Yoga Class Week 3
Life has been pretty busy lately. But I always have my hour and 15 minutes of truthful, mindfulness time to myself at my Monday night yoga class, and I really look forward to it. Our instructor, Margaret Dunn gave us some information sheets to take home today with helpful tips on how to be still and quiet at home for a period of time to prepare yourself for meditation or even just to learn how to sit silently. I had been trying to do this with the kids and even just myself with an app called Calm from the iTunes store.
She reviewed for us the importance of yoga and why we do it. One is to be non harming, truthful and unattached. Each week she has mentioned a word and this week’s word was unattached. It didn’t mean to be physically attached to something; but to detach yourself from anxiety from the past or regret, or from worries of the future and stress of things coming up during the week. It is about being in the present and yoga is important to help you be present in your breathing and in the poses that you keep. You have to be present to think about the position you need to be in and keeping your balance, so it is important to not be attached with the clutter and chit that goes on in your brain. She also shared the 50 health conditions that are benefited by yoga.
Before today’s class I was having an emotional challenge and I was afraid my heart wasn’t going to be in the class. But I also knew that I always feel more grounded and at peace after class. I would never skip a class; but I was afraid that the clutter in my head was going to get in the way. Her brief talk with us prior to class is a great way to prepare us for success.
Today we worked on poses we had done the previous two weeks and added in a few new ones or variations of other poses. Below are some images that demonstrate what we have done in the past 3 weeks. These photos are from the yogatoday.com site. This is a great site if you want to learn more about yoga and to see how the poses are done. We start with warming up our body with fluid movements of arm swings and rotation of our upper body to get the blood flowing and to open up our posture. Then we begin our poses. These are just a few of the poses that we have learned so far. Another great resource for yoga information is from the Positive Health Wellness site, which also offers a lot of great information about yoga, wellness, recipes, and nutrition.
Chair Pose
Warrior Pose
Tree Pose
Child Pose
Locust Pose
Cat and Cowl Pose
Forward Bend Pose
Bridge Pose
Mountain Pose
We always end our class in the corpse pose and then fetal position to have a quiet time of reflection and thanking ourselves for giving this treat to our bodies for the past hour.
Corpse Pose
This has been a great recommendation from my chiropractor Dr. Pat of Modern Chiropractic and an awesome addition to his services that his practice offers. I already signed up for the next session and a friend of mine has also joined!