat to good use? Most mats nowadays are biodegradable (at Area Yoga, you can buy Prana E.C.O. and natural mats, with no PVC), so if yours winds up in a landfill, at the very least, you know it won’t be there until the end of time. But even when your yoga mat has lost its grip or is worn through to the skeleton, it can still be put to good daily use.

This list of customer suggestions pulled together by Gaiam, maker of yoga mats, props, and clothes, is a good place to start. My personal favorite of the list is “grip pads to open jars.” Genius! If you fancy yourself a crafty yogi (and you own a glue gun), you can make yourself a custom pair of flip flops from your old mat.

In the past, we’ve donated our rental mats to teachers to use in our local schools. The Gaiam list reminds us of the many different communities out there who can see new uses for old mats. Recycle Your Mat, of Oregeon, also accepts mats by mail to be upcycled into new yoga props.

What’s the best use you’ve found for your old yoga mat?

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