On the weekend I attended a yoga workshop and was reminded of some of the yoga basics. Here they are:

Whenever doing a pose be aware of the “foundation”. Without a strong foundation the pose will not achieve its full beneficial effect and cannot be done in the way it is intended to.

For example in dog pose the foundation are both hands and both feet. The dog pose is based on those four points of support – so they need to be placed properly and have strength. In some poses only the feet are used as the foundation. For inverted poses the foundation is different again.

There are two energies at work:
1. Pressing down into the foundation of the pose is “earthing” or “grounding” us.
2. The energy that returns from the earth upwards is “rebounding”.
Try and become aware of those two opposing energies next time you do your practice.

The above are all important reasons why we never should rush into a pose, why it is so important to get the “grounding” right first. When you think about it, this applies to everything else in life too, without solid grounding or foundation things, projects or even human beings soon run into difficulties.

The other important part of every pose is the breath. Quite often there is general confusion when we should exhale and when to inhale. Just a reminder: all yoga breathing is done through the nose unless otherwise specified.

The best rule to follow for breathing is:
Going away from gravity (meaning upwards, opening up, stretching up, lifiting up) – INHALE.

Going towards gravity (bending down, bending forward, curling in) – EXHALE.

Happy practice, till next time.

Connie,
Your Yoga Partner
from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

A bit of my Flexibility History – to encourage YOU to join a class!

I am not naturally flexible and I had to earn every bit of flexibility I got. I also was never a “sporty” person. There are memories ofcoming last in swimming, being a very slow runner and crashing into various sporting implements and injuring myself quite badly. I remember falling off balance beams, never being able to do a backward roll and not even being able to do a nice forward roll.

I hated sport – every type, every facet of it. Eventually I did aerobics, lots of it, and it got me fit-but after a while the high impact style taught back in the early 80’s took its toll! This is how my yoga journey started.

Read all about it in My Yoga Timeline.

I never was one of these perfect “Super Yogis”. I love watching them, I admire them. Their life is yoga. Hours of it every day. Yoga has been part of my life for a very long time but it has never been my life.