Tag: dragon

Three times lucky

Laura in teacher mode in three imagesThis week I’m teaching three yin yoga classes at Bound Lotus Meditation & Yoga Centre: Wednesday and Thursday from 8:15-9:30pm and Friday from 6:30-7:45pm.

Bound Lotus is in the midst of a 40 Day Transformation Yoga Challenge, so the class on Wednesday will be the last of the Detoxify series and the one on Thursday will be the first of the yin classes to in the Strengthen and Balance series.

The sequence of poses for Wednesday’s class is all about the glandular and nervous systems and features poses that will stimulate your hips and elongate your spine. The set of poses for the Thursday and Friday classes will help you gain a new sense of your body’s strength and balance… and work out tension in your hips through dragon pose!

Hope you’re able to come join me in the trio of classes I’m teaching this week 🙂

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Laura turning on a spiral staircaseAfter focusing on teaching yoga for over a year, I’m feeling restless… I’m looking for a change. I’m not sure what direction I’m heading, but I know that I’ll need space to let it unfold.

To give myself time to focus on what’s coming next and to determine what I want that to look like, I’m cutting back on my teaching commitments.

Starting in February, I’ll be teaching just three classes a week at Bound Lotus Yoga & Meditation Centre: Hatha on Mondays from 9:15-1045am, Yin on Fridays from 6:30-7:45pm, and Hatha on Saturdays from 11:15am-12:30pm.

That means that I’ll be teaching my last Tuesday night Yin class at Bound Lotus tonight. If you’re able to, I’d love to have you join me for some of my favourite yin yoga poses (that means dragons, supported fish, and legs up the wall!) and a lovely savasana that will bring you beautifully sweet dreams!

And I promise David Bowie won’t be in the playlist… although his song Changes has certainly been stuck in my head today! It’s time for me to “Turn and face the strange” and find a balance of being challenged and being comfortable.

Breathing fire

January 23 marked the start of the lunar new year (aka Chinese New Year) and 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. I welcomed the new year with a series of dragon poses at my 1pm yin yoga class on Monday. It was a hip-intensive class that really breathed some fire into the new year!

Dragon pose is a long-held lunge that’s great at opening hips. It can be quite intense and sometimes stirs up some anger or irritation, but the immediate loosening through the hip flexors, quads, and glutes makes it worthwhile. I feel like I have wonderfully mobile “salsa hips” after a good dragon series, which makes the rage I feel settling into the pose worthwhile and keeps me doing dragons.

I’ve included detailed step-by-step instructions for high-flying dragon below; take a look at the Yin Yoga page on dragons for alternative variations.

High-flying dragon pose

Why it’s good

  • Provides a deep hip and groin opener
    • Gets into the connective tissue in the hips and helps work deeply into hip socket
  • Stretches hip flexors and quadriceps
    • Some variants also stretch the glutes, calves, Achilles, and feet
  • Builds strength through the legs and core
  • Improves balance
  • Releases tension (and anger!) from the hips

How to do it

  • Warm up your hips first with some gentler hip openers (like butterfly or half sleeping baby), then move into all fours or down dog
  • Step your right foot between your palms and rest your left knee on the mat
    • Add a foam chip block or folded blankets under your left knee to cushion the joint
  • Relax your pelvis towards the mat until you feel a stretch at the front of your left thigh and groin
    • Keep your right foot in-line with your right knee and hip and your left foot in-line with your left knee and hip
    • Square your hips toward the front of your mat
  • Lift your torso upright and rest your hands on your right knee for balance
    • If you’re feeling well-balanced, bring your hands behind your back and interlock your fingers in yoga mudra
      • If your hands are in yoga mudra, focus on letting them come towards the floor, relaxing your shoulders, and opening your chest
  • Feel your spine lengthen as you inhale and relax your pelvis down as you exhale
    • Let your breath out forcefully (as if you were breathing fire) to release anger and really embody a dragon – also just because it’s fun 😉
  • Settle into the pose and remain still for one to five minutes
    • Keep your breathing even and unforced
    • Relax your shoulders
    • Find a drishti (or focal point) to still your gaze and help settle your mind
    • Don’t fidget, but adjust your position if your body invites you to deepen the posture or if the pose feels painful or too intense
  • Follow the guidance for coming out of dragon below and then repeat – stepping your left food between your palms

To come out of dragon:

  • Roll back onto your left heel, stretching your right leg straight in front of you
  • Pull your right toes back and hold them with your right hand if possible
    • Feel the stretch through your right calf and the back of your thigh
  • Release your right toes and come to all fours
  • Push back into each hip, drawing a horseshoe shape with your hips
    • Hopefully the loosening in your left hip (and possibly your right, too!) provides serious motivation for coming into dragon on the other side!

After holding dragon on each side for a few minutes, coming into a recuperative position like child’s pose can be particularly nice. Child’s pose is also good because it also gets into the hips and can help you feel the impact of your dragons.