Legs up the Wall Pose
As demonstrated by a kitten:
Well. There's not much I can say about this one except thanks to my coworker for pointing this out to me. I'm particularly fond of the TIE Fighter and TIE Fighter Advanced variation, although I don't think I'll be incorporating any of them into my personal practice.
Pumping up is easier for people who have been buff before, and now scientists think they know why — muscles retain a memory of their former fitness even as they wither from lack of use.
We yogis often hear that our bodies retain memories of previous experiences - traumas and joys - and that the asana practice can cause those memories to resurface. The results of this study show that at least on one level, there is a scientific basis for that assertion.
Salon/iStockphotoJivamukti (a Sanskrit word that means "liberation while living") is a yoga method that combines physical postures with scriptural study, music, chanting, meditation, animal rights, veganism, environmentalism and political activism. The practice is adored by many and considered the height of pretension on Earth by others. Later, when I mentioned it to a friend, she referred to it as "Jive-Ass Monkey." Of course, I knew none of this when I got off the elevator and entered the Jivamukti den, high as an Underdog balloon. I was planning to simply take another class on another chilly spring afternoon. My friend and I would do some yoga, towel off in separate locker rooms, and then go get some tasty noodle soup.
I remember one of my cousins, a police officer, once said, "There's a fine line between an officer of the law and a criminal." For me, there's a fine line between a good yoga class and a bad one (or, as I've come to think of it now, a "challenging" class). I enjoy a class in which the teacher shares his or her wisdom, mixing some personal reflection with the physical practice, but sometimes that teacher can take it too far. This excerpt from Neal Pollack's new book "Stretch" is worth a read as a funny example of what not to do when you're in one of those challenging classes.
A fun scan of an old yoga pamphlet.
Anything that blocks us from attainment of our true selves is a valid problem and shouldn’t be ignored or pushed down or seen as trivial.
The Suburban Yogini offered up this great insight today.
When I had heard news about a new yoga studio opening up in one of the "fancy" suburbs of Minneapolis, a place where the per capita income is probably more than I make in ten years, I first thought, "It's a shame. The people who need yoga the most can least afford it, and then there's a beautiful studio like this opening in such an affluent area."
I quickly realized how short-sighted this was, though. The Suburban Yogini explains why very eloquently. Physical comfort, a fancy car, all those expensive material goods -- they don't make a difference to a person's true nature, nor do they help anyone get any closer to their true self (more often they do the opposite). In the end, we all face the same challenges and anything anywhere that helps remove those obstacles is a Good Thing.
The message delivered by Monique Maxwell, an excellent and meticulous instructor at the Yoga Center training program, is that most people's minds are disconnected from their bodies. We lack body awareness. Her instruction can be frustrating, intense, and revolutionary for me. I always seem to leave her classes shaking my head and saying to myself, "I have so much to learn."
I graduated from college with a degree in English and theater and am now working as a web developer. In the continuing spirit of an incongruous life path, I began a 230 hour yoga teacher training program in April, 2010 at the Yoga Center of Minneapolis.
