It's Friday Night! Let's Get Crazy and...

Do Yoga!

I know, don't freak out. I'm such a Friday Night party gal ;) Just kidding, there was a time for going out with girlfriends partying but that ended oh...16 years ago? These days there is nothing better than peaceful, relaxing things that quiet the mind and bring peace to the soul. Enter yoga...

Working on King Cobra Pose Bhujangasana...I thought my head was much closer to my feet!

Working on Lizard Pose Utthan Pristhasana..I'm really starting to like this pose! Elbows to floor in this deep lunge is a victory for sure.

Lizard L

Lizard R

Hands Under Feet Forward Fold Pose Padahastasana

Downward Facing Dog Pose Adho Mukha Svanasana...I took my tank off to make an important point. In this pose it is easy to forget but it is important to really draw the navel to the spine.

Chair Pose Utkatasana

 Standing Head to Knee Pose Dandayamana Janushirasana. I was happy to see I am now able to fully straighten my legs

 

 

 Here is a step-by-step progression

Goddess Pose Utkata Konasana

Corpse Pose Savasana (with block under my Thoracic region)

A Two-Legged Inverted Staff Pose (Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana) just felt right-I love this pose

Yoga Headstand

A few I felt like

Today's run made me surprisingly sore and stiff! Yoga was just the ticket. Here are a few pictures from my little session. More often than not these days when I set out to do some yoga, I don't necessarily follow a plan, I just start with some sun salutations then follow what I feel like my body needs and wants to do for that day. Sometimes easier poses feel hard and sometimes I surprise myself with some harder poses that I can't usually stick.

Standing Split L (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana)

Standing Split L

My crow is coming along. In the progression of crow, it helps (me) to place the knees to the outside of the elbows. As I progress in the pose, I find that I can now raise my gaze forward as opposed to down on my mat, and as I do that, my arms are lengthening out more. Next I will work on squeezing my knees more into my armpits, so that my legs run parallel to my arms.

Crow (Bakasana)

Staff Pose (Dandasana)

Upward Plank (Purvottanasana) This pose is great for tightening the butt! Then what I do is lift one leg with my toe pointed and continue to alternate until I can't stand it anymore!

Headstand (Sirasana)

A challenging POTD & Night Inversion Love

Tonight was some "yoga in real life". Not the airbrushed, sugar-coated yoga that is out there. This was real yoga! It was the raw-can't-quite-get-it-right-but-giving-it-my-best yoga :)

 

Today's POTD was eight-angle pose and I knew going into it that I might not be able to do it. I found a tutorial on YouTube so I could make sure to go into the pose correctly. Turns out it starts out with Elephant's Trunk Pose, which I have wanted to try as well.

 

When I have seen this pose, I guess I thought that the knee was literally wrapped over the shoulder but that is not necessary. And here I managed to hold it a bit! I will keep working on this one to build arm and core strength for other poses.

 

Elephant's Trunk L Eka Hasta Bhujasana

When I was setting up for full eight angle pose

Try, try again!

I didn't quite get eight angle pose. I still need to get fully off the ground and get my legs nice and straight but I was pleased with what I can do for now! It was more than I thought.

Eight Angle Pose L (heel anchor) Astavakrasana

Eight Angle Pose R

 And I did some inversions just because :)

 

I started with a good ol' headstand but I couldn't get a descent picture

 

This takes a ton of core stabilization and is harder than it looks!

Eventually I will get this into a fully inverted split!

Yoga Shoulder Stand Flow

Shoulder Stand --->Plow Pose--->Staff Pose--->Namaste

Quick Sesson Before Work!

I had 2 POTD to get done today so I snuck in a quick yoga session before work. I want to stress that I do about 30 minutes of yoga to warm and prep my body and then I do the harder poses at the end.

Malasana (wide knee squat) with hands variation that just felt right

Prepping for chin stand

Chin Stand Vrschikasana

I'm not straight as a pencil with my Shoulder Stand, but it is something to work towards

Shoulder Stand Sarvangasana takes a lot of core strength and a surprising amount of shoulder strength

Plow Pose Halasana is an awesome challenge for the hamstrings

 

 

Rock Yoga

Today I did something different. It was my day off (yay!) so I decided I wanted to carve out some time in my morning to get out in nature. I drove a few minutes to our favorite park and I hiked for 30 minutes to warm up my body then I did about 40 minutes of yoga on the rocks. It was fun! I found something interesting about myself though...I am kind of terrified of inversions that have me looking up into the infinite sky. I feel like I am going to fall into it...kind of an interesting version of acrophobia. I coped with it by looking in small doses and closing my eyes the other times. It was just a great time. Sunshine all around, a great breeze going, and it feel so freeing to be outside enjoying it all. And I was practically alone which is therapeutic for me.

My Happy Place-

I always thought this was called half moon pose just with a variation but it has a name! Sugarcane Pose R

Sugarcane Pose L

Forward Fold, Uttanasana...I need to do these for days to relax my tight hamstrings

Hero Pose with hands at heart center

Working on Lizard...but the picture makes me look like I have no L leg! You have to look closely to see it is up by my L arm

 (sorry for the butt shots in my triangle poses...that was not on purpose!)

Triangle L, Trikonasana

Triangle R

Revolved Triangle L, Parivrtta Trikonasana

Revolved Triangle R

 

Compass pose...this one is one of my least favorite (which means it is one I need to practice most!). It challenges my tight hips and feels very unnatural to me at this point. Maybe if I keep working on it, it will start to feel a bit more natural.

Compass R

Compass L

Flying crow with my head down to anchor. I need to work on my arm balances. This one is hard!!

Seated Forward Split

So now that I am back home, it's time to get cleaned up for the day, then I get to pick my son up from school and do other normal daily things. I hope it is also sunny wherever you are too!