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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Day 1- shoulderstand


Day 1/30 of the Yoga Challenge.

Well, it’s begun. LifeYoga had a get together in the studio yesterday where we had snacks (Bee Sweet cupcakes!) and met the other people who will be going through the challenge together. They also made us these cute little journals so we can keep track of whatever observations we make throughout the journey. Awesome idea.

I chose to start my challenge with a flow class later that day. It was a packed class and the room heated up quickly. My headache from earlier in the day melted away. My body remembered what it has done so many times before. It felt like coming home. It felt blissful. But, that’s all I want to say about that. 

Today is the second day so I am off to a class I’ve taken before- restorative yoga- that holds relaxing comforting poses longer and is a perfect end to a weekend. Yesterday’s class plus some bowling last night really agitated my pulled muscle, but I’m thinking that today’s restorative poses won’t bother it too badly.

While doing this challenge I thought it would be interesting to do a once-in-a-while post of some thoughts about a particular asana. Sharing some easily accessible yoga postures with everyone sounds like a lovely idea. So, today will be shoulderstand, or salamba sarvangasana.
yes, my butt is sticking out awkwardly...
Shoulderstand has always be a pose that brings me back to my childhood. I don’t know why, but my sister and I used to do this all of the time when we were lazing about at home growing up. Didn’t you? Shoulderstand helps you defy gravity, reverse aging, gain a new perspective, lets your blood flow in a different direction once in a while, and let’s you explore balance and areas of tension. Lately my shoulderstand is lazy and not exactly straight. But, in class the teacher suggested we play around with it putting the soles of our feet together or even lowering our knees to our foreheads. What an idea! With your knees pressing on your forehead your sinuses get some relief and it's like a mini massage! There are so many benefits of going to a class with a professional teacher (including staying safe) including learning new fun ways to alter a posture that you may have been doing your whole life!
play with it- or move into plow!
this looks strange but it's wonderful, try it!
*Because none of these photos shows how to properly hold shoulderstand and I gave no directions at all, I suggest that if you're interested in trying out salamba sarvangasana you take a look at yogajournal.com and search for the pose. There you'll find hints about how to get in and out of the pose, etc. 

1 comment:

  1. You go girl! I'm so excited for your month of yoga. And yes, I totally used to do shoulder stand when I was little and I still do once in a while. Funny childhood memory :)

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