This & That: Warm Up

With the weather here in New York vacillating between fall-is-coming and nope-wait-it’s-warm, today felt really chilly. So, it seemed like the perfect time to post a reminder on warming up in the morning.

I like to keep my apartment on the cool side, but not everyone agrees. So I’ve been sleeping in shorts and still waking up hot. Even so, the cold weather can bring stiff joints and muscles.

If it’s a little brisk in your bedroom when you wake up, try some warming postures to get the blood flowing and the joints lubricated.

This one is a little more difficult to show with just one image, so I’m going to have to explain a bit.
– Start in a relaxed forward fold with your knees bent.
– Bend your knees even more. More. More!
– Until you’re basically in a squat with your knees bent and your hands on the floor to help stabilize you. Raise your head and look up gently.
– Inhale, and straighten your legs until you come into forward fold again
– Exhale, bend your knees into squat
– Repeat as slow or as quickly as you like to wake up the body and get warm.

First image from the lovely wit and delight. The second image of forward fold is from Kat Saks Yoga.

This & That: Allergies

Even though it doesn’t really feel like spring yet here in New York (the forecast as I write this is actually for MORE snow!) I did hear a rumor that it’s officially spring. Which means eventually there could be fresh blooms, green grass between your toes and, for some folks, allergies.

Backbends help to expand the chest and lungs offering a boost in breath capacity, while inversions can help open nasal passages – the major stuffy culprit when it comes to pollen allergies.

The wheel pose seen here is gorgeous, but a nice fish pose would accomplish the same chest opening along with a little inversion, too.

And when it comes to increased breathing capacity, really, nothing beats breath work. Makes sense, right? If you have a pranayama practice, this is a great time to kick it into gear with kapalabhati and nadi sodana.

This gorgeous bouquet comes from Studio Choo. Please go see their work. It’s so amazing. And this impressive wheel pose was found at a blog called yogAnne.

This & That: Supple Hips

A practice where my hips feel open can take me from regular practitioner to yogi superstar. For me, it’s the single most transformational feeling. So I like to come at hip opening from a lot of angles – not just butterfly and happy baby.

Marichyasana, sometimes called Sage Pose (a variation is seen above), is most often used for the amazing spinal twist it requires. There is a huge benefit to twists when done intentionally (I talk about my favorite technique here).

When you start a twist with the hips, you can really isolate that movement. Sinking deep into the hip stretch, before twisting the rest of the body, can safely intensify the entire posture. Omg, you guys. What if twists were no longer about straining your neck? But instead were focused on your base, stretching and strengthening the hips? Gah! This has the potential to be a game changer.

In addition to massaging the internal organs and stretching the spine, Marichyasana can help relieve the symptoms of sciata and deeply, intensely, safely stretch the hips. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

These hips belong to Aimee Song of Song of Style and the image of marichyasana comes from a site called My Yoga Blog.

This & That: Strong Shoulders

 

When it comes to strengthening arms and shoulders, chaturanga is an easy get. But what about side plank?

Vasisthasana requires some serious shoulder stability, and if you’ve ever done it, that might be obvious to you. The entire shoulder girdle comes into play, not just the upper arms.

Over time, I’ve decided that the benefits of side plank way outweigh my resistance to practicing it. And, let me tell you, that resistance is significant.

Ok, so strong, stable shoulder girdle, strong wrists, extended legs. And because it’s a balancing posture, it strengthens the core too – requiring you to pull your belly up and in towards the spine for stability. That’s intense!

This is the kind of posture that reminds me this is a practice and the more often I do it, the less I dislike it. Because, I mean, come on. I still don’t love it.

The lovely shoulder was found here. The image of side plank comes from Looking For Om.

This & That: Love You Back

I realize all my This & That posts have been about how to counteract working at an office all day. But that’s what I do, folks! And I NEED to counteract this positioning. Desperately.

That said, low back discomfort can arise whether you’re sitting hunched over a laptop, or hauling a beautiful baby around on one hip. Malasana might be an unexpected counter pose. But the position of the hips can really help release tension in the low back.

Try to imagine your low back getting broader and wider as it releases. I am seriously craving this as type right now… Oh, boy. Pro Tip: If your heels don’t touch the ground (mine don’t) you can either balance, if that’s your thing, or place your heels on a pillow or rolled up blanket. Being able to release the heels down onto a surface will help overall release in the body.

First image found here. This image of Malasana here. I love that she’s smiling. And the Sadie Nardini image here.

This & That: Extension

We spend so much of our lives curled into a tight little ball – whether we’re hunched over reading or at the computer, or whether we take a habitually protective posture. Triangle pose (trikonasana) allows us to open up the hips, abdomen, chest and shoulders. Strengthens knees, thighs and core. It’s a good one, for when we’re ready to come out of hiding and be strong.

This strong trikonasa is from Stafford Street Yoga.

This & That: Chest Openers

…if you work like this on a computer for hours on end, you probably fall victim to poor posture. So make sure to counterbalance your Quasimodo ways with that series of backbends and chest openers…

Even with the best of intentions, the longer we type the more we round our backs. To counter this curvature, do chest opening poses like Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) and Cow Face Pose.

This post originally appeared in June. First image is from a blog called Being Brazen. And the second, of course, is Christy Turlington from Vogue way back in October 2002.

This & That: Big-Bag Shoulder

Is it the case across the whole country, or do New Yorkers suffer from Big Bag syndrome more than other metropolitan areas? Which is fine, until I start to feel that familiar pinch. It’s my traps, my rhomboids, my whole shoulder girdle objects. And then I get into down dog and -yikes-.

When it’s bad, it’s really bad. And cat cow can be a compassionate remedy. It stretches your back body and helps you gain a gentle range of motion in your shoulders and neck. Key word here being: gentle.

Until you get back to normal, I would stay away from any weight bearing on the shoulders. Sorry, headstand. Try a modified down dog, too, by using a stable chair or dresser. Here’s a helpful link I found for that modification.

NOTE: Sharp pain can be an indicator of serious injury. This is one of those times I’m going to say get yourself to a doctor to get checked out.

The street style pic is from a blog called Fashion Tent. The images for seated cat cow come from gaiam.com.

This & That: Online Gift Shopping

Enough with the mall shopping. Are we not all online all day? Clicking off of ToysRus dot com as my boss walks by? No, just me? Between work and all the joyful holiday madness, you could potentially feel a tension headache coming on. And when I say “you,” I mean of course “me.”

So unclench your jaw and try puppy pose. First of all, you can’t be stressed because puppies are adorable. But more importantly, this posture stretches your shoulders and upper back – making all sorts of room in there for tension to melt away.

The first image is from one of my favorite sites A Merry Mishap. And the second pic is from Yoga Sports Style.

This & That: Balance

Feeling a little off kilter lately? It happens to the best of us. Try nadi shodana pranayama (alternate nostril breathing) to get you back in balance.

Focused pranayama used to be a part of my daily practice, and then it kind of, well, just slipped off the radar. But this morning I really felt a pull to do some nadi shodhana. They say it is balancing and purifying. For me, I felt calmer and more focused.

First image is from The Huffington Post and the second is from Noda Yoga. And if you think I didn’t spend at least a couple of minutes watching models fall on the runway, then you are mistaken.

This & That: Warm Up

If it’s a little brisk in your bedroom when you wake up, try some warming postures to get the blood flowing and the joints lubricated.

This one is a little more difficult to show with just one image, so I’m going to have to explain a bit.
– Start in a relaxed forward fold with your knees bent.
– Bend your knees even more. More. More!
– Until you’re basically in a squat with your knees bent and your hands on the floor to help stabilize you. Raise your head and look up gently.
– Inhale, and straighten your legs until you come into forward fold again
– Exhale, bend your knees into squat
– Repeat as slow or as quickly as you like to wake up the body and get warm.

First image from the lovely wit and delight. The second image of forward fold is from Kat Saks Yoga.

This & That: Sandy

If you are feeling stressed and isolated, try something outside of your home practice. Go to a local yoga class. Even if you don’t talk to anyone, it might feel good to be with people. A community of support doesn’t have to mean best friends. Sometimes it can just mean humanity.

As things begin to return to normal for most of us after the hurricane, I’m still very much aware of those who were not so lucky. The whole event has taken its toll on me though, in terms of stress and emotions. It’s hard to admit, because I know so many people had it much worse, but I can just feel all the tension in the air. And it’s rough.

While my home practice is always a salve, I feel like being out amongst the people for a community yoga class is just what I need.

The first image is my own and the second comes from the Kripalu blog, Thrive.