Standing poses feature heavily within the Iyengar yoga practice, bringing strength into the legs and body. You soon feel it when they have not been practiced for a while.
Dan noticed the other day that his inner thighs had become tight. He requested a practice to stretch them out.
Here it is – triangle and sideways stretch with a peppering of the cobbler pose.
Enjoy
Lucy
Ubhaya Padangusthasana are the Sanskrit words for ‘Both-Big-Toe-Pose’.
Quite literally an uplifting forward bend.
We explore a few forward bending asanas before, loosening up the hamstrings and the back muscles, what the Yogi’s called the west (Paschima) side of the body.
Enjoy this 30 minute session.
x
Lucy
Padmasana or Lotus pose, is the pose that often comes to mind when we use an image to represent Yoga, so much so that my phone has a Padmasana emoticon.
In this practice I will take you through a few steps to get towards this elusive posture by releasing tension around the hips, thighs and knees.
This yoga session is great if you can already do, or are working towards, Lotus in your practice already.
I hope this helps.
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
Dog head down easy flow, will allow you to feel like like you have had a little yoga work out.
I knew time and tide were against me and the floor sloped away from my hands, so this 25 minute session was the answer.
Enjoy your yoga 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!
Learning to move with a relaxed abdomen can allow our bodies to access deeper release.
It is so important to undo the undercurrents of tension that lie below our asana practice.
These elusive patterns hide away un-noticed as we can sometimes try harder and harder to get the posture “correct”.
Let go a little, feel the holding patterns that may no longer serve you, then maybe you can allow your self to rest well within.
I hope this practice helps a little.
Listen deeply, stay peaceful, enjoy.
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
Spending a little bit of time observing the body pays dividends.
When the knees are tight, often they need a little more time to allow the tissues to release. Practice and repetition also helps.
Imagine you are giving your knees a treat, listen to them carefully, explore gentle movement, find out what works for each knee individually. Who knows you might even find that the hamstrings will release a little too 🙂
I have been practicing this sequence for a little while now and I find it super relaxing.
Stay with soft attentive movement, if something does not feel quite right just accept it, release and maybe try again.
I usually find that if I gently try a second time, movement comes a little easier.
Listen to your and body practice with care.
Love and light,
Lucy