Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend
Upavistha Konasana
(oo-pah-VEESH-tah cone-AHS-anna)
upavistha = seated, sitting
kona = angle

Step by Step

Sit in Dandasana, then lean your torso back slightly on your hands and lift and open your legs to an angle of about 90 degrees (the legs should form an approximate right angle, with the pubis at the apex). Press your hands against the floor and slide your buttocks forward, widening the legs another 10 to 20 degrees. As with Dandasana, if you can’t sit comfortably on the floor, raise your buttocks on a folded blanket.

Rotate your thighs outwardly, pinning the outer thighs against the floor, so that the knee caps point straight up toward the ceiling. Reach out through your heels and stretch your soles, pressing though the balls of the feet.

With your thigh bones pressed heavily into the floor and your knee caps pointing up at the ceiling, walk your hands forward between your legs. Keep your arms long. As with all forward bends, the emphasis is on moving from the hip joints and maintaining the length of the front torso. As soon as you find yourself bending from the waist, stop, re-establish the length from the pubis to the navel, and continue forward if possible.

Increase the forward bend on each exhalation until you feel a comfortable stretch in the backs of your legs. Stay in the pose 1 minute or longer. Then come up on an inhalation with a long front torso.

The words the happy say by Emily Dickinson

The words the happy say
Are paltry melody
But those the silent feel
Are beautiful —

“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

― Nelson Mandela

Yoga with Mike

When: Wednesdays
Where: St.Ursula Academy 4025 Indian Road in the Dance Studio.
Time: from 5:45pm-7pm.
Bring comfortable clothes.There are facilities to change in.
$12.00 a class
$8.00 a class for all those affiliated with St.Ursula- alumni, students, faculty and administration.
Of course it is always Donation Based. Pay what you can afford.
Looking forward to the possibility of doing yoga with you.
Namaste’
Respectfully,
Mike Zerner

Four-Limbed Staff Pose
Chaturanga Dandasana
chaturanga chaturanga

(chaht-tour-ANG-ah don-DAHS-anna)
chaturanga = four limbs (chatur = four
anga = limb)
danda = staff (refers to the spine, the central “staff” or support of the body)

Step by Step

Perform Adho Mukha Svanasana, then Plank Pose. Firm your shoulder blades against your back ribs and press your tailbone toward your pubis.

With an exhalation slowly lower your torso and legs to a few inches above and parallel to the floor. There’s a tendency in this pose for the lower back to sway toward the floor and the tailbone to poke up toward the ceiling. Throughout your stay in this position, keep the tailbone firmly in place and the legs very active and turned slightly inward. Draw the pubis toward the navel.

Keep the space between the shoulder blades broad. Don’t let the elbows splay out to the sides; hold them in by the sides of the torso and push them back toward the heels. Press the bases of the index fingers firmly to the floor. Lift the top of the sternum and your head to look forward.

Chaturanga Dandasana is one of the positions in the Sun Salutation sequence. You can also practice this pose individually for anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds. Release with an exhalation. Either lay yourself lightly down onto the floor or push strongly back to Adho Mukha Svanasana, lifting through the top thighs and the tailbone.