More…………………….Yoga!

Fortunately I have been able to stick with my yoga practice in the Ashtanga tradition of six days a week.  I was doing this at night but during the last two weeks have switched to mornings so that I could resume my strength training in the evenings. After somewhat mastering some pretty fundamental asanas I have added the Ashtanga version of the Sun Salutation to the beginning of my practice. The Sun Salutation is done 5 times, and then I move on to standing and balancing poses, then to supine and floor poses. The whole routine/practice looks something like this:

Sun Salutation repeat 5 times

• Standing Pose (Mountain pose with feet together)
• Standing Pose (hands together above head)
• Standing forward bend
• Standing forward preparing for staff pose
• Chaturanga Dandasana – Plank
• Upward facing dog (cobra)
• Downward facing dog
• Standing forward preparing for staff pose
• Standing forward bend
• Standing Pose (hands together above head)
• Standing Pose (Mountain pose with feet together)

Standing & Balancing Poses

• Half Moon Pose
• Chair Pose
• Triangle Pose
• Warrior 2 Pose
• Side Angle Pose
• Standing Knee to Chest (or knee back)
• Tree Pose

Supine & Seated Poses

• Two Legged Platform
• Knee to Chest Pose
• Bridge Pose
• Both Knees to Chest Pose
• Supine Leg Stretch (leg up with strap)
• The Sunbird Cat Stretch
• Child’s Pose
• Hero Pose (knees bent sitting on legs)
• Easy Seated Pose
• Butterfly (feet together)
• Staff Pose
• Head to Knee Pose (use strap, hurdlers stretch)
• Seated Twist

I like to follow up the yoga practice with 5 – 10 minutes of meditation, which helps me prepare the for the day ahead, which is one of the reasons I switched to doing yoga in the morning as yoga and meditation seem to work so well together. I’m a long ways from moving into the Primary Series asanas as I am still mastering the Sun Salutation and other fundamental poses mentioned above, but everyone needs to start somewhere. The results so far have been outstanding as I am gaining flexibility, my back is feeling better, and am starting to become a bit calmer. I would love to hear about your yoga journey and follow your blogging related to this topic.

Namaste

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