Archive for June, 2009
As spring turns into summer, we tend to feel lighter, and thus our cravings for grounding foods (potatoes, carrots, and beets) dissipate. But, our world is in turmoil, and grounding now is more important than ever. The ever popular potato salad of summer picnics can get boring, so I offer this option, mixing tropical summer fruit with grounding sweet potatoes or yams to lighten what seems like a heavy food. Plus, it’s super easy.
Pose of the Month Locust - Salabasana
Friday, June 12th, 2009 In the Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga practice, after a sweaty and intense standing series, the first pose on the floor is more often than not, salabasana, locust pose. It is a welcome respite to lay belly down on the floor two thirds of the way through class. But, class is not over. In fact, many instructors say that when you get to the floor poses, the “real yoga” is just beginning, that the whole standing series is just warm-up. photo by Sheryl Braun www.soulshinephoto.net
If you look at your yoga mat as a mirror, or a window to your soul, locust pose is the perfect place to set the intention to open your heart to yourself. Backbends are heart openers, poses designed to build compassion, foster forgiveness, and express love. However, we can only love, forgive, and feel compassion for others to the same degree that we offer it to ourselves. So as we begin locust pose, we are face to face with ourselves in the mirror of our mats. Then as you lift, imagine your mat as the mirror and see how your heart distorts slightly larger and larger as you lift higher and higher, just as an object distorts longer in a mirror when the mirror is tilted at an angle. This is symbolic of the energy cultivated in locust pose, our heart energy grows from the center of our chest out into the vast space before our eyes.
The beauty of locust pose is that it is almost impossible to injure yourself while performing this pose (how can we harm ourselves in an expression of self-love). For those with back injuries, tightness, or pain, locust is an excellent alternative to some of the more intense spine strengthening poses such as bow, camel, bridge, or wheel. Using only the muscles of your spine to lift your limbs (be sure not to use your hands or arms while lifting) builds the muscles that surround each vertebra from the neck to the coccyx. Repeated practice of locust pose creates two rope like formations of muscles running up and down the spine, pulling the backbone deeper into the body, and protecting each tender joint of the vertebra with solid strong muscular tissue. This pose and variations (like superman) is prescribed to many physical therapy clients suffering from back pain. Alignment
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