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Lunge and Dog -- a mini-vinyasa

12/8/2010

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In a yoga asana practice, vinyasa often connotes the linking of poses in a flow. Sun salutations are a perfect example of vinyasa, though sequences can and do vary.

A few weeks ago, my energy stagnated and I was compelled to integrate dynamic movement into my practice as a means of shifting it. Often, in Iyengar yoga, each pose is worked independently. Focus on certain elements of the pose are offered as a means to work dynamically within a posture. I love this work and it is why I’m drawn to Iyengar yoga -- all the delicious details! That said --  sometimes I just need to move.

So here are two variations of a simple vinyasa that lengthens and tones the spine, opens the hips and engages the core. The chair variation is for anyone suffering from arthritis, tight shoulders and even exceptionally tight hamstrings. This cycle can be done in five or ten minutes and is perfect for those who never seem to have enough time!
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Downward Dog: chair variation
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Downward Dog: Floor Variation

Downward Dog

In the chair:

Grip the sides of the chair with your hands. Step the feet back away from the chair, lift the buttocks up toward the ceiling. Widen your shoulder blades away from the spine by wrapping the back-armpit area toward your chest. Lengthen both sides of your body away from the chair. Pull your kneecaps up toward the tops of your thighs and send your thighbones back.

Explore the lift of the sitting bones here. If you take your heels to the floor, do the sits-bones/buttocks drop toward the floor? If they do, bend your knees and lift them again. Stay on the balls of your feet to engage the thigh muscles. Then lower your heels as much as you can without losing that lift.


On the floor:

Start on the hands and knees. Place your hands one hand-length in front of your shoulders. Tuck your toes, press into your hands and lift the buttocks up toward the ceiling. Widen your shoulder blades away from the spine by wrapping the back-armpit area toward your chest. Lengthen both sides of your body away from the chair. Pull your kneecaps up toward the tops of your thighs and send your thighbones back.


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One-legged Downward Dog: Chair Variation
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One-legged Downward Dog: Floor Variation
Dog with Lifted Leg

For both chair and floor:

Keep the weight even over the palms of both hands. Lengthen through the sides of your body and lift your right leg up, stretching the heel back toward the space behind you. Notice your pelvis. Has it tipped? Keep both pelvic rims facing the floor by rolling the inner right thigh toward the ceiling. Notice your hands. Is the weight evenly distributed over your palms? Or are you tipping to one side? Keep the back armpit chest moving toward the legs. Lengthen.
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modified plank with engaged core
Modified Plank with Engaged Core

For both chair and floor:

From the lifted leg position, bend your right knee into your chest and start to move so that your shoulders come over-top your wrists. Holding this position, push away from the chair with the arms and keep the shoulder-blades moving toward your waist. Draw the knee closer into the body and you should feel the abdominal muscles engage. Keep the straight leg firm.

You can repeat this action several times. Reaching the leg back into Dog with Lifted Leg and into Modified Plank. Or you can just do it once on the way to your lunge. You decide what you need today.
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modified plank: floor variation
Lunge

For chair:

In the chair position, it is easier to step the front foot forward. After you’ve pulled the knee into the chest, set the right foot between the legs of the chair. Descend the buttocks toward the floor and draw the right hip back away from the chair to keep both sides of the waist long.

Roll the shoulders away from the ears and lengthen the breastbone toward the chair-back. Stretch through the left heel, pull that left kneecap up. Observe the back leg, roll the inner thigh up toward the ceiling to keep the sacrum broad and the hips level.
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Lunge with Chair
For the floor:

The step forward into lunge can be tricky on the floor. You may want to stretch back into one-legged dog so that you can use the momentum to swing the leg right through. Once the knee is drawn into the chest, place the foot between the hands. If it doesn’t make it all the way, drop the back knee onto the floor, take hold of your right ankle and lift the foot to the space between your hands.

With the foot forward, descend the buttocks toward the floor to bring the right thigh parallel to the floor. Move the right outer hip away from the knee. Roll the shoulder-blades down the back and lengthen the front of the body toward the space in front of you. Stretch through the left heel, pulling that left kneecap up. Observe the back leg, roll the inner thigh up toward the ceiling to keep the sacrum broad and the hips level.

For both variations:

Hold for two or three or four breaths, then step back into downward dog.
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Lunge on the floor
Lather, Rinse, Repeat

After you’ve stepped back into your variation of downward dog, repeat the sequence with the left leg. Then back to the right. And on and on until you feel successfully moved!
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Lengthen Your Back

2/5/2010

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Here's an easy sequence to do. It helps lengthen your back and stretches your legs. You only need about fifteen minutes out of your day to do this... Your back may thank you!

(**Do not do this sequence if you have a series back injury, hamstring injury or are working with shoulder problems. Please consult a physician before embarking on this or any other practice on this website.)

Adho Mukha Virasana
Child's Pose

We don't often think of Child's Pose, or forward Virasana as being a great stretch. Often it is a 'resting' place after holding Downward Dog. But in the series of poses I taught this week, I introduced this pose as a way to create length in the sides of the body, to stretch the back muscles and opening the shoulders.
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Sit with your big toes together and your knees apart. When you come foreward, your ribs should touch your inner thighs, your belly free between the legs. Instead of coming head-down to the floor, lengthen the sides of your body toward the wall. Place your hands on the wall with the fingers facing away from the wall, still lengthening the torso. Now rest your head either on the floor or on a block.

As you hold the pose, press your hands into the wall and drop the buttocks toward the heels. Broaden your shoulder blades away from each other by taking the back armpit area toward the floor. Breathe. Observe the length in the torso and the sensations in the back of your body.

To come out, bring your hands beneath your shoulders and push yourself to sitting.
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Modified Urdhva Hastasana
Stand facing the wall. Feet parallel to each other and hip width apart. Reach your hands up the wall, fingers pointing away from each other (you can try it a second time with the fingers pointing upwards and note the difference in your shoulders).

Press the palms firmly into the wall, broaden your shoulderblades and step your feet back six inches from the wall. Press the four corners of your feet into the floor. Pull the kneecaps up towards the tops of your thighs and press the thighs back, sending your buttocks away from the wall. Breathe. And observe the length in the sides of your body.

Can you walk the hands higher? Can you come onto the balls of the feet and reach the hands further up the wall? How about keeping the hands there and slowly lowering the heels? When the heels come down, work the kneecaps up. Observe your breath.
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Ardha Uttanasana

Standing close to the wall, take your hands to shoulder height, again with the fingers pointed outward. Step your feet back away from the wall, straightening your arms and bringing your chest to face the floor. Again, broaden your shoulder blades, taking the outer armpits toward the floor. Press into the hands and lengthen the sides of the body back toward the buttocks, the buttocks away from the wall. Keep the four points of your feet pressing down and lift your kneecaps. Breathe. To come out bend your knees, step in toward the wall.

You can do this a second time, changing the position of your hands so the fingers point upwards. Or you can lower your hands to waist height repeating the pose but bringing a little more intensity to the backs of your legs. Don't do this if you feel any compression in your back.
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Adho Mukha Svanasana.

Begin this Dog pose on the floor and at the wall. With fingers pointing outward, take your index finger and thumb to the wall, press your palms into the floor. Tuck your toes under and lift your buttocks up toward the ceiling. Create the length through the sides of your body the way you have been throughout this practice. Lifting from hands to shoulders and from shoulders to buttocks. Pull your kneecaps up toward the tops of your thighs and press your thighs back. Lower your heels back and down without losing any of the length you've created through your side body.

If you feel tight in the backs of the legs and heavy in the shoulders then go back to the above stretches to work on creating the length and openness you need for this pose.

To come out, bend your knees and come onto the floor into a resting Child's Pose. Big toes together, knees apart. Take the buttocks toward the heels, fold your forearms and rest your head on your forearms.

When you are finished this sequence, rest for several minutes in Savasana totally releasing your arms and legs and softening your back.

Namaste!
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    Traci Skuce

    Traci Skuce is a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor and a writer.

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