Blog Entry 2: Stretches, Posture, Asanas & Breathing
This
section is for you to continue stretching on your own. The stretching
session has three parts: warm up, alignment and stretching yoga style.
It is an honor system, so I trust you will stretch in order to improve
your mind-body connection, relax and experience peaceful and quiet
happiness in the midst of the challenges we are all facing.
You will watch some videos that will add to your knowledge of stretching yoga style.
Finally, you will explain the benefits of stretching for the mentioned muscle groups.
You will watch some videos that will add to your knowledge of stretching yoga style.
Finally, you will explain the benefits of stretching for the mentioned muscle groups.
I. WARM UP
(6:19 min)
Body Warm Up
Let us do our isolation warm-up routine as we have done in class:
neck
shoulders
arms
torso
hips
legs
ankles
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Alignment
Alignment
II. Body Alignment (2:00 min)
Close your eyes
Imagine a string pulling you from the top of your head up towards infinite
Elongate of your neck
relax your shoulders
Imagine gravity is pulling you towards the ground, from the bottom of your feet downward
Inhale and on the exhale press your abdomen against your spine
Flatten your back
Tuck in your rib cage
Rotate your shoulder so that the align with your hips
Bring your tailbone slightly forward
Soften your knees
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III. Stretching
(20:18 min)
a) Follow the Routine
b) Try to memorize this routine since you will be recording it as you do it and posting it at the end of the semester.
c) Describe briefly, in writing, how you feel when you are done.
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IV. Standing Yoga Poses
Posture: Posture is the position in which you hold your body while standing, sitting or lying down. Good posture involves training your body to stand, walk, sit and lie so as to place the least strain on muscles and ligaments while you are moving or performing weight-bearing activities.
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V. Asanas
Asanas: They are physical positions that challenge our reaction to strong feelings. They teach you how to notice, manage and regulate your reactions to challenging situations.
VI. Breathing
Breathing: It allows you to relax into uncomfortable positions when achieving the asanas as a metaphor for the breathing needed when going through uncomfortable situations in life.
References:
Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/4485-back-health-and-posture
a) Explain how asanas and breathing can combine to effectively relax the body and the mind.
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VII. Summarize
the benefits of stretching on the following muscle groups:
Wrist Extensor Stretch
Thoracic Extension Stretch
Lateral Flexion Stretch
Lumbar Extension and Abdominal Stretch
Lumbar Flexion Stretch
Lumbar Rotation Stretch
After I completed the routine for today I feel a lot more relaxed. i appreciate and understand why the deep breathing exercises were at the end. I also feel like I am noticing my sitting and standing posture after watching the TedTalk on everything that is affected by our posture. I felt uncomfortable doing the routine but that is because I'm not really flexible and these poses really push me out of my comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteAsanas are the positions that we find uncomfortable that make us notice our reaction. So, when I find myself in an asana the only way to maintain the position and a method to reduce discomfort would be deep breathing. The deep breathing exercises definitely need to be practiced overtime because if I get into a physical asana or metaphorical asana deep breathing could be a useful tool to get through both.