JV’s Yoga

Morning

Do some most mornings to help yourself feel good. These are the drops of water reshaping the stone.

• Sit (chair vajrasana)
  Sit on a hard chair. Sit well. Sit firm. Sit away from the back of the chair. Have your feet flat on the floor and your shins vertical. Rest your palms on your thighs behind your knees. Let your elbows relax and hang down from your shoulders. Let your shoulders relax and drop down and back. Feel your pelvis vertical and your back straight and relaxed. Look straight ahead and feel your neck straight.
• Pelvis rock & shift (seated cat-cow)
  Tilt your pelvis smoothly front and back from your hip joints. Feel yourself pressing against the chair as you rock your pelvis front and back. Feel your back bow and arch as you rock your pelvis. Then shift your knees front and back turning your pelvis left and right. Feel yourself moving against the chair.
• Forward fold (seated uttanasana)
  Tilt your torso forward from your hip joints keeping your back straight and rest your forearms on your thighs just behind your knees. Look at a spot that helps you feel your neck straight. And rest into it.

Back ache

When you have back discomfort as you did today:

• Pelvis rock (seated cat-cow)
• Forward fold (seated uttanasana)
• Forward fold to the side seated – Do a seated forward fold to the side over and supported by one thigh. We will practice this more next time.

Next time

• Sit – leave the world outside, feel yourself and bring all of yourself to working together
• Pelvis rock + shift (seated cat-cow)
• Forward fold seated
• Half-wide forward fold
• Forward fold to the side seated – extend the side of your back
• Leg extend & rotate
• Warrior 1 seated (let’s start looking at your hip flexors)
• Reach (down-dog rotated up 45° onto a chair)
  • + wide & shift to extend your back
• Lunge onto chair – get at your hams
• Kneeling tree – just a little to get at activating your stability muscles
• Cat-cow on the mat – to limber your back
  • + wide & shift to move through your adductors
• Knees up & vary (apanasana) – to extend and relax your lower back
• Pyramid rest & aided spiral – to extend and relax your back, hip flexors, and adductors

Future

• Assess your hip flexors, quads, adductors, and hams – let’s find out what’s going on
• Knee drop – to extend your glute medius
• Leg extend & rotate – to find out about & activate your leg muscles
• Food
• Forward fold to chair