Playful Standing Poses Sequence

My motto is "Relax, Breathe, Play."  As life takes its toll, we often get really uptight, take shallow breaths, and forget how to be playful.  When I get yoga students in class, they are often sooooo serious.  We are only living for such a short time, why not use it to be more playful!  It's yoga poses--it's movement, which is fun and relaxing, so lighten up and have fun!  

So, in this series of poses, I'd like to help you invoke the relaxed and playful you.  As you move through this sequence of poses, there are only a few directions:  In each pose think: relax, breathe, and play.  There are often all of these yoga cues that you hear in class, and that I tell you in my videos, but just let those go for now.  Let go of the thinking mind.  Feel the pose in your body.  Don't worry about the shape of the pose or emulating what I am doing in the photos, just feel the pose for you.  If a pose hurts you, back out and move in a range of motion in which you can relax, breathe, and play.  

Also, hold the poses for however long you want.  Do what feels good to you.  There are no rules!  

Upward Arms Pose with a backbend.  Do one that feels good to you!

Tree Pose One Side

Balance, laugh!

Tree Pose Other Side

Warrior 2 Pose and flow into

Reverse Warrior and flow into

Flow, Breathe!

 Extended Side Angle  and flow into

Half Moon

Come down to Mountain Pose and repeat the sequence on the other side. 

Then:

Warrior 1 Pose and flow into 

Intense Side Stretch Pose and flow into

Warrior 3 Pose--don't worry about how far you do or don't get in a pose!  The journey is the destination!

Repeat the sequence to the other side.  Now you can continue with more yoga postures of your liking or come down into Childs Pose and then move into Corpse Pose for naptime!

By finding a state of relaxation, of full breathing, and of playfulness, you will find freedom.

This sequence was shot in the Waves of Freedom Pants from Soulflower on the West Fork of the Pigeon River in Pisgah National Forest of North Carolina.

Improve Your Posture and Your Performance With This Simple Yoga Exercise

Aligned posture will bring you better health and livliness because it takes pressure off your joints and allows the blood to flow and the organs to function better giving you more energy for the fun and necessary things in life! Try this one simple and quick exercise: take a belt (or a strap, paddle, or broomstick) and hold it behind your back shoulder width with your arms straight and your palms facing your butt; stand in Mountain Pose with your weight distributed evenly between your two legs and into the base of the big toes, the pinky toes, and the center of the back of the heels; gently draw the belly in and up without disturbing your breathing; lift up through the crown of the head; broaden your collarbones, roll your shoulders open, draw your shoulder blades down your back and the inner shoulder blades forward toward your sternum; do not let the upper arm bones roll forward and down, do not let the rib cage protrude forward, and do not lock the elbows. Do this exercise as often as possible always letting the body unfold into the pose and not forcing. Smile and breathe!

Yoga Meets You Where You Are

Recently I read a couple of other blogs by yoga teachers and their thoughts on what yoga is. Here are the links to them--they are great quick reads if you want to learn more:

A Yoga Reality Check

What Yoga Is

I like these blogs and I agree with these teachers on some points, but I hear a sense of frustration in their voices. They are frustrated about what yoga has become in Western culture and wondering if students are "getting it."

First of all, I love our culture! I have learned to embrace it and I see more and more beauty everywhere around me the longer I practice. Our culture has taken yoga and created a beautiful thing. There is nothing wrong with evolution. The evolution of yoga and everything is inevitable--I am not a traditionalist at all though. When I look around and see how yoga has blossomed through this country, I am uplifted. I see that people are becoming more open-minded and more into taking care of their minds and bodies--its a beautiful thing. Those people could be out there doing all sorts of things in life, but they are practicing yoga! How wonderful. Whether they ever "get it" or not is up to them.

Secondly, who are we to judge what others are getting out of yoga? Here is my story for example:

I started practicing yoga when I was 19 (that was in 1991)--I was basically a mess, and something in the yoga classes was working on me. At the time, I had no idea what I was searching for in yoga--all I knew was that I felt better. I did not practice anything in yoga except the postures and I did not seek answers--somehow I trusted that they would come to me one day if I just did the postures. Years went by and slowly, very slowly, I began to see things differently and to change. After a final bout with a crazy drug addiction, the yoga really started to work--I kicked the drug addiction and anorexia and completely turned my life around. You know, I guess some people would have scoffed at me coming to yoga class appearing to get nothing out of it--maybe they wondered why I bothered--maybe they judged me. But you see, all I could do at the time was the postures, and slowly, oh so slowly, over time the lessons seeped into my being and today I enjoy the benefits of this wonderful practice that gave me my life back.

So, I have experienced first hand that yoga can work on you wherever you are--don't exasperate yourself worrying about if you or others are "getting it" or not. If you want it, you'll get it eventually and if you don't then noone can make you. Just know you are beautiful wherever you are in life and whatever culture you come from. Believe me, I have spent my time hating this and judging that, but over time, I am learning to let that go and spend more time loving myself, life, and others. As a teacher, when I watch my students just blindly show up for class and go through the motions of the poses appearing to get nothing out of it, I have to remind myself of this journey that I had. I know that as long as you keep practicing, you will find what you are looking for, and if you aren't looking for anything except for more flexible hamstrings, that is fine too. But if you keep practicing, you will be blown away. Just be patient.

Simply Yoga

I get asked the question "What type of yoga do you teach?" often and I hear that people are sometimes confused about what yoga is and what types of classes they should take. First of all, yoga is not a religion and it did not come from religion--its just about creating awareness, that's all. Its really not that difficult to understand and the less you try to understand it intellectually, the less confused you will be--yoga is more about experiencing it. For a cool brief history of yoga click here.

Next, practicing yoga is not necessarily sedentary. Active people are often not drawn to yoga because they say they can't sit still for that long. How active or sedentary yoga is depends on the teacher and what kind of class you go to. Also, how spiritual and chanty class is depends again on the type of yoga and the teacher. So, here is a super basic run down:

Hatha Yoga--all of the following are Hatha Yoga--Hatha Yoga means that a practice is made up of postures (asanas), meditation, and breathwork (pranayama).

Iyengar, Anusara--work for long periods of time with alignment in poses. Classes are good for those with injuries or a super active lifestyle.

Ashtanga, Power, Vinyasa, Flow--move from pose to pose, sometimes quickly. Class is good for those who have a sedentary lifestyle and need some movement. Does tend to be more difficult.

Bikram and Hot--like the flow classes, but done in a hot room. Good for winter time, those who are more sedentary, and those who need to detox. Not good for people who are sensitive to heat, or I would imagine not good for menopausal women.

Yin--slow moving and more passive approach to poses. Therapeutic.

ViniYoga--Therapeutic, usually one on one to restore postural problems.

Kundalini--works with the breath, can be vigorous or slow moving, has more chanting.

You can read a more in depth article about yoga styles here and here.

Most classes and DVDs will explain what kind of yoga they are, but keep in mind, that classes can vary depending on the teacher and the mood of the teacher. I recommend trying different classes and different teachers. Same with DVDs--get lots of different kinds and try them out. Some teachers you will love, some will get on your nerves. Some DVDs you will reach for on low energy days and some you will reach for on high energy days. One day the teacher who once got on your nerves might even be your favorite--don't be afraid to try different styles and different teachers--variety is the spice of life. Yes, you might waste you money on a class or DVD you don't like sometimes, but you will never learn about yourself if you don't take risks. Don't pigeon hole yourself to be one type of person and so never try something because you don't think you would like it. You might be surprised.

To learn about me and the style of yoga that I teach click here--Andria Davis.

One big word of caution is if you are an athlete and you work out alot, you probably need to stay away from the super vigorous styles of yoga. I did this mistakenly thinking that the yoga was restoring my body and instead, I got overuse injuries. I ended up having to take time off of yoga postures, working out, and all sports. It was maddening. So, now, since I work out pretty vigorously, I use yoga as a more restorative practice. Although, when I am in a more sedentary period in life, I do still practice some vigorous styles--I just have learned to pay better attention to what my body needs.

And last, don't be afraid to be still...what is it that you are afraid of anyway? I have learned to slow down and pay attention more to the details of life because I learned to sit down and meditate sometimes (although I lie down to meditate since I have endured so many back injuries due to extreme sports). I will get more into this later, but learning to move slowly, do breathwork and meditate have made me better in my activities and have just made life, well, more lively.