Take your yoga outside. Warrior poses need no mat, just good flat non slip shoes or bare feet if the surface is suitable.
10 minutes is the time these three poses took, go on, I’m sure you have time 🙂
Enjoy.
If you fancy an Italian holiday in Ischia, I will be teaching from the 11th -18th June
https://www.lucyaldridge.com/index.php/holidays/
Here are some simple stretches to bring a bit of fluidity to your shoulders. I also cover tree pose and standing.
This was filmed on the beautiful island of Tresco.
I apologise for some poor sound quality when I turn my back to the camera, I only came out for a walk to meet Dan.
Enjoy x
Lucy
Ustrasana or Camel pose is a wonderful heart opening pose, it lifts the spirit and opens up the chest.
Standing poses bring strength to the legs reminding us to remain grounded.
This little film was made one morning on Tresco (one of the Isles of Scilly). Listen out for the birds, so so soothing.
Enjoy your practice,
Lucy
Using a chair (I was using a bench) is a beautifully gentle way to introduce Surya Namaskar (salutations to the sun) into a daily practice and a wonderful way to easy into the day.
Open your heart with this practice and let the sun shine in.
Enjoy 🙂
Lucy
Using props in yoga can really help with getting a handle on the slightly more challenging poses. Holding Chaturanga in an Iyengar Yoga practice is a challenge. In the book, Light on Yoga, BKS Iyengar says “stay for some time with normal breathing”, leaving it up to the individual to decide how long “some time ” is. Often we dip in and don’t hold this chaturanga challenge, at the end of the practice we do just that (but only if you want to). Enjoy, Love and light, Lucy
Lift your mood and feel stronger with this marvellous pose, Virabhadrasana 2, aka Warrior 2.
With a few different arm movements to allow the shoulders to feel easier and lighter.
I hope you enjoy this mini focused practice.
Lucy
I just found this little re-visit to last summer.
A quick practice to give you a bit of ooomph for a wintery duvet day.
Enjoy!
If I could only explain the joy a few good standing poses brings to my body, the captured image would be it.
With a strong and well balanced action in the legs we have support for our spine and the rest of the yoga practice.
Standing poses are key within the Iyengar yoga system and yet soooo easily forgotten when we become obsessed with more complicated asana.
The late summer sun, the sound of the sea and the standing poses brought a great sense of grounding with upliftment, the play of opposites!
As always listen to your body and work to your own capacity.
Love and light,
Lucy
Trees are the lungs of the earth. Trees help our planet breathe. Vrksasana (tree pose) enables our chest and lungs to open more, enabling us to find a deeper fuller breath too.
Forests around the world are also our planet’s air conditioning system and help keep the planet cool. In Vrksasana try to breathe through the nose to filter and prepare the air before it enters the lungs. Breathe out through the nose to gently cleanse the nasal passage of any dust or debris.
Practice makes better.
Root your feet into the ground, prepare your base, trunk and mind for a short practice that will help you breathe more easily.
Work to your own capacity and capability.
Breathe and enjoy,
Love and light,
Lucy
At the end of this morning’s session, Sam said “that was lovely! Just lying there at the end of the session with the sun on my face and the sound of the sea. So relaxing”. Sam then went off with a few others, for a quick swim in the sea.
Savasana is such a special pose. It is the one that give us so much when we give it the time it requires.
Learning to relax is not “being lazy”, it is learning to let go of tensions that no longer serve us, things that we can do nothing about and acceptance of where we are in every moment.
Give yourself some time to breathe, release and let go.
This pose is always time well spent. Take a look in BKS Iyengar’s “Path to holistic health” to see how to set yourself up for a comfortable savasana. Alternatively take yourself off to bed..
Enjoy.
Love and light,
Lucy