Area Yoga Brooklyn

Ustrasana (Camel Pose)

We’re into the dog-days of summer, when the temperature outside is practically equal to our body’s natural temperature — the perfect time to juicy backbends, like Ustrasana.

Teacher Tina in Ustrasana

Getting In: Be sure you are quite warm before doing this pose; ustrasana is an excellent pose for the end of your practice. Start standing on your knees and shins, with your toes tucked under. You can stand on a blanket or double mat if your knees are sensitive to stand on. Your knees should be hip distance apart; check behind you to make sure your feet are hip distance apart as well. Take your hands to a prayer at your heart. Draw your shoulder blades towards each other and allow them to slip down your spine. Broaden across the front your chest and begin to direct your sternum and heart space toward the sky. Every inhale lifts your heart higher and every exhale holds you suspended as you begin to move your upper chest up and over your shoulder blades. Reach one hand for your heel and then the other. Move the fronts of your hips and thighs forward. Either drop your head or keep looking forward. Rise back to stand. Rest in rock pose (seated on your shins). Try the pose again, but with the tops of your feet flat on the floor.

Lining Up: Connect your mind and weight into your feet, legs, and knees to give yourself a sturdy base. To broaden your lower back, energetically move your thighs toward each other, as if you held a block between your thighs. Continue to move your thighs forward, looking to balance your pelvis directly above your knees. Notice if you are pushing forward by squeezing your butt, and instead open forward by releasing your tail down and moving the stretch into your front body — as if your body was being drawn forward with magnets. Keep your breath even, yet hug your ribs in as you crawl out of the sides of your waist and put more distance between your pelvis and your ribcage. Your breath inflates your upper body, to encourage the backbend to move into your upper back. Continue to slip your shoulder blades down your back to provide a surface for your heart to rest and offer your heart to the heavens. Ensure your throat is open to allow your breath to move freely by taking the tops of your shoulders away from your ears. Allow your head to drip from your spine.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons, taken by John O'Neill

Tuning In: Though this is a backbend, you are largely stretching your quadriceps, hip flexors, and abdomen, while encouraging flexibility in your spine and openness in your shoulders. Ustrasana means “camel pose,”  and we all know that camels store precious water and moisture in their bodies to survive in the scorching heat of the desert. Can you find your inner reserves, your inner fluidity, to open into this pose and draw the juice of your being to the surface? Imagine that you are pealing a mango as you shed layers of heart and body to find the supple and juicy pose. Or perhaps you are cracking open a coconut to spill the water from inside. When you’re fully in ustrasana, imagine that your heart’s water is pouring over you in all directions.

I’m always a bit wary when two seemingly unrelated things are combined to make one word.  The slew of celebrity couple pet names (for example Brangelina for Brad and Angelina and Speidi for Spencer and Heidi Pratt) never caught on with me, and I absolutely abhor any iteration of combined languages (Spanglish, Franglish, you get the picture).  When I saw that Area Yoga was offering a new Yogalates class, I was more than a bit skeptical.  After attending the first class, and despite my doubts, it seems that this portmanteau is one worth checking out.

That’s not to say this class was especially easy for me.  I found it to be a challenge, and it’s probably because I used to be one of those gym disciples:  5 days a week, hard cardio, 20 minutes of abdominal workouts.  I’m used to pushing my body to the limit physically – kicking the crap out of it every day just to start over the next morning.  For me, working out was about punishment – and all of my negative energy was felt in my workout.  At yesterday’s class, that simply wasn’t an option.

Yogalates is most definitely a combination of Yoga and Pilates – as the name would suggest.  This isn’t a hard-core ab work out.  Instead you work with your body, utilizing breath to compliment your bodies natural movements while also focusing on core strength and toning.  Candice, the class’s instructor gives focus to each of the abdominal areas:  the pelvic floor and the four main abdominal muscles.  You’ll get a tone for that little pooch over your jeans and also trim some of those lovehandles that are especially pesky in swimsuit season.

Probably because the definition of an ab workout is so hard-wired in my brain, the movements and exercises didn’t come easily for me.  Luckily, Candace was there to show the class how to do each move and to correct students as we moved along in the class.  Just as I reached frustration’s breaking point, we moved on to the more classic yoga movements to close out the class.  As we progressed through the movements, Candace was sure to stretch every muscle we utilized – meaning I was able to move today (a nice surprise for someone who’s used to waking frozen the day after a hard workout)!

If your skeptical, as I was, I suggest you give Yogalates a try.  I can’t say I’m completely a convert, but I do notice a difference in my core strength already.  I’ll be back next week to give it another shot as well!