Don't forget to check out the Question of the Week at the end of the blog to share your experiences on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, too!
LAURIN'S WEEK 2 HOMEWORK EXPERIENCES
It was really exciting to hear that Laurin has been practicing Firelog to open up her left hip--and only has been practicing about 1-5 minutes, at the most 3 or 4 times this week--and she no longer needs to take Aleve to sleep comfortably before bed. How's that for progress?! Pretty amazing what just one pose can do for you!
Laurin felt like she forgot a lot of Surya Namaskar A, and really wanted to re-cap this week and practice it some more together. (I let her know that for next week she shouldn't hesitate to text or call, I'd be happy to walk her through it so she can continue to practice on her own between our sessions.) She said she kept forgetting the "cobra thingy" (haha I love the way Laurin refers to poses) and couldn't recall where "baby-stance" (or Child's Pose, as Laurin refers to it ;) ) should go in the sequence. I understand why she was a bit lost. The way we practiced Surya Namaskar was modified for her body, and the videos she found online to attempt to practice along with were slightly different than what I was advising she do to protect her low back; so, I'd be confused, too!
She's been practicing mostly at night since mornings are kind of hectic for her--as a fellow night-owl, I like to practice at night too, but we both love the way it feels to practice in the morning. I encouraged her to try to practice meditation in the mornings to clear her head and if she has time to throw in a few rounds of Surya Namaskar A. She's still only getting up to 8 or 9 minutes of breathing/meditation in because of her living situation. She says despite the short amount of time she's feeling a difference in her mood, feeling more patient, so that's good!
I completely forgot to ask Laurin about her experience beginning to read The Yoga Sutras, so, we'll have to get her thoughts on that next week.
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| Laurin's notes |
WEEK 3 ONE-ON-ONE PRACTICE
Instead of hopping into a hip-opening sequence as I originally planned for this session, we recapped Suyra Namaskar A and practiced rounds of it together to make sure Laurin would feel more confident practicing on her own.
We both felt the "cobra roll" from Budokon (which I explain in last week's blog) was a little too much to think about at the moment. Instead of the roll from Knees-chest-chin into Baby Cobra, we just lowered the knees in Plank and kept the knees down for Chaturanga, then lowered the torso all the way down to the ground and gently lifted the chest into Upward Dog (despite Laurin's low back issues, she doesn't feel much of a stretch in Baby Cobra and feels fine in Upward Dog. I just let her know if she ever feels more tension there to practice Baby Cobra instead.), then pressed back to "Baby-Stance"/Child's Pose, then pressed the hips up and back into Down Dog. (I will post a video soon of our modified Surya A so you can see it in action and try it for yourself! To be really real, I have little experience with editing video and I've been procrastinating on making this and any other demo videos because I fear a road-block in the production process. Ridiculous, I know-- when we all know there's no such thing as "no fear", just feeling the fear and then facing the challenge, so, face the challenge, I shall!)
After our Surya-recap we practiced Pigeon and a new hip-opener for Laurin, Lizard, for her to start doing at home. Lizard is a deep hip-stretch but there are baby steps to take along the way before you can go all-out in this pose. Lizard can be practiced with hands on the ground with the arms straight, wrists under shoulders, or with forearms on the floor. Additionally, the back knee may be off the ground for a more active version of the pose, or the knee can be down on the floor for a more restorative stretch. The stretch wasn't deep enough for Laurin with her hands on the floor, but her forearms wouldn't touch the ground all the way, so we modified with a block under her forearms to get a deeper stretch.
I asked Laurin if she wanted stick figures with explanations to take home with her and she said, laughing, "No, that's the problem you keep trying to push stick figures on me, I'm not a visual person, I need it explained and/or I need to watch you and have you there to spot me" haha, well, that's less work for me so I don't mind!After our Surya-recap we practiced Pigeon and a new hip-opener for Laurin, Lizard, for her to start doing at home. Lizard is a deep hip-stretch but there are baby steps to take along the way before you can go all-out in this pose. Lizard can be practiced with hands on the ground with the arms straight, wrists under shoulders, or with forearms on the floor. Additionally, the back knee may be off the ground for a more active version of the pose, or the knee can be down on the floor for a more restorative stretch. The stretch wasn't deep enough for Laurin with her hands on the floor, but her forearms wouldn't touch the ground all the way, so we modified with a block under her forearms to get a deeper stretch.
LAURIN'S HOMEWORK
1) Practice Surya Namaskar without the "cobra roll", just lowering down all the way from plank to the floor then lifting to Upward Dog
2) Practice Lizard, Firelog and/or Pidgeon nightly.
MY HOMEWORK
1) Write out Moon Salutations (the sequence as I learned it in my Teacher Training. Even the YouTube video I linked to is slightly different than how I learned it– you'll find that just like with Surya Namaskar A, there are variations, this variation is according to the Bihar School of Yoga.) for Laurin to take home and follow after we practice the poses together next week.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Which Yoga pose (or poses) have helped to heal or ease pain in your body? How often did you practice and how long before you could feel a difference in your body?
Please share your healing poses on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and tag 'em with #blissin90 so we can all check them out :)
See you next week!
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