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BY KATE »simple everyday practice [HOLCOMBE
1 2
Inhale E»xhale Repeat 4» to 6 times
SUKHASANA INHALE, feel- VAJRASANA FORWARD BEND AND MODIFIED CAKRAVAKASANA Come into Vajrasana forward ing your abdomen gently ex- bend. INHALE, lifting your chest and head, and come up onto all fours, keeping your hips in line pand. EXHALE, feeling your with your knees, and your shoulders over your wrists. EXHALE, bringing your hips toward your abdomen gently contract. heels, and rest your head on the floor, arms extended forward. Repeat for 8 to 12 breaths.
4 5
Inhale E»xhale Repeat 4» to 6 times
MODIFIED SAVASANA AND MODIFIED DVIPADA PITHAM Starting with your arms and EKA PADA APANASANA AND MODI- knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, INHALE to lift your hips, only as high as is FIED EKA PADA URDHVA PRASRTA comfortable, keeping your thighs parallel. EXHALE to lower your hips back to the floor. PADASANA EXHALE and gently bend your knee into your chest. Holding the back of your knee, INHALE and gently
7
Exhale Inhale» Repeat 4» to 6 times per side, alternating
MODIFIED SAVASANA AND MODIFIED JATHARA PARIVRTTI With your arms outstretched, knees bent, and feet flat on the floor, EXHALE into a twist, lowering your knees to one side until they rest on the floor or on a cushion, turning your head to the opposite side. Keep both shoul- ders and your low back firm on the floor. INHALE, bringing your head and knees back to center. EXHALE, lowering your knees to the other side and turning your head in the opposite direction.
90 YOGAJOURNAL.COM FEBRUARY 2011 M watch
A video of this sequence can be found at yogajournal.com/21daychallenge.
3 Inhale E»xhale Repeat 4» to 6 times
MODIFIED SAVASANA Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. INHALE, gradually sweeping your arms wide along the floor and overhead. EXHALE, gradually sweeping your arms back down to your sides. Keep your neck and back relaxed throughout the movements.
6
Inhale Inhale E»xhale E»xhale Repeat 3» to 4 times Repeat 4» to 6 times per leg
extend your leg toward the ceiling. APANASANA AND URDHVA PRASRTA PADASANA INHALE as you gently extend Straighten the leg only as far as is com- both legs toward the ceiling, straightening your legs only as far as is comfortable. fortable. Hold for 2 to 3 breaths, gently At the same time, extend your arms to rest on the floor overhead. EXHALE as you pointing and flexing your outstretched lower your arms to your knees and bend your knees into your chest. Keep your neck foot and rotating your ankle. Switch sides. and back relaxed throughout the movements.
8 9 Inhale E»xhale R epeat» 6 times
APANASANA Keeping your neck relaxed, INHALE, gently moving your knees MODIFIED SAVASANA INHALE, feeling your away from your chest, until your arms are straight. EXHALE, slowly moving abdomen gently expand against your hand. your knees toward your chest with your hands on your knees. Keep your shoul- EXHALE, feeling your abdomen gently contract. ders on the floor and the back of your neck long. Repeat for 8 to 12 breaths.
FEBRUARY 2011 YOGAJOURNAL.COM 91 get back on the mat
continued from page 89 are, or wish you were more like your neigh- bor. There is a practice for you right now, just as you are.” Holcombe has been in my shoes. Ye a r s ago, after the birth of her first son, she let her 90-minute daily asana practice slip away, assuming that pranayama and medi- tation were more essential to her life as a mom. But with Desikachar’s help, she learned to adapt her practice to a tighter schedule. “He told me that my first pri- ority was taking care of my family,” she recalls. “There would be plenty of time for more intense practice later. But he also told me, ‘You can’t leave your body behind.’ ” He gave her a 15-minute asana routine—and it made a world of differ- ence. To d a y, she has three kids and still makes time for her practice every day. Holcombe now refers to herself as a recovering perfectionist and suggests that I, too, will have to let go of my unre- alistic ideal in order to get back on the yoga track. To help me (and you, reader), she has created a short, doable morning practice and a mellow evening routine (see page 90). Both of these practices, plus 11 others, are available as online videos at yogajournal.com/21daychallenge. Most of these sequences hadn’t been created when I started, so my challenge was to practice one or the other of Holcombe’s routines daily for 21 days. lessons learned
I jump on the routines with the zeal of the newly converted. The movements are mostly simple, but damned if I don’t do my best to make them hard. I hold poses longer than Holcombe suggests; do more reps; add in other, more challenging asa- nas. But with every ounce of extra effort comes pain—achy wrists, creaky knees, sore shoulders, mental resistance. Eventually, my over-efforting fades, and I relax into Holcombe’s sequences, connecting the movements to the breath, learning to run my muscles and joints through their complete range of motion without strain. Soon, I realize that this soft, yielding, receptive approach is help- ing me get back in touch with my body
120 YOGAJOURNAL.COM FEBRUARY 2011 kripalu yoga teacher training without all the nattering judgments I laboratory, where you can experiment associate with trying and failing or, worse, with poses to understand how they feel not trying at all. In these simple routines I in your body. Because even small move- what does discover a new form of intensity. I love it. ments can pay big dividends when you do Holcombe’s sequences are like medi- them daily. (Practicing gentle shoulder your potential cine, healing my rift with yoga. In their openers regularly, for instance, has helped subtlety, they show me how “gross” I’ve me drop more deeply into Down Dog.) look like? been in my former practice—so intent Because you can really attend to your on muscling through the poses that I’ve body’s needs, which change from day to The best yoga education provides a solid sometimes left my spirit behind. Now, I day. Because you get quiet enough to hear foundation from which students can grow into their highest potential. Kripalu Yoga Teacher simply enjoy spending time with myself, the great advice that often comes from Training prepares people to become successful especially during the nighttime practice, the teacher within. yoga teachers by mastering the essentials of something I can do after my four-year-old But more important, I’ve realized, yoga. How do we do this? Our unique inquiry- son is in bed, no matter what. daily practice puts yoga front and cen- based approach guides you to understand Despite their relative ease, these sim- ter in your consciousness. I’ve learned the technology and language of yoga on the ple daily sequences do all the things yoga to attune to the breath and to stay con- mat, while learning how to incorporate the is meant to do. They make me stronger nected with it throughout the day (even philosophy of yoga into the rest of your life. and more flexible; they connect me to while chasing my toddler around!). I’ve 200- and 500-hour my breath; they improve my energy and enjoyed Holcombe’s sequence so much stamina. And lo, on the days when I have it’s become a part of my regular bedtime Kripalu Yoga Teacher the time and the drive to do a stronger routine. Daily practice has increased my Training certification practice, it comes more easily. Daily prac- capacity to stay present with the uncom- get online tice builds its own momentum, and now I fortable thoughts, feelings, and sensa- crave my moments on the mat. I feel more tions that come up on the mat—and in today. inspired to show up to a class, too, know- the dentist’s office, the grocery store, and dates, applications, and more ing I can participate fully—or listen to the pickup line at school. In other words, kripalu.org/yogaschool my body’s needs for modification without I more easily remember that the skills I judgment or shame. build through practice come in handy all When I report to Holcombe at the the time. Yoga spills over into my life. end of my 21 days, she is happy to hear I invite you, too, to go online and sign about my success but not surprised. “It’s up for the 21-Day Challenge. Get on your my job to adapt the yoga to the individual, mat for three weeks and watch your life not the individual to the yoga,” she says. change for the better. A word of cau- “A lot of people spend years conforming tion, though: Instead of making a laun- the self to the practice. If that works for dry list of goals (to be thinner, younger, you, great. But if not, you need something calmer), just give yourself the gift of daily that’s realistic for you—if that’s six min- practice—then, share your experiences utes a day, then great.” with the YJ community at yogajournal .com/21daychallenge. The folks at Yoga the gifts of practice Journal are challenging us to commit to a daily practice, but they’re also challenging My practice isn’t perfect (and truth be us to rethink how we practice. told, I’ve missed a day or two), but I’ve The Challenge reminded me that real learned a lot from Holcombe’s approach. yoga is not about fancy poses or power I can do yoga anywhere, anytime. I don’t practices; it’s about developing a willing- need special clothes or a sacred space. I’ve ness to be present in the moment, which heard it before: Even 10 minutes every day is always precious—and fleeting. Now I is better than a two-hour sweatfest once do yoga the way we all do yoga, ultimately: a week. But during my 21-day challenge, microsecond by microsecond, in the body I truly came to understand the value of I have, in the midst of the life that God daily practice—not just intellectually, but has given me. And it is good. physically and spiritually. Why is this so important? Because Hillari Dowdle is a freelance writer—and now your personal mat is the perfect yoga a practicing yogini!—in Knoxville, Tennessee.
FEBRUARY 2011 Stockbridge, MAYOGAJOURNAL.COM 800.848.8702 kripalu.org121
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