Yoga: Steady and Comforting

Yoga Sutra 2:46 ~ Sthira Sukham Asanam: There is steadiness and comfort in asana.

When you're practicing yoga, know that your poses - your asanas - need both stability and flexibility. The Sanskrit word "sukham" translates not only to comfort, but to happiness and ease. Relax into the pose and be still ~ that is sacred practice.

Yoga Sutra 2:46 is a deep yet practical metaphor for life. If you're totally rigid, that is not asana. If you're totally flexible, that is not asana. For the balance and benefits of yoga in our lives, we need comfort, flexibility, happiness, AND stability, steadiness, firmness.

Start with the foundation and work your way up. If you can remain rooted you will find the ability to be flexible ~ and if you can remain flexible, you will find the strength to remain still.

Take a Stretching Break

Are you ready for a one-minute break in your day? I thought you might be!

If you're sitting, stand up. This will only take a minute, I promise.

Stand with both feet firmly on the ground, weight balanced evenly across your heels and the balls of your feet (kick off your shoes if you need to).

Inhale as you extend your arms out to the side, reaching from fingertip to fingertip, palms facing up.

Exhale as you raise your arms up overhead, clasping all ten fingers together, knuckles pointing toward the ceiling.

Inhale as you lengthen your spine, reaching up through the crown of your head and down through your feet.

Exhale as you slowly and gently raise your chin toward the ceiling, dropping your head back, allowing your arms to drop even further back. Feel the gentle curve in your back.

Draw your weight down through your feet as you hold this position and breathe fully into your chest, exhaling all the way down to your belly, five times.

Inhale as you release your head back to neutral, and exhale as you release your arms down to your sides.

Relish the moment of new energy and revitalized breath.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled day.

May you remain flexible throughout the day!

Yoga: A Pose a Day

If you're not a regular practitioner of yoga, it may be intimidating to start going to a weekly class. Even if you have had a regular practice in the past, it might be hard to stick to a schedule or to work in an entire 60- or 90-minute class into your day.

In my experience practicing and teaching yoga, students get the most benefit by incorporating small amounts of yoga on a regular basis, rather than one long class per week.

An easy way to do this is to resolve to do one yoga pose every day. That's right, just one. This way, you will keep yourself in the yoga flow without getting burned out or feeling like you "have to" make it to class or break out the full-length DVD.

Of course, more advanced poses like Upward Bow (Urdhva Dhanurasana) and Lotus (Padmasana) require "prerequisite" poses to warm up the muscles and strengthen the body ~ I would strongly recommend you do not jump right into an advanced pose without proper warm-up.

You may find that your body is calling out for:

• an inversion like Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
• a seated twist like Half Lord of the Fishes (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
• a restorative pose like Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Kirani)
• or another pose that you personally love and can do with relative ease.
  

Standing poses such as Warrior II and Triangle are great poses to use as breaks throughout your day.

If you're feeling more energetic, try moving on to one Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskara) per day.

Be careful, though ~ you may find yourself inspired to continue on to a full 90-minute practice!

May you remain flexible and flowing throughout your life.