{"id":125,"date":"2020-10-11T19:15:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T02:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/?p=125"},"modified":"2020-11-05T15:41:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T23:41:50","slug":"anatomy-of-a-yoga-routine-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/11\/anatomy-of-a-yoga-routine-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy of a Yoga Routine, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Though I\u2019ve only been practicing yoga for about ten months as I write this, I have developed some definite ideas about what I think a \u201cgood\u201d yoga practice\u2014i.e., individual yoga session, \u201croutine,\u201d or \u201cflow,\u201d let\u2019s call it a \u201croutine\u201d\u2014entails. This is based on some reading and on what my body is telling me it likes and doesn\u2019t like. It includes things I\u2019ve learned from developing routines that help my body feel better, developing routines that did not<\/em> help my body feel better, and trying to understand what goes into not just those routines but routines that I have practiced from others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t practice the Primary Series. I have been to a few Primary Series classes, and enjoy them, but they have too much that\u2019s too advanced for me. I also don\u2019t practice using the same routine each time I\u2019m on the mat: not only do I like the variety, but I also like to be able to work different parts of my body in different ways. Though this means that seeing small changes is more difficult, I find I prefer it to practicing with the same routine each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the elements that, so far anyway, for me are essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Gentle initial warm up.<\/li>
  2. Additional warm up, getting the muscles starting to stretch.<\/li>
  3. A collection of asanas that flow from one to another in what feels natural.<\/li>
  4. Appropriate counter poses.<\/li>
  5. Savasana.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Other things that I like in most of my yang routine are these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Surya Namaskaras A and B.<\/li>
    2. Perhaps a focus on specific areas, like core strengthening, twisting, etc.<\/li>
    3. Balance asanas.<\/li>
    4. Inversions.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      I\u2019ll delve into each of these in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      For me, each yang routine needs these. Without these, something will be missing from the routine\u2014that is, my body won\u2019t feel as good as if I had included all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Gentle Initial Warm up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Step one is just to start waking up my body and getting it ready to be on the mat. Just because I\u2019m on the mat physically doesn\u2019t mean my body is ready to be there. I like to start with some breathing, either on my back with my knees up, perhaps lifting my shoulders and upper back off the mat with each breath, or in Wide Child\u2019s (a Balasana variant with my arms out forward and my knees spread wide). Breath a few times. Start to move a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I like to continue to awaken my body to being on the mat with things that limber up different parts. Two or three times through Cat-Cow (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana) helps wake up my back. Seated Cat and Seated Cow lend a different emphasis on things. I few trips from Extended Child\u2019s (Utthita Balasana) to Upward Facing Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana) and back also wakes up my back, and my arms. I like to be sparing on these early in the routine in order to let my wrists get stretched out more gently. (My wrists are pretty tender from decades of computer use, including back before we understood the proper ergonomics of mouse and keyboard design.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It sometimes takes my legs a little while to stretch. My favorite way to get my legs going in a routine is a simple flow from Mountain (Tadasana) to Mountain with Arms Up (Urdhva Hastasana) to Forward Bend (Uttanasana), hold in Forward Bend for a few breaths, then reverse the processes. I take my time coming down into that Forward Bend the first few times. Especially the first time, I can really feel my legs loosening up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Additional Warm Up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      After two or three Mountain-Arms Up-Forward Bend, I\u2019ll take the Forward Bend back to Low Push-Up (Chaturanga Dandasana), but I\u2019ll walk or step back to it rather than floating back to it. From here, I\u2019ll an Upward Facing Dog, a Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), and then walking to Halfway Lift (Ardha Uttanasana) starts to wake up my legs some more. For the first one or two times from Downward Dog to Halfway Lift, I\u2019ll walk my legs in. After that, I\u2019ll jump or float. But my calves aren\u2019t really awake the first couple of times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      To help wake my calves, from a Downward Facing Dog I like to rise up on my toes, then drop back down onto one heel with the other knee bent a bit, and hold this for a breath or two. I\u2019ll come back onto my toes and change to the opposite side, then back to my toes, and then perhaps alternate sides breath-by-breath, ending in Down Dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ahh, now my legs are awake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Until my wrists are nice and stretched out, though, I don\u2019t want to spend too much time with too much weight on them. Rather than preceding my routine with some wrist stretched, I prefer to incorporate them. I use three ways: go into Up or Down Dog, but not for too long; interlace my fingers and turn my palms to the sky when I reach up in Mountain, or do some Hasta Vinyasas, sub-sequences for stretching out the arms and wrists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Perhaps add in a gentle Mountain with Supported Back Bend (Utthita Bhujangasana, also called Standing Cobra) or Supported Camel (a kneeling back bend) followed by a Forward Bend and my warm up can be complete.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Though I\u2019ve only been practicing yoga for about ten months as I write this, I have developed some definite ideas about what I think a \u201cgood\u201d yoga practice\u2014i.e., individual yoga session, \u201croutine,\u201d or \u201cflow,\u201d let\u2019s call it a \u201croutine\u201d\u2014entails. This is based on some reading and on what my body is telling me it likes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yoga","tag-yoga"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}