We had another lovely day.  I taught an afternoon class that went sort of like this:

sitting in virasana, kapalabhati, alternative nostril kapalabhati, alternate nostril breathing with retentions, apply jalandhara bandha and draw the pubic bone and tailbone toward each other (mulabandha)

down dog, knees chest chin — did that a couple times, didn’t need much warm-up since we already had two yoga classes that day and swimming, etc.

forearms down — downward puppy — and into forearm side plank, both sides, second time with tree legs

at the wall:  find your diamond belly (sternum, pubic bone, bottom side ribs on each side) and rub it, try to keep that area contained as you prepare, find the relationship between pubic bone and tailbone as in retentions

Then, with a partner, sit in vajrasana and lift your arms as if you were doing forearm stand.   Let your partner tell you if your front ribs pop out and your diamond belly goes forward.  If so, that means that there is some tightness in your triceps and side ribs and so you need to bring your arms forward in pinca mayurasana.  Use a blanket like this:

Roll up the end of the blanket once. Place the rolled up part away the way and place your elbows on it with your hands on the mat.  When you go up, you will find that you can lengthen and straighten out your spine.  No ribs popping out.  No banana body.  A nice engaged diamond and integrated tailbone situation.

People’s quads were tight from climbing stairs and beach activities, so we did anjaneyasana at the wall, AKA ninja death pose.  I don’t feel like describing that so if you really want to know, let me know and I’ll show a picture.

Then we came back to the mats.  Hands on blocks and practiced jumping through with straight legs.  Then cross legs and swing back through.  Repeat 5 times, or until you get the “swing” (no pun intended) of it!

Lie down.  Supta eka pada hasta padangustasana with little hand towels because there are no belts here.

Back to D Dog, step forward and Hanumanasana.  We were all amazed at Bradley who only took 5 yoga classes before this retreat but he can do hanumanasana.

Lying on backs, windshield wipers.

As requested, supta virasana with lots of nice propage.

Supine twist.  Savasana.

Then we sat up and saw this:

 

posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 2:20 pm.