Les Mills training will be taking place this day...

Yoga-Mojo’s Halloween Flow

This week’s flow is Dancing Heart with a focus on the back body and hips. Anjaneyasana (Crescent lunge pose or low lunge) opens the first element, with Trikonasana (Triangle) and Parsvottanasana (Intense Side Stretch) in the second. Your hips will love you with dancing pigeon, followed with a strong Chaturanga (or two) and a roll to Halasana in the third element.

Utthita Trikonasana

(oo-TEE-tah trik-cone-AHS-anna)

utthita = extended
trikona = three angle or triangle

Benefits of this pose include:

· Improves focus
· Stretches and strengthens the thighs, knees, and ankles
· Stretches the hips, groins, hamstrings, and calves; shoulders, chest, and spine
· Improves digestion

...Launch weekend.

This week’s flow focuses on the hips.

Lizard (Utthan Pristhasana) opens the first element, followed by a modified Dancing Warrior flow in the second element. Third element brings a new plank/Chaturanga sequence followed by Warrior III that will build upper body and core strength as well as challenge our focus and balance.

We’ll work Bird-of-Paradise as our standing balance pose – and variations of Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-legged King Pigeon). Enjoy!

Hope to see you on the mat. Shanti.

All—
Happy Monday! This week’s flow, Open Heart Moon, will have us twisting, reaching, stretching, bending, lifting and more. Core plank pose, followed by Warrior I and Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, revolved side angle pose, opens the first element.

In honor of the Autumn Moon this week, I’ve incorporated a number of ‘moon sequences’ within the second element that will challenge our focus and leg strength.

The third element brings a special ‘lift’ and balance pose.

See below for additional information on Parivrtta Parsvakonasana and the benefits of ‘twists’.


Parivrtta Parsvakonasana – Revolved Side Angle Pose
(par-ee-vrt-tah parsh-vah-cone-AHS-anna)
parivrtta = to turn around, revolve
parsva = side, flank
kona = angle


There are an abundance of benefits with yoga twists! These include physiological benefits to the circulatory system and internal organs and structural benefits to our musculoskeletal system.

When we twist, we involve the spine and several major joints, including the hips and shoulders. Several yoga poses require a full range of motion in the spine. If we find twisting to be a challenge, it is most often due to a range of motion loss that comes from the shortening of soft tissues around the spine, abdomen, rib cage and hips. A regular yoga practice helps to lengthen and strengthen the muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia (connective tissue) enabling us to twist with ease.

Yoga Foundations – 45 minute introduction class

In celebration of Yoga Month (September), I’ll be teaching a 45-minute Introduction to Yoga Class on Sunday, 18SEP from 3:15-4:00PM and again on Sunday, 25SEP at O2-Cary.

This class will focus on:

• Foundation - Postures and Alignment
• The importance of the Breath
• Vinyasa Flow

Update

This week’s flow, Prana Heat, draws on my experience at Prana Yoga Center, La Jolla, CA.

We begin with Utkatasana (Chair Pose) and move into the first element which incorporates plank, Chaturanga, 3-Legged Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Savasana) to a twisted Lizard (Utthan Pristhasana). There is a sense of moving from earth to air to earth throughout the flow with a number of twists and balance challenges.

This weeks flow is designed to build strength, to challenge your focus and move from within. Hope to see you on the mat!


Utkatasana

(OOT-kah-TAHS-anna)
utkata = powerful, fierce

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Some background on Gerhard Gessner - Prana Yoga Center:

Gerhard is founder and director of Prana Yoga Center. He has been a student of Yoga for 28 years and is trained in a variety of different styles of Hatha Yoga, including Ashtanga, Iyengar, Ananda and Contact Yoga. His non-dogmatic and unique Vinyasa style combines these different influences and is tailored to the needs of his students.

Gerhard has a powerful ability to inspire his students to look for their potential, while challenging and nurturing their process in a fun and safe environment. He challenges his students to find their edge while using the breath as an inner indicator to reach and stay within their limits. Being mindful and attentive during practice so we can feel one with our actions is also of great importance to him. Gerhard teaches with the aim of guiding his students in their own process, so over time, they can develop a finer sensitivity to the more subtle movements in their bodies and minds. In his view, the teacher becomes the conductor and each student is a note. ideally coming all together in a beautiful symphony. In order to create the perfect synchronicity within the class, he encourages his students to be completely focused and present. If we are absorbed in the moment of our activity, we can consequently slow down the "chatter" (vritti) of our minds; this state is also known as "flow."

Gerhard's trademark "All Level Vinyasa Flow" class is challenging and upbeat, yet deeply nurturing and filled with humor - attracting students from all walks of life.

He has served on the faculty of the MFA programs at both USD (since 1989) and UCSD (since 2004) teaching Yoga & body awareness to acting students. A 'teacher's teacher,' he has trained many teachers around San Diego, the US and internationally and created Prana Yoga's Teacher Training program in 2004.

A teacher and bodyworker at heart, Gerhard's background is versatile and blends roots in the study of the human body and mind, including a MA in Education, a MA in Counseling Psychology, and a BA in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Certified Massage Therapist, a Certified Hatha Yoga Teacher, and a Registered Yoga Teacher 500 with the Yoga Alliance.

He also studied dance and movement therapy at the Tamalpa Institute in San Francisco.

This week’s Yoga-Mojo flow incorporates five elements: Air, Fire, Earth, Space and Water. The flow begins with the “Three Lizard” hip sequence in the first element, leading to length and strength in the second, followed with a focus on the upper and back body in the third. The fire/Agni builds with Salambhasana (Locust) and Dhanurasana (Bow) poses.

Enjoy!

See you on the mat!

A special Yoga Mala class has been scheduled for Sunday, August 14th, from 10:00AM-12:00PM. Hassina Albukhary, Brian Oliphant and I will lead this practice.

Please note that there will not be a 4:00PM Yoga-Mojo Class that day.

The purpose of a Yoga Mala is to unite our yoga community with a practice of 108 Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar). 108 is a sacred number in Yoga and is open to interpretation (see below). While a Yoga Mala is designed to challenge you physically, the repeated sun salutation also provides an opportunity to create a moving meditation to quiet the mind and relax the body while the collective motion of the group strengthens the spirit.

Our Mala practice will be divided in to four (4) rounds of 27 Sun Salutations. A silent dedication/meditation/rest will be held between each round.

The 1st round is a dedication to self.
The 2nd round is a dedication to family and friends.
The 3rd round is a dedication to all beings everywhere.
The 4th round is a dedication to the source.

Upon the completion of all four rounds, your body will feel loose and your mind quiet. We will then reflect in a deep Savasana.

I hope to see everyone there!