Perhaps the reason why is that they made judgement based on what they’ve heard from other people. Did they go for a class before? I’ll take my guess and say no, these people probably have not.

If they have gone for yoga classes in those commercial studios in big cities, they would have realized that these classes are focused mainly on asanas and perhaps some breathing exercises. Just because the name of the poses or asanas are in another language does not make it religious.

We probably need someone to repackage the yoga poses and call it something else. Maybe call it Power Stretches And Exercise. Maybe that will go down well with everyone.

It’s incredible how closed minded people can get or how easily they pass judgment about something or someone without understanding. I am guilty of such behavior too!

Sometimes you take one look at a person and your mind starts building an imagery of that person based on stereotypes. Sometimes this can’t be helped. But I guess the important thing is to open your mind and observe with your heart. Sometimes, the person with the worst first impression may turn out to be one of the best friends you have!

Life is full of surprises!

~Namaste!

Balasanaas it is called in Sanskrit. The word “Bala” means child. This is an excellent beginner’s pose.

Step By Step :

1. Kneel with your toes touching. Separate your knees, hip distance apart. You may go wider to feel more comfortable.
2. Then exhale and lay your body down between the knees and your buttocks on your heels. Try to lengthen the back and relax your arms either at the side or in front of you. You may use a block or thick towel between your back thighs to help support when you cannot touch your buttocks to the heels.
3. You can stay here for 30 seconds or more. At the end of the pose, inhale and sit back up.

Benefits
- calms the mind and your breath.
- gentle stretch to your thighs and hips.
- gentle lengthening of your spine.

But how do you gain the most benefit when you are in this pose?
Personally, when I am in the pose, I let go and relax the body. I breathe in deep and exhale out slow. If this pose is done after some strong poses, make use of this pose to calm your breath. When I am in this pose, I will also feel which part of my body is feeling sore or pain or tired. Then when I breathe in, I will think to direct the breath to that part to the body. And when I exhale, I often think that the pain or soreness of that part of the body is dissipating out of the body into the air.

Technorati Tags: Child’s pose, Balasana

Points To Note :

1. Be aware of your limitations. The important basis of this pose is a stretch for your entire length of your back and not whether you can keep your legs stretch. Make sure your back if straight even if it means you have to bend your knees ( your heels will not touch the floor in this case ). This is perfectly fine, we are not trying to be better than someone, but what’s best and beneficial for your own body.

2. Make sure you ground your hands at your fingers too! Spread your fingers out evenly. Have “happy” hands and crawl your fingers at the ground to engaged the fingers. This will help relieve much tension from the wrists.

3. Remember to keep your upper arms (triceps) lifted and engaged, pushing into your entire hand, palm and fingers. The arms should be firmly “back into” the shoulders’ sockets. I call it “loaded securely back into the sockets”. Visualize that you are rooting your hands into the ground as if your hands are “roots of your tree”.

4. Once you have arms and hands alignment proper, now imagine your muscles at the back wrapping around your back. Once you have that, you can elongate your back further in a safe manner.

5. Inner thighs are rotated in, pushing the thighs backwards. If your heels are touching the ground, imagine they are “roots” too as they extend down to the ground. You can bend your knees slightly first, then pushing your knees back to straighten the legs ( do not lock the legs! ). You can also lift the toes from the floor to make sure your heels are firmly grounded to the floor. If your heels are not touching the ground yet, do not fret! Slowly improve the pose without compromising your straight back by lowering your heels bit by bit each and everytime you feel comfortable when you do the pose. I promise you will see the improvement!

These are some insights that I have garnered from many great teachers that I have the fortune of learning from Namaste!

OM~

Technorati Tags: Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog

I used to dislike arm balances. My wrists used to be painful when I do arm balances and hence I never did quite get bakasana. I can’t balance long and seems to take up a lot of effort for me. Now I feel that I have grown stronger at the wrists ( maybe due to many handstand ) and shoulders such that I feel more in control when I do my arm balances.

Today I went for 2 classes ( to keep my mind off stuff… ). The Power 1 and Power 2 classes both by Hee Boon.

In the Power 1 class, we did the crow pose or crane pose or bakasana (see the pose here). Although this pose is probably done quite a few times in classes, I had never got it until today. And I was able to “float” from crow to chaturanga dandasana or rather this was the very first time, I feel that the jump back was light and almost easy. It was different from the normal crow I did.

Here’s what I learned ( re-learnt actually ) :
1. Imagine a triangle forming with your palms and a third point slightly in front. Remember that your head will be moving forward towards that point to form that triangle.
2. Move your legs upon your triceps area.
3. Hug towards a central line. Imagine a line running down the center and hugs to the center.
4. When you lift up, still continue to hug to the center, lift the feet as close to your butt as possible. You also need to suck stomach in and curve your back to have that lift.

I think what helps is the lifting of the feet to the butt (I was reminded by Hee Boon to keep lifting the feet to the butt and it helped! ). Seems to help me balance a lot longer today. Plus the jumping back to the chaturanga is quite effortless and smooth. *yippee*

Technorati Tags: bakasana, handstand, crow pose, crane pose, chaturanga dandasana

See Pose.
Points to note:

1. Keep your feet strongly planted on the floor.

2. Engage your legs. Keep your legs externally rotated as if you are pulling the legs towards each other to the middle.

3. Energise your arms and hands too. Press the hand on the floor from your heart. The top hand is also energised and pulled back into the shoulders and yet extended.

4. Tuck your tailbone strongly. You may lean forward first to create space in between your hips/groins and then tuck your tailbone.

5. Additional : You can further the pose by doing a backbend by reaching the top hand backwards and opening of your chest/heart to the sky.

Technorati Tags: Utthita Trikonasana, Triangle Pose

Basic Tadasana
Basic pose it may be but you need to take note of the following ( some people cannot even stand upright right! ) :

1. Keep feet together with the big toes and heels touching. Spread your toes of feet wide to form a steady base.

2. Lean slightly forward to so as to rotate your inner thighs in and engage your muscles in the thighs and shins. In this action you will be able to “split” your butt. Then tuck your tailbone in again and straighten yourself. In this motion, your spine will become striaght and your stomach will be in.
3. Engage your knees upwards and contract the hips as well.

4. Keep your palms at the side of your body. Feel your feet deeply rooted to the floor at the four corners of your foot.

Lesley

Technorati Tags: Tadasana