Greg’s Yoga

Regular

Make it enjoyable, have it feel good, and it will help you feel good. Try to do something most days; ok to skip a day, but don’t skip two days in a row, and don’t skip more than three days a week.

Only a few minutes doing only the knees up sequence will help a lot. Add more poses when you feel like it.

• Knees up × 2
  Lay back on your mat. Have a pillow under your head if you want. Have your knees up with your feet flat on the floor. Pause. Relax your abs. Reach your fingers firmly toward your heels without lifting your shoulders. Pause and hold the reach. Let your abs relax. Then smoothly relax the reach letting your shoulders relax to the mat.
  – Bring your knees up and hold the top of your shins with your hands. Look straight up at the ceiling. Have your arms long and let it pull your shoulders. Pause and rest in the pull.
  – Then pull your knees gently toward your chest using your biceps and not moving your shoulders until your lower back rests firmly on the mat and pause and rest in the pose.
  – Then pull your knees closer to your chest to extend your back and butt
  and pause and rest in positions that feel good for your back.
  – Let your arms be long again while holding your shins and pause.
  Smoothly lower your feet to the mat with your knees bent, pause and rest, then do it all again.

Poses

• Sit well
  Sit in the middle of a hard chair or stool. Have your shins vertical. Feel your feet square on the floor. Have your knees at a width that takes no effort to hold stable. Rest your palms on your thighs and let your upper arms hang straight down at your sides. Firm your abdomen. Look straight ahead.
  The first week hold the pose roughly 20 seconds and maybe do it a second time that morning. The second week hold the pose for roughly 40 seconds.
• Knee squeeze × 2
  Sit well. Put a pillow or folded blanket or folded towel between your knees. Focus on how your groin muscles feel, not the feel at your knees.
  – Squeeze your knees together just enough to hold it, and call this amount of squeeze 1. Pause and hold this for roughly 20 seconds.
  – Squeeze your knees together a bit more, just enough to feel your groin muscles tighten, and call this level 2. Pause and hold this for roughly 20 seconds.
  – Squeeze your knees together a bit more, feel it more in your groin, and call this 3. Pause and hold this for roughly 20 seconds.
  – Smoothly relax from 3 to 2, and pause and hold this for roughly 20 seconds. Doing the smooth release and pause is essential, otherwise it all tightens up.
  – Smoothly relax from 2 to 1, and pause and hold this for roughly 20 seconds.
  – Shake your legs out, rest, relax. Then do the whole sequence one more time.
  Give kind patience to yourself with this, be smooth.
• Chair squat × 3
  Sit well. Look straight ahead and keep looking straight ahead. Slide your feet back so that your toes are under your knees. Hold your arms out as if carrying a serving tray; keep your shoulders down, your arms relaxed, and the tray stable. Tilt your torso forward from your hip joints. Smoothly stand up and pause. Smoothly sit down and pause. Do two more.
• Cat-cow
  Get on all fours on your mat. Have your wrists directly under your shoulders with your arms straight and your elbows locked. Have your butt slightly behind your knees, hip joint just behind knees joint.
  – Table: look straight down, relax your abs but do not sag your back. Focus on being stable and relaxed.
  – Cat: curve your back up, be gentle, push with your arms, look at where your knees touch the mat, breath normally, and hold then smoothly relax back to table position
  – Table again, pause and focus
  – Cow: keep your arms straight, let your abs relax and your back sag, tilt your pelvis down and relax into it
  Come back to table position and do the whole sequence once again.
• Arm extend × 2 × 2
  Lay back. Put a pillow under your knees. Put a pillow under your head if you want. Have a high pile of pillows or blankets beyond your head to rest your extended arm. Extend your left arm beyond your head, elbow soft, and rest it on the pile. Pause and allow yourself to sink into it for at least 20 seconds. Smoothly move your left arm back to your side. Then extend your right arm beyond your head, rest it on the pile, and allow yourself to sink into it for at least 20 seconds. Then do both again.
• Knees up crossed to extend your glute medius

Next Time

I will guide you reviewing and improving poses we have done before and introduce you to new* poses based on what we have done together. As we work together more, expect this pattern of review, improve, and progress to new poses.

• Stand — with toes up* softly, learn to feel muscle use for stability and turn on quads and glute medius and max — going from tight and building tension -> firm, on, engaged, and relaxed*
• TFL check* — learn to feel the muscles we want to avoid using for stability
• Step to one leg* hold and thrust w/o tfl
• High reach* for your shoulders and beginning to loosen your hams
• Sit well — adjust knee width, and adjust pelvis tilt for back comfort
• Squeeze — smooth
• Chair squat
• Stool squat
• Free squat — building toward full namaskarasana
• Genuflect sequence — building toward lunges
• Sit on mat, one knee up, one knee open* — this replaces reclined tree
• Cat-cow + hips open*
• Cat-cow wide* + sway -> toward squares
• Knees up sequence
• One knee up + arm extend* — connect “one-muscle” flank pull
• Leg rolls
• Arms roll open, legs roll open, pelvis tilt* — relax toward savasana

Future poses

• Anjali mudra
• Namaskarasana without squat for your shoulders
• Cat-cow on elbows & move -> squares
• Sphinx
• Upward plank on elbows
• Reclined spiral

Plan

I plan ahead, check what you need and can do and build on it, and introduce poses to build and progress.

I will build a few poses for you. Each will do something specific to ease discomfort. Each will also do things to increase suppleness, control, and strength.

• High reach + wide : ease shoulders and back, extend hams and groin
• Squat + namaskarasana : ease back, extend groin, build legs, butt, and upper back
• Knees up + arm extend : ease shoulders and back, extend chest, extend deep hip flexors and groin

This list will evolve as we work together.