Author: nadayogi

Half Spinal Twist

Posted on by nadayogi

Sanskrit: Ardha Matsyendrasana

ard-ha maht-syen-DRAH-sah-nah

Benefits

Stretches shoulders and hips
Tones liver, pancreas, kidneys and adrenal glands; expels toxins
Relieves fatigue

Standard Cues

Sit with your legs stretched in front of you. Bend your left leg and place the foot flat on the floor, just outside of your right knee.

Bend your right leg and bring the heel near the left buttocks.

Bring your left fingertips to the floor about a foot behind you. Gently push into the floor to lengthen your spine.

Reach your right arm up with an inhale.

Bend your right arm with an exhale, press the elbow against the left knee and twist to the left. Gaze over your

Hold the pose and take slow, deep breaths. Untwist with an inhale. Change sides.

Short Cues and Options

Lengthen spine vertically and then twist
Draw shoulders down
Press elbow against knee
Position foot just outside of knee
Keep both sits bones on floor

About the Artist! Click Here

Half Moon Pose

Posted on by nadayogi

Sanskrit: Ardha Chandrasana

ard-hah chahn-DRAH-sah-na

Benefits

Strengthens glutes, thighs and core; Improves digestion; Improves balance and coordination; relieves stress

Standard Cues

Begin standing. Step your feet several feet apart. Turn your right toes 90 degrees to the right.

Bend your right knee with an exhale and lean your torso to the right. Bring your right fingertips to the floor, about 12 inches in front of your right foot. Place your left hand on your left hip.

Focus your gaze at the floor in front of you. Shift your weight into your right foot. Lift your left leg parallel to the floor with an inhale. Flex the foot. Straighten your right leg. Open your chest to the left. Reach your left arm to the sky with an inhale. Balance in the pose and take slow, deep breaths.

Lower your top leg with an exhale. Rise with an inhale.

Change sides.

Short Cues and Options

Actively stretch hands away from each other
Open chest toward side
Flex top foot
Do not lock standing knee


Precautionary Warnings

About the Artist! Click Here

Sphinx Pose

Posted on by nadayogi

Sanskrit: Salamba Bhujangasana

SHAHL-ahm-bah bhoo-jahng-AH-sah-nah

Benefits

Stretches back, opens chest
Stimulates abdominal organs, strengthens lungs
Relieves stress

Standard Cues

Lie on your stomach. Bring your feet hip distance wide, toes untucked.

Align your elbows under your shoulders, forearms parallel and fingers spread wide.

Peel your head and chest from the floor with an inhale.

Release your shoulders down your back and press your chest forward. Gaze forward.

Hold the pose and take slow, deep breaths.

Lower with an exhale.

Short Cues and options

Draw shoulders down
Press chest forward
Feet hip distance wide
Forearms parallel
Fingers spread wide

Precautionary Warnings

Avoid this pose if you have acute back injury.

About the Artist! Click Here

Crescent Lunge

Posted on by nadayogi

Sanskrit: Anjaneyasana

AHN-jah-nay-AH-sah-nah

Benefits

Stretches and strengthens legs, opens chest
Expands and strengthens lungs
Reduces fatigue, increases energy

Standard Cues

Begin in Downward Facing Dog. Step your right foot in between your hands with an exhale. Rise onto your fingertips.

Engage your back leg. Reach your arms toward the sky with an inhale, palms facing each other. Bring your torso upright. Bend your right knee with an exhale, bringing the thigh parallel to the floor. Align knee over ankle.

Hold the pose and take slow, deep breaths. Return to Downward Facing Dog with an exhale. Change sides.

Short Cues and Options

Draw shoulders away from ears
Draw lower ribs in and down
Align knee over ankle
Lengthen tailbone toward floor
Lift back heel
Keep your hands on your hips or back knee on the floor, toes untucked.
Knee can be down or up but it’s common for Yoga teachers to say “high lunge” when they mean knee up, and anjanasana when they mean the knee to be down.

Precautionary Warnings

Avoid this pose if you have heart problems, high blood pressure or knee injury.

About the Artist! Click Here

Happy Baby Pose

Posted on by nadayogi

Sanskrit: Ananda Balasana

ah-nahn-dah bah-LAH-sah-nah

Benefits

Stretches hips, low back and inner groin
Stimulates digestive organs
Calms mind, relieves stress

Standard Cues

Lie on your back. Bend your knees toward your chest with an exhale.

Clasp the outsides of your feet with your hands. Open your knees as wide as your shoulders. Flex your feet.

Push your feet into your hands with an exhale as you pull your feet down, creating resistance. Hold the pose and take slow, deep breaths. Release with an exhale.

Modification

Hold on to a belt looped over the soles of your feet.

Short Cues and options

Feet flexed
Shins perpendicular to floor
Elbows slightly bent
Knees near armpits
Head and low back on floor

Precautionary Warnings

Avoid this pose if you have knee injury.

About the Artist! Click Here

Downward-facing Dog

Posted on by nadayogi

Sanskrit: Adho Mukha Svanasana

ahd-lo moo-khah SHVAHN-NAH-sah-nah

Benefits

Strengthens arms and legs Improves digestion;
brings fresh blood to brain
Brings energy

Standard Cues

Lie on your stomach. Bring your hands under your shoulders and spread your fingers wide.

Bring your feet as wide as your hips and curl your toes under.

Push into the floor and come onto your knees with an exhale, then slowly straighten your legs.

Release your heels toward the floor.

Reach your tailbone toward the sky behind you to lengthen your spine.

Bring your head in between your arms. Hold the pose and take slow, deep breaths.

Release your knees to the floor with an exhale and sit back on your heels.

Short Cues and options

Reach tailbone up and back
Draw shoulders away from ears
Align ears between arms
Bring feet hip width apart
Bring hands shoulder width apart

Precautionary Warnings

Avoid this pose if you have high blood pressure or carpal tunnel syndrome.

About the Artist! Click Here

Artist: Rebecca Humble

Posted on by nadayogi
“bound angle pose” by Rebecca Humble.

Rebecca Humble is a fantastic artist from Bristol, United Kingdom. She offers digital art, prints, a Yoga cut-out game, and has compiled a beautifully crafted hand-drawn Yoga pose book.

Rebecca’s work is available HERE. Please take a moment to browse her beautiful work and buy something nice for your studio, home, or collection!

Posted in YTT

Reset

Posted on by nadayogi

Opening Meditation & Thoughts to Begin Class

Let’s use the breath as we begin as a reset. Finding a gentle cleansing breath, breathing in through the nose and exhaling out through the mouth. Let it go. Inhale in and exhale release the breath out. Take a few more of these cleansing breaths to reset. Each new breath is a chance to start fresh. Take your time and when you feel the shift within you, gently open the eyes. Let’s begin to move together.

Cue Words Related to the Theme

  • If your mind has wandered from your practice, take a moment to connect to the breath & shift back to the present moment.
  • If you begin to observe discomfort as you hold the pose. Reset. Reset the body, reset the mind-space.
  • Come out of the pose slightly & reset yourself back into it so that the experience is new either in the mind or the body.

Meditation for Savasana

Recognize all of the thoughts that may begin to swirl in your mind as you find stillness. And then start breathing… and step outside of yourself for just a moment. Let’s reset the mind-space for the rest of our day. See yourself resting here in this space. Recognize your body laying on your mat – your arms, your legs, your head. Your whole body on your mat. See yourself here and recognize all of the thoughts in your mind. Like papers thrown all around the room. But you can allow them to be picked up neatly & orderly and you may file them away so that you can access any certain thought or idea – but only when you need it. Let’s reset the mind to clear the clutter. Listen and count. 5 – a sharp and focused mind… 4 – free yourself of needless worry…. 3 – presence of mind here and now… 2 – resolution and clarity….. 1- a free and open mind. (repeat only underlined words – more concise) And now seeing yourself and feeling your breath, returning here to this very moment. No future or past – only here and now. Breathe into the open spaces, free of clutter. Open and free. Rest here.

Make Peace with Yourself

Posted on by nadayogi

Opening Meditation & Thoughts to Begin Class

Start to slow it down. Begin to quiet the noise the mind creates as you tune into the breath, noticing your inhales and your exhales. Settle into the sanctuary of your mat, letting go of tension and also letting go of anything that wasn’t perfect today. Make peace with yourself and let go of your judgements of yourself with your next exhale. Let’s move from a space that feels a little lighter.

Cue Words Related to the Theme

  • If you have judged your pose to not be perfect in your mind, can you set that aside and learn to enjoy the pose in the way it manifests in your body?
  • Let go of the expectation of what you think this pose is and instead find ease.

Meditation for Savasana

Find a comfortable position and settle in. Gently close the eyes. Awareness to any part of you that is making contact with the ground. Just feeling your weight being supported. Being held safely. Bringing our awareness slowly inward. Noticing the rising and falling of your chest. Just finding the natural rhythm of your breath as I guide you through a meditation… Maybe you have noticed a heaviness of the heart sometimes that is built up around our expectations for ourselves. Let’s take a deep breath in and let a little bit of that go with a releasing breath out. Let’s do that one more time. Now imagine yourself as a child of maybe 4 or 5 years old. For most of us this is when we began our education in pursuing perfection. In school, in sports. The closer we got to perfection, the more praise, love and affirmation. How to be human and succeed….. As you rest here, I want you to be free to release this. For the 4 or 5 year old you to release these expectations of perfection like a balloon up into the sky. To find the freedom that this notion of perfection is not a real thing and that you can release it. The expectations that have come from many places, but mostly are here now with our permission. So instead of pursuing this exhausting depleting standard of perfection, maybe we release it – up into the sky. To make room for joy. For play. For ease. And if you didn’t have to be perfect, who would you be?

Be present

Posted on by nadayogi

Opening Meditation & Thoughts to Begin Class

As you begin to invite in stillness, look at stillness as being present within yourself, exploring the inside world. Letting go of the outside world for a moment and connecting to the “you” at the center of your being. Calm. Centered. Gather all your thoughts as you breathe in and then completely breathe them all out. Allow the full weight of your body to sink down into the mat.

Cue Words Related to the Theme

  • Allow the energy and sensations of the pose to keep you here on your mat. Feeling the pose in your body.
  • Find the balance between holding the pose and enjoying the pose.
  • Where is your mind right now? Is it in the past or the future? Or is it in the present, enjoying this present moment of your Yoga practice.
  • Allow the breath to keep you anchored in the present moment. Observing where you feel the breath most predominately. Noticing whether the breath feels heavy or light. No need to change anything. Just allow the awareness to rest on the breath. To the breath flowing through you. Cool or warm.

Meditation for Savasana

Find a shape that feels comfortable. Become aware of your points of connection to the mat and relax the muscles around those points with your next exhale, feeling supported by your points of connection with the mat. Become aware that the ground beneath you supports you and now allow your points of connection to relax. You are fully supported by the ground beneath you. Allow the full weight of your body to sink into the mat as every muscle in your body softens. Within this present moment find the stillness within you. Peaceful. Calm. Centered. Rest here at your calm center. Basking in the stillness of your own space.