Posts Tagged ‘yoga poses’
Posted by terrepruitt on November 8, 2021
In 2014 I wrote a post about a list of favorite poses and how I wanted to do them everyday. I also mentioned how I would post further about them. Well, neither happened. I know I didn’t do the poses everyday and I can’t find that I made any additional posts except the one I just posted recently primarily to assist my students in learning the Half Moon Pose which was on my list but not in that post. This post along with the next few are just to add to the post from 2014 and the posts about the poses.
In the 2014, Working On My Favorite Yoga Poses, I mentioned the gate pose. I sometimes see it called Crossed Gate. Parighasana or Gate pose is an intense side stretch done on one knee that tends to also make it a balance pose. It may be that when thinking of balance poses we think standing and primarily on one foot, well since the body is stretching over to one side which also requires the engagement of muscles that we use to balance, it is somewhat of a balance pose. There may be a smidge of clicking involved for you to get the whole picture (for instructions on how to do it click Finding Balance In The Gate) but I wanted to post an actual picture as I decided it may be helpful in doing the pose.
Also mentioned in my 2014 post is Locust (Salabhasana). This is a prone pose (lying on the belly) that is excellent at engaging many muscles on the back side of the body (trapezius, deltoids, triceps, lats, erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings, and calf muscles). It is back bend, that for many people is small, like with all poses everyone does it different and it can be bigger, but as with all back bends it opens the front of the body. I prefer to do it with my arms behind me palms up and my feet together. As with all the asana there are many variations and modifications that can be done. I still think of it as “Icky Name, Great Pose” (where you can click for instructions). I figure a picture might be helpful.
Do you include either of these poses in your practice?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: asana, back body muscles, delts, favorite poses, Gate, glutes, Half Moon Posed, lats, locust, Parighasana, Salabhasana, traps, triceps, Working on poses, yoga poses, Yoga Practice | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 27, 2020
Last week I asked my Tuesday yoga class if anyone would be interested in trying a yoga pose a day. I clarified that the idea was for me to just text or e-mail a pose a day. There wouldn’t be any instructions or anything. I asked them to either text or e-mail me if they wanted to participate and that I would send the pose the way they requested. A few of them were interested. So the following day I sent out a pose. Then I realized that I had written a post on a few poses and I thought that I could include that in the text and e-mail just to get us started. I would send the link with the first few. I hadn’t looked up all of the posts that I had written regarding asana but I found a back bend post that had links to posts about back bends so I could include those links with the text/e-mail. I haven’t posted about a lot of poses, but tonight I did look through to see what I had done. We will have a few more poses that can have posts attached to them, but the idea was just to send out a quick idea, “Hey, today do xxxx.” I also extended the invitation to my Thursday yoga class. It has been fun so far.
We haven’t even been doing it a week. I am e-mailing some people and texting some people. Some of us are communicating about it. I just thought it would be fun and it is turning out that way.
So far we have done:
01.22.20 – Bound Angle
01.23.20 – Upward Salute (Urdhva Hastasana)
01.24.20 – Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
01.25.20 – Sphinx Pose (Salamba Bhujangasana)
01.26.20 – Cobra (Bhujangasana)
01.27.20 – Upward dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)
01.28.20 – Stork (oh, this is a spoiler 🙂 )
I had been tweeting it, but not all posts have a picture so my gravatar of me and Nessa was being posted so I stopped tweeting because I hadn’t noticed the way to keep that from posting. I was using #AYogaPoseADay. Tweeting could be something I keep up with now that I see I CAN keep the picture from posting by deleting the preview. I mean Nessa is a cutie, but I understand it gets annoying when every tweet has a picture of her and I. And, as I said, not every #AYogaPoseADay will have a post so that will be good.
I love finding simple ways outside of the class to connect with my students (or others, if you want to join us please do. You can follow me on twitter or asked to have the #AYogaPoseADay e-mailed to you).
The idea is just for me to suggest a pose a day . . . perhaps it is all you do or perhaps it gets adding into the practice you have. The instruction we decided upon was 30 seconds or four breaths. I actually suggested that the students time their breaths just to have an idea of how many breaths they do in 30 seconds or how long four breaths is for them. Then you can play with it from there.
Is there something that you do daily? A daily practice that you have?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: asana, Bound Angle, cobra, Cypress Community Center, locust pose, Pose, Sphinx, Stork, Twitter, Upward dog, Upward Salute, Willow Glen Community Center, Yoga class, yoga poses | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 4, 2019
I believe I have written before about how yoga is somewhat confusing because the asana seem to have different names. I can go to look up an asana and a completely different asana will come up than the one I was thinking of because the names get all wonky. I used to get very frustrated with that, but now I understand that the Sanskrit language originally was just a verbal language. And we all know how that works . . . if you haven’t ever actually played “Telephone” you probably have at least heard how it goes. Where one person tells a story and it gets repeated down the line and then the last person says what they heard and more often than not – depending on how many people the story went through – it is not what it started out to be. Imagine that with a language. And then once they did start writing it down it probably got changed through that process. And THEN there is the process of translation. We know what happens there, right? Things get lost in translation. Well, I have a handful of yoga books and if you were to look at them you will see writing in every one noting what the “actual” name of the pose is. Which is really me just having picked one of the many names and deciding to use it. Not ALL poses have multiple names, but many do. Well, I mention all that because one of the books I have I thought of recently when one of my students asked about a book of poses.
This book came to mind first because I think of it as a simple book. I found it easy to find poses. I like that there are cartoon characters drawn, instead of pictures of people posing. I really like that there is a “Pose At A Glance” page in the back that is just stick figures. So when you want to quickly get the name of a pose you can just flip to that and then look at the reference and then you have it. I never actually used the book as it was intended or at least as one of the intended ways for it to be used.
The book is separated into seven categories (sexy, calm, energy, restore, cleanse, sanity, and ragtime) and has poses that can help with each category in that section. In the front of each section there is even three sequences that one can do to gain benefits to help with that specific category.
For example in the sexy category some of the poses are: Chair, Warrior II, Staff, revolved triangle, and Cow Face Pose. The sequences in the beginning of that section contain some of those poses. So you can pick some of your favorite poses from the sexy category section and do them or you can do one (or more) of the sequences in the front of the section. Of course, the way to use the book is almost endless, just like any yoga book.
The book is Yoga to the Rescue by Amy Luwis and was originally published in 2007. It is a cute book. Just like with any yoga book, the names of the poses might be different from what you learned and even some of the instructions might be different, too. But I think it is a nice little easy-to-follow-quick-to-get-you-started book. If you really get interested in yoga then you will end up wanting more than this book provides, but it is like a yoga-starter book.
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: Amy Luwis, asana, Pose at a Glance, stick figure poses, yoga book, yoga poses, Yoga to the Rescue | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 21, 2018
There are so many different ways to practice yoga. I like to try different things aside from taking classes. I have applications on my devices, I’ve moved along with Youtube videos, I have created my own routines, I have just done what comes to mind, and I have practiced other ways. I recently purchased Yoga Dice. It is a fun way to do some poses. There are so many ways you can use the dice. Each dice has five poses and their related chakra on it. There are seven dice which you can just shake in the tub then roll out.
I have been rolling out all the dice and then arranging them in the order I want to do each pose. Then I do all the poses then roll them again. I do this several times to end up with an hours worth of “routine.” When it lands on the chakra I just roll that dice again so it will be on a pose.
In addition to the poses on each dice being related to a chakra the poses are also split up into types of poses. So one dice is Sun Salutation Poses, one is standing poses, one is balancing poses, one is seated, one is forward bends, one is back bends, and one is core poses. So you could decide to just do one or two types of poses and only roll those dice. You could also decide which dice to roll uses the chakra.
Really, there are so many ways to use the dice it is quite fun. It is just another way to put together poses to get a yoga workout in, another way to practice. I like to use the dice because then I don’t really have to think about what poses to do. The way I have been doing it there is a little thinking as I need to arrange the dice that I have rolled into a sequence that makes sense for me, but you don’t even really have to do that if you want.
As I said, there are so many ways to practice yoga it is up to you if these dice would be something you would like to do. I like it as it is just another way to practice. I will probably end up posting again about how to use these dice because the possibilities just seem endless.
Can you imagine all the ways you can use this dice?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: chakra poses, roll a yoga routine, yoga dice, yoga poses, Yoga Practice | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 12, 2018
There are standing yoga poses, there are sitting yoga poses, there are reclined yoga poses, there are prone yoga poses, and there are some yoga poses that require the person to be on their knees. There are a lot of reasons being on one’s knees might be uncomfortable. Sometimes people just fold up their yoga mat to give them extra cushion under their knees. Some people have opted to bring in additional cushions and pads to put under their knees. Recently one of my students discovered this gardener’s knee cushion. She purchased it on sale at Orchard’s Supply. She bought it but wasn’t sure it would work, but then after she tried it, she told everyone else about it and they all came back the next week with one.
If not being comfortable on your knees keeps you from doing yoga, perhaps getting a gardener’s cushion could help. Now there is a different between “being uncomfortable” on your knees and “not be able to be” on your knees. I know there are knees out there that people are just not able to be on. If that is the case then a cushion is not going to help. This post and suggestion is just for the people with basically healthy knees that need a little cushion.
This cushion is a Laura Ashley cushion but I don’t see it on her website, but I bet there are other ones out there that are like this one. It is covered in neoprene (the stuff wetsuits are made with) or something like it and it feels more comparable to a memory foam cushion then just foam or rubber. Some pads are made of form or cushion-y rubber, but this is different. So, if you are in the market for a cushion for your knees to use in yoga you might want to look into gardeners’ knee pad/cushion. Then you can do yoga and your knees will thank you along with the rest of your body.
Do you like cushion under your knees during yoga?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: gardener's knee pad, gardening knee cushion, kind to your knees, Laura Ashley, yoga mat, yoga poses | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 22, 2017
This is a snapshot of chapter one verse eleven in “An Explanation of Hatha Yoga” or The Hatha Yoga Pradipika. I believe that this is true. I believe that it was originally meant for men that wanted to give up everything and JUST practice yoga. That would be – to me – the only explanation as to how some of the poses described and some of the “states of being” described could be achieved. That is why yoga used to – and actually still does (some poses or things) – seem so impossible to do. A lot of the asana are not just things you can pop into when you practice once a week. Hatha Yoga was also shared with royalty . . . again, what did they have to do, but sit around and work their bodies into these poses that promised longevity and enlightenment?
Like many things, in order to make it somewhat possible for the average person, it has morphed over the centuries. It has become – for many, not all – a form of exercise. Still with many poses that cannot be achieved with a once-a-week practice. So I always ask my students to practice ahimsa, where they are gentle with themselves and remember that they might not be able to get into the pose and look like the picture in Yoga Journal because they are just practicing once, twice, or even three times a week (or whatever). They are not devoting their life to it. So I just remind them to do the best they can today and to enjoy what they are receiving.
This post started out as a Friday Photo even though this photo should have actually gone along with my post Yoga Was Supposed To Be A Secret. But when I popped over to that post to remind myself about what exactly I wrote, I was reminded of the current trend in yoga that I am hearing about. Goat yoga. Have you heard about that? It is somewhat like doing yoga at a cat cafe or adoption lounge, except with goats.
“Regular” (whichever type is being offered) yoga classes are held in the presence of goats. And the goats just mill around. Could be they hop on you or not. When I looked it up just now two sites came up and it looks as if the places the sites are about do yoga outside. (One says that is what actually was the motivation for their goat yoga classes.) But the other stories I had seen were inside. I saw a story where the yoga was being done in a barn and another one where it was a room because the goats (they were kids) were hopping all over and their hooves were making clickety-clack noises on the floor. Seems as if there are several different places that it is done. It is really popular.
I am not sure that I would want to have that be a part of my regular practice, but I might try it once. I like the idea of cats better as I don’t think they are as heavy and rowdy as goats. But . . . . I don’t know . . .
What do you think? What is your take on Hatha Yoga starting off as being a secret? Would you be interested in doing yoga around a herd of goats?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: An Explanation of Hatha Yoga, asana, cat cafe, Friday Photo, Goat yoga, Hatha yoga, practice yoga, Secret To Goats, snapshot, The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Yoga Journal, yoga poses, yoga trend, yoga with cats | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 5, 2017
Ah, I think this is the perfect time to post this picture since I just went to a workshop at Mind Body Zone. I really need to get back to the studio for yoga regularly. This is a wall in the studio. That is one thing that is kind of a misfortune in the places that I teach yoga, there is no wall space. Well, I shouldn’t say NO wall space, I should say ENOUGH wall space. There is not enough wall space for each student in the class to have a spot so we can use the wall. That is a great thing about a studio that is just for yoga, the ones I have been to have a lot of wall space because using the wall can be a great tool. The wall can be just like a prop. It can really help in some poses. It can definitely help you sense the poses in a different way!
Here I am sharing a photo of the wall for my latest Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Mind Body Zone, teaching yoga, Yoga class, yoga poses, yoga props, yoga student, yoga studio | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 1, 2017
So this past Sunday I took a workshop at Mind Body Zone yoga studio in Fremont that was called Core Release and Restore™. This is the second time I have attended this workshop. It was so fascinating to me the first time I just had to do it again. It is very educational. The first part of the workshop is lecture, then the second part we move. The presenter Joanne Varni first talks about the psoas muscle. She sets the stage for the movement part of the class. She first explains what type of muscle it is and what it should be like in a healthy state. She talks about how it is a muscles that is primal and instinctive, how it works with our brain and nervous system. She explains how, because of that, it is hugely affected on the levels of BMES (Body/physical, Mind/brain, Emotional, and Spirit/energetic). She clarifies how stress (all types) affect this muscle. Then she instructs us through movements that can help bring some relief to our psoas and iliopsoas muscles.
One technique she shares is neurogenic tremoring. It is one of the oddest things I have ever experienced. First we went through some asana to specifically slightly fatigue our legs and affect the psoas. Some of the poses could be used on their own to help release the psoas. Then we did Supta Baddha Konasana with our heels as close to our middle as we could get them. We stayed there for a little while. Then we brought our knees in, toward each other, one inch at a time over a long period of time. We would bring them in an inch and then hold it there. Then closed them by another inch and hold it. This caused a tremor response in the legs. Some people can continue to do so until their feet are flat on the ground, yet the tremors are still happening.
This was my second time doing it, so it was weird, but since I was expecting it, it wasn’t as odd as the first time. But this is what I wrote after the first time: “It was sooooo weird. My legs were just moving on their own with no sensation. It was so odd. I mean, I have had my limbs shake from being weak or fatigued while I was doing something and that has a sensation (to me), but this was just waves of tremors. Like an earthquake. It was so odd. Fascinating. Yeah! That’s it. REALLY fascinating!”
Joanne specializes in helping those with trauma (including PTSD) and has attended and completed her Level II certification in TRE™ (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) with Dr. David Bercelli. She is also certified as TSY teacher (Trauma Sensitive Yoga).
Keep in mind that this is called both Trauma Release and Tension Release. So not everyone has trauma necessarily, but we all pretty much have tension. Even it we don’t have stress, because of our lifestyles (in that we sit in chairs) we have tension in our psoas and iliopsoas muscles. So while Joannes does not feel these muscles needs to be strengthened she does feel they need to be released and lengthened.
If you want to see a video example of the TRE™ (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises), you can click here and go to Joanne’s site where she has a video.
It is so very fascinating how our bodies hold and store tension and trauma. I would recommend this class to anyone that is interested in helping their body cope with the stresses of living in our bodies.
Have you ever heard of this technique before? Have you experienced this technique before?
Posted in Misc, Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: asansa, BMES, butterfly pose, Core Release and Restore, Joanne Varni, Mind Body Zone, neurogenic tremoring, psoas, release tremors, Supta Baddha Konasana, tension release, TRE, Yoga, yoga poses, yoga studio | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 30, 2016
I teach two gentle yoga classes. Gentle yoga doesn’t necessarily mean beginner yoga. It can if the class is a beginner yoga class, but “gentle” doesn’t mean beginner. The way I make the yoga class gentle is we don’t hold the poses for a long time. We also don’t flow through a long combination of poses. I usually do a sequence of two, three poses at the most, but the class is not a flow. In my two regularly scheduled gentle yoga classes we actually just stop and get down (or stop and get up) because I feel that being able to get up off of the floor is very important. We don’t use downward facing dog, forward folds, planks, or poses to get down and up. We go at a comfortable pace slowly moving through poses. The classes are not beginner classes because I have been teaching some of the same students for years. So they are not beginners. They know many poses and they know what their bodies should be doing in those poses, but they like to do yoga gently. But we still need to add some challenge to some of the poses. So, for a small group of students in my gentle yoga classes we have added a challenge to one of the poses that they have down. 
For those that can balance fine, we have added the challenge of closing our eyes.
We are still doing the pose, but we close our eyes to add to the pose. Just the simple act of closing our eyes causes us to get a little wobbly and therefore work more at standing upright. Just like with our eyes open one side is easier than the other. But this simple act gives the pose a new spin.
The inner ear plays a huge role in our balance, but so do our eyes. Once we take vision out of the equation it makes balancing more challenging. I believe practicing balancing with our eyes closed will allow us to get better at it over time. While we are practicing we will be using those stabilizing muscles and that will help us be better balanced. Just as practicing balance with your eyes open.
This is a fun thing to add to the balance practice because, as I said, my students can do this pose well, so it is kind of surprise that just closing one’s eyes makes it as if they can’t do the pose. There are some “whoas” and “what the . . ” and giggles because it is just so funny that a pose we can do all of a sudden we can’t do it (as well).
For now we are only closing our eyes when doing the Stork pose, but once we have that down AND have more stability in some of our other balances poses we will add “eyes closed” to them.
So if you come to one of my regularly scheduled yoga classes you might experience this. If you come to one I am subbing, I usually do things a little differently. That is one thing that is so great about teaching yoga, it can be adjusted and modified so it is not always the same. With the adjustments and modifications, hopefully, they are helping you improve your stability, flexibility, and strength. Sometimes all it takes is something so simple as closing your eyes.
Did you try it? Just standing with your eyes closed? How about standing on one leg with your eyes closed?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: add a challenge, Balance Pose, beginner classes, Closing your eyes, flexibility, gentle yoga, practice stability, stabilizing muscles, Stork Pose, strength, yoga classes, yoga poses, yoga teacher | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 9, 2016
Currently I am lucky enough to teach yoga classes and a stretch class. And I say “lucky” because I was asked to do these classes but they can be cancelled at any time. Class attendance needs to stay up or the classes can get cancelled. This is the case with pretty much any type of exercise class at any type of place . . . a gym, a club, a parks and recs department, etc. Ok, but where I am actually going with this post is: people ask me all the time what the difference is between yoga and stretch. Well, my first thought is my post “More To Yoga Than Just Asana,” but that would only help to explain what yoga is and not what we do in a stretch class. Because I teach gentle yoga classes people are curious about the difference. It makes sense since they seem the same, but there are differences. In addition to breathing yoga is different from stretch by a few points.
In regards to the way I do my gentle yoga and my stretch classes here are some of the differences:
—In yoga we work on more than just flexibility, we also work on balance and strength. In stretch we focus mainly on STRETCHING muscles and, to a lesser extent, connective tissue. We are not working either in a stabilizing or strengthening capacity.
—The poses in yoga have names, at least two, the English name and a Sanskrit name. In stretch my instruction is usually something like, “move your arm here or there” as I show them how to get into the stretch. Sometimes I do refer to an asana by name that is similar because many of the students do take yoga also, so they know what to do when I say the name of a pose.
—Some people “can’t do” yoga, but they CAN stretch. 🙂 Seriously, invite someone to a yoga class and they will say, “I can’t do yoga, I’m not flexible enough.” Invite them to a stretch class and they say, “Oh! I need to stretch.”
—With yoga, people seem to want to “get” somewhere. They want to be able to “do” a specific pose. With stretching, even though they might be able to bend deeper or more fully as time goes on, there doesn’t seem to be the urge or need to “get there”. With stretch the journey seems more important than the destination. Although it really is supposed to be the same way for yoga.
Another question I am always asked is, “Are you on the floor the whole hour?” No, but we don’t go up and down as much as in my gentle yoga classes. In both my gentle yoga classes and my stretch classes we do poses/stretches standing up and on the floor.
Stretching is so good for you. We all should be doing it, even if we don’t weight train or run marathons, it is really good to stretch the muscles. But many of us need a class, something we are committed to doing in order to actually take the time to stretch. I am happy to help in that area and teach a class.
Do you stretch?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: balance, flexibility, More To Yoga Than Just Asana, muscle stretching, strength, stretch class, stretching exercises, Yoga class, yoga poses | 5 Comments »
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