Type of pose: Balancing

Benefits: Improves balance; stretches the hamstrings and calves

Instructions:

1. Lie on your back.

2. Roll over onto the right side.

3. Bend your right arm, and bring your right hand under your head with the fingers toward your chin.

4. Flex both feet.

5. Try to keep your whole body in one line, not rolling to one side or the other.

6. Bend the left knee, and take hold of the left big toe with your left hand.

7. Straighten the left leg toward the ceiling as much as possible.

8. Maintain the balance on the side without rolling.

9. Repeat lying on the left side.

Beginners: Loop and hold a strap around the foot of the lifted leg if you cannot straighten it.

Type of pose: Standing

Benefits: Strengthen the legs and arms, opens the chest and shoulders, tones the abdomen.

Instructions:

1. From Warrior I, open the arms out, bringing the right arm in front of you and the left arm behind.

2. Open the left hip back.

3. Keep the right knee bent and the right thigh parallel to the floor.

4. Draw the belly in slightly.

5. Find the shoulders directly over the hips.

6. Reach out through both finger tips.

7. The gaze is forward over the right hand.

8. Engage the triceps to support the arms, and the quadriceps to support the legs.

Repeat on the left side.

Beginners: Make sure the right knee stays tracked over the middle toe of the right foot. Don’t allow the knee to drift over to the left.

Advanced: Hold the pose for ten breaths.

Also known as: Downward Dog, Down Dog

Type of pose: Standing, Mild Inversion, Resting

Benefits: Stretches and strengthens the whole body. Can help relieve back pain.

Downward facing dog is done many times during most yoga classes. It is a transitional pose, a resting pose and a great strengthener in its own right. It may be the first yoga pose you encounter as you begin a yoga practice. Downward dog is so prevalent, even people who have never done yoga have probably heard of it.

Instructions:

1. Come to your hands and knees with the wrists underneath the shoulders and the knees underneath the hips.

2. Curl the toes under and push back raising the hips and straightening the legs.

3. Spread the fingers and ground down from the forearms into the fingertips.

4. Outwardly rotate the upper arms broadening the collarbones.

5. Let the head hang, move the shoulder blades away from the ears towards the hips.

6. Engage the quadriceps strongly to take the weight off the arms, making this a resting pose.

7. Rotate the thighs inward, keep the tail high and sink your heels towards the floor.

8. Check that the distance between your hands and feet is correct by coming forward to a plank position. The distance between the hands and feet should be the same in these two poses. Do not step the feet toward the hands in Down Dog in order the get the heels to the floor. This will happen eventually as the muscles lengthen.

Beginners: Try bending your knees, coming up onto the balls of your feet, bringing the belly to rest on the thighs and the sit bones up high. Then sink your heels, straightening the legs keeping the high upward rotation of the sit bones. Also try bending the arms slightly out to the side, drawing the chest towards the thighs. Then restraighten the arms.

Advanced: If you are very flexible, try not to let the rib cage sink towards the floor creating a sinking spine. Draw the ribs in to maintain a flat back. Try holding the pose for five minutes, placing a block under your head for support

It’s great to do a yoga routine before or after work, but what about incorporating yoga stretches into the rest of your day? This is especially important for people whose jobs require them to sit at a desk in front of a computer for long hours, resulting in back pain and repetitive stress injuries. Just taking a few minutes to do stretches at your desk can relieve stress, increase productivity, and most importantly, make you feel better.
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Neck Rolls

Take your shoes off before starting these stretches if you are wearing high heels.

Close your eyes. Let your chin drop down to your chest.

Begin to circle your neck slowly, taking the right ear to the right shoulder, the head back, and then the left ear to the left shoulder.

Try to keep the shoulders relaxed and not to hurry through areas of tightness.Take 3-5 rolls and then switch directions and take another 3-5 rolls.
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Cat – Cow Stretch

Bring both feet flat on the floor.Bring your hands onto your knees.

On an inhale, arch the back and look up toward the ceiling.

On the exhale, round the spine and let your head drop forward. Repeat for 3-5 breaths. Adapted from Cat – Cow Stretch
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Seated Forward Bend

Push your chair back from your desk.

Bring both feet flat on the floor.

Interlace your fingers behind your back.

Straighten your arms, drawing the interlaced fingers down.

Fold at the waist, bringing your interlaced hands over your back. Rest your chest on your thighs and release your neck. Adapted from Standing Forward Bend.
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Eagle Arms

Take your arms out to either side, parallel to the floor.

Bring the arms forward, crossing the right arm over the left and bringing the palms to touch.

Lift the elbows while keeping the shoulders sliding down your back.

Repeat with the left arm over the right. Adapted from Eagle Pose.




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Seated Spinal Twist

Turn so you are sitting sideways in your chair.

Bring both feet flat on the floor.

Twist towards the back of the chair, holding the back with both hands.

Turn the chair the other way and repeat.

Adapted from Half Lord of the Fishes Pose.


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Wrist Stretch

Stand up.

Turn your hands so that the wrists face your computer and the fingers face the edge of the desk.

Lean in to the wrists and flatten your palms as much as possible.

Back off if you feel pain.




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Standing Pigeon

Stand up.

Bring the left knee up and the left shin onto your desk parallel to the edge of the desk.

Take a forward bend over your left leg, bending from the waist.

Repeat on the other leg.

Adapted from Pigeon Pose.

Also known as: Trikonasana

Type of pose: Standing

Benefits: Strengthen the legs, stretches the groins, hamstrings, hips, opens the chest and shoulders. Can help relieve back pain.

Instructions:

1. From Warrior II, straighten your front leg (the left leg in this case).

2. Begin the reach the left arm forward, drawing the left thigh upwards and tucking the hip at you come forward.

3. Drop the left hand down onto your shin or ankle, or if you are more open, onto the floor inside or outside the left foot. Do whichever one feels most comfortable.

4. The right shoulder stacks on top of the left one as you open the chest reaching the right fingertips upwards while keeping the right shoulder rooted in the socket.

5. Take your gaze up toward the right fingertips.

6. Draw the left thigh muscle upwards, deepening the left hip crease.

7. Stack the right hip on top of the left.

8. Repeat on the right side

Beginners: Bring the right hand higher up on your leg or use a block on the floor to rest your hand on. It is more important to keep the right leg straight than to bring the right hand to the floor. Do not rest the hand directly on the knee, though, as this creates too much pressure on the knee.

Advanced: Line up the right heel with the arch of the left foot. For a variation, try dropping the left arm over the left ear so it comes parallel to the floor, while keeping the shoulder rooting into the socket.

The root of suffering, according to so many spiritual traditions, including yoga, is seeking fulfillment from outside sources. We know this, yet we still do it all the time. “You’re late again!” we fume at our partners, while sitting at a restaurant with friends. “I hate it when you disrespect my time like that!”

But hold on there, yogis. You were at a nice restaurant with friends. Why not want your partner to get there when its organically right for them, and in the meantime, isn’t there wonderful conversation to be had with your tablemates, precious time for the three of you to create your own special dynamic, or even a wine list to peruse and discuss with the sommelier? Which truth creates more harmony, increased life affirmation, and allows love to flourish? And which creates a diminishing, negative space?

In the part of our yoga practice that includes a sticky mat and poses, we quickly learn that truth is relative. When in a long-held Plank, Pose we can choose this one:
“I can’t do this–my arms are going to give out!” Or this one: “Wow! I’m getting super strong right now, even though my arms feel like they’re going to give out!” Or a million alternatives that may or may not serve our ultimate goals the best. And that’s the key to happiness.

When you’re engaged in a lifestyle of awareness and health, your main goal is not to make other people keep you stable and loved. It’s for you to be stable and loved, from the inside out, all by yourself. Otherwise, you’re leaving your inner state up to the wild and unpredictable world of others. And no matter how much they want to be there for you, they cannot be you. Knowing this ignites your inner strength and potential to reclaim the power you hold to self-generate satisfaction right here, right now.

Only you can ensure that you turn all moments to your advantage, and that you see the love and unity inherent in every situation, instead of the separatism and doubt, and move into your best life even so. Am I telling you to put up with abuse? Of course not. In Warrior I, you should get some kind of growth and transformation, and then you move on, before you overdo it and end up tearing yourself down. When you really look at what you do in yoga classes, meditations, and other spiritual disciplines you’re engaged in, you’ll see they are sending you direct messages about the road out of suffering. Whether you take it or not has nothing to do with anyone else–and everything to do with you.

Here’s a pose I teach my students to help them engage in the practice of what comedian Stephen Colbert calls “truthiness.” In other words, see how you can shift your perspective into something that lights you up and keeps your heart wide open, instead of the opposite.

Core Pose: Side Angle Preparation

Sure, you might be able to get your hand to the floor or block here, but that’s not the point of this posture. I invite you to back off to go deeper. The practice is to bring yourself out of full external expression and hug into your inner world.

Come into a Warrior stance with your right foot forward and back foot angled slightly forward. Heels either intersect on an imaginary line or step wider to hip distance. Place your right forearm on your right thigh and sweep your left arm over the ear. Widen both shoulders and maintain the downward ground of your forearm. Breathe slowly and deeply through the nose.

Root your heels and balls of the feet deeply into the mat to create a corresponding lift and support through the legs. As the fierce intensity builds in your legs, your dedication may begin to waver as your mind begins to give you all sorts of excuses encouraging you to bail.

Instead, breathe more deeply. See if you can shift your focus to something empowering, like maintaining the engagement of your low belly, building core strength as your tailbone lengthens, promoting space in the sacrum and lower back. Spin from your lower ribcage and offer your heart to your highest self, even though you’re enduring a lot of sensation. This is the same as any high emotional state that threatens to knock you off center. This is your practice of staying your ground. 

Most of all, enjoy feeling yourself transform. It’s not always comfortable, but it can be powerful–depending how you look at it.

I’d just finished two visiting workshops in Boston, and I was ravenously hungry. I’d meant to grab a power lunch between classes, but I was enjoying questions from the students so much that time slipped away.

My friend and fantastic teacher Ame Wren invited me to join her for a post-class meal. Nestled into velvet chairs, with ivories tickling in the background, Ame and I began a conversation about yoga, teaching, life, love, and each other. It was rewarding, inspiring, and somehow made the already yummy food taste even better.

As we spoke, I noticed two young women sitting at the table next to us. One was complaining to the other about the no-good man in her life. From what I could gather, the list of no-goodies went something like this:

“He doesn’t love me. He disrespects me. He’s out all night. He lies to me. I’m miserable with him . . . but I love him. What am I going to do?”

Then the other woman would say something in response, and the litany of complaints would begin all over again. This maddening audio loop went on for a good two hours.

Luckily, I was able to draw in and focus on Ame, but every time I checked back with the ladies, it was the exact same story. No resolution, just more words.

In yoga we say “repetition is magic,” but we must also learn the difference between a constructive action and a destructive one lies in the type of repetition we choose.

A circular repetition means that you say you want change, yet you do the same thing over and over again, only to end up in the same place as when you began. An example of this is doing gentle yoga classes, yet expecting big gains in strength and endurance.

A linear repetition means that, though you repeat certain behaviors, they are ones that move you forward toward an outcome. For example, holding your poses a little longer each week and then expecting more strength and endurance. Think of the difference in power and purpose between a bog and a river.

It gets even better when within the quest for more linear repetition in your life, you can cultivate tapas and dedicate your energy towards something that serves you to reach the goals you set for yourself. Tapas, often understood as just plain “heat,” as in a vigorous asana practice, also translates as the “fires of transformation.” Linear habits partnered with tapas direct our energy towards those repetitive thoughts, words and actions which light our fire, inspire us to live with passion, and keep us shining bright from the inside out.

After Ame and I left dinner, and I walked home in the brisk Boston night, I felt more invigorated and alive. I wondered, though, how the other women were feeling. If it was anything like I’d experienced after similar conversations, perhaps drained, and certainly not more vibrant.

An old yogic saying goes, “Save your breath to cool your porridge.” I wished those girls had spoken about the guy for 10 minutes, and then spent the rest of their energy on enjoying the food, the night, and each other.

After all, life is to be lived, and tapas–like a great meal–is to be lit into at any possible opportunity.

Core Question: Where in your life could you move from circular to linear habits? What lights your fire? How can you bring more passion into your days?

Core Posture: A great pose for stoking the fires of transformation:

Core Plank: From Down Dog, split one leg into the air, and on the exhale, sweep the knee into your chest, and draw shoulders over wrists. As you press your hands into the earth, round your hips and back sky high to build arm and core strength. Repeat this move 3-5 times before stepping forward to your standing poses. If it’s too challenging, back it off by doing Core Plank on hands and knees.