Girls Yoga Retreat: Day Two

Sunday morning, the mom's, daughters and I re-communed at Spirit Bear Power Yoga for the second day of our yoga retreat. I woke up that morning feeling very refreshed and totally focused on the morning's class. Where last night had been a calming , restorative practice, I planned for  a more energetci and uplifting class for today.

I began class with a wave breathing taught to me my Barbara Benagh. We lay on our backs, and held our knees with our hands. On the inhale, we let our knees out and on the exhale breath, we brought our knees towards our stomach, naturally causing the air to be dispelled from our body. After that a simple twist, using Eagle legs (causing our hips to be fixed so we could focus our twist in the middle and upper part of our backs). Standing, in time with our breath, we went up and down into Uttanasaa. I explained the use of Ujjayi breathing and that in this up and down time, we would want to make our in and out breaths even. Here I briefly discussed that some people are more prominently exhalers and others are more prominently inhalers. And that poses where were did more exhaling were calming and those that had more of an inhale where energizing.

We did a Sun A series of high lung, to low lunge, and then a rest in Child's Pose. Pressing back up into Uttanasana, we then stood for tree pose. Then taking a wide stance on our mat, we did a flow series of triangle to 1/2 Moon to standing split to Warrior II to Dancing Warrior and then repeated on the other side.

After another Child's Pose, we did Vishnu's Couch, Table Top Balance and then we all experienced Head Stand Prep. I also led the kid's in a simple tripod head stand.

Dropping back into Savasna, I lightly turned on "Chant From The Heart" BY Kitaro, an 8 minute piece and let everyone drfit off into a rleaxation state.

We finished class again with journaling. I read another selection from Buddha at Bedtime and the families and I talked about healthy eating, sharing with our kids, CSA's, and various other topics drfited in and out.

I want to thank Christy Carlson for hosting this wonderful event at Spirit Bear Power Yoga. It was a wonderful way to connect to the community and share my love of yoga. Thank you all for the wonderful welcome to Natick. I look forward to many more enjoyable times.

Namaste!

15 Minute Yoga Snack: Ujjayi Breathing

Ujjayi , which translates as victorious, breathing is a balancing breath that is both energizing and relaxing. It is a diaphragmatic breath, which first fills the lower belly, rises to the lower rib cage, and finally moves into the upper chest and throat. The oceanic like sound-comparable to waves rolling in and out- is created by gently constricting the opening of the throat to create some resistance to the passage of air. As the throat passage is narrowed so, too, is the airway, which then creates a "rushing" sound. Because the diaphragm is controlling the length and speed of the breath, it is becoming stronger which is, in part, the purpose of ujjayi.

We started today's 15-Minute Yoga Snack (15MYS) in Virasana (Hero's Pose), our knees out wide, sitting on our feet. We took 3 large Balloon Breaths, filling our bellies, by breathing in first with the nose, and then releasing our bellies by breathing out through the nose. We set our intentions: to feel energized and revived, ready to concentrate on our studies.

We leaned forward into Balasana (Child's Pose) and rested for a few breaths.

We sat up into Easy Pose and did Bumpy Camel, Washing Machine & Dryer. From there did a rousing round of Frog Push-Ups. We ended with a low squat, pressing our thighs open with the backs of our arms and then everyone practised Crow Pose-I was so impressed with the kids focus and determination to try to balance and also with how many kids could actually balance the pose.

We then lay on our backs and took i some relaxing cleansing breaths. Carefully, we did 1/2 Ardha Sarvangasana (1/2 Shoulder Stand)-which is the queen of all poses. Everyone was very energized and happy after that.

We ended class with Sa-Ta-Na-Ma meditation (4x out loud, 4x whisper, 4x in head, 4x whisper, 4x out loud).

Namaste!