Handstands: Lovin' the Journey

9/6/2017

How to Perfect Your Handstand? Practice...Practice...Practice!

Taking a moment in the early morning, before teaching yin class, to practice handstands.

Since beginning my yoga journey I’ve been in awe of those yogis who press-up, seemingly without any effort, into inversions such as handstand. In my mind, I hear my mentors saying “the key Ann is to practice…practice…practice and then practice some more.” Okay okay. Let me squeeze in some more practice time while it's calm and quiet outside. So as I practice, I reflect on the meaning of practice.

Yoga Sutra I.12
“Abhyasavairagyabhyam tannirodha”
In order to achieve a state of yoga, one must develop both practice and non-attachment.

To me Yoga Sutra I.12 is about nurturing an attitude of persistent and regular effort without being overly fixated on the pose of handstand. Easy to say, sometimes hard to do...okay, really hard.

But, as that old Virgina Slim ad used to claim, "You've come a long way baby!" If I stop and reflect, giving myself time and space to really look back with objectivity. WOW! I have come a long way. Plus, every day I see small improvements. I’m learning to love handstand drills. I’m finding it easier to enter into handstand and to hold it. I’m working on refining the pose—pressing through fingers and hands, extending out, pull ribs and pelvis toward each other while reaching the tailbone toward heels, squeeze legs together, roll thighs in, extend out through pointed toes….Oh yeah and BREATHE! ***sigh*** Okay still not easy, but it's a practice.

So, food for thought…
What are you practicing? How are you practicing? Do you practice daily? Do you practice with love and care, honoring the place you are in your journey not overdoing and harming yourself? Do you practice without greed or obsession (non-attachment). I love how the practice of yoga can apply to all aspects of life—work, rock climbing (or any sport), relationships, etc...

So, as you venture into the world today. Think about what you practicing and how can you practice more diligently, carefully—honoring where you are in your journey and finding the joy and love in being right where you are.
Namaste
Ann

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Story Behind the Pose: Koundinyasana

8/23/2017

Eka Pada Koundinyasana (the pose dedicated to Koundinya) is an arm balance, In this pose the key to success is more related to leverage than strength. Therefore, in order to achieve this pose, we must have faith like Koundinya. Faith to find the middle way between balance and strength; belief in our self and physical ability (readiness) in order to achieve the pose.

Who was Koundinya?
The sage, Koundinya, was a royal court scholar. He is known for predicting Prince Siddhartha Gautama would become Buddha (the Enlightened One). This news was not well-received by the king. Nonetheless, Koundinya vowed to become one of the Buddha’s most dedicated disciples.

Eventually the prince (Siddhartha) decided to leave his life of luxury behind and followed Koundinya into the forest to live as an ascetic. They lived together for six years in extreme self-deprivation and harsh living conditions. Siddhartha's hope was to find enlightenment. Eventually Siddhartha decided this was not the path to enlightenment and left Koundinya, which greatly saddened Koundinya.

The Middle Way
However, on his own, the Buddha discovered that true happiness was a balance of both extremes, the material and the spiritual, and he called it the Middle Way.

The Buddha returned to Koundinya and the forest community to share his new philosophy. After initial trepidation, Koundinya became one of the Buddha’s first students and taught this Middle Way for the rest of his life.

The story of Koundinya is one of faith and belief. His trust and confidence in Siddhartha remained steadfast even when the Buddha ventured away from Koundinya’s own teachings.

Trying out the pose.
If you want to give a go at Koundinyasana A or B, below are two videos by a favorite yogi of mine, Kino. I hope you find them helpful. Please let me know if you gave the pose a try!

Koundinyasana A

Koundinyasana B

***DISCLAIMER***
Do not attempt any of these poses without the aid and supervision of a well-trained yoga instructor. Please be sure to consult a medical practitioner before starting any new exercise regime. This is particularly important if you are overweight, pregnant, nursing, regularly taking medications, or have any existing medical conditions. The information contained in this website may not be tailored to your current physical and mental health. Rock Climbing Yogi and Ann Seibert accept no liability whatsoever for any damages arising from the use of this website. As with any workout or yoga class, be sure to warm up properly and cool down afterward to avoid injury.

Icons edited and created from source artwork made by Roundicons from www.flaticon.com is licensed by CC 3.0 BY

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Wednesday Workout: Fledgling Flow

7/19/2017

utthita hasta padangusthasana
(extended hand-to-foot)

This sequence...is perfect for beginner level yogis. If you've practiced yoga in the past and are looking for a progression to help motivate you after a long hiatus away from your practice, this may be exactly what you're looking to use.

Fledgling Flow works on opening up hips, hip flexors, hamstrings, shoulders, and back. It aims to help strengthen the core and to improve your overall balance. In general, it should be an easy flowing sequence to help you work all areas of the body.

So, if you want to work on this sequence at home, I've worked up this cheat sheet for you to bookmark, save or download. Enjoy yogis!
Namaste.
- Ann

Fledgling Flow

Download PDF

Icons edited and created from source artwork made by Roundicons from www.flaticon.com is licensed by CC 3.0 BY

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Wednesday Workout: Fierce Dancer

6/21/2017

Key Prepping Poses

This week...

We worked on opening up our hips, hip flexors, thighs, shoulders, and back in order to work into Dancer (natarajasana).

In particular, the poses we did during the second flow sequence, helped to prepare our bodies for dancer. All of these poses are great because they help test our balance, strength and flexibility, all with the goal to help us move more gracefully into and out of dancer.

So, if you want to work on this sequence at home, I've worked up this cheat sheet for you to bookmark, save or download. Enjoy yogis!
Namaste.
- Ann

Download PDF

Icons edited and created from source artwork made by Roundicons from www.flaticon.com is licensed by CC 3.0 BY

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Handstand Prep Drills

5/12/2017

For those brave souls that attended Wednesday's Yoga for Power & Flexibility class, you all did amazingly well! Before we started practicing handstand, we discussed how important it is to maintain strong straight arms during the inversion. Below are four of the arm drills we did to help prepare for adho mukha vrksasana (aka handstand) and to ultimately make achieving the pose a bit easier.

Seated Block Drills for Shoulders, Exercise 1 - From sukhasana (an easy seat pose) hold a foam block between your hands. Extend the block out parallel to floor. Extend out from your shoulders, squeezing your elbows and hands together. Hold for five (5) breaths. Then lift the block to a 45 degree angle, extending up and out from the shoulders, squeezing the elbows & hands together. Hold for five (5) breaths. Then, lift the block above your head. Extend up and out from your shoulders. Still pressing your hands together and keeping your arms straight and strong. Hold for five (5) breaths. Repeat this sequence four (4) more times.
Seated Block Drills for Shoulders, Exercise 2- Still seated in sukhasana and holding the foam block between your hands with your arms parallel to the floor, you will raise and lower the block. While maintaining strong straight arms with shoulders extended: Inhale, raise the block above your head. Exhale, lower the block to parallel. Repeat this for a total of ten (10) times.
Table Top/Down Dog Arm Exercises - Come to table top. Fingers splayed out. Elbow creases facing forward. Pressing away from the earth and engaging your shoulders. Next, keeping your arms straight and strong, lean your hips back so that your arms now slope in a diagonal. Claw with your finger tips on the mat. Lift the underside of your arms—shoulders toward the front of the room, Soften your chest toward your wrists. Lift your head and look forward slightly. Now, keep your arms steady, lift your knees and stretch your legs into downward facing dog. Keeping this awareness (steadiness) in your hands and arms raise and lower your knees. Repeat this for a total of five (5) times.
Down Dog/Plank Arm Exercises - From down dog, claw with your fingertips. Press your index finger and knuckles down. Make your arms straight and strong. Now, slowly move your chest & shoulders forward by approximately two inches. Soften chest towards wrists, while lifting out of your shoulders. Keep your arms straight and strong, elbows pulling toward eachother. Keeping this engagement, lower your knees on the floor. Then lift your knees, keeping your arms, hands, & upper back steady. Repeat this lowering and lifting of your knees for a total of five (5) times.

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Easing belayer neck pain

5/8/2017

We spend a lot of time looking up while we belay. This sometimes causes too much pressure in your neck, resulting in pain. One way to help easy the pain of belayer's neck is to actively training your neck muscles to engage, rather than just dumping the weight of your head into your spine. Here are some exercises to help:

Neck Rolls - Come to an easy sit position. Gently and slowly roll your head clockwise 5-10 times and then counter-clockwise 5-10 times
Scalene Muscle Stretch - The scalene muscles are a set of three muscles located in the neck, on the front and on either side of the throat. Derived from the Greek word skalenos (meaning "uneven"), these muscles have differing lengths, attachments and fiber arrangements. To stretch your scalene, take your fingers, as if you were crimping, and bring them into the groove between your collar bones and the scalene muscles. Gently tilt your head to the right and slowly move your chin upward. You should feel a nice stretch in the neck. Hold the stretch for 2-5 breaths, then come back to center and switch to the other side.
Extended Arm Head Tilts - Reach your right arm out with the palm out, facing up. Raise your left hand and place it on the right side of your head. Gently pull head your head to the left (left ear to left should). You should feel a nice stretch in the right side of the neck. Hold the stretch for 2-5 breaths, then come back to center and switch to the other side.
Trapezius Muscle Stretch - Using a yoga strap, loop it into a circle shape. Place one end of the loop under your right knee, working it inward as needed. Then loop the other end over your right shoulder, over top of your right upper trapezius muscle (the somewhat flat are between your shoulder and neck). Gradually tighten the loop as necessary to feel a gentle drawing downward of the shoulder. Extend your right arm parallel with the floor, palm facing down. Raise your left hand and place it on the right side of your head. to the own. Gently press the neck. Gently pull head your head to the left (left ear to left should). You should feel a nice stretch in the right side of the neck and trapezius. Hold the stretch for 2-5 breaths, then come back to center and switch to the other side.

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4 Great Shoulders Stretches

5/2/2017

Your shoulders are intricate machines. Lots can go wrong if you don't treat them well. Here are some of my favorite stretches to help keep shoulders limber and healthy.

Rolling T - Start by laying on your stomach in a T-position, with your palms facing toward the ground. Then gently roll to one side. Hold the pose for 30-90 seconds. Then switch to the other side.
Thread the Needle - Start on all fours. Lift left hand off the ground and "thread" left arm through the space between right arm and right leg, letting the back of the left hand and arm slide along the ground. Allow the upper body (thoracic spine) to naturally rotate toward the right, but keep hips level. Stop pushing arm to the right at the point where your hips begin to open to the right. (This may mean less of a range of motion than what you could do if you continued to open.)
Cow Face - Reach right arm straight up, then bend elbow and let hand fall behind your head. Move left arm behind the back and bend the arm, letting the back of your left hand rest against the right shoulder blade (or as close to the blade as possible). Reach to grab right fingertips with the left hand. Repeat on the other side.
I-Y-T Moves Against the Wall - With your back to a wall, stand with palms facing out. Slowly bring arms up to make a "T" shape—keeping your arms and back in contact with the wall. Continue to bring arms up to make a "Y" shape, then an "I" shape, touching thumbs overhead. Focus on keeping shoulder blades flat against the wall (not allowing them to stick out or wing.)

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Ann SEibert

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Handstands: Lovin' the Journey

How to Perfect Your Handstand? Practice...Practice...Practice!

Story Behind the Pose: Koundinyasana

Wednesday Workout: Fledgling Flow

Fledgling Flow

Hey Ann...

Wednesday Workout: Fierce Dancer

This week...

Handstand Prep Drills

Easing belayer neck pain

4 Great Shoulders Stretches

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