April Theme: Yoga for Zoom Life
This month we are turning up the flame a little bit. As we move into Spring, we stoke our inner fire and cultivate strength, flow, and an unshakeable connection to the steady Ujjayi Breath. Week 1 we will work to open up some of the slouch of a closed chest and shoulders, overstretched upper back, and forward head placement of sitting in front of our zoom screens. Week 2 we will open the heart center and reconnect to our own intrinsic joy. Week 3 we will mobilize the abdomen and free the grip of fear/flight/freeze from the belly so we can step into our power. And week 4 we will move through a good old fashioned no frills power flow to feel our tenacity and fluidity as movers - expect to move, strengthen, lengthen, and melt into a blissfully exhausted savasana.
All the practices this month incorporate common issues I have heard and seen in students recently who are spending more time at home, more time in front of the screen. They will address the physical body and the root emotional and spiritual energies around these physical sites of blockage, stagnation, or congestion in the body. They will offer concrete tools and techniques you can call on over and over as you learn to identify the signs that these areas in your body might need some TLC, some slow deep breaths, and some strengthening and opening.
4/4/21
The De-stress sesh: Unwinding tension from neck, chest, and shoulders
More than ever I hear students complaining of upper back and neck tension and tension headaches. When we learn how to strengthen the upper back and open the chest of the shoulders we can begin to see this as a three-dimensional pattern that is not so simple as “getting a backrub” or stretching one spot. We need to build scaffolding with our strength work to hold up that open lifted posture. And when we sit up with a lifted heart, research shows we feel better energy we breathe better and our mood improves.
4/11/21
Front Body Opening: Quads, hip flexors, thoracic spine breath of joy
From Tias Little, Yoga of the Subtle Body
More than ever I hear students with lower back pain. When we restore our ground floor and learn to move from our pelvis, untuck the tailbone, breathe properly, open the hip flexors, spark connection to low core strength, and enliven the muladhara, much of this lower back pain can fade away.
4/18/21
Gut motility: twists, compression, core, and more
More than ever I hear students feeling they are stuck, stagnant, it is hard to commit to a routine. So much has changed in the past year and so many are holding on to the past. This stagnation can often be connected to stagnation at the seat of the fire element, manipura, the belly center. When we sit all day our digestive organs don’t work as well. Twists, squats, compression, and core can help stoke your fire and get things moving.
4/25/21
Power Flow: a no frills practice to reconnect you to your spark, get sweaty, grounded, strong, and spacious
More than ever I hear students talk about the distractions of maintaining a home practice: pets, phones, kids, housework all seem to call you away from your mat. A power flow practice is an excellent way to absorb all attention, imagination, and effort to the practice so there is no space for the mind to wander. By taming the monkey mind through the purifying fire (tapas) of the practice we can relax more fully into stillness by the time the final savasana arrives.