Upward Facing Dog – Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana In the previous position your exhaled and jumped your feet back and lowered down to the floor. In this position, which is a strong back bend, you inhale lift the shoulders up towards the ceiling straighten your arms, leaving your hips near the floor the top of your […]
Chatarunga Dandasana In the previous position your inhaled and lifted the chest and head from your thighs. In this position you exhale jump back to high plank lower down towards the floor and hover above the floor and your gaze is down the nose towards the floor How to do it If your hands were […]
Lift Head and Chest In the previous position you exhaled, folded forward, lowered your torso towards your thighs and brought your hands to the floor beside your feet. This position, Lift Chest and Head, which is the third position of the Sun Salute A series, is a mild back bend. You are going to: Inhale […]
Uttanasana (standing forward bend) In the previous position you are standing tall with your arms up over your head. Uttanasana, the second position of the Sun Salute A series, is a strong forward bend. You are going to: Exhale fold forward bring the hands to the floor beside your feet and gaze down the nose […]
Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Hand posture) This is the first posture of the Sun Salute series. It is a mild back bend. How to do it Begin with Tadasana (Mountain pose). Your arms are resting at the side of your body, your palms facing inwards towards the body and the thumbs pointing forward. The shoulders are […]
Uddiyana Bandha Bandhas are muscle locks. Bandhas help to provide energy to your practice and make your movements lighter. Uddiyana Bandha is a one of the three Bandhas that are used in Ashtanga yoga. You engage Uddiyana Bandha by bring some tension to the lower abdomen. Put your thumb in your navel and rest your […]
This is the beginning of a series of articles covering the two Sun Salutes that you do in the Ashtanga yoga practice. Sun Salute A and Sun Salute B are done at the start of every Ashtanga Yoga practice. The articles were written with the person new to yoga in mind. I have attempted to […]
Tadasana (Mountain Pose) Tadasana is one of the few asanas that has two names. It is also called Samasthiti. Tadasana is Sanskrit for “Mountain pose” and Samasthiti is Sanskrit for “Equal Standing”. Samasthiti is a command to come to Equal Standing. You accomplish this command by standing in Tadasana. A quick overview Stand tall with […]
Alice, who is just starting to practice yoga, asked me the other day “Why do we do so many Sun Salutes in an Ashtanga yoga class?” She also asked “Why are there two types of Sun Salutes?” She said that doing all of those Sun Salutes was really challenging and that sometimes she needed to […]
Alice came to me the other day with a problem. She had arrived early for a class and setup her mat in the practice space waiting for the class to start and chatting with some of the other students. Suddenly a person approached her and said that Alice was in her spot and that Alice […]
