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Gentle Evening Yoga Flow
Practicing a gentle yoga flow in the evenings is a habit I’m trying to get back into. Since a lot of us have been gifted with some quiet time alone during this self-quarantine, it’s nice to turn inward and maintain good habits and routines. Since sleep plays a large role in our overall health, it’s important that we allow ourselves ample rest. If you have a hard time trying to quiet your mind before bed, or you often feel it’s difficult to get a full night’s rest, practicing yoga before you sleep can help! Taking time to calm your mind and release tension through your body, can ease you to a better night’s…
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Yoga Poses for Anxiety and Stress.
With the coronavirus resulting in a pandemic, and a serious lack of accurate information there is a lot of stress floating around in the air. While I’m no expert on the virus, I do know that stress is not good for anyone’s health. Stress can actually reduce the strength of our immune system making us more susceptible to sickness. Throughout times of uncertainty like this, it’s important to take care of ourselves. This means making our physical and mental health top priority. Luckily we’re all self-quarantined so we’ve got some time to relax and unwind. In general, yoga can be a very relaxing, stress-reducing practice. Still, certain styles, postures, and exercises will affect…
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The 5 Yoga Yamas: Yoga Philosophy and the Eight-Limbed Path
This post contains affiliate links, reash disclaimer for more info. I recently wrote a post about the eight-limbed path and the yoga philosophy. Traditionally the first limb taught to students is the yamas. In today’s day and age, yoga has become more of a mainstream exercise than a truly spiritual practice. This means philosophies such as the yamas and eight-limbed path often get overlooked. While I’m not here to get into the debate of “what is yoga,” I do want to share the philosophies of the practice so we can have a deeper understanding of its purpose in our lives. If you haven’t checked out my post about the eight-limbed path I recommend…
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The 8-Limbed Path; a Guide to the Spiritual Practice of Yoga
When I tell most people I’m a yoga instructor, a lot of people have a picture in their brains of what that means. Typically it involves pretzel-like shapes and circus-style acrobatics. While yoga asana does include some crazy shapes, the actual application of the yoga practice extends far beyond the physical aspects. Yoga asana is just one of the eight limbs of the yoga practice. Traditionally, through the Ashtanga method, yoga was taught in segments. Starting off with one limb, and working your way up. The traditional eight-limbed path was intended to guide yoga students to the ultimate freedom of Samadhi, or total liberation. The Eight Limbs The eight limbs are intentionally sequenced.…
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10 Yoga Poses to Help Release Aches and Pains in Your Lower Back
Low back pain is one of the most common complaints I hear from students in Yoga. Not necessarily from the yoga practice, that’s a whole different conversation, more so from everyday life. Luckily, yoga can help relieve some of those aches and pains, as well as build strength in key muscles to avoid aches and pains in the first place! Ragdoll Ragdoll is a more passive posture that can feel really good on our low back when we add a gentle bend to our knees. It’s a great pose for relieving stress and tension not only in your low back but your neck and shoulders as well. How To From standing, heel-toe your…
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How to Prep for Hanumanasana, Monkey Pose or Splits
You don’t have to be incredibly flexible in order to practice hanumanasana or monkey pose. Like most yoga postures, Hanumanasa should be approached from a space of active mobility, using isometric engagements to protect the longevity of your joints. This means you need a healthy balance of strength and flexibility. The following postures will help you prepare your body and mind for hanumanasana, commonly known as “the splits.” Hanumanasana Prep When warming up for hanumanasana or splits, you want to target your hips, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Specifically, placing focus on your psoas muscles. The psoas is a key muscle in your hip flexor group and needs to be mobile in order to enter…
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Five Yoga Poses For Rock Climbers
Rock climbing is a skill that requires strength, flexibility, balance, and full-body awareness. Whether you’re climbing outdoors or bouldering in a gym, training for the climb is just as important as climbing itself. Why Yoga? Yoga draws your attention inward and helps you fine-tune the muscular engagements needed to hold our body in place. These micro-adjustments made in your yoga practice, are the same adjustments needed to maneuver your way through a tough climb. Add that to all the balancing, strengthening, and stretching that yoga does for you, and you’ve covered your bases in terms of climbing skills. In general, climbers should focus on yoga poses that strengthen shoulders, core, and hips. Whether…
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Five yoga poses to relieve period pains and bloat
If I’m being honest, the last thing I want to do when I’m on my period is any type of physical activity. That’s why I chose restorative postures to help relieve period pains and bloating. A little movement, coupled with lots of water, and a heating pad can go a long way. Here are five yoga poses to relieve period pains and bloating. 1. Restorative childs pose Using a bolster or pillow underneath your abdomen allows the muscles in your neck, shoulders and back to be passive. A lot of tension builds in the back side of our body. By disengaging these areas, and sinking into the support of a bolster, we create…
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108 Sun Salutations: Tips and Tricks for Students and Teachers.
Cover photo taken by Marissa Phillips (@marissaphillipsphoto) partnered with Lululemon Honolulu For the new year, I was asked to teach 108 sun salutations. I was excited and honored, but also a little nervous. While I’ve attended 108 salutation classes, I have never taught one myself. There are so many ways to approach teaching and practicing sun salutations and even more ways people weave them into a full practice of 108. While this post is directed more towards teachers, there are multiple tips that carry over to students as well, especially if you are planning on practicing 108 salutations at home. For Teachers Keep in mind that 108 sun salutations are intended to be…
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Shakti and Buti Yoga; Types of Yoga Part 4
There are seriously so many types of Yoga! I could probably write ten more posts…but for now, I’ll let this be the last one. If you’ve been following along with this mini-series then you should have a pretty extensive knowledge of the different styles of yoga. If not, I recommend you start from the beginning because these last two styles are a little less conventional than the rest. Not that it’s a bad thing, I just don’t want to scare you off quite yet! The last two styles I will be diving into, are Shakti Yoga and Buti Yoga. Super fun styles to practice! Just make sure you bring an open mind and…
