Over at Ashtanga Yoga Vancouver

I wanted to get a quick post in before I got to bed.

This morning, the lovely Fiona Stang was teaching the mysore class. She usually teaches during the week, so I miss her, but it was good to have her help.

She gave me a few reminders/pointers that were super helpful:

1.) Ustrasana: Keep pushing those hips forward while lifting the chest up. Get the thighs parallel so they do the work and help open up the hip flexors. Having the knees wide works other muscles and is not as prodcutive.

Do the pendulum swing of going back more and more with each successive try. The Diver recommended this too. Time to re-incorporate it into my routine.


2.) Urdhva Dhanurasana (Backbends):
The neck: In prep, lie flat on your back, lift your legs straight up with toes upward. Get your neck in state of flexion by raising your head vertebrae by vertabrae. It's like an ab crunch.

The arms: Placing the hands in prep for backbends, keep the arms tight in the shoulder sockets. Fiona said you can do it yourself, but it's better if someone helps you.

The feet: Then place your feet on the ground. You can raise your heels as you come up on your toes and roll up to your backbend.

These tips were really great in helping me open the mid-upper chest. These pose felt totally different and it seemed to take a lot of the weight/strain off my legs when I did my backbends.

Can't wait to try it again tomorrow! Before I left, Fiona gave me a bunch of flyers for John Scott's workshop. Please join me! It will be fun!