0258C: Breaking Down Yoga Poses


My efforts to make progress in the beginners yoga arena continues and I'm still working on mastering the poses that tend to come up regularly in these routines.

Mountain Pose: It's easy to dismiss this as just standing up, but then the need to watch you posture, focus on your breathing and trying to pull your pelvis up during an exhale makes it a bit more challenging. I find myself doing the same thing I'd do when we'd follow along with Tai-Bo and he'd say to clench your abs like all the time.

Extended Mountain Pose: When you add having your arms up in the air to Mountain Pose, you get this. It's a nice stretch and it's often a way to warm up or even relax during any workout flow.

Downward Dog: This is one of the most-used poses, I feel, and one that I continue to work on. It's one of instances that I sort of wish we had a large mirror so I could check my posture but I'm doing my best to get my alignment right.

Low Lunge: Lunges should feel like things we've all done but I feel mysself wobble from time to time when I first get into position. A few wiggle steps left or right tend to get me more stable but Im workig on making things more consistent.

High Lunge: The videos I follow love using this to "open the hips". We've all done lunges in other aerobic routines and that's well and good, but there's something about raising your arms while doing this that really makes your body open up or something.

Child Pose: I know this is meant to help you relax mid-flow and it can nicely sretch the lower back. But then my stomach gets in the way here so I need widen my stance to give it space when bending forward.

Standing Forward Fold: My stomach is my biggest enemy here and it gets in the way of really folding forward. I can't reach the floor yet even with knees bent a bit more and that sort of frustrates me.

Half Forward Fold: Related problems with the Standing Forward Fold. Whenever I hear the instructor mention a need to raise my heart forward (or something along those lines) it gets a little frustrating since my hands are hovering just over the mat.

Plank: This is the big enemy. I feel myslf shaking like a leaf the longer I try to stay in this position. Pride makes me want to avoid dropping to my knees (which is an option for beginners) but I can't consistently avoid it.

Cobra: This tends to follow the Plank position and thus I end up looking forward to it as it's not as painful and it stretches you in a nice way.

Chair: My weight loss video likes this one a lot and these squats are a nice challenge. I can feel what it does to my thighs and how it requires you to focus on your core. This does not mean I'm great at  it and it can be quite a struggle as time goes on. I end up dropping my arms a bit as keeping them extended up ads to some tension in my neck and shoulders.

Down Dog Split: This surprised me today as it was my first time to try it. It actually wasn't that bad on its own, but then being asked to tuck my leg back in forward to keep it close to my chest has proben a little too difficult for me.

Extended Side Angle: Talk about Wobble City! My body cries a bit when I try to do this and my sense of balance is really put to the test.

Triangle Pose and Revolved Triangle Pose: Another difficult one. Plus I don't reach the floor easily unless I drop my back knee to the ground. This is probably the biggest reason for me to get a yoga block.

Revolved Extended Angle Pose: Definitely a pose I know I'm not good at. The best I can do is to get an elbow close to or touching my knee but not comfortably so.

Garland Pose: First tried this today as well. I wasn't too stable and felt a need to stay more on the balls of my feet instead of keep them flat on the floor.

Other poses have been in my beginner's vides but haven't made appearances in the flow routines I've been trying, so been limited to practing them occasionally.

Warrior Pose: This certainly make you feel powerful and it sort of reminds me of the footwork needed for my karate-do katas back in the day.

Warrior II: Similar feelings, sometimes hard to balance  if I get my feet wrong so I tend to adjust a bit every time.

I still have a lot  of work to do.


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