This audio blog is suitable for everyone, whether you do yoga or not. For those of us who do, there is often so much to think about when doing yoga postures that it is easy to forget about the neck, and so, to help your alignment and body awareness, below are instructions for a gentle neck awareness practise.
I hope you find it helpful and relaxing.
Sunday 21 June 2009
Beneficial Back Bends
I love back bends. I am sure they have helped my back ache. Those of us who do gardening naturally take our hands to our hips afterwards and stretch back as a counter pose. We are very aware of how our back feels and therefore rarely over do the movement preventing aggravating something in your back. In general backbends are not a natural movement and therefore it is important to focus on them in our yoga practise. However, sometimes we can try too hard.
Rodney Yee – a yoga teacher likens the heart to Grand Central Station. “You want everything to flow through it. When you over bend anywhere in the spine, it’s like creating a kink in a garden hose. You block the energy flow. When you align yourself properly, you can bring energy to your heart centre. And at the end of your practise, you will feel euphoria. There’ll be an energetic clarity instead of an energetic blasting.”
At the end of practising backbends have you sometimes felt completely exhausted when you’ve just been told they are energizing poses? This may be because there is some compression of the vertebra in the lower back or perhaps the neck.
When you practise back bends and be gentle with yourself.
Be gentle with your spine – imagine it like a wheel. Always keep the lower back long and free from compression. Also avoid over bending your neck, especially at the nape of the neck. Learn to keep your neck long thinking of it as a natural extension of the spine.
Rodney Yee – a yoga teacher likens the heart to Grand Central Station. “You want everything to flow through it. When you over bend anywhere in the spine, it’s like creating a kink in a garden hose. You block the energy flow. When you align yourself properly, you can bring energy to your heart centre. And at the end of your practise, you will feel euphoria. There’ll be an energetic clarity instead of an energetic blasting.”
At the end of practising backbends have you sometimes felt completely exhausted when you’ve just been told they are energizing poses? This may be because there is some compression of the vertebra in the lower back or perhaps the neck.
When you practise back bends and be gentle with yourself.
Be gentle with your spine – imagine it like a wheel. Always keep the lower back long and free from compression. Also avoid over bending your neck, especially at the nape of the neck. Learn to keep your neck long thinking of it as a natural extension of the spine.
Thursday 4 June 2009
Audio relaxation: 'Be in the Present'
Relax on your back 
Allow your hips to float up in a gentle bridge
Release any tension in your spine by bringing your knees to your chest
We all lead busy lives and sometimes the days pass and you don’t feel as if you’ve really been there.
I was inspired by an article in the Yoga Journal magazine to write a lesson allowing the students to draw their awaress to themselves, to each part of their body and their breath. To get the feeling of being in the present.
Whether you regularly do yoga or not, you can use this yoga practice to sooth your nerves and bring you back to the fullness and freedom of the here and now. It is based on the bridge pose, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.
Click below, listen, relax and give it a go.
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