A six minute forty second presentation on what hot yoga is can leave you breathless — but if you do yoga…well, it helps! And hey, if it isn’t perfect, then remember three things: Practice, practice, practice. It’s all about the breath.
http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/maastricht/presentations/healing-with-heat
Healing with heat
Yoga by its nature should be sustainable, yet yoga injury is becoming increasingly common. This could be due to the surge in popularity of yoga worldwide as well as a growing willingness of people to talk about their injuries, owning up that even the universe doesn’t protect yoga practitioners from injury in their practice.
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The benefits of practicing yoga are many, and regular practice of yoga postures increases flexibility, strength and balance, with increased sensitivity being the side-effect. Despite this increased sensitivity, it might seem strange that even the most experienced yoga practitioners and teachers suffer yoga injury at some point over time.
Although there is no sure way never to get injured–we are only human after all–there are some things to keep in mind when you do yoga postures.
“Strengthening your capacity for attention is the real key to yoga, and your breathing is key to this capacity. This is more important than being able to touch your toes, or stand on your head or turn yourself inside out….”
Source: Erich Schiffmann — The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness
Working with students at Yoga Nieuw West in the Dog pose (Adho Mukha Shvanasana).
Moving up the hips into ‘dog tilt’.
This is a powerfully rejuvenating pose that strengthens the hands, arms and upper body, opens the chest and improves the breathing. It lengthens the spinal column and increases circulation to the brain.
Do this when you need to boost your energy, so not at bedtime unless you do it slowly as a gentle pick-me-up.
Tip: Keep your elbows straight through squeezing your elbows inward and towards each other. Press your chest towards your legs and tip your hips into dog-tilt as if your tailbone was being pulled gently upwards by an invisible hand.
Working with a student on dog pose.
This posture stimulates the thyroid and parathyroid glands, increases blood supply to the brain and also strengthens the upper body, opens the chest and stretches the neck, shoulders and uppper back muscles.
lie on your back and bend your legs and gently bring your thighs as much toward your chest as possible. Use your hands to help you move your hips up off the mat. Place the palms of the hands on the back of the ribs, resting the shoulders well on the floor. Tip your hips backward and bring your legs up to a 45 degree angle. Push from your toes, tip your hips backward into a more pronounced dog-tilt and allow your feet to leave the floor, bringing them until they point upward. Move your spine into your back, open and expand the chest and make your back slightly concave.
Yoga for the Community 