Thursday 6.30p Intro: Week 7 (Feb 19, 2009)

Next week we will do restorative poses.
Note new poses for this week are in bold face.

Invocation in Swastikasana

1. Tadasana/Samasthiti
a. To straighten the knee, lift both the kneecap and the back thigh up, away from the knee, to make the knee light. Don’t just throw the knees back. This prevents indentations at either the top or bottom knee.

2. Urdhva Hastasana
a. Navel back, stretch the armpits up

3. Tadasana (Urdhva Baddhanguliyasana)

4. Tadasana (Namaskarasana)
a. Roll open the shoulders

5. Tadasana (Paschima Baddha Hasta arms)
a. Urdhva Namaskarasana inserted after Gomukhasana arms
b. Holding elbows, roll open from the sternum to the frontal shoulders, and turn the shoulders back to broaden the chest.

6. Tadasana (Gomukhasana arms)
a. Supta Tadasana (Gomukhasana arms) variation: Moving trunk towards feet to take the lower arm higher up the back.

7. Tadasana (Paschima Namaskarasana)

8. Utthita Trikonasana
a. Lift the right back thigh.
b. Hit the right outer thigh in to bring the femur more into the socket. From there, turn and open the chest.

9. Utthita Parsvakonasana
a. Turn the right foot and leg out more to prevent the hip cramp.
b. To lay the right side chest on the right frontal thigh, put the hand on a lower brick.
c. Observe that if the right inner arch falls, the outer calf must move laterally to stabilize it. Conversely, if the right inner arch is either lifted or very high, the outer calf must automatically come closer to the bone.
Similarly, if the right inner arch falls, the knee will deviate towards the midline. And, if the right hip is tight, the knee will deviate towards the midline and the right buttock will deviate away from the midline.

10. Rope 1
a. Do this prior to every class to help open shoulders.

11. Vimanasana
a. First steady the right leg. Lift the toes to press the inner edge of the first metatarsal down and the lift the inner arch. From there lift up through the inner knee to prevent the knee from wandering away from the midline.
b. Keeping the left heel down, lift the femur into the socket. The lower buttock, at the buttock crease, should be firm, but the sacral muscles and upper buttock must not grip, else the pelvis tilts forward and it is difficult to breathe.
c. Those who have difficulty opening the armpits, or have elevated blood pressure, in Urdhva Hastasana can temporarily substitute this variation for the classic Virabhadrasana I.

12. Viparita Karani (5 min.)