Extended Side Angle Pose
utthita = extended
parsva = side, flank
kona = angle
* Step your feet about four feet (1.2m)apart
* Turn your left toes in and your right foot and leg out
* Ensure that the feet line up so that your right heel lines up with your left instep.
* Check that the right instep is parallel to […]
When we follow teachers’ instructions, or recall a focus point from a book, we need to add some limitation, some framework or context, in which the instructions can be followed in a way which is conducive to yoga’s principle of gathering the senses in (Pratyahara).
When one is not blown around by worldly winds, and […]
“Train your senses to be obedient. Regulate your activities to lead you to the goal. Hold the reins of your mind as you hold the reins of restive horses’’
The wheel and the web: Discourses based on verses selected from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Patanjali says: ‘stira sukham asanam’; alertness that is comfortable and light is to be practised during posture.
He continues: ‘prayatna saithilya anata samapattibhyam’; the conclusion (the return to its essential form) of yoga is found when exertion has a relaxed, spacious quality.
The yogi’s mind then moves into an unbounded limitless relationship (with life and practice).
Concluding, he […]
The Buddha reminds us of the right approach in his famous metaphor of the raft from the Majjhima Nikaya.
In it, he describes a situation, where a man standing on the near shore, which is dangerous, needs to get to the far shore, which is safe.
There are no bridges or ferries so he builds a […]
An international meditation group called ‘Open Dharma’ are hoping to open a centre in northern Spain this summer. There will be a one-day yatra or pilgrimage: silent sponsored walk on Sunday 1 July around the Lewes area to fundraise for the Open Centre. Also, one-to-one yoga tuition on a donation basis.
Their means […]
This sequence involves mostly supported versions of classical yoga poses. The supports or props can be used to inform the body of alignment in each pose, can aid release into the pose and can allow the student to work into the pose within the context of the yamas
1/ Ardha Uttanasana / half-intense stretch (standing forward […]
VARIATION: belts on door handles
* Place two long yoga belts (firm rope/ dressing gown ties) around door knobs on either side of one door with the door open mid way.
* Place a yoga mat at the end of the door.
* Place the right side belt around the very top of your left thigh bone and […]
(Variation with chair and blocks)
PROPS:
* Place a chair in front of a high bench with its back closest to the high bench (i.e kitchen work top)
* Place blocks on to the chair seat at mid thigh height and a neatly folded blanket on top. (adjust higher or lower as appropriate)
THE POSE:
* Face the chair […]
LIFT:
*Fold three blankets neatly and stack them one on top of the other.
(Alternatively, make a lift by placing four blocks together to make a rectangle, one-block depth.)
* Place a blanket over the top with the blanket flush to one of the long ends and hanging over the other. Score a crease in the blanket with […]
VARIATION: Hands and heels on blocks, hands at wall, feet wide.
* Place yoga mat with its narrow end to a wall.
* Take two yoga blocks (or firm large books) and place them against the wall to the outer edges of the mat.
* Place two blocks about three quarters of the way back on the mat, […]
* With the back to a wall, place the elbows shoulder-width apart, interlink the fingers to the hilt, no further than 4 inches/10 cm from the wall.
* Check that the shape made by the arms is symmetrical and elbows are equal distance from the wall.
* Take a few breaths while the little finger side of […]
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