Yoga Club

Indian mythology is rich with references to the bow (dhanu in Sanskrit), a simple stringed weapon that enables a steady and skilled archer to defeat an enemy. The pose Dhanurasana extends the body back into the shape of a bow as the arms reach back straight and taut, forming the “string” of the asana. Done properly, Dhanurasana is a superb back strengthener that can help vanquish the postural enemy of rounded shoulders. Arching the body backward opens the chest and provides a powerful stretch for the front of the shoulders and the quadriceps?a wonderful antidote to all the time we spend “crunched” forward in daily life. Regular practice of this pose helps keep the spine flexible and counters the tendency to slump forward.

Like all other backbends, Dhanurasana is dynamic and energizing?stretching the front body increases the flow of blood to the digestive tract and enhances the efficiency of the stomach, liver, and intestines, while contracting the back body stimulates the kidneys and adrenals. But it can be so invigorating that if you suffer from insomnia, you should not practice it late in the day.

Mind the Back

Dhanurasana enhances the back-strengthening and chest- and abdomen-stretching effects of the other prone (belly down) backbends?such as Bhujangasana (Cobra) and Salabhasana (Locust)?which are often used as preparatory poses. Although catching the feet or ankles integrates the posture, it can also compress the back. For this reason, it’s important to create space between the vertebrae and to stay as relaxed as possible while you’re in the pose. You can also modify Dhanurasana by reaching the arms back without catching the ankles or by using a strap. So start with the modified versions and stay with them as long as you need to. Don’t worry about catching the ankles if this puts pressure on your knees or lower back. Remember that the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali?the classic guide compiled around the second century BCE?states that a yoga asana should have two qualities: sthira and sukha, which are generally translated as “steadiness” and “ease.” If you don’t feel steady and at ease in this pose, or any other, back off to easier versions until you do. Challenge yourself but don’t strain. You do not have to catch your feet or ankles to gain great benefit.

Warm the Body

Since Dhanurasana provides an intense stretch of the shoulders, spine, and thighs, warm up these areas properly. Begin in Balasana (Child’s Pose) with arms extended forward, and bring awareness to the lower back, breathing into your back ribs and dropping your hips toward your heels. Release head, arms, and shoulders. On an inhalation, come onto all fours. Then, on an exhalation, stretch back to Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose). Inhale back to all fours and exhale to Balasana, repeating this series of linked poses five or six times, synchronizing the movements with your breath.

Then move into Anjaneyasana (Crescent Pose) to open up the front of your thighs. From Downward Dog, step your right foot forward between your hands, with the toes in line with your fingertips. Bring your hands to your hips and drop your pelvis down so that your front knee bends forward, tracking directly over your toes. Add a shoulder stretch by clasping your hands behind your back?keep a “micro-bend” in the elbows?and bring your clasped hands up away from your tailbone. Then bring your hands back to the floor on either side of your foot, and step into Downward Dog. Repeat the lunge on the other side.

Look, Ma, No Hands

Before trying to “string” Bow Pose with your arms, practice a preparatory version that doesn’t require catching the ankles. Lie face-down with your legs hip-width apart and your arms by your sides, palms down. Bend your knees so that your shins are perpendicular to the floor, then lift the soles of your feet skyward. Exhale completely. On an inhalation, lift your head, shoulders, and upper back as high as you comfortably can as you keep your neck long by extending through the crown of your head.

Stay there, and as you exhale, move your feet up toward the sky. Don’t worry if your thighs don’t lift very far off the floor; just do the best you can. Stay here for two or three breaths, continuing to lift your upper body and feet. Keep length in your lower back by sending breath into the back waist. Then release and relax.

One Bow at a Time

Some people can clasp one ankle but not both?either from tightness in the quadriceps or shoulders or from a knee problem. The Half Bow variation offers the experience of the complete, integrated pose on one side. Once you’re comfortable creating the basic shape of the pose with no hands, try Half Bow.

To come into Half Bow, lie on your belly with both of your arms extended forward. Bend your right knee, reach your right arm back, and take hold of your right ankle. Flex your right foot and, on an inhalation, move your right heel away from your buttock, using this action to help you lift your head and right shoulder off the floor and bow your body back as much as is comfortably possible. As you hold one ankle, extend the other leg and arm, pressing them into the floor to help stabilize the pose. Hold for three breaths on each side. If you need extra cushioning under your hips, lay a folded blanket over your yoga mat.

Grab a Strap

Another helpful modification for Bow Pose is to use a strap. Place the strap on one end of your mat where your shins will rest and curve it into a U shape. Lie face-down on the mat, making sure that the strap is positioned under your shins, and take one end of the strap in each hand. Keeping the legs hip-width apart, bend your knees and flex your feet, moving the strap so that it rests on your ankles. Walk your hands down the strap so they are as close to your feet as possible.

Now, bring your heels toward your buttocks as you draw your abdominals in. Take a few breaths, extending your tailbone toward your knees and broadening the back of your pelvis. On an inhalation, “string the bow” by moving your shins away from your buttocks, letting this action draw your shoulders back and lift your head and chest off the floor. Focus on lifting your ribs and thighs off the floor, and ground yourself on your pubic bones and hip points. Flex your feet and lift the soles toward the ceiling so that your knees and as much of your thighs as possible are off the floor. Keep your neck long by extending the crown of the head toward the sky. Take your gaze upward, but don’t drop your head back?keep the neck long. If this bothers your neck, gaze forward, not up.

Bow Balance

After you’ve mastered practicing with a strap, you can safely try the full pose. At first, practice inhaling your body into a full bow and then exhaling it back down. When you are ready, inhale into the pose and stay there for two to five breaths, continuing to lift your chest and feet skyward while staying rooted on your pubic bones and hip bones. Press the shins back into the hands to help lift the chest. As much as possible, keep length in your lower back by sending breath into your back waist and broadening the back of the pelvis. Feel the back of your rib cage widen as you inhale. When you can no longer feel the sensation of lengthening your spine with your breath, come out of the pose by releasing your ankles and relaxing down to the floor. Press back into Child’s Pose to stretch out your back.

In the classic full pose, the legs are together, but this can be hard on the lower back, so let your legs open to a comfortable distance. Don’t let them splay apart, however, because this can also compress the lower back. Instead, try to keep the legs parallel. Whichever version you’re doing, remember to balance the effort needed to keep your bow taut, with the relaxation necessary to avoid compressing the back. Set your sights on maintaining steadiness and ease as you do your best to achieve your version of the pose. Don’t worry about looking picture perfect. Instead, aim your Bow Pose toward feeling exhilarated and joyous

author:

Carol Krucoff, RYT
Health Writer
www.healingmoves.com

Yoga postures are often named for mythological figures in the hope that practicing them might help us attain some of their heroic attributes. The story of the fish Matsyendra highlights the virtues of concentration and stillness?and offers a parable for the transformative power of yoga.

According to the ancient tale, the Hindu deity Shiva was on an island, explaining the mysteries of yoga to his consort Parvati. A fish near the shore remained motionless and listened with rapt attention. When Shiva realized that the fish had learned yoga, he blessed it as Matsyendra, Lord of the Fishes. The fish then took a divine form, came on land, and assumed a seated spinal twisting posture that allowed him to fully absorb the teachings. Yogic lore credits this twist, called Paripurna Matsyendrasana (Complete Lord of the Fishes Pose) with such important benefits that it is one of the few asanas described in a seminal 14th-century manual on yoga called the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. This classic guide anoints Matsyendra as the first human teacher of hatha yoga and says that the posture dedicated to him fans the gastric fire, cures all diseases, and awakens kundalini shakti, the dormant feminine energy coiled at the based of the spine in the form of a serpent. Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose) is a milder version of this twist.

When done correctly, this deep, seated twist has the power to transform your spine. It increases spinal rotation, boosts blood flow to the disks, and builds strength and flexibility in the erector spinae muscles, the tiny muscles that support the spine. The posture also nourishes the internal organs, because alternately compressing and stretching the torso is thought to increase circulation to those areas. In Ardha Matsyendrasana the stomach, intestines, and kidneys get a nice squeeze, stimulating digestion and elimination, while the shoulders, hips, and neck get a wonderful stretch.

Warm Up

Before you attempt any twisting pose, it’s essential to warm up properly: Imagine trying to wring out a dry sponge, and you’ll understand why. Prepare with some gentle asanas that bring blood into the muscles that flex and extend the spine, such as Cat-Cow. It’s also helpful to do some postures that release the hips, such as Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose), and stretch the hamstrings, such as Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Pose) and Supta Padangusthasana (Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose). A few rounds of Sun Salutations, linking movement with the breath, can also help ready body and mind.

Lengthen the Spine

To avoid compression and injury, it’s important that you create length in the spine before and during the twist. Begin by practicing a modified straight-leg version of the pose (pictured above) and focus on three key actions: elongating the spine, twisting from the inside out, and breathing. Start by sitting on the floor with both legs straight, and bend your right knee, placing the sole of your right foot on the floor outside the left thigh, as close to your thigh as possible. With clasped hands, hold your right shin just below the knee.

Use that action to help lengthen the spine, extending up through the crown of your head as you simultaneously root down through your sitting bones. On an inhalation, lift up from the base of your skull, keeping the chin parallel to the floor. On an exhalation, release the weight of your hips into the earth. Take a few breaths here and imagine creating space between the vertebrae as you continue the opposing actions of lifting up and rooting down.

Twist from the Inside Out

Now place your right hand behind your right hip and hug your right knee into your chest with your left arm. Inhale and lengthen the spine, then exhale and draw your navel toward your spine as you begin twisting to the right. Start the rotation deep in your belly so that the navel turns first and the twist gradually moves up the spine. Focus on your spine as the central axis of the pose and imagine the twist spiraling evenly upward, like a barber pole. Avoid the common mistake of using your arms to “crank” your body around. Instead, initiate the twist from your core, rotating from the inside out, as you stay grounded through both sitting bones. Don’t lead with the head; keep your neck in line with your spine and your chin parallel to the floor. To take yourself deeper into the pose, bring your left elbow to the outside of your right knee and press the elbow and knee against each other.

Breathe Deeply

Tune in to the wave of the breath so that with each inhalation you lengthen your spine and with each exhalation you twist. Keep your shoulders relaxed and press down with your right foot as you exhale to spiral deeper. Stay here for three to five slow, deep breaths, then release slowly on an exhalation and repeat on the other side. Be sure to switch the clasp of your hands with the opposite thumb on top.

Spiral the Energy

To move into the full pose, come into the straight-leg version as described above. From here, bend your left knee and bring your left heel beside your right hip. Point your right knee toward the ceiling. Interlace your fingers and clasp your right shin just below the knee, using that action to lengthen up through the torso. In your mind’s eye, picture all four sides of your rib cage?the front and back of the left and right sides?and try to lift them all evenly. It will be easier to gain length on the right side of your spine, but don’t neglect the left side. Stay focused on lifting the entire circumference of the rib cage the same amount to get an even twist throughout the spine. Now anchor down through both sitting bones and lift up from the crown of your head, relaxing your shoulders down away from your ears. With the spine long, continue by breathing rhythmically and twisting from the inside out. To do this, allow the feelings in your inner body to dictate when to twist more instead of forcing your spine.

When your body has turned sufficiently, bring your left elbow outside your right thigh and use that action to encourage the spine to spiral even deeper. Stay here for three to five slow, deep breaths, then release slowly on an exhalation and repeat on the other side.

Adjust Your Imbalances

It’s not uncommon to find Ardha Matsyendrasana easier on one side than the other, generally because most of us tend to favor our dominant arm, so we don’t use our bodies symmetrically. This lopsidedness can be even more pronounced in people who practice one-sided twisting activities, like golf or tennis. To help even out postural imbalances, begin on the more difficult side and do the pose twice there or hold it twice as long.

Beginning students often become rigid in this pose. But a key to the asana is being able to relax into the twist. Be sure to keep your gaze soft?or even close your eyes?as you focus on your breath and feel the pose relax slightly on inhalation and deepen on exhalation. Concentrate and enjoy the deep stillness of the pose. And like the great fish Matsyendra, you may find yourself transformed.

Have you ever waded knee-deep through the detritus of discarded paper, tissue, and ribbon after a gift-opening frenzy and thought, “What a waste”? Well, you’re right. According to Use Less Stuff (use-less-stuff.com) , during the holiday season Americans throw away 25 percent more trash than usual—or 25 million tons of garbage. What’s more, many wrapping materials are not recyclable because they have a high metal content.

After years of witnessing the aftermath of family Christmases and children’s parties, former yoga teacher Kathryn Hapke was inspired to find a better way to wrap gifts. She started Wrapsacks (wrapsacks.com), a business that sells hand-dyed batik cotton gift bags—with a twist. Wrapsacks are meant to be regifted. Each bag comes with a tracking number so you can see how far your bag has traveled. You can even watch the bag’s journey using Google maps—a fun activity for kids.

In addition to using cloth bags, you can recycle old wrapping paper or create your own style of decorative and eco-friendly gift wraps. With a little effort, your packages will be as big a hit as the gifts they contain.

• Furoshiki is a type of traditional Japanese wrapping using cloth. Take any square of cloth—a bandana, a scarf, or even a cut-up shirt or pair of jeans—lay it out in a diamond shape, and center the gift on it. Flip the southern corner of fabric up over the gift, tucking the cloth under if necessary, and bring the north corner over the top and let any extra material hang. Then tie the east and west corners at the top of the gift.
• Decorate a paper bag with stencil or crayon.
• Use an out-of-date map or some sheet music.
• Recycle vintage containers, such as cigar, shoe, or hat boxes.
• Incorporate environmentally friendly items, such as raffia, string, or strips of cotton or silk, in lieu of synthetic ribbon.
• Use natural gift-box fillers, such as leaves, straw, pine needles, or shredded recycled paper scented with a few drops of essential oil.

When I lived in Telluride, Colorado, I attended a studio called Heaven with a great instructor named Diana. I loved her classes; she worked my body, got me breathing, explained pose benefits, and genuinely cared about the class. But then she moved to Wyoming. I started practicing at home, using the sequences she had taught me as I waited—in vain—for another teacher like her.

Four months later I resigned myself to being on my own. I began doing yoga more often and for shorter periods, doing different sequences. I practiced poses I hated and poses I loved. On the days that I felt like a blob, I did comforting poses. On the days that I felt energized, I did a longer series. When I felt grateful, I did lots of backbends. My practice became personal. No individual session was exactly the same, because no day in my life was exactly the same—as each moment passes we have new experiences that change us, even if only in a small way. I began honoring my body each day. I was being true to my Self, and it felt great! Losing my instructor became a blessing. Diana was gone, but I had gained a truly personal practice that was dependent on no single studio or instructor.

In my practice, I have added personal statements of gratitude, acceptance, and affirmation. I might do a swan dive into Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), accepting all that comes to me. Sometimes I do Triangle Pose, thankful for what is today. I’ll do Revolved Triangle, thankful for what was yesterday. And I’ll do Warrior Pose III, taking what I have been blessed with and carrying it forward to share with the world.

Trish Jones knew trouble was brewing when her right shoulder began to throb during her favorite yoga class. The 29-year-old was no stranger to such pain. She had suffered from unstable shoulder joints for years. Her doctors call it “multidirectional instability,” but Jones refers to it as “having loose nuts and bolts.” So loose that in 1995 she had surgery to stabilize her left shoulder. Last summer, when pain began to gnaw at her other shoulder, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was in trouble, too.

Still, Jones kept practicing Ashtanga three times a week at a studio near her home in Alexandria, Virginia, in hopes that the pain would work itself out. That is, until her right shoulder dislocated in Vasisthasana (Side Plank Pose). “Luckily, I knew exactly what happened, so I went out into the hall and popped it back in,” she says. Still, the incident served as a wake-up call. She knew the way to dodge a second surgery was to figure out how yoga could build up her shoulder strength without aggravating the instability.

After her injury, Jones switched to a restorative yoga practice and sought advice from yoga teachers, physical therapists, and doctors. Two weeks later, she was back at the studio. Under the close supervision of her teacher, she modified every pose in the Ashtanga primary and second series to spare her shoulder. They jettisoned all weight-bearing asanas, like Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) and Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose), and took an easy-does-it approach to shoulder openers, like Marichyasana I (Marichi’s Twist I.) “It was a much different practice than the typical first series,” Jones says, “but it wasn’t in my best interest to stop practicing altogether.”

Although Jones was eager to build strength in the damaged joint, she knew the only way to thwart another dislocation was to perfect her alignment. So she analyzed her shoulder position in every pose. To prevent rounding forward in the front of the shoulders, she started each asana by widening her collarbones. To protect the back of the joints, she made sure her upper back was engaged, with the bottom tips of the shoulder blades drawing together and down. Soon, these shoulder adjustments became a meditation in themselves.

As Jones found out, yoga can be a boon to the shoulders, but it can also be a bust. While an intense yoga class can leave your shoulder muscles a little sore the next day, you shouldn’t steamroll past any sharp or throbbing pain in the joint during or after practice. If your shoulders start to gripe whenever you roll out your mat, it’s time to tune in and figure out what’s going on before you do more harm than good. If your shoulders are free of trouble, don’t be overconfident: Now is the time to protect them from future injury. Either way, your shoulders will thank you, and your yoga practice will be stronger.

How it Works

Shoulder problems shouldn’t be shrugged off. In 2003 (the latest year for which numbers are available), nearly 14 million Americans visited a doctor complaining of a bum shoulder. Joint instability, like Jones’s, is one of the most common ailments. Others include impingements, rotator cuff tears, and arthritis.

Athletes often suffer disproportionately from shoulder injuries because the various repetitive movements stress the joints, says Jeffrey Abrams, an orthopedic surgeon in Princeton, New Jersey, and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. “In other countries people play soccer, but here we like to ski and play golf and tennis, all of which are hard on the shoulders.” Jones is a typical example—when she was younger she played basketball and tennis and loved rock climbing. Now she puts her shoulders through their paces in Ashtanga.

But there’s another factor at play—the natural structure of the joint. “Shoulders are designed for mobility, not stability,” says Roger Cole, Ph.D., an Iyengar-certified teacher in Del Mar, California, who teaches workshops on shoulder safety. The mobility allows for an astonishing range of motion compared to that in the hips—if you have healthy shoulders you can move your arms forward, back, across the body, and in 360-degree circles. But the relatively loose joint relies on a delicate web of soft tissue to hold it together, which makes it more vulnerable to injury. (The soft tissue includes ligaments, which connect bone to bone; tendons, which attach muscle to bone; and muscles, which move and stabilize the bones.)

The main ball-and-socket joint is also quite shallow, adding to the flexibility but putting the joint at risk. Abrams likens it to a basketball sitting on top of a plunger. (The basketball is the head of the humerus, or upper arm bone, and the plunger is where it meets the scapula.) The rotation of a big ball on a little base makes the shoulder mobile.

When the soft tissue around the joint is strong and toned, the system works flawlessly. But factor in years of repetitive roundabout movements, like throwing a baseball, swimming, or even stretching the arms overhead in yoga, and shoulder ligaments can overstretch and lose elasticity, like worn rubber bands. Plus, as muscles age, they lose tone, making it even more likely that the ball will slip off the plunger at some point. The best way to stay out of a sling? Be diligent in your quest for proper alignment and build balanced strength around the joint to create stability.

Check your Alignment

Sounds easy enough, but here’s the hitch: Perfect shoulder placement in yoga can be elusive. For starters, unless you practice yoga in a mirror-lined room or have eyes in the back of your head, it’s tough to know what your shoulders are up to. To make matters worse, poor posture is habitual. If your shoulders slouch, slump, or cave all day long, you can’t help but bring a few bad habits into the yoga studio. “I see a lot of students with shoulders that slope, turn in, and jut forward,” says Mitchel Bleier, a senior certified Anusara Yoga teacher in Rochester, New York. “If those misalignments are maintained during yoga practice, especially during weight-bearing asanas, the risk of a shoulder injury goes up dramatically.”

Therefore, weight-bearing poses, such as inversions, require extra vigilance. Inversions are safe for the shoulders, Cole explains, but they are best performed with precise alignment.

The first step in understanding correct shoulder alignment is to start simply, by exploring Tadasana (Mountain Pose) and Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute). Here are Bleier’s alignment instructions for his students in Tadasana: First, lift your shoulders slightly so they line up with the base of your neck. Simultaneously, draw the heads of the arm bones back, toward the wall behind you. Keeping a slight curve in the back of your neck, draw your shoulder blades down toward your waist. Your shoulder blades should lie flat on your back, instead of winging out. Feel your chest rise, but resist the temptation to pinch your shoulder blades together—doing this will only compress your spine. Instead, keep the bottom tips of your shoulder blades pressing into your back and spreading. If you want to feel deliciously supported while doing this, try the Strap Jacket.

Reaching your arms overhead is a little more complex, but once you learn to do it correctly, you can apply the same principles in poses such as Downward-Facing Dog, Plank, or Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand). Before you sweep your arms up into Urdhva Hastasana, it’s important to rotate your arm bones externally and move them down so the head of the arm bone is in the socket. This will strengthen the muscles on the back of the rotator cuff (the infraspinatus and teres minor), which are typically weaker than the front, and it will spare the supraspinatus, which can get pinched between the edge of the scapula and the head of the arm bone when the arms lift. If the tendon is pinched repeatedly, it wears and frays like a rope. Eventually, what begins as a mild irritation can progress to a severe injury, such as a tear.

Once your arms are straight overhead, you don’t have to pull your shoulders down quite so firmly, because that will inhibit your ability to reach up. To get the maximum reach safely, start in Urdhva Hastasana and spread your shoulder blades away from each other. As your shoulder blades wrap around toward the front of your rib cage, you should have more space to really lengthen up. The tops of your shoulders will lift slightly, which is OK. Just don’t let them bunch up by your ears. Now keep your shoulders in place and press your palms up toward the ceiling. Feel familiar? This is similar to the placement for Handstand.

Counteract Misalignment

Once you’ve mastered the ins and outs of proper alignment, you should be ready to build the strength to maintain it. And therein lies the rub. Done correctly, yoga poses strengthen the shoulders, but in order to do them correctly and maintain proper alignment, your shoulders have to be strong. Of any yoga pose, Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose; exemplifies this—if you’re not strong enough to keep your shoulders in their proper place, you leave yourself wide open to injury.

The most common misalignment is to collapse the chest and allow the heads of arm bones to drop forward toward the floor. You’ll know this is happening if your shoulder blades poke out instead of lying flat on your back, or if the fronts of your shoulders are sore the next day. This can strain the front of the rotator cuff and can also build strength unevenly, making the front of the rotator cuff stronger than the back. Over time this imbalance will pull the arm bone forward, contributing to a vicious cycle of misalignment.

To counteract this, start in Plank Pose, and as you move into Chaturanga Dandasana, see that the heads of the arm bones stay level with the elbows. Try not to let them dip down. (Practice at home in front of a mirror.) If they drop, you need to build more strength around the whole rotator cuff. To do that, practice Chaturanga with your knees on the floor and the Supine Sleepwalker Pose.

You can also practice what Cole calls the anti-Chaturanga, or Purvottanasana (Upward Plank Pose). “Purvottanasana stretches most of the muscles that Chaturanga strengthens and also strengthens opposing muscles,” Cole says. It’s one of the poses Trish Jones credits for helping her escape another shoulder surgery. “My rotator cuffs are stronger since I’ve adopted Purvottanasana into my practice,” she says. Finally, stretch the front of the chest by doing Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) (Bridge Pose), Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand), and Matsyasana (Fish Pose).

Strengthen and Stabilize

To stabilize the joint and reinforce the rotator cuff, you’ll also need to focus on your supraspinatus, the muscle that helps you lift your arms out to the side. More specifically, the supraspinatus engages during the first 30 degrees of lifting the arms. Once your arms are shoulder level, your deltoids hold them up, which won’t strengthen the rotator cuffs. To strengthen the supraspinatus, practice standing poses where you reach the arms out, such as Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) and Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II). Hold the poses for five breaths and bring your arms down and back up between each pose.

Once you feel ready—meaning, the head of the arm bone isn’t slipping around and the joint is free of pain—toss a few weight-bearing poses into the mix. One of the best ways to build strength around the rotator cuff is to move slowly from Downward-Facing Dog out to Plank and back again. Just be careful not to let the upper back hyperextend and sink toward the floor in Downward-Facing Dog, which, according to Jean-Claude West, a kinesiologist and master manual therapist, can compress the joints. “Maintaining width in the upper back keeps the shoulder girdle active and the shoulder joints stable as you approach Plank,” he says.

Many yoga poses build arm strength by requiring you to push away from the floor—poses like Downward-Facing Dog, Handstand, and Urdhva Dhanurasana(Upward-Facing Bow Pose)—but few demand that your shoulder muscles pull against resistance, which is part of the reason the back of the rotator cuff gets so weak. One way to build oomph in the back of the shoulders is to engage in activities that require pulling, like swimming or even pull-ups, says Cole. On your yoga mat you can practice poses that require pressing the back of the shoulder joint against the floor, such as Jathara Parivartanasana (Revolved Abdomen Pose), or on a stable part of the body, such as the front leg in Parivrtta Parsvakonasana (Revolved Side Angle Pose).

Finally, create balanced flexibility by practicing poses that require an inward rotation of the shoulder, such as Gomukasana (Cow Face Pose), Marichyasana III (Marichi’s Twist III), and Parsvottanasana (Side Stretch Pose). “If you feel a pinching sensation when you rotate your shoulders inward, you are probably irritating a tendon or other connective tissue,” Cole says, “in which case, let the scapula wing out a little bit.” (Don’t practice these poses if you have a history of dislocation or shoulder instability.)

Although these practice tips are meant to keep your shoulders free of injury, when it comes to pain, it’s important to remember that there are no guarantees in yoga or in life. “Injuries can be a wonderful blessing; they offer us an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to be able to help others,” Bleier says. “We all have asymmetries in our bodies; there is no perfect way for the body to be, and if you have pain, it’s just your body’s way of asking you to examine what you’re doing.”

If anyone has learned that lesson, it’s been Trish Jones. “My shoulder pain has taught me to slow down and take my yoga practice back to basics,” she says. “The journey has been a humbling one, but I know I’m better for it.”

The Shoulder Strengtheneing Sequence.

Supine Sleep Walker

This movement not only trains the heads of the arm bones to stay in the sockets during a wide range of movement but also builds well-rounded strength in the rotator cuff. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold a yoga block horizontally between your hands and extend your arms up toward the ceiling. Draw the head of the arm bone into the shoulder socket so both shoulders press into the floor. Keeping the arms long, slowly lower the block overhead. As the block moves toward the floor, the backs of the shoulders may lift off the floor just slightly. But if the shoulders begin to bunch up by the ears, stop the block’s descent, realign the shoulders, and then continue to lower the block until it rests on the floor an arm’s length above your head. Now slowly lift the block back into the starting position while keeping your shoulders stable. Repeat up to 10 times.

Purvottanasana Upward Plank Pose

Purvottanasana counteracts the effects of Chaturanga by stretching the pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, and anterior deltoids. Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose) with your hands several inches behind your hips and your fingers pointing forward. Bend your knees until you can place your feet flat on the floor. Exhale, press your feet and hands down into the floor, and lift your hips until you come into a tabletop position. Straighten your legs one by one and lift your hips still higher without squeezing your buttocks. Press the soles of your feet toward the floor. Lift your chest as high as you comfortably can. Keep the back of your neck long as you slowly drop your head back.

Jathara Parivartanasana Revolved Abdomen Pose

Lie on your back with your arms in a cactus position. Bring both feet off the floor and bend your knees until they are directly over your hips and your shins are parallel to the floor. Keeping your arms and shoulders pressing into the floor, exhale and lower your knees to the right. Don’t worry if your knees don’t come all the way to the floor. Instead, focus on keeping your shoulders grounded. Inhale and bring the legs back to center. Exhale to the opposite side. Repeat five times on each side. Keeping the back of your shoulders in firm contact with the floor strengthens the back of the rotator cuff, an area that’s commonly weak. This is generally safe to do if you’re recovering from injury because your body is well supported by the floor.Standing Rotator Cuff Strengthener

This pose is similar to Jathara Parivartanasana but can be done from a standing position. Stand with your back to a wall. Raise your arms into a cactus position. Pull the heads of the arm bones back until you feel the upper back engage and press into the wall. Keep the tailbone tucked to avoid overarching the lumbar spine. Maintaining firm contact between your shoulders and the wall, and keeping your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle, slowly slide the arms up the wall. Ultimately, you may be able to touch your fingers overhead, but it may take time to get there. The key thing is to keep your shoulder blades flat against the wall. Repeat up to 10 times.

Strap Jacket

Getting the strap set up can be tricky the first time you do this pose, but it’s worth it. The harness supports and stabilizes your shoulder girdle by lifting the fronts of the shoulders up and drawing the bottom tips of the shoulder blades down.Start in Tadasana and make a large loop in a 10-foot-long strap. (If you don’t have one, you’ll need to hook two straps together to create a big round loop.) Hold the loop behind you and put your arms through it, as though you’re putting on a jacket. Make sure the strap buckle is at the bottom of the loop, so you can reach back and adjust the length of the strap easily. The strap will pass over the tops of the shoulders and under the armpits.

Reach back and take hold of the part of the strap that is lying horizontally behind your neck. Grab this top part of the strap with one hand and pull it all the way down toward the floor. As you pull it down, the bottom part of the strap will pass over it and move up your back, creating a harness.

Reach behind you and twist the strap several times to help keep it in place. Now hold the dangling loop and pull down firmly. When the top part of the strap is pulled all the way down, it should be about hip level. The strap should roll your upper shoulders back and down while pressing your lower shoulder blades into your back. Don’t arch your lower back. Keep your legs and pelvis in Tadasana.

Stay here with your hand pulling down on the strap or, to go a step further, take a dowel or a broom and thread it horizontally through the bottom of the strap. Press your hands down onto the broom. Stay for at least 10 breaths.

SetuBandha Sarvangasana Bridge Pose

According to Iyengar-Certified teacher Roger Cole, when you clasp your hands behind your back in Bridge Pose, you stretch the muscles on the fronts of the arm bones, which makes it more difficult to lift your chest. For this version of Bridge Pose, you’ll use a strap around the ankles to help counteract this.

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and hip-width apart. Your heels should be about six inches away from your buttocks. Place a strap around the front of your ankles and take hold of the strap, one end in each hand. Walk your hands down the strap, toward your ankles. Lightly shrug your shoulders toward your head and roll the heads of your arm bones back, rooting them into the floor. Keeping the backs of your shoulders pressed into the floor, pull on the ends of the strap and begin to lift your chest. Then, by pressing down through your legs and feet, lift your hips toward the ceiling. Lengthen your tailbone toward your knees. Keep pulling on the strap to encourage the heads of the arm bones toward the floor as you breathe and lift your chest.

When Erica Kyriakatos awakens on a winter morning to the hush of new-fallen snow, she’s thrilled to see how the familiar landscape of home is transformed. Kyriakatos, a vinyasa flow teacher in Cranford, New Jersey, loves pulling a cozy hat over her ears, slipping on a pair of fuzzy boots, and heading outside for a walk in the white-frosted world. There’s just one drawback: For most of the season, her skin pretty much turns to leather. “My whole body seems to dry up,” she says.

The dry, chapped feeling that many of us live with during the colder months is something that the therapies of Ayurveda, India’s first form of medicine, are uniquely suited to address. That’s because Ayurvedic remedies treat not only the symptom of dry skin but also the underlying imbalances that can cause it.

Ayurveda recognizes three basic energies of life: The first is known as vata; the second, pitta; and the third, kapha. Vata also means “wind” in Sanskrit, and vata’s sensory qualities—dryness, coolness, mobility, lightness, unsteadiness, and roughness—are much like those of the wind. In late fall and early winter, as the air turns dry, leaves drop, temperatures cool, and winds shift, our world naturally buzzes with vata’s energy. We’re more likely to face vata imbalance now than at any other time of year.

“When vata is aggravated, arteries, capillaries, and nerves become dry and won’t work properly, affecting your circulation,” says Archana Rao, an Ayurvedic doctor at Safronya Ayurvedic Retreat in San Rafael, California, explaining the theory behind dry skin. “Your hands and feet become cold. Skin becomes rough and dry. Your heels may crack or your lips peel. Inside and out, we’ve got to calm that vata down.”

Rao’s skin-soothing recommendations are based on two Ayurvedic principles: limit exposure to vata’s qualities and increase exposure to those substances and experiences that are the opposite of vata. So in late fall and early winter, we should nurture ourselves with foods and sensations that are warm, stable, heavy, smooth, and grounding.

Warm oil is a natural opposite to vata. One ancient practice, abhyanga, is traditionally performed by two therapists who massage warm sesame oil all over the body, using sweeping strokes to redirect vata’s energy into a healthy pattern. “[Abhyanga is] the No. 1 technique for calming vata,” says Naina Marballi, Ayurvedic physician, esthetician, and founder and director of Ayurveda’s Beauty Care Spa in Manhattan.

Oil well

While it’s a treat to receive abhyanga from trained therapists, it’s also a gift that you can give yourself. The oil itself does wonders for parched skin, but the benefits go deeper. The word for lubrication in Sanskrit, snehana, is also the word for affection. Vata dryness tends to come packaged with vata-type mental states such as worry and insecurity.

Abhyanga calms the mind, leaving you feeling grounded yet focused and alert, and with balanced emotions. It’s also revitalizing, supporting stable energy levels during the day while promoting easy, restorative sleep at night.

Face Time

In Kerala, India, where I spend part of each year, Ayurveda is still very much a part of daily life. On a recent visit, traditional healer S. Sanjeev Kumar sat down with me in the front room of his thatched house and called his wife, Bindhu, and her amma (mother) in from the kitchen. Together they gave me a rundown on their favorite homemade emollients. One in particular, Kumar said, is easy for Westerners to make at home.

“First heat some whole cow’s milk in a small pot,” he said. Double-checking his instructions with the women, he went on: “Let a skin form on top, remove the skin, and place it in a small saucer. As soon as it is cool, add a few drops of lemon juice.”

“Ah?” he queried, turning to the women. Bindhu’s amma had mentioned something, and Bindhu repeated her words to Kumar. “OK,” he added. “You can use a little lemon juice or a little rose water. Then take the back of a spoon and stir this into a creamy paste. Smooth the mixture onto your face or any dry skin, and leave it on for 30 minutes to 2 hours before rinsing with water. This special cream of the milk is very nourishing.”

Kumar’s wife and mother-in-law smiled. “Your skin,” he said, “will become lustrous once again.”

Almond Joy

Another simple potion is a paste of warm water and almond meal, which contains fatty acids that help keep skin smooth. (Don’t use hot water; it strips skin of its natural protective oils.) Making the almond meal is easy: Use a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder to pulverize raw organic almonds into a fine powder. (Be sure to pulse the mixture for a few seconds and then pause, so you don’t end up with almond butter.) Refrigerate the powder in a clean glass jar. It will keep for about three weeks.

When you’re ready to use it, pour a teaspoonful into your palm, add a little warm water, and blend that with your finger to make a paste. Smooth it onto your face, massaging in gentle circles to enhance circulation and exfoliate dead skin cells. Then rinse with warm water and moisturize as you usually do.

To smooth rough elbows, knees, and feet, mix together two parts mung- or garbanzo-bean flour with one part full-fat organic yogurt. Let this mixture sit in a bowl for 10 minutes, then massage it with circular motions into your rough spots. Let it dry, and leave it on your skin for 30 minutes or so. Rinse with water, and then do your usual moisturizing routine.

Nourish from Within

Other Ayurvedic therapies for dry skin work from the inside out. “When someone comes in with dry skin,” says Cheryl Silberman, founder/director of Kanyakumari Ayurveda Education & Retreat Center in Milwaukee and a clinical Ayurvedic specialist, “the first thing I ask is’How much coffee are you drinking?’People drink more coffee in winter, and caffeine is a diuretic, purging water from the body. It has a direct impact on the nervous system, upsetting vata’s normal regulation of circulation, forcing the fine capillaries of the skin to dilate and constrict unnaturally.” Silberman suggests drinking frequent servings of warm water or warm spiced milk throughout the day in place of caffeinated drinks.

What you eat can make a difference, too. “When there is dryness, a person should try eating regular warm, moist meals such as thick soups and stews, lightly spiced,” Silberman says. “Dry skin usually responds well to plenty of fat intake. Adding ghee (clarified butter) to meals can really help.”

And while ghee does contain saturated fat, you’ll find that a tiny bit goes a long way. Ghee is sold at health food stores. (For more on ghee, including how to make it, visit yogajournal.com/health/ghee.)

“Increasing essential fatty acids with oils like borage or hemp is great, too,” says Silberman. “Walnuts are a good source of healthy fat, and soaking them in water overnight makes them really easy to digest,” she adds.

When Kyriakatos added vata-balancing practices to her winter routine—getting into the abhyanga habit along with eating regular meals of warm, moist foods and sipping warm water throughout the day—her dry skin lost its roughness and turned soft and supple.

“It has helped with so much more than just my dry skin,” she says. “I feel more grounded, even with my crazy schedule. It’s really amazing.”

First, bring your desire fully into awareness. Notice the words associated with it. Pay special attention to the emotional quality of the desire and the thoughts you have about it. Notice the emotional state it induces. Are you excited, uncomfortable, nervous, anxious, elated? Once you’ve identified the desire and how it makes you feel, ask yourself the following helpful questions:

How does this desire fit in with my greater priorities?

What do I really want by getting what I want?

After you’ve figured out what you really want, voice it. Articulate it. Make it real. Even if it’s something vague, like “to be happy,” you can still make it an intention. You might say, “My intention is to experience happiness in an intimate relationship.” Or, “My intention is to experience happiness at work.” Or, “My intention is to be happy no matter what is going on in my life.”

In 1984, before Photoshop magic, former bodybuilder Dharma Mittra created his classic “Master Yoga Chart of 908 Postures.” Today the 68-year-old continues to inspire yogis worldwide with his challenging sequences, compassionate charm, winning humility, and message of devotion. In class, he leads a vigorous workout while encouraging students to make each move “an offering to God.”

How did you find yoga?
I was raised in Brazil. My parents were Catholic, but my family also had spiritual seekers. I was in the Brazilian air force for seven years. I studied yoga books in the ’50s. My brother, Sattya Mittra, two years younger than me, came to the States in ‘62 and met Sri Swami Kailashananda, or Yogi Gupta. In 1964, I quit the air force, came to New York, and met Yogi Gupta. I didn’t speak one word of English, so my brother translated. In 1966, Yogi Gupta initiated me as a sannyasin [renunciate]. My name had been Carlos but was changed to Dharma [”friend of good works”], and I moved into his ashram.

How was your famous poster born?
In 1975, I left Yogi Gupta and founded Yoga Asana Dharma Yoga Center. In 1984, I took pictures of myself in poses using a Nikon and a remote control. In some postures, I had to click the remote with my mouth and spit it out seconds before the flash went off! I took the photos to be printed on a poster, 43 inches by five feet. I sold them for 10 cents each. Now the poster has been in New Zealand, Russia, India, all over. I knew it would be something, someday.

You’re vegetarian?
Yes! My father raised pigs. Pigs have feelings. I watched them kill 50 pigs one day. From then on, I couldn’t touch meat. It’s stained with pain and suffering. “Thou shalt not kill” applies to more than just humans. Ahimsa, the principle of nonharming, applies to all beings—in thought, word, and action. All beings love life and tremble at danger. If you open a cupboard, roaches run like hell, don’t they? They want to have children, too. We have to see divinity everywhere to get closer to samadhi [self-realization].

Besides vegetarianism and asana, what’s important in your teaching?
Through meditation, you purify yourself. Keep the yamas [restraints] and niyamas [observances] and surrender to the lord who resides in the right side of your heart. Without divine help, you go nowhere. Live the golden rule. Purify your heart. Lose the ego. The greatest impurity, the most negative energy, is ignorance. You must accept nonduality and God consciousness. If you devote all your actions to the Lord, he’ll show you bliss.

What’s your family life like?
I have a son, 17, and daughter, 16. But I haven’t seen my brother, whom I love so much, in two decades. He gave me his number 20 years ago saying, “If you experience any difficulties, you can call.” My mother died two years later, so I called, but the number wasn’t working. I don’t know where he is, but I’ll see him again. In reincarnation, old age, or death. Whatever happens is our own deeds. I am fortunate that I encountered karma and reincarnation. Maybe I’ll be reborn as a pig.

In a culture devoted to sense pleasures—ah, the cashmere caressing your skin, the rosemary-seasoned flatbread enticing your tongue—it can be both difficult and delightful to practice pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses. Pratyahara is a Sanskrit word that means “to hold back,” and it denotes the fifth limb of Patanjali’s classical eight-limb system of yoga. Simply put, the practice requires you to detach your normal outwardly directed awareness from the world around you, retract it, and redirect it inward toward the self.

The result of such efforts is that the senses—your sight, hearing, taste, and the like, which trot along behind awareness like loyal dogs—naturally turn away from the world, too. This effectively cuts you off from distractions in your environment, collects your usually scattered awareness, and prepares you for the sixth and seventh limbs of classical practice, dharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation). The process is traditionally likened to a tortoise pulling its head and limbs into its shell. Vyasa, Patanjali’s earliest commentator, aptly compares our senses to a swarm of bees, equating our awareness with their queen: “Just as bees follow the course of the queen bee and rest when the latter rests, so when the mind stops, the senses also stop their activity.”

The Energy Ladder

While this makes for some fine imagery, Patanjali and his commentators did little to clarify how exactly to practice pratyahara. Thankfully, there are a few concrete techniques. One of them is recorded in the Yoga-Yajnavalkya-Gita (”Yoga Song of Yajnavalkya”), which takes the form of a teaching dialogue between the sage Yajnavalkya and his wife, Gargi.

Yajnavalkya’s technique, called vayu pratyahara (wind withdrawal) or prana pratyahara (life force withdrawal), involves fixing your awareness and your breath sequentially on 18 vital points, called marmans, in your body. Varying sources highlight different points (traditional Ayurvedic sources name 107), but Yajnavalkya’s 18 marmans are the big toes, ankles, midcalves, “roots of the calves,” knees, midthighs, perineum, “center of the body,” generative organs, navel, heart center, “throat well,” root of the tongue, root of the nose, eyes, spot between the eyebrows, forehead, and crown of the head. Yajnavalkya suggests following the sequence from the crown to the toes, but many of my students prefer climbing from toes to crown.

You can use wind withdrawal as a preparation for pranayama or as a self-contained pranayama practice. It’s also possible to work therapeutically with the marmans, as each point is energetically attuned with a particular organ or system (nervous, circulatory, and the like) and can be massaged to affect that area; you can find further guidance in Ayurveda and Marma Therapy, by David Frawley, Subhash Ranade, and Avinash Lele.

Point System

To experience vayu pratyahara, take any comfortable seated yoga pose or your favorite reclining position, such as Savasana (Corpse Pose). Start with a simplified version of the practice by limiting yourself to just a dozen points: the big toes, ankles, midcalves, knees, midthighs, perineum, navel, heart center, throat well, middle of the eyebrows, forehead, and crown. You can add more later.

If you like, touch each marman so that each energy center is clearly anchored in your awareness. You could even imaginatively invest each point with a favorite deity, teacher, or mantra, which is another traditional practice. Then pinpoint your awareness in your big toes for the ascending sequence (or the crown of your head if you’re descending) and imagine you are breathing into and out of them.

Consciously climb the 12-rung marman ladder to your crown. You can run through the points rapidly, spending just a breath or two at each one, or if you have the time and inclination, you can linger at each point for several breaths or longer. The former version of the practice challenges your ability to quickly and decisively direct both your awareness and breath; the latter challenges your ability to concentrate both awareness and breath over time.

You can play with this sequence in a number of ways; for example, you can run through it once, as a sort of warm-up for meditation, or you can climb and descend the marman ladder several times as a self-contained breathing-meditation practice. With the latter version, you’ll want to finish the practice with a short stay in Savasana. As you gain experience with the practice, you can gradually add points until you reach the traditional 18. Then too, you might experiment with nontraditional points: How about your thumbs, the base of your skull, or your ears?

If you’re on the fence about trying the practice, maybe this will convince you: Yajnavalkya says it prevents all disease, leads to self-liberation, and best of all, promotes a really long life—he claims the practitioner “will live as long as the moon and the stars exist.” Hopefully our Social Security will stretch that far.

Students of Anusara yoga often have beautiful, awe?inspiring backbends. With their fingers spread wide and their hearts soaring, they convey immense freedom and joy?even in “baby backbends” like Cobra or Locust.

That’s because Anusara founder John Friend teaches that it’s not just the shape of a pose that can make it magnificent or therapeutic, but the energy and intention behind it, as well. So in addition to learning alignment, Anusara students also learn about Muscular Energy (hugging the muscles to the bones) and Organic Energy (extending energy out).

This month’s sequence eases you gracefully and playfully into Vasisthasana (Side Plank Pose), a pose that combines an arm balance with a backbend. It also enables you to work with the two types of energy. “By first engaging your muscles and drawing your energy in, you’ll be strong in the outward expression, reaching far beyond your perceived boundaries or limitations,” says Desiree Rumbaugh, an Anusara teacher based in Scottsdale, Arizona, who created this sequence. “Even if you can’t get into the full pose today, the variation allows you to taste the richness and freedom that happen when you infuse an asana with your energy. ”

Before you begin:

Breathing and Meditation
Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position. Using both hands, grasp your thighs and turn them inward, one at a time, and then place your hands, palms facing down, on your legs. Slide your hands toward your waist to create ease in the neck and shoulders. Take 10 full breaths.

Invocation
Chant Om or an invocation of your choice.

WarmUp
Begin by stretching and breathing, either sitting or standing.

Before the sequence:

Do Reclining Hand?to?Big?Toe Pose. Then do Standing Forward Bend, with the balls of your feet on a rolled?up blanket and your heels on the floor. Do 5 Sun Salutations. Then integrate the action of your arms and shoulders by doing Handstand. Next, do standing poses like Triangle and Side Angle Pose, and seated poses like Seated Forward Bend and Head?to?Knee?Forward Bend.

Featured Sequence:

Do all 10 poses, then repeat on the second side.

After the Sequence:

Do Headstand and Shoulderstand.

1. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward?Facing Dog Pose)
	Begin on your hands and knees. Spread your fingers and press your hands firmly into the earth. Inhale and lengthen the sides of your body and exhale, allowing your upper back to soften. Keep your heart descending and your spine long as you lift your hips and straighten your legs. Lift your sitting bones up and take your tailbone down toward your heels.
2. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)
	Lie on your belly with your hands on the floor, by your chest. Spiral each leg inward and press your feet and toenails down firmly. Inhale as you lengthen the sides of your body, then exhale, pressing your tailbone down. Press the lower tips of your shoulder blades toward the back of your heart while keeping the upper shoulder blades broad and open. Root your hands into the earth, and curl up toward the sky.
3. Vrksasana (Tree Pose)
	From Tadasana (Mountain Pose), bend your left knee and place your left foot on your inner right thigh. Press that thigh against the foot. Keeping the arches of your feet lifted, spiral your legs in, back, and away from each other. Now take your tailbone down toward the earth?your legs will spiral outward as you do this. Once you’ve established your steadfast power, reach your arms up and look up with an open heart.
4. Virabhadrasana III (Warrior Pose III)
	With your right leg forward and your left leg back, engage Muscular Energy for a supportive foundation. Take your tailbone down to gently lift your lower abdomen. Bend your front leg slightly and lean forward, focusing on the strength and stillness in your core. Come into the balance by stretching both legs. Keep the left leg spiraling inward as you hug both legs toward the midline. Stay for 5 deep breaths.
5. Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)
	With a wide stance, turn your right leg out and your left leg in slightly. Bend your right knee to 90 degrees. Place your right fingertips on the floor about 12 inches in front of your foot, with your thumb in line with your little toe. Hug your legs to the midline and then draw your tailbone and right buttock down to engage your lower abdominals. Once you feel steady, use Organic Energy to open and stretch fully, from your heart through your legs, arms, head, and hands.
6. Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand?to?Big?Toe Pose)
	From Tadasana, bring your left knee toward your chest. Hold the outside of your left foot with your left hand. If your hamstrings are tight, use a strap around the bottom of your foot. Engage your muscles to the bone. Then hug both legs to the midline to find your core. When you’re steady, bring your left leg out to the side. Breathe steadily; breathing takes concentration, but it helps you balance.
7. Parsvottanasana (Intense Side Stretch Pose)
	From Tadasana, step your right foot forward four feet. Spiral your left leg in 45 degrees. Draw your tailbone down and your abdominals up. Lengthen your side body and press the lower tips of your shoulder blades into your back. Hug your shins toward the midline as you exhale and bend forward.
8. Garudasana (Eagle Pose)
	From Tadasana, bend your knees, take your left leg off the floor, and wrap it around your right leg. Squeeze your legs together, which gives your leg muscles a massage and encourages circulation. Wrap your arms around each other, with the right one on top, until the palms meet. Squeeze them together, too. How much can you bend your legs? The more you hug to your midline, the more resilience and balance you’ll create.
9. Wild Thing (Vasisthasana variation)
	From Downward Dog, bring your weight into your right hand and roll onto the outer edge of your right foot. Step your left foot back and place your toes on the floor with your knee bent at 90 degrees. Exhale and, keeping your right leg straight, push your body away from the floor. Use your legs and buttocks to lift your tailbone and hips as high as you can, until you are almost standing on your right foot. Keep breathing and curl your head back, extending your left arm from your heart and expressing your power and freedom.
10. Vasisthasana (Side Plank Pose)
	From Down Dog, bring your weight into your right hand, stack the feet, and come onto the edge of your right foot. Bring your left leg into Tree Pose, then grab the outside of your left foot, press your right palm down, and lift your hips. Extend your left leg while holding the big toe. Firm both shoulder blades into your back. Spiral your chest up, lift your heart, and drop your head back.