Tag Archives: asana variations

A Daily Dose of Backbends

Tutorial, , , , , ,

Here’s an easy-to-follow yoga backbend sequence that will help you build strength in your spinal extensors without crunching your spine!

Do this daily and notice how it can help you to sit and walk taller and with more open shoulders and lungs.

If you found this useful, please share it with someone who needs it!

Sign up here to receive a full length audio guided beginners’ mindfulness practice session, which will be sent to your inbox!

[mc4wp_form]

[After signing up, add ask@spiceyoga.com to your email address book to ensure that you receive the gift.]

 

How to Sit Tall

Tutorial, , , , ,

Don’t compromise your spinal elongation in your yoga asana practice.

Tight hip flexors and weak back muscles can cause us to constantly hunch over while we are practising many yoga seated poses, continuing a vicious cycle of poor posture created from sitting at the desk all day (the more you sit, the tighter your hip flexors, the tighter the hip flexors, the less easy it is to sit upright).

Here’s how to bring awareness to centering the pelvis and strengthening the core (front and back) muscles, in order to find a long spine, working with tight hips (which most of us live with!) Explore props and variations for four yoga asanas. ENJOY!

If you liked this, please share this page with a friend who needs it!

Sign up here to receive a full length audio guided beginners’ mindfulness practice session, which will be sent to your inbox!

[mc4wp_form]

[After signing up, add ask@spiceyoga.com to your email address book to ensure that you receive the gift.]

Caturanga with Stable Shoulders

Tutorial, , , , ,

Use 2 yoga blocks – or stacks of books of the same thickness and firmness – to train strength, alignment and stability in the upper body in caturanga.

  1. Train flexing elbows to 90 degrees carrying own upper body weight (place yoga blocks to touch the shoulders at this height)
  2. Bring awareness to what needs to be turned on to maintain stable shoulder girdle (active palms, arms, hugging of shoulder blades towards ribcage).
  3. Work on concentric and eccentric muscle engagement by working in both directions slow – lowering down and pushing up.
  4. Work with knees down first to build upper body strength – chest, upper back, triceps – before layering in lower body work.

The detailed work needs a whole workshop to run through! These are some ideas to stimulate your awareness in your personal practice.

Sign up here to be informed when the next free tutorials are published! As a welcome gift, a full length audio guided practice session will be sent to your inbox.

[mc4wp_form]

[After signing up, add ask@spiceyoga.com to your email address book to ensure that you receive the gift.]

Balancing Squat (Hips and Core!)

Tutorial, , , , ,

This is suitable for those of you who already have a comfortable malasana (squat pose) as part  of your physical practice. With a yoga wheel, you can add in stabilization work, firing up the whole core while maintaining hip opening, balanced weight distribution and mental focus.

See video on Spice Yoga’s Youtube Channel

Courtesy: @DharmaYogaWheel

Sign up here to be informed when the next free tutorials are published! As a welcome gift, a full length audio guided practice session will be sent to your inbox.

[mc4wp_form]

[After signing up, add ask@spiceyoga.com to your email address book to ensure that you receive the gift.]

Caturanga with a Bolster

Tutorial, , , , , , , ,

And you thought that yoga bolsters stay in the territory of effortless, restorative practice…

Here’s how to use it to ‘cancel out’ some of the effects of gravity in caturanga dandasana (your yoga half push-up), so that you can work on your upper body strength, focus on stabilizing the shoulders as you move, and find a good energetic alignment.

Sign up here to be informed when the next free tutorials are published! As a welcome gift, a full length audio guided practice session will be sent to your inbox.

[mc4wp_form]

[After signing up, add ask@spiceyoga.com to your email address book to ensure that you receive the gift.]

Don’t plough down your spine!

Tutorial, , , , , ,

The angle of flexion in the cervical spine (neck) area during shoulder stand and plough pose practice can be very harsh for many of us. Over time, the ligaments stabilizing the vertebral joints in the neck area may slacken, if they are subjected to the same pulling forces – repeatedly – over time. This creates instability in the cervical spine in the long run.

Try this in your practice: prop your shoulders and thoracic cage up with 2-3 folded blankets placed on your practice mat (to prevent slipping!). This raised height allows your head to hang lower than your shoulders once you lift your hips up into plough or shoulder stand, so reducing the angle of flexion, but still allowing you to practise and enjoy the benefits of the inversions.

Watch this video for other ideas on how to use various yoga props (and daily household items) in a plough pose.

Sign up here to be informed when the next free tutorials are published! As a welcome gift, a full length audio guided practice session will be sent to your inbox.

[mc4wp_form]

[After signing up, add ask@spiceyoga.com to your email address book to ensure that you receive the gift.]