Yoga Thinking Poses
The following videos are meant to be a quick illustration of the poses in the Yoga Thinking book. They are not professional quality, but as a recovering perfectionist, it's often better for me to do something than wait until it's perfect :) The bottom line in all of this is just find the variation that feels the best to you today, whether that looks like any image you've ever seen of that particular pose. There's no competition, not even with yourself or the image of perfection in your head. Avoid forcing, aggression, and pain. What's important is that you're present, aware, breathing, and exploring. Anything else is just icing on the cake :)
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Mountain
Stand with feet hip-width distance apart. Imagine all four corners of your feet grounding into the floor (the inside and outside of the ball of each foot and the inside and outside of each heel). Stack your knees above your ankles, hips above knees, shoulders above hips, and ears in that same plane. Let your shoulders roll down and back, opening your hurt. Hands can be at your side or in Namaste at heart center. Your joints are aligned, but you're not rigid. Each inhale lengthens your entire body toward the sky, and each exhale grounds you into the earth, as if you're being stretched like a rubber band in both directions. Notice any habitual holding or tension in your body (flutes, shoulders, jaw, etc.) and see if you can allow it to release. |
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Arms Up Mountain
From Mountain, keep your shoulders rolled down and raise your arms overhead, fingers spread wide. With great awareness of the connection of your feet to the earth, imagine lengthening all the way from your heels through your fingertips, from the base of your spine through the crown of your head. Hold for several breaths. |
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Chair
From Arms Up Mountain, bend your knees and sit back, like you're sitting onto the edge of a chair. Keep your shoulders relaxed, and your back flat. You may prefer your knees together, upper thighs hugging close. |
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Forward Fold
With feet hip-width distance apart, fold forward, hinging from the hips. Bend your knees as much as you need to. Hands can rest at your thighs, shins, ankles, or the floor. Crown of the head releases toward the floor, tailbone extends toward the sky. Engaging the quadriceps helps to lengthen the backs of the legs. Hold for 3-5 breaths, using the breath to move you deeper into the posture. |
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Lunge
From Forward Fold, bend the knees until the palms are flat on the floor. Step the right foot back into a lunge position, checking the alignment of the front knee to be sure it is in line with the hip from side-to-side, and not extending past the ankle from front to back. If your knee is in front of your ankle, scoot your foot forward, either by wiggling your toes forward, or by moving it with your hand. Bring your hands up to your left thigh. Right leg is straight, or you can drop to the knee. Both hips face front. Hold for 3-5 breaths, with hands resting on your thigh, at heart center, or extended on either side of your head. Create more distance between the tailbone and the crown of the head with each inhale, and sink deeper into the posture with each exhale, maintaining alignment, opening through the front of the right hip. Then bring hands back to floor, step the right foot forward and left foot back to repeat on the other side. |
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Plank
From lunge, bring hands back to floor, and step the left foot back so that you're in a high push-up position. You can leave your legs straight or set your knees down. Relax your shoulders, engage your core, and create a straight line from your shoulders through your hips to your heels (or your knees, if knees are down). |
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Caterpillar
From Plank, set your knees down, keep your hips high, bend your elbows, and take your chin and chest forward through your hands, moving like an inchworm. Let your belly come to the floor, preparing for Cobra. |
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Cobra
From Caterpillar, bring your belly to the floor, hands underneath shoulders, tops of feet on the mat, chin resting on the floor. With an inhale, let the muscles of your back lift your head, chest, and torso, keeping elbows in close, belly button drawn in toward your spine, and the weight in your hands light. Lift only to the point that’s comfortable for your back, bending more from behind the heart, rather than in the lower back. You can stay low and close to the floor with little to no weight in your hands to strengthen your lower back, or come up higher with straighter arms to build more flexibility in your spine. You can stay still, or inhale up and exhale down. You might keep your head and torso centered, or you might let your shoulders twist and turn. Hold for 3-5 breaths, then press back into Child’s Pose. |
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Downward Facing Dog
From Cobra, curl your toes under and lift your hips up until your body forms an upside-down V shape. Generally, feet are hip-width distance apart, hands shoulder-width distance apart, but experiment with the position of your hands and feet from side-to-side and front-to-back until you find what feels the best. Back is flat, head releases between your arms, and the center of your palm lifts away from the floor with fingers spread wide. Tailbone extends toward the sky, core is engaged to support lower back, and heels work toward the floor. Bend your knees as much as you need to. You might leave both legs straight, bend both knees, or alternate one bent knee and the other leg straight. With each inhale, draw the sit bones toward the sky, and with exhale, draw the heels closer to the floor, for 3-5 breaths. |
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Warrior 1 – right leg forward
From Downward Facing Dog, step your right foot forward 3 feet, and set your left heel down. The left foot is at an angle of about 30-45 degrees, or whatever feels comfortable on your knee. Bring torso upright. Right knee bends, and is in line with the hip socket from side to side, and not extending over the ankle from front-to-back. Both hips face forward, chest presses forward, arms extended upward on either side of your head (they can remain on your hips or heart center if needed). Shoulders are rolled down, away from your ears. Hold for 3-5 breaths, growing taller through the crown of your head with the inhales, and sinking deeper into the postures on the exhales. |
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Warrior 2 – right leg forward
From Warrior I, take an inhale; on the exhale, open your hips to face the side, shoulders over hips. Drop the arms to shoulder level and them, right arm in front, left behind. Arms are parallel with the floor, palms facing down. Gaze over the front middle finger. Be sure that the knee is still in line with the hip from side-to-side; sometimes it follows the hips as they open to the side, and will need to be pulled back to the outside so that you can see it lined up with your second toe. Reach out through the fingertips. Stay for 3-5 breaths, lengthening with the inhales, sinking deeper with the exhales. Windmill down to Plank, then repeat Caterpillar, Cobra, and Downward Facing Dog, before stepping into Warrior 1 and Warrior 2 with the left foot forward. |
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Child’s Pose
From hands and knees, sit hips back toward heels. Tops of feet are flat on the floor, together behind you. You can place a folded mat or blanket under your ankles and/or between your hips and heels to make the posture more comfortable. Forehead extends toward the mat; you can stack your fists in front of you and rest your forehead on your fists, or a folded blanket. Palms can be stretched out in front of you or palms can be face-up beside your hips. Knees can be together, apart at the edge of your mat, or anywhere in between. As you inhale, feel your back expand. Hold for 3-5 breaths. |
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Seated Twist
From a seated position, extend your right leg out in front of you. Cross your left foot over your right leg and set your left foot down somewhere along the right side of your leg (knee is up). Inhale both hands up, lengthening from your tailbone through the top of your head, then turn your shoulders to the left, bringing your right hand or elbow to your left knee and setting your left hand down behind you. You can look over your left shoulder, straight ahead, or over your right shoulder - find what feels the best. Hold for 3-5 deep breaths, then unwind back to center on an exhale and repeat on the other side. |
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Corpse Pose (aka "Savasana")
Lay on your back, allowing your feet to fall open to the sides, and your arms rest comfortably, hands relaxed. Allow your spine to curve naturally, not forcing it into the floor. You can place a bolster under your knees and/or lower back or lay on your side if that makes you more comfortable. Allow your bones to sink into the mat and your muscles to melt away from the bones, as you let the benefits of yoga sink into your body. |
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All Poses Linked Together in Flow
These poses link together in a variation of a Sun Salutation. Begin in Mountain. On an inhale, sweep arms up to Arms Up Mountain. On an exhale, bend knees to Chair. On an inhale, reach up, then exhale to dive forward to Forward Fold. On an inhale, step one foot back to lunge. On the next inhale, step the other foot back to Plank. Set knees down and shift hips back and up, then exhale into Caterpillar. Inhale to Cobra. Exhale to Downward Facing Dog. On an inhale, float a foot forward to Warrior 1. On an exhale, open arms to Warrior 2. Windmill back down to Lunge on the other side, then move through Plank, Caterpillar, Cobra, Downward Facing Dog, then up into Warrior 1 & 2 on the second side. On an exhale, windmill down to Plank, then move hips back into Child's Pose. Cross your feet behind you and come up for a Seated Twist, or move onto your back for a reclining twist. End with Corpse Pose. |