Yoga Column

Pose of the Week–OCTOBER 19-OCTOBER 25, 2009

Airoplane or Dekasana

Because the Journey of freeing the mind with Yoga, it’s not just striking poses, it’s a never-ending practice of balance within your body.

The leaves are turning brown here in Washington, D.C., the air is fresh, the pumpkins are on sale just about everywhere and the sun is shining. What more could someone want to help him bring this warm feeling of happiness with them toward the cold winter to come? A balancing pose, maybe?

That’s right! In last week’s blog post we explored King of Dancers, and I usually do not stack similar kinds of poses, but this week this pose has a particular significance for me and I want to share it with you all–Flying in Dekasana this weekend helped me to remind myself I have to let go the “thinking mind” and breath through things I can’t control.

I have had a tough couple of weeks after my plane landed in Dulles on Oct. 8. readjusting to the life on my own after a month spent with family and old-time friends in my homeland. But, although this is not a justification to my shaky moods of last week, it affected me and my Yoga teaching severely. Something never happened to me before. My energy level was down and I was tired and groggy, especially on my 7th class of the week. Goofing around on the National Mall with a good friend on Sunday afternoon at sunset, I decided to strike Dekasana and the rest came on its own.

Well, it’s not magic, of course. But, it works if you believe your body and your breath are indeed capable of getting you out of your mind and out of your thinking. Easy said than done, you are right, but there is only one way to undersand this: STOP THINKING ABOUT IT AND JUST DO IT! (Do I need to ask Nike for copyright here?)

How to get into the pose: From  Rag Doll, ground your feet into the mat. When you feel solid ground underneath you, interlace your hands behind you lower backs, squeeze them in so that the heels of your palms are touching and then reach them up. Take 5 breaths here and then release your arms by your side, palms down, pushing down in the air. Reach the chest up as if you were in flying Upward Dog. Look down to enhance a long spine and avoid kinks in your neck. Take a deep inhale, weight the standing leg and lift the back leg off the ground. Once your flying in air make sure your hips are square to the floor and the toes of the top leg are pointing to your nose. Also, pay attention to the toes of the standing leg and if you see them crimping to the mat, relax and spread them flat. (This is a sign your MIND is RESISTING to the pose, let it be uncomfortable for a while, but do not fight it, it will get harder this way). Lastly, do not forget to keep pushing your palms down and squeezing the shoulder blades together so that your arms bones and your chest will open backward creating space for the lungs to expand fully and allowing for better and deeper breathing.

Benefits: The arms reaching backward and pushing downward, allows for the shoulder blades to reach into one another and the chest to open. This creates space between your ribs and delivers a feeling of lightness around your lungs and the chest cavities. Ultimately this will make the Yogi feel invigorated and vulnerable at the same time. Chest openers are indeed very powerful to release stress, but it may take a series of them to really help you drop the weight you had held there for a while

Precautions: The most important thing here is to keep track of the bottom leg. Let the standing leg be straight forward at all times. If you need to bend the front knee to do so, please take care of that. But, do not twist your knee allowing for the front foot to roll all over the mat. This, not only makes your loose the balance, but it causes a powerful torque on your hip hinge as well. And when you loose your alignment from the feet, you have lost it all. And, consequently, your breath will leave you shortly after. Lastly, make sure you use the gaze to your benefit knowing that balances not only depend on your feet, but that having a soft gaze about three feet in front of you is necessary to keep your “thinking mind” calm and help the body concentrate on standing still on one leg.

Take the pose a step farther: Keeping the chest up, cross the top flying leg over the bottom one and lower down almost to the mat to then come back up. You will keep Eagle legs at all times and repeat this leg push-up for five times. This will strengthen the standing leg and teach you how to ground your feet when the pose grows more uncomfortable. If the chest falls down and your start hunching your back, STOP and REASSESS. Integrity of the pose is what it’s all about!

Spoiler Alert: “Have fun,” while practicing repeat aloud: “I am here because Yoga helps, but it’s also a whole lot of fun and I want to feel the fun!”

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Pose of the Week–OCTOBER 12-OCTOBER 18, 2009

Natarajasana or King of Dancers

This is by far my favorite pose because it makes me feel grounded and free  flying at the same time. I have renamed it the Dancing Traveler Pose, mostly because it’s easy to strike anywhere in the world and it’s power gives me an instantaneous energy boost at the end of a long day of adventures discoverying unknown countries. People who I have traveled with in Europe this summer can tell you how many times a day I strike this pose and how hard it is to get me out of it once I am sucked into it’s juiciness.

So, if you are a lose foot like myself and you enjoy walking everywhere, get your second wind striking Dancers and you will feel renewed.

Benefits: Dancer Pose is actually three poses in one: You got the balancing asana, the backbend pose and the quad strengthener/grounding posture all for the price of one. So, it serves many purposes and can help you through several mood swings at once.  As a balancing pose it enhances our spiritual being, working not only on our internal gaze (third eye) keeping us focus on our intentions, but on our willingness to let go of controlling everything and be light in air fearless by helping us reach forward to the infinite, to the unknown making us humble to what lies ahead of us.  As a backbend it improves the openness of your chest by lightening your feeling of tightness due to high amount of stress and hunching forward. The pose works on your  heart chakra, the center of our nurturing and giving nature. Finally as as a quad “burner” the pose grounds us working on the root chakra, our energy spiral connecting us to mother earth and to our family lineage. The initial wobbling on the standing leg will disappear the more we feel connected to what it’s supporting us beneath.

Precautions: If you are still a Yoga newbie, pay more attention at keeping your standing leg grounded and straight in front of you, than to lift the back/flying leg as high as you may think necessary. This will avoid sudden loss of balance and will provide you from falling unexpectedly. Remember, sometimes in Yoga, as in life: “Less is more!”

A special attention to Dristhi or Gaze: This is your best friend in this pose, just do not let it go all over the place. Looking around at the other students in the class or at your image in the mirrors is not a good idea in any balance poses. To taste the full potential of this pose, let your gaze be soft in front of you, either up on the wall or forward in front of your feet. The connection you achieve by holding on to your Dristhi in this pose allows you to see deeper inside of you, to reach “your internal edge, the place of uncomfortable discomfort where all the transformation can happen.” Thanks to this inner-most transformation you might be willing to let go of your mind even further than you might think, throwing yourself in the realm of possibilities. This is also known as letting go of fear (not only of falling face first), but of discovering self further than you already know.

How to get into the pose: Ground through your feet in Tadasana or Mountain Pose, then reach your left arm up in the sky and the right elbow to your right hip. Taking a deep inhale grab the arc side of your right foot, having the thumb in line with your big toe. Inner rotate the arm to free the rotator cuff  and lengthen the triceps muscles. Move your attention to your standing leg and envision routs coming down your foot. Once you are stable, with your toes grounding and your heels no longer wobbling off the mat, start kicking the right foot in your right hand while reaching your left arm forward lengthening your spine. You will noting doing so will enable your chest to move forward, which is ultimately where you’ll want to be, just be careful not to go too far down, always keep your chest higher than your waist. Once you think you are in the pose, make sure to check your alignment once more: Your right glut will tend to go up and bring you to compress the lower vertebrae of your spine, so, as much as you would like to kick your leg higher, do not overdue it if your hips no longer feel squared toward the front of the room. Also, do not let your right knee spurt open to the side. It might seems easier if you do so but this way you may be compromising your lower spine compressing the lumbar disks. And then…the purpose of Yoga healing is lost. One other thing to pay extra attention to is to keep your chest open to receiving and giving at all time remembering that for every inhale there is a chance to create space in the pose and for every exhale there is a chance to fill that space with lots more muscle lengthening and rib cage opening.

When you think you can’t hold the pose any longer, take five more deep breaths and endure. Your limit is right there, ready to be crossed even if just for a second. Isn’t this just what you urge to do in life anyway? Maybe if you start trying to overcome your fear of reaching for your threshold on your Yoga mat, you might be more willing to do so outside the Yoga room.

Repeat these steps for the left leg.

Spoiler Alert: Do not be surprised if you catch yourself laughing in this pose. More to it can be found if your spirit is open to laughing at yourself and letting go controlling what it’s out of your control, such as gravity pulling downward when you are trying to push upward. If you loose your balance, it’s part of the growing in the pose, so strike a smile and move on.

Take the pose a step farther: If your ego is not the one leading you astray, consider amplifying the pose by grabbing the right ankle with your right hand and reaching your foot as high as your head or further if your spine allows. Just make sure not to let go grounding the standing leg and to not only bend backward, but also lengthen your spine forward and containing your pose along your body’s midline.

Reminder for the traveling bugs: Have a camera handy if you travel a lot because this pose makes for a great foreground in all of your landscape shots. Now, if only you had such a willing travel mate like mine to help your with this endevor…

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Pose of the Week–SEPTEMBER  14- SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

Salamba Sirsasana also known as Head Stand

I am writing this blog from my hometown, Rome, Italy (directly from the couch in my living room).  As you can see, I did skip a week and I am sorry for that, but I arrived here on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and I was visiting my grandparents in the countryside and there is no consistent Internet connection there and my patience was limited. But, the Yoga Column is back and here to stay for a while. So, read ahead and enjoy some nice pointers for headstand.

This week I would like to break down this inversion for few reasons: This pose is very useful to get over jet leg and to purify after any kind of cold and nasal infections as well as to release stress and uplifting the heart from heavy and worrisome feelings. Going home for a visit can sometimes be a little stressful, especially when you only do it twice a year and you do not travel within states, but you change lots of time zones and end up in a different country that used to be your birth place, but it’s now a vacation spot. Well, what better reasons to hang out upside down if not a little dinner discussion with your family on your current inexistent job or your lack of  common sense when faced with the typical question: ” Why aren’t you married? And when are you going to give us a grandchild?”

Ohi Vey, let’s strike headstand and forget about it! Shall we???

Precautions: Do not go into headstand after you had a big meal or if you drank a lot of water, otherwise you could compromise your digestion and feel sick to your stomach. Do not strike the pose if you have a history of heart disease of high blood pressure because the inversion that brings fresh blood away from the extremities and to the heart, lungs and head, can cause dizziness and lead you to feel faint. If you decide not to use a wall to prop the pose and you might feel like you are going to fall, tuck your chin in and do a flip turn forward. Do not stop the fall with hands or arms because you can end up breaking some bones. Just softly slow yourself down if you are not going in the direction of a turn forward.

Getting into the pose: From Downward Facing Dog drop onto your knees and forearms. Then, grab opposite elbows and use that measurement as the distance you will keep elbows at all time when in headstand. Later, interlace your hands on the mat in front of your head and place the top of your head inside the nice niche of the interlanced hands. Once you had crossed your fingers (except the pinkeye) lift up onto your feet once again and start walking your feet slowly toward your head, until you feel them lifting off the ground. Make sure you do lift one leg at the time and that you keep your naval engaged and your gluts tight at all time to avoid collapsing the weight of your legs onto your shoulders and neck (your C1-C3 will be very thankful and so will be your triceps).

Once you find your legs extended above you, do not forget to point the toes to your nose and to find length in your spine while keeping your balance and gaze stable and your breath constant and strong. For maximal balance keep the elbows as close to one another as you can and continue breathing even when the pose seems like it’s collapsing onto you because it won’t unless you let it take control over you. So, if you get to that point in which you feel like you are impersonating the Leaning Tower of Pisa, then take a deeper breath and use the elbows to free your shoulders/neck and lift up tall and squeeze your buttocks and your abs more. And, most of all, do not give up.  This way you will stay up like a champ!

Taking it easy: Use a wall to prop the pose, so in case you fall over (due to a sudden earthquake, maybe cause by your Yoga teacher walking around the room to adjust other students) you will find a wall to catch you behind.

Getting deeper into the pose: Play with your balance by spreading your legs, then closing them again few times. Later, you can even try to get your legs to 90 degrees forward toward your nose or even lower to 60 or 30 degrees and then lift them back up (this will work your abs and will shake your equilibrium training you to work harder in preparation to handstand). One other trick you can try is to gently turn your trunk, followed by the legs, to the right and then left, keeping your gaze and legs straight. With this slight rotation of the hip level can give you a deep and continuous stretch at the AT band level as well as the gluts. Yet, be careful because you will easily lose your balance and hit the ground.

Best places to practice BALANCE in this pose: In the park when dogs are running around and people are watching you. Why? Because this pose requires lots of concentration and lots of balance and the crowded space will further challenge you, yet  make you stronger in the end.

NOW, stop reading me and go out and play with handstand!

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Pose of the Week–AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 6, 2009

Suspended Dhanurasana also known as Flying Bow Pose

What inspired me to write about Bow this week is the feeling I felt while “flying” on my buddy Lisa’s feet in this pose while doing Acro Yoga in the park this past Sunday. If you have no idea what am I talking about, just scroll down and look at the picture below. Otherwise, be patience and read ahead without picking and I will talked you through it.

So, AcroYoga stands for Acrobatic Yoga and it is a form of partner Yoga in which the team work of  the bottom person also known as “the base” and the top person, “the flyer” enhances the depth of the poses allowing the practitioners to get past “their edge” and get much closer to the Divine or, as we Yogi like to call it, the “cosmic consciousness” of your body awareness.

Partrner Yoga is not only about balancing on one another’s feet and breathing together to create beautiful art-like poses, it’s about commitment to one another, it’s about sharing the trust with your “flying partner,” so to help the creation of a community of individuals ready to step out of their way to help one another when in need even off the Acro Yoga mat one “flying round at the time.”

The concept of Acro Yoga is not much different from the one of “Grounded Yoga.”  In both Acro  and Grounded Yoga you grow from the single blade of grass to mold with the many blades of grass in the big, green field, the only bigger different is that in Acro the growth starts from a different starting point–the trust in someone else on top of the trust in yourself. The ground is still supporting you and the community around you is there to lift you up when you need them to, but the connection between the base and the flyer must be authentic and geared toward the common good of bringing the benefits of Yoga to be available to everyone around you for the experience to be complete.

A relationship between “flying buddies” does not mean you have to have a partner (friend, significant other, husband, wife, sister, brother…) to do Acro Yoga, the connection it’s easy to establish after the first few tries and falls. What matters is the intention that brings you to try Acro Yoga, which is the same intention that brings you on your grounded Yoga mat, discover what is that you are and how can you accept it without judgment…Acro just adds the fact that now to discover yourself you have to connect with someone else you barely know,trust them to fly with them and see to what level of self-awareness the poses you strike with them takes you.

But, most of all, Acro Yoga is about  having fun and playing as if you were a little kid flying as Superman did.

Precautions: Acro Yoga requires an advanced Yoga practice. If you have only just started Yoga, please come back to this blog in a few month or go take an Acro Yoga workshop in the closest Yoga studio to you before your try suspended Bow. If you are an advanced Yoga practitioner and you would like to try the pose, please know two things before you start: You want a third party to come along for the ride and be the spotter (you might want to promise him/her an ice-cream after the hard work, but to have a spotter at all time, especially for the first few tries) and then you want to make sure you do not hesitate to say the magic word–DOWN–if you or your partner are not feeling the “flying vibe” anymore! Also, all of you–flyer, base, spotter–move slowly and gracefully at all times so to avoid sudden loss of balance that could result in the flyer “flying” head first to the floor.

How to get into the Pose: Have the base lay down onto the mat with the legs lengthened up in the sky and the feet flattened to the sealing. Make sure the base is stacking the bones by keep the legs at 90 degrees angle at all times. This allows for a effortless “flying experience” and it also protects the base’s lower back from straining injuries. So, for the flyer to feel weightless to the base, they have to keep the bone stacking at all times and the spotter’s role is to keep reminding the base of that. Then have the flyer approach the base and place the base’s feet onto the side of the flayer’s belly. Gently the flyer kneels into the feet and then grab the hands of the base (never interlacing the fingers in Acro Yoga, always a soft, but strong grip) then create tension in the arms, so both flyer and base have straight arms. Breath in together, check that you are ready to go using the commands “Listo,”  (ready), “Si” (yes), and then “Hep” (go for it) and then flyer exhale into the base’s feet and let them push you up in the air with the force of their feet and the tension of your hands grip. Spotters, you have to control the whole action, making sure the flyer and base are communicating well, do not need assistance and to remind the base to keep the legs at 90 degrees so that they are not straining their backs and dropping the flyer. If you fall, it’s ok, just make sure you say DOWN before you do so, this way both flyer and base are safe. Spotters try to help the fall without catching the flyer, but just protecting their heads from hitting the ground at all times (This means you must pay attention and not just stand there!). Now that the flyer is successfully balancing on the base’s feet, you both can let go of the hands and the flyer can extend the arms forward, while the base keeps the arms extended up and available for the flyer in case of loss of balance.

If you feel comfortable NOW we can go into Bow!!!

Flyer, gently, bend one leg and reach around to grab the ankle with the same side hand. Then do the same with the other side. Base, once the flyer is up there balancing on your feet with both ankles in their hands, ask the flyer whether they want “more or less feet,” which means how much higher does the flyer intend to take the Bow to, and then flex toes to nose for less of an incline and toes to the sky for more of an incline. Flyer, kick your feet into your hands and growth taller from the base’s feet up. Gaze forward and open the chest to allow for a full opening stretch.

And here you go…SUSPENDED BOW is yours to master! Seems like magic, but it really works. It’s all about bone stacking, breath, balance and clear communication between the two flying partners.

To get out of the pose: Flyer let go of one ankle at the time SLOWLY , reach your arms forward as you did when you first went up and then grip for the base’s hands underneath you. Base, once you found the hands of the flyer, start bending your legs and push up onto the hands. Flyer hold the grip and weigh your legs down to facilitate the base’s job. Spotter tell flyer and base when the ground is near. Flyer step off. Base release the grip. And Voila`…back on ground, safe and happy!

Now, switch partners and repeat the steps above so the other person can get the same “juicy” stretch as you, flyer, just did

Benefits of Flying Bow compared to Grounded Bow: When you are on the Yoga mat, the floor is supporting you, but it’s not giving you an extra push as the feet of the base would if you ask them to, so the full extension of the pose is more limited to your own back flexibility. While when you are flying in suspended Bow you have a whole new range of back motion to explore thanks to your flying partner’s feet below you. If you can’t quite get a full lengthening of the spine by just kicking your feet into your hands, the more or less toes of the base will dig in your tummy giving you the push to go up more. It’s like having a spring underneath you supporting you and pushing you higher at the same time. While the floor, unless is made of soft springs, can’t take you that far in the pose

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Pose of the Week–AUGUST 24-30, 2009

Urdhva-dhanurasana also known as Wheel

It so happened that my choice of pose of the week is the same one the Yoga Journal decided to break-down this month. Maybe there is a hidden meaning there or maybe it’s because summer is winding down, people are going back to work and stress is in the air once again.  Chakra-asana is, in fact, the best pose to help you de-stress and get over the “back-to-work hump” with a clear mind and an open heart.

Many of my students fear such pose and the deep feelings it brings along with it. They in fact try everything to avoid taking wheel when the back bends time comes along during the end of class. I do not blame them, the pose is very powerful and requires a lot of strength in the legs and arms to be taken correctly. It also, often makes your heart feels as if it’s about to explode out of your chest.

But, if you only endure until the end, you might indeed find that “infinite bliss” everyone is so eagerly talking about. In every Yoga pose there is an “uncomfortable place of comfort,” where you can still push yourself to the edge without suffering, but just simply feeling out of your comfort zone.

That place–the edge–is where all the transformation happens. That place, the threshold of your pose, is where you strive to get in touch with yourself the most to change what is that you find not serving you in the pose. This sensation can easily be borrowed in the every-day life. In wheel the edge is where your legs and arms are hurting and your heart  is so high you think it’s just going to jump off your chest and leave you hanging there alone. Well, it’s in that place that you MUST shed off the thought of giving up and actually give in taking a second to feel without judging. It’s acceptance of that very feeling of exhaustion and lack of control that brings you past your edge and into the door of self awareness, which is ultimately the goal of Yoga and life.

In simple words: Stick with the “uncomfortbale” sensation and you will conquer the pose and get back into ” the next comfort zone” more aware of your body and of your limits.  And so the story goes for every pose and every breath you take. You come to stillness and comfort and then you deepen the pose to shake the balance and get uncomfortbale again and push your edge just a little further to discover more and surpass the previous comfort zone. You do this until you have no more place to grow into and you and you have then mastered the pose…

It’s called GROWTH. It’s called FACING YOUR FEARS. It’s called THE YOGA OF TRANSFORMATION.

Then if you can carry the strength that made you overcome your edge on your mat out of the studio into the every-day life, then you will be a step closer to a better and more fulfilling existence.

Just try it to believe it!

Precautions: This pose is NOT for beginners. Before you try striking wheel, it’s highly recommended you practice Bridge for a while and gain strength in your inner thighs to better support you in Chakra-asana. A little arm strengthening exercises such as modified Downward Facing Dog or simply repetition of Chaturanga dandasana might help gain balance and power in the arms. For advanced practitioners a special attention MUST be paid to the lower spine, if at any point the vertebral column is pinching, tuck your chin in, drop the head into the mat and release the pose. Come back to ground and lengthen the spine by pushing  your knees into your chest and your naval down into the mat. You do not want to mess around with the lower back!

How to get into the pose: Lay on your back, pick up your feet and place them flat and hip distance apart from one another onto the mat so that the heels are brushing distance apart from your hands. Place your hands fingers facing down near your ears. Slowly push onto your hands and lift the back of your head off the mat and readjust it so that the top of it is back onto the mat. Once you are there, readjust your elbows so that they are closer to one another and at a 90-degree angle . Then lift the hips up toward the sealing squaring your feet forward and spiraling the inner thighs inward. To take the pose to it’s full potential push strongly onto your hands and lift the head off the mat completely, extending your arms, while still maintaining the palms flat into the mat. Once you are up there, readjust the feet, keep inner thigh turning inward and hips high into the sky. Relax the head down, do not try controlling the pose by peaking right or left to other students, the neck is delicate and must be kept straight down.

Do not forget to breath: Especially when you feel your arms are just too tired to hold you up any longer and your legs are just fading underneath you,  please do not forget that if you breath through it the pose will gain stability and you will calm the mind and slow the hear beating making your Yoga experience a lot better and more enjoyable, not to mention EASIER.

Taking the pose a step further: If and only if, your arms are completely straight and your inner thighs are rolled inward at all times, you can start walking your feet closer to your head and your arms closer to your feet, so to look a little more vertical, but make sure your chest is still reaching toward that imaginary wall behind you and that your pelvis is reaching up at all times. You do not want to compromise your back muscles. So be very strong on your legs and do not lift your heels off the mat, keep them down and grounded and keep lengthening the spine by rounding it.

Easier modification for beginner: Bridge is a very good beginner pose in preparation for wheel. So instead of having your hands next to your ears and pushing your head up off the mat. You will still lift the hips off the matt, but your head will stay grounded and you will have your arms interlaced under your bum and your shoulders will walk inward until your chest will puff up almost touching your chip.

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Pose of the Week–AUGUST 18-23, 2009

Pincha Mayurasan, also known as Forearm Stand

This is my favorite pose lately, which is probably because I am finally getting in it and holding it without any sort of strange pain in my shoulders or tingling sensations in my elbows. And also because it makes me feel as if my back is getting stronger by the minute. As an inversion this pose is great for cleansing because it evacuates the blood from the extremities and brings it  back to the head, heart and lungs causing a feeling of lightness in the legs while  invigorating the heart beat, the breath and calming the mind.

Precautions: Do not strike the pose after you had the afternoon snack or any other sort of food because it could cause heart burns, discomfort in the stomach and/or disturb your digestion since the blood is indeed leaving the digestive organs to run to the head and lungs.

Getting into the Pose: Start from Downward Facing Dog, exhale and drop  your forearms down into the mat making sure your hands are flattened on the floor and the weigh is mainly distributed between the thumb and index finger. Then walk your feet closer to the front of the mat (your head) while paying attention not to loose the hand grip and get your elbows too far part aside ( here it could actually be helpful to use a strap rapped around your elbows of a block to distance your hands correctly).

Once you feet feel light, tighten your abdominal muscles and hop up one leg at the time. Be careful, this part of the pose is tricky and can push you off balance. So, in case you feel like you are about to fall over, tuck your chin in and take a flip turn forward to avoid neck injuries. Otherwise come back down and try again until you get both legs in the air and balance on your forearms. Once you are there, make sure to keep the toes to your noes and your head off the mat looking down.

Do not forget to breath: This pose is challenging do not make it more so by holding your breath. Allow for free flow of inhales and exhales through the nose at all times, especially when the pose seems like it’s slipping through your fingers and you got nothing left but letting go. Hold tight to your breath and the pose will just happened!

Taking the pose a step further: If you are holding on and balancing without problem and you are looking for a tiny bit more, start by bending your legs and releasing them past your head one at the time. Make sure you do not let go engaging your naval while doing so. Also keep hands and arms flat and gaze still down into the mat. Once your legs are bent over, try reaching your feet to touch your head. Be extra careful because this is the point of no return. If you think you are about to lose control of the pose, again, tuck your chin in and take another flip turn forward.

Easier modification for beginners: Repeat the steps using a wall as a prop.

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Yoga shots from the Dancing Mind Yoga Studio retreat in West Virginia–August 7-9, 2009

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There is nothing better to gain balance to practice Yoga poses in mid air on a slack line as I am doing below during a rest day from climbing at “Miguel’s” campsite at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky this past Memorial Day weekend.

Life is like

hopping in crow pose:

exhale, hands down,

palms flat

fingers engaged

gaze forward,

squat down,

lift one foot at a time,

point your toes to touch

and Voila`

Started awake

alarm buzzing,

chug the coffee,

skim the news,

take out trash,

out the door.

Awareness,

mind open:

Lift  your hips,

sit bones high.

knees on triceps,

naval clenched

breath.

Deadline,

day’s goals scattered

missing purpose,

fake smile

risk

Mat down,

balance,

fall,

breath,

repeat.

Still now,

smile.

Up the stairs,

down the stairs,

paper files piling,

calculator missing,

phone ringing,

breath,

breath,

repeat.

Still now,

smile.

Exhale,

down to the floor again,

forehead to the mat.

Inhale,

feel,

sight

Emptiness surrounds you.

Inhale,

Exhale,

Sit straight.

voice whispering,

Listen.

Embrace the challenge,

overcome the fear,

mind back to center.

Try again,

Hop into crow!