Getting Quiet in Practice: Halasana

During the holidays, it’s more important than ever to have some quiet time. With all of the distractions – parties, relatives, drama, presents, planning, joy, baggage – it’s easy to get swept away on a holiday rollercoaster!

This week’s pose is halasana (plow). By turning ourselves upside down and folding over, we are literally looking into ourselves. The pose helps us to pull our energy in and become more contained and centered. As in inversion, halasana encourages us to challenge our point of view and get out of sticky patterns. Its (literally!) navel-gazing properties can help us become less reactive and more grounded. How do we want to greet the new year?

Halasana is rather like dandasana – on its head. While many of us do a “soft” halasana that resembles a forward fold, the full expression of the pose more closely resembles a backbend, with the shoulder blades drawing strongly into the back, the hips reaching up into the sky, and the spine perpendicular to the floor rather than rounded.

Component parts:

Arms: extension, external rotation.

Thoracic: drawing in strongly.

Hamstrings: must be warmed up to approach the pose

Neck: cervical spine in flexion

Hips: reaching into the air

Poses for preparation:

Downward Dog: teach the reaching of the hips up toward the ceiling, lifting away from the floor.  Also, this pose will start to warm up the hamstrings, warm up the shoulders (albeit in flexion), and actually looks like halasana – in a different orientation

Backbends with the shoulders in extension: salabhasana, bridge, baby cobra, dhanurasana.  These will start to teach both the essential drawing in of the thoracic spine as well as warm up the extension of the arm at the shoulder.

Forward folds to open the hamstrings: Uttansanasa, Parsvottanasana (with arms in reverse namaste you will also treat extension of the arm), Prasarita Padottanasana B and C (wide-legged forward fold with the hands at the waist or fingers interlaced behind you).

Jalandhara Bandha (chin to chest): practice this in dandasana.  With jalandhara bandha,  you must continue to strongly lift the chest up.  Do not compromise the pose by drooping in the thoracic spine.

Teaching the pose:

I like to teach this pose with the shoulders stacked on foam blocks or on 2-3 neatly folded, thick (Mexican style) blankets.  Just as in shoulderstand, lifting the shoulders onto a support will enable you to lift more strongly through the thoracic spine, as well as protect the cervical spine from flattening. Use more support rather than less when you’re starting.

Try placing the blankets about a leg’s distance away from the wall, with the folded edges toward the center of the room.  Come onto the blankets with your head TOWARD the wall and your shoulders on the blankets/supports.  First press your upper arms down firmly into the support and tuck your shoulder blades underneath you.  Press the outer arms and palms down as you swing your legs over your head and bring them onto the wall at the same height as your hips.  (You may have to play with the distance you are from the wall until you find the right position.)  You will make an L-shape with your body.  Roll your upper arms more deeply underneath your body to facilitate the lifting of the thoracic spine.  Bring your hands to your back, as close to the floor as possible to lift the thoracic spine up and in. Press your arms down to lift the chest up.  Reach your hips straight up to the ceiling.  Press your feet into the wall and your quads to the ceiling in order to lift the hips up higher.  To the extent that is accessible, you may walk your feet down the wall towards the baseboard as far as you can without compromising the vertical lift of the hips.

Smooth out your breath.  Keep pressing your arms down in order to lift your chest and hips up.  Press the back of your head down gently to maintain the gentle curve of the cervical spine.  Breath, and turn your attention inwards.  Embrace the quiet.

To come out, keep pressing your arms down firmly as you bring your hands back to the floor and slowly begin to roll out.  Let your knees bend when your hips hit the floor.

Counterpose:

Move yourself toward the wall until your shoulders are on the floor, giving you a slight backbend.  Take a gentle spinal twist to each side.  Downdog to release the back of the neck.

Variations:

In case of neck injury or high/low blood pressure issues, you can do a modified version by doing viparita karani (legs up the wall) with a block underneath the hips.  Tuck the shoulderblades under you and lift the thoracic spine up and reach through the heels (legs together).  Another alternative is dandasana, or a restorative backbend with a bolster underneath the back and the legs extended out straight.

Going Vegan, Ep. 5 – Protein?

Two revelations.

One: my chocolate fears were ungrounded.  While I could not have milk chocolate, I could still have dark chocolate, as it contains neither milk nor butter.  However, my chocolate covered espresso beans were out, as they contained cream (always have to read the ingredients).

Two: It was day two of my vegan lifestyle, and – at the moment – I felt great!  Absolutely flatulent, but great.   As long as I was content to wallow in my own stenchiness, life was pretty grand.

My digestive system was – as they say – adjusting.

Finding vegan alternatives in middle America (or middle Florida) was a bit of an adventure.  Yesterday the family went to see a movie and grabbed snacks pre-show.  Game to try, I searched high and low before finding my solution at the Steak and Potato chain.  Baked potato, no butter, with mustard and salt.

It was actually quite yummy.

On the morning of New Year’s day, my sister had tried to reason with me.

“Start tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Because then the family vacation will be over.  It’ll be easier.”

I considered.  “Nope, I’m going to start today.  It’s January first.  We have tons of food around.  It shouldn’t be that hard.”

She checked in with me later: “What have you eaten today.”

I considered, “Cashews, a raw tomato.  An orange.  Chickpeas.”

She looked at me.  “Yum.”

“Hey,” I said, “It may not be gourmet, but so far so good.”

By the end of the day, you could add on the glorious baked potato, a salad with avocado, blueberry, carrots, and corn and Snyder’s insanely delicious pretzel sticks.  Plus wine.

Oh, in reading my Vegan for Dummies book, I discovered that not all wine is Vegan. However, I’m drawing a line.  Wine is a great pleasure in life, and I am not going to get all crazy about it.  And while we’re on the Vegan for Dummies book, I have so far been very disappointed by the actual amount of information that is in it.  So far, it reads like a quietly hysterical defensive shriek masked in a patronizing hippy “let you be you” riff.  Every paragraph reiterates how being vegan is actually better for you than the “SAD” (Standard American Diet).  But the book doesn’t seem to address the practicalities of eating vegan and possible nutritional pitfalls.  Also, the authors seem to criticize vaccinations, which I find alarming.  I realize I may be ostracizing the vegans out there…but polio? Hello? Seriously people, we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, if you know what I mean.

Instead, I’ve found a lot of fantastic information in another book, “The Anti-Inflammation Diet for Dummies,” lent to me by my health-conscious brother-in-law.  It contains a wealth of information on where to obtain your essential fatty acids (enter Flaxseed, the vegan wonderfood!) and protein.  And get this: “As long as you are eating a healthy diet, plant foods can supply you all the amino acids you need.”  This from a “non-vegan” book, which I find slightly more credible than my vegan propaganda book.  YAY!

Going Vegan, Ep. 4: Chocolate

Something terrible occurred to me today.

Chocolate.

As I was munching on one of my stocking stuffers (chocolate coffered espresso beans), I realized that chocolate would be one the fruits forbidden to me during my vegan adventure.  Sure, there was carob, a chocolate substitute, but what could really replace the smooth, creamy deliciousness of a Hershey’s kiss or Swiss Milk Hot Chocolate (which I’d had last night)?  Carob?  Seriously?  No.

Updated note: I have since realized that chocolate is actually vegan.   “Cocoa butter” is not the same thing as “butter.”  Thank the sweet baby Jesus.

Vegans talk with all seriousness about how these substitutes actually can be as good as real thing.  In all fairness, I have to disagree.  Tofurky for example.  A substance of questionable texture to say the least.  “Tofu is as good as chicken!” some say.  Um, no.  It really isn’t.  As my Dad says, “They wouldn’t advertise that it tasted like meat unless the meat tasted better in the first place!”

He’s got a point.  While some substitutes work well, some are just dreadful.  Like soy cheese. Have you ever had soycheese?  In a former quest for edible alternatives, I made the error of actually trying it and am still fighting nausea from the memory. (“Daiya” is a new and notable suggestion. Although it’s essentially congealed oil, it’s delicious cheddar flavored congealed oil.) Veggie dogs, however, might be on par with the real thing.  I think that is because regular hotdogs aren’t made of real meat to begin with.

So now the question for these final few days: Did I wean myself gradually off of these delights by taking them out of my diet now, or do I gorge on them and hope that the sickness I feel after puts me off them long enough to make the transition easy?

I know what the mature response to this is.  We all know what the “right” answer should be.

I grabbed another handful of chocolate covered espresso beans.

Going Vegan, Ep. 3: Family reaction

Hatching a New Years’ Plan

I decided to put my plan into action for New Years. 

After all, a New Year, a new start…and that way, I wouldn’t have to sacrifice all my Christmas goodies.   As I sit sipping tea (with milk) and banana bread (made with eggs and butter), I relished my last few days of decadence.

If I was going to “clean up” my act, I figured I was in the perfect place for a little dairy blow out before the big day came.  You see, we were having a family reunion over the holidays. My family hails from the Midwest, where all things good come covered in butter and cheese.  And sometimes baked with cornflakes on top.  Last night, we ate buttered corn, cheesey sour cream potatoes (made the way my Grandma Kay taught us too, and they are outrageously delicious), honeyed ham loaf (well, I didn’t eat this since I’m pesco-vegetarian, but it smelled divine), buttered carrots, regular mashed potatoes with butter, and a brilliantly green opaque jello “salad” with nuts and fruit in it.  This “ambrosia” actually might have been vegan, but I abstain from all food fluorescent.

The theme of the meal?  Butter.  Butter, butter, butter.

My 90-year old grandmother still drinks a couple of glasses of whole milk a day, and it was a staple of our diet growing up.  With all the dairy farms in the Midwest, butter and milk practically have entrée status.  No meal (or side dish) is complete without them.  It is virtually unpatriotic to abstain from milk in our family, just as it would be unpatriotic to buy a Japanese car in Michigan.

No big deal though, right?  Substitute olive oil in for butter, and there’s still all that delicious taste.  And from what I hear, olive oil is much better on the heart than butter.  And of course, the upside is that no cows are bothered to make it.

Family Response

When I mentioned my plan to my family, responses varied.

“Hey Dad, I’m thinking of going vegan in the New Year.”

“What’s that?”

“You know, where you don’t eat meat, and you don’t eat diary products or eggs either.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s nicer to the animals.”

My Dad looks unconvinced: “Cows don’t get hurt when you milk them.”  (Did I mention my family used to have a farm?)

“Well, maybe not when they’re hand milked, but when you do it by machine, their udders can get infected, and it’s bad for them.”

“Oh, their udders get infected anyway.”

“Okay, but it’s harder on them being hooked up to machines, and then you take their calves away and it’s upsetting to them.”

My squints at me like Clint Eastwood, “You ever see a momma cow kick its baby?  That’s what they do when they’re tired of feeding them. Kick ‘em away.  Smack.  You think that’s not upsetting?”

I rolled my eyes, “Okay, but that’s the momma cow’s choice, alright?  They’re lined up all day, fed hormones, and overmilked.  It’s not good for them. ”

“Bah.  They’re cows.  They’re fine.”

My 90-year old grandmother looked aghast, “No milk?  Where will you get your calcium?”

“Um..broccoli.  Broccoli has more calcium than milk does.”

She looked unconvinced, “Welllllll, I don’t know about that.”

My sister was more supportive.  She got me the book, “Living Vegan for Dummies” for Christmas.  The first few chapters are all about “going at your own pace” and not pissing anyone else off by being high and mighty.  They spend a lot of time on this part, so I’m guessing vegans have a reputation for doing just that.

I make a note to self to tread lightly.

 

(Author’s note: For any readers that are confused by the dates, I previously chronicled these events, but never published them.  However, it’s a timely and parallel re-telling, as I’ve just gone BACK to being vegan again after an encounter with a dominatrix naturopath…but that’s for later in the story…) 

Going Vegan, Ep. 2: Steph gives me the vegan skinny

I decided to get the skinny from one of my vegan friends.  Actually, she’s my only vegan friend.

We met at a coffee shop and I had my favorite dairylicious breakfast of muffin and latte. I am aware my days may be numbered.

Stephanie is one of those quiet vegans, who goes about her business without loudly soapboxing her opinions, spraying paint on fur, or glaring at meat-eaters.   If you didn’t ask her, you’d never know that she was vegan. She’s also a kick ass personal trainer with abs of steel, so forget about the waifish images might be floating in your head.  Stephanie is a lean machine, to be sure, but she could probably benchpress me.

“I love eating this,” I said, indicating my banana nut muffin and whole milk latte. “This is good.  I would really miss this.”

“Yes,” she said, “but you can get that in vegan form.  Just get a vegan muffin instead and a soy latte.”

“Soy latte,” I said dubiously.

“You might even like it more.  Soy is slightly sweeter than milk, so lots of people like it better than cow’s milk.”

“Hmmmm.” I was not convinced.  But if I got to keep my café culture, so much the better.  However, I wouldn’t be able to get a vegan muffin at Starbucks.  I’d have to go to a more health-wise food for that, like Whole Foods, where they catered to fringe eaters.  I don’t know how the café culture is at Whole Foods, but I could get the muffin there and sneak it into Starbucks.  Just wrap it up and put it in my purse.

Yes, I actually do think this way.

“So if I’m going to go vegan, what do I need to worry about in terms of vitamins and stuff…that’s what I’m worried about.  It seems like I’d have to be really on top of what I’m eating and sometimes I’m not so good about that.”

She looked serious, “Vitamin B, Vitamin D, your Omega 3’s and 6’s, since you won’t be eating fish.  But a lot of what you’ll be eating will have a higher nutritional content.  Dark, leafy greens, legumes.  You may want to make fruit or veg smoothies.  I’ll give you some sites to look at online.  The info is all out there now.  You’ll start to eat cleaner, and you’ll probably feel better too.  You may even go through a bit of a detox.”

I did a detox once. I drank lemonade with cayenne flakes for three days and then celebrated by eating an entire Sarah Lee chocolate cake. But at least it was a low-fat cake.

“You may notice,” Stephanie says, “that the first week or two you will actually feel a little under the weather, or tired.  Your body will be shedding toxins and junk that have accumulated in your system over time.  It will pass, and after that you will have more energy and feel better.”

This sounds good to me.  I’m getting older and I’ve noticed that I’ve been more tired of late.  “Of late” meaning the last five years.  I don’t know if it’s my metabolism winding down or my lifestyle catching up, but I get mopey in the afternoons and crave sugar and caffeine.

“Well that sounds good,” I said.  “Cleaner sounds good.”

“I’ve got some great recipes you can try. It’s really easy, once you get the hang of it.  Making your own food is going to be easier and better than eating out.”

Ah, recipes.

Recipes require…what’s that word?  Oh.  Cooking.  I’m one of those gals who can make two proper meals (grilled cheese and pasta puttanesca, only one of which qualifies as vegan).   My idea of cooking is steaming a head of broccoli and eating the whole thing.

“Okay, but they’d better be easy recipes,” I warned, “I’m not what you’d call a hand in the kitchen.”

“Easy,” she promised.  “You’ll get the hang of it.  Simple ingredients, good spices, clean food.  No problem.”

I liked the idea of clean food, who doesn’t?  It sounded like something that’s good for your car and good for you.

I took a breath.  Okay, I’m going in.

Going Vegan, Ep. 1: Chronicles of an vegan experiment

This is an everyday girl’s chronicle into the jungles of veganism.  It’s for skeptics, the dabblers, the curious, the tolerant, the intolerant – for anyone who’s peered over the fence of conventional eating and wondered just what the hell was growing in the neighbor’s lawn.   For anyone who wants to shake up their the burgers and fries.

Welcome to the world of veganism.  Where tempers run high, passions are fiery, and quinoa rules all.

The vegans say that it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle.  Here’s what happened to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What do you think about me going vegan for three months and then writing about it?” I asked my boyfriend Alan, around Christmas time.

“What do you think about being single?”

Although my boyfriend was usually supportive of my adventures, he clearly had some reservations about this one.

“What about protein,” he said.

“That’s what beans are for,” I replied, “and tofu, and…that, you know, kind of stuff.  Edamame.”

He sighed, “And what about your vitamin intake.  Minerals.”

“I’m going to do research. Lots of research.  And,” I said grandly, “I will take a multi-vitamin.”

“You won’t be able to eat any dairy products.”

“I know,” I said defensively.  “I know that.”

“No pizza, no cheese, no milk, no sashimi, no French toast, no yogurt-“

“I know!  I know that.”

Alan sighed and looked resigned. “I absolutely do not support you in this.  You’re going to become a pain in the ass at restaurants.  But it’s your life, sweetcheeks.  Do what you gotta do.”

And thus began my plans for this culinary adventure.   Going vegan had been in the back of my mind for a couple years.  Since my early twenties, I had gradually been curtailing the kinds of food that I eat.  First, there was the decision to not eat cows, followed by the no pigs, then the no mammals.  A couple years later, no chicken.  And then, I’d waffled on fish.  Testing the waters of being a full-on vegan felt like my personal dietary evolutionary imperative.  I didn’t know if it was something that I would ultimately live by, but I wanted to give it a shot.

Grudgingly though, I did understand Alan’s caution.  We were both huge foodies and one of our joys was going out and eating delicious food together.  Cheese, for example, would be a difficult stumbling block.  What Italian or French meal is complete without fabulous cheese?

Because cheese is an indirect animal product, I hadn’t had the passionate need to eradicate it from my diet.  Vegans might disapprove of my ambivalence, but my interest in exploring life sans dairy came from an mental rather than a visceral resistance.  Intellectually, I understood that animal fats aren’t the best things to eat and that milk was made for babies, not adults.  But there was still a large part of me that just loved the bite of sharp cheddar, the creaminess of goat cheese, and the tang of Roquefort.

Despite these concerns though, I did expect a little more leeway from Alan, since he was a pseudo-vegetarian like me who consumed fish.  Unlike me, though, he also ate kobe meatballs or fois gras when they happened to be nearby.  We might call him a slutty pesco-vegetarian.  The more stringent of the vegetarian community frown upon terms like “pesco-vegetarian” or “ovo-vegetarian,” saying that you can’t be a vegetarian if you dabble in fish or fowl.   But whatever.  I say they still get credit.

Like many others, Alan had taken to radically reducing the amount of meat that crosses his plate for health reasons.  His dietary renaissance came after witnessing his grandfather suffer a protracted and difficult death.  When Alan asked the doctor what had contributed to his grandfather’s end, one of the factors turned out to be his grandfather’s meat-heavy traditional Croatian diet.  Alan immediately swore off almost all kinds of meat in order to prevent against a similar end.  But while he may not order steak at restaurants, he has no philosophical problem about actually eating it.  When someone else ordered delicious beef cutlets or roast chicken, you can bet that a sampling would find its way over to his plate.

Unlike Alan, I played in the waters of vegetarianism because I love animals and just really don’t like the idea of eating them.  After growing up with cats, dogs, rabbits, and guinea pigs, it didn’t take too long before it occurred to me that sheep and cows weren’t so different from my pets.   Then I found out that pigs were more intelligent than my three-year old niece, so they wouldn’t do either.  Then I got queasy about the calamari and octopi because they’re pretty smart, too (smarter than my cat, which on second thought actually might not be that hard).   What intelligence has to do with edibility, I’m not really sure, but I’d rather have my food as oblivious as possible.   I waffled on chicken for a long time (there might be the element of a cuteness factor there; fowl are not as cute as mammals), but I finally cut out poultry about two years ago.  So now I’m down to eating just fish.  And only fish, unlike my occasionally philandering boyfriend.

I’d hesitated from pursuing a vegan lifestyle because of nutritional and, well, aesthetic obstacles.  Like sugarplums, the phrases “protein deficiency,” “anemia,” and “good god, no cheese?” ran through my head.  Unlike vegetarians, vegans don’t eat or use anything that derives from animals.  It’s pretty hard-core.  So that means that eggs, dairy, and honey are out.  Yes, even bees count as animals.   That meant no more pizza, no more omelettes, no more of Grandma’ Vera’s nutloaf or Grandma Kay’s potato gratin.  Not to mention no more delicious cheese and crackers.  But if I loved animals as much as I professed, surely I could make some adjustments.

Vegan friends of mine seemed to be doing okay.  If they could do it, how hard could it be?

 

This experiment began Christmas 2009.

 

 

Chakras – the practical side for the dubious

The chakras can seem a little…well, out there.  Whirling wheels of energy?  Rainbow light?  Huh?

But if we think about the body and its functions, the chakras do seem to match up pretty well to how we work.

The root chakra – muladhara – is at our pelvic floor and deals with earth, downward energy, and groundedness.  If we think of our hips and legs as what connects us to the earth and literally roots us, well, it makes sense.  If people are “ungrounded,” they tend to be light, frenetic, “in their heads,” and not connected to their lower body.

The second chakra below the navel – svadisthana – is a water center and deals with sexuality and creativity.  Sure, the kidneys and the sexual organs.  Makes sense, right?

The third chakra at the solar plexus – manipura – is a fire center and deals with our will power, transformation, and heat.  Sure, the stomach, digestion, core power, the adrenals.  Hmmm, things are still matching up….

The fourth chakra, anahata, is our heart center and deals with our relationship to ourselve and other and our capacity for compassion.  Anyone who’s had a broken heart has probably had that terrible “heavy-heartedness” or collapsed feeling in the chest.  Similary, “open-hearted” people often meet the world with a physically expanded chest.  Sensibly, the element of this chakra is air, which relates to the lungs and heart.

The fifth chakra in the throat, vishuddha, deals with space and communication.  Literally the home of our vocal cords, this chakra’s energy reflects our capacity for self-expression.

The sixth chakra at our forehead, ajna, relates to our ability to visualize.  We are entering into the land of imagination and are leaving the world of physical sensation.  Not surprisingly these final two chakras have to do with the higher functions of our mind.

The seventh chakra at the crown of our head, sahasrara, is the least physical – the furthest away from our feet – and involves self-realization and our connection to a higher power.    Whether we think of this connection as relating to a higher spirit or Heaven, we usually relate spiritual expression to something “above” or “beyond”.  Not unusual then, to find the home of this chakra at the highest point in the body.

Though at first the chakras can seem esoteric, some of these practical connections between the individual chakras and our physical body may give us pause.  Here are things that make you go “hmmmmm….”  If some of these parallels pique your interest, check out one of my favorite books: “Eastern Body, Western Mind” by Anodea Judith.  She offers fascinating correlations between developmental psychology, jungian archetypse, and the chakra system.

Bakasana – stoking the inner fire

Bakasana, photo by KSHBakasana is one of those asani that looks impossible until you actually do it.

“You want me to put my knees where and balance on my what?” we think with dismay.

But with just a few steps, you two can begin to find the effortless flight that characterizes this arm balance. And the key lies in finding your core. The gateway to the core? Your inner thighs. Very simply, by using your adductors (the muscles that allow you to squeeze your legs together), you begin to activate your core – namely your transverse abdominis. Once this engagement starts, you are on your way to flight.

Finding the Adductors

To find the adductors, try “scissoring” your legs together in poses such as lunge, virabhadrasana I, parsvottanasana, and other neutral-legged postures. This scissoring action will help “square” your hips, create a sense of buoyancy through the pelvic floor, and add stability to your posture. Another great way to find the adductors is to bring a block between your feet or your inner thighs and squeeze – presto! Instant adductor action.

Here’s a good sequence to help you find your core:

-Place a block on medium width between your thighs and stand in tadasana (it’s okay, your feet will be under your hips)

-Inhale arms up into urdhva hastasana (squeeze the block)

-Exhale uttanasana (squeeze the block)

-Inhale halfway (squeeze the block)

-Exhale uttanasana (squeeze the block)

-Inhale urdhva hastasana/ arms up (squeeze the block)

-Exhale tadasasna (squeeze the block)

You get the idea? You can do a whole sun salutation with the block by jumping (with your knees bent) into down dog and moving through the vinyasa from there. Holding plank or forearm plank with the block between the upper thighs can change the dynamic of the posture by encouraging the activation of the legs and the core. When the legs start working for you, the pose becomes easier on the arms and the wrists.

It’s All in the Shape

The shape of the back in bakasana is similar to that in an arching cat. When many of us start to come into bakasana, we flatten out the spine, which actually makes is more difficult to engage the abdominals. Also, instead of trying to balance the knees in the armpit, instead, clamp the knees onto the outer upper arms. This clamping action allows you to find the inner thighs, which has a trickle up effect to the pelvic floor and abdominals, giving you lift.

Poses to find the rounding of the back aren’t common in yoga, as we tend to work toward a straight spine. However, here are a few that can help:

-The cat part of cat/cow

-Garudasana (Eagle), if you hinge from hips and round the back

-Arching cat in downward dog. To do this, come into downward dog. Extend one leg back. Shift your shoulders over your wrists (a la plank). Draw your knee to your nose, press into your hands, and round your spine toward the ceiling. Stretch the leg back into three-legged dog and repeat a few times.

Doing the Pose

My favorite way of doing bakasana is to start with the feet together on a block.

-Place your feet on the block and widen your knees.

-Place your hands on the floor shoulder distance apart and spread your fingers wide. Claw the fingers into the floor so that you are distributing your weight through the whole hand and not just bearing down through the wrist

-Hunker down and clamp your knees onto your arms as high up as you can. Squeeze. Feel your adductors fire up.

-Look forward

-Begin to shift your weight forward off the block and into your hands

-As you shift, keep your tailbone reaching down so that you your spine is round and not flat, scooping your abdominals up

-Bring one foot off the block, maybe both. If you have both, then squeeze the sides of your feet together, lift your addominals up, and straighten your arms

-Come down by bringing one foot to the block and then the other.

If you felt your adductors firing and your back rounding, then you are on the right path!

Possible Sequence

Bakasana is a great pose for the wintery months, when we feel as if our inner furnace is a bit dimmed.

Cat/Cow (focus on rounding of spine)

Cat/Cow – add leg extension and knee to nose

Extended child’s pose

Downward Dog

Cat/Cow in Downward Dog (students have option to return to easier version on their knees if necessary)

Low lunge (scissor legs and fire adductors)

Forearm plank (do forearm plank rather than plank to preserve the wrists for later)

Repeat on other side

Sun Salutation with block between inner thighs or feet 3-5 times

Utkatasana

Eagle with forward fold to round spine

Surya B (focus on adductors) 1-3 times

Surya B to downward dog, step into lunge, parivrtta parsvakonasana (revolved side angle) – Both sides

Parsvottanasna (Pyramid pose)

Malasana (squat) – squeeze inner thighs in

Navasana (Boat)

Bakasana (as described above)

Table or purvottanasana to release front of body

Upavista Konasana (wide-legged forward fold) to release inner thighs

Baddha Konasana (cobbler’s pose)

Maricyasana C (seated twist)

Pascimottanasna (seated forward fold)

onto back: Reclined Ankle to Knee

Savasana