Align heels and turn back foot to 45degrees. Hips are slightly off center, navel and hips point the same way. Spin your heart to the front of the mat. Do not feel any twist in the knee. Externally rotate the the back thigh to keep the thigh,knee and toes in line. Upper Body—Lift up and over the pelvis with the low rib cage. Shorten the top rib cage and lengthen the bottom ribs.

Warrior 2

Hips are centred sideways-still diagonal just more to the side. Back foot is at 90 degrees, align the front heel with the arch of the back foot. The torso is at a slight diagonal so the navel faces the same way as the hips. there is a tendency to have the back hip out -when it is in then the front knee will come forward.

Warrior 3

Allow the standing leg to bend-work towards straight. Internally rotate the back thigh and keep hips level. Activate the core, draw the navel in, and expand the heart out. parallel to the floor is the end result. Find the balance at the fulcrum and reach out from there. Pull the back hip forward, hips are square and closed. Torso square to the front.

In Savasana, our bodies integrate and assimilate what we have just practiced. It rejuvenates the body, mind and spirit. Tiredness is eliminated because the parasympathetic nervous system steps in lowering the heart rate and blood pressure, releasing endorphins giving the sense of renewed energy. An anabolic state of metabolism occurs stimulating organ and muscle repair. This pose is about letting go completely.   Proper relaxation is essential for the health of our mind and body and for clarity of thought for making good choices. Some people find this pose very difficult; it may take time to master it. Ease yourself into this pose and let the thoughts come and go. Observe them but don’t hang onto them. Eventually the mind will become calm and savasana will become your favourite pose. A yoga sage named Patanjali designed this pose to show us how to live by coming close to death. “Death shows us how to live and then we die.”  Coming close to death helps us decide what is important in life, and so during this pose clarity can occur.

The optimal energy alignment is tadasana on the mat. The head sometimes is hard to align, be aware of the neck making it long and straight. If the pose is uncomfortable you can bend your knees and/or place a bolster under your knees to relieve pressure on the lower back. As the shoulders relax away from your head and the collarbones widen the palms will find a restful position. When the palms turn down the fingertips have a lot of nerve endings and may stimulate the mind too much so palms up takes that distraction away.

When you come out of this restful place, take your time allowing the body to adapt to a more energetic state needed to sit up and prepare for life off of the mat.

Low Cobra

Palms are on the mat, fingers in line with shoulders. The same directions as sphinx, hug elbows to your body, draw shoulders onto your back, look down at the mat at first, and Initiate the backbend from the neck and skull. Press into your hands and lift your chest a little higher. As the muscles along the spine strengthen you can move into

High Cobra.

The skull moves straight back over the heart, hug the shoulders in and continue to press elbows to the body. Hug the navel into spine. The arms start to straighten working toward

Upward Facing Dog

The arms will be straight and the hips and thighs come off the mat. Press into your feet for balance and stability. Keep the navel firm. This pose allows for the chest to expand and the collarbones to spread, allowing for the breath to fill the front of your body. Draw the shoulders away from the ears and lengthen your neck. Up dog is an intense, advanced back bend. Listen to your body, straighten the arms to your capacity. Use the upper and middle back to lift rather than focusing on the lower back. As you lower to the mat keep the torso long.

Chaturanga 4 limbed staff pose
Chaturanga Dandasana is quite difficult to perform at first, until the arms, back, and legs are strong enough to support you. From Plank Pose, begin by lowering your knees to the floor, not under hips, a bit further back and then, with an exhalation start to lower your sternum to within an inch or two above the floor. Do this by moving the weight of your body forward by taking the heels forward so the heart goes forward, this takes pressure off the rotator cuff. Hug elbows back and in, the same as plank, slide the elbows over the wrists and pour your heart forward, slide hips down from here. Your body is in a line, crown to heels aligned on an angle, not a pure straight line.
As you are lowering it is very important to be aware if the shoulders drop below the elbows. If they do, you are no longer using muscles, you are using joints and there is a risk of injury as joints are not as strong as muscles. There ideally is a right angle with your arms. This is an advanced pose and one that takes patience and practice. It is best to be in alignment and go from high chaturanga to updog than to hang in the arm bones (shoulders drop below elbows) and risk injury.

I have taught figure skating for over 35 years and ask for mountain pose in every jump and position. It is the foundation of life and for all poses. All movement comes from this pose. To understand the hierarchy of what is important in yoga the following piece of information is important. Mountain Pose can help one let go of the striving that is common and the judgment that is normal in a yoga class. It is so simple and yet not easy. When you are in the pose life makes sense. MP asks you to accept the way you were built. It is called Mountain Pose because it promotes the experience of stillness, strength, relaxed power, and immovable stability associated with mountains.
It aligns the body, teaches correct posture, increases awareness, develops a refined sense of balance, and steadies the breath. You learn to trust the earth, your body, and the connection
Trust is an inner situation, a drawing in so you can radiate from the inside out. This trust creates a foundation for the fundamental disciplines needed to carry out other standing poses successfully and then allows self-expression. Some of the disciplines are balance, alignment, concentration and awareness of the body. One learns to move from the inside out, radiating from the core. Every pose has two primary lines of energy radiating outward from the center: one line moving upward through the spine and one line downward through the legs. It is this subtle balance that creates alignment, balance, stability and clarity in your life as well. Remember that experiencing yourself in stillness is the most direct way to experience you with clarity. Along with the physical balance there is an energetic equilibrium in the Central Nervous System and the optimal energy flow is in Mountain pose—that is why most massage reiki etc are done in this pose laying down.

An Iyengar quote sums it up.” The body extends upwards, with the base as firm as a rock; the mind is steady and attentive. Tadasana teaches balance, centering and evenness and direction of extensions. These principles apply to all the postures. “

We adapt yoga to our bodies and not our bodies to yoga

Sun Salutation
Is liberating because it involves the essentials of yoga asanas or poses. Most importantly it moves with breath in a simple way. Put plainly, without the bandhas and ujjayi breath there is no yoga, you are just attending a stretching class. It is meditative when a number of salutations are done consecutively. The Sun Salutation has back bends in differing degrees, forward folds, arm balancings and heart openings. Beginners can memorize it and use it anywhere, anytime.
It was originally used to praise and greet the sun, bow down to touch the earth and reach to the power of the sun to celebrate. It is a morning prayer of light and generosity of the sun. When done with profound gratitude in the heart it is healing. The Sun Salutation has a mantra (sacred word) for each pose.
The Sun salutation was not a part of hatha yoga before 1920!! It was created in reaction to calisthenics that was taught in the schools in India. So an indigenous exercise was found to strengthen the body and gain self-respect and then integrated into the schools in India.

Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskara in Sanskrit) are the core of a Vinyasa style yoga practice. A sun salutation is a series of poses done in succession so that one pose flows into the next. The pace of the flow and how long the poses are held may vary, but the movement is done in accompaniment with the breath. The purpose of the Sun Salutation is to warm up the body for more intense stretches.

With a small number of students, you will experience the benefits of individual attention and ample time to ask questions. The workshop will focus on finding a safe pose for everybody, variations and modifications will be offered throughout the workshop.