Yoga For Gardening (2011 Edition)
I was talking to a friend yesterday, during a walk, about my class plan for the week and I mentioned a yoga for gardeners class.
He mentioned that his favorite post-gardening pose was Eagle Pose (Garundasana). I had been expecting a gentle back-bend or less hyped-up shoulder opener. The reason? All of the shoveling, hoeing, digging, etc. felt like a lot of shock to his joints. Eagle pose, in all of its twisty wonder, provides a great massage to the major joints affected by gardening. In addition, it presses on major lymph node bundles to assist with detox. Huh. Hadn't thought of that. Hearing other P.O.V.s: Another reason why its important to get my nose out of yoga books and read more blogs and post more often (again) on my own.
This isn't a full sequence, but is a series of poses using Eagle or integrating Eagle into a flow. Try it post-gardening session. I'm curious as to whether it helped!
1. Begin lying on the back
2. With Eagle legs and arms in a "T" position, drop legs from side to side (only as far as you can go without the opposite shoulder blade coming off of the ground)
3. Pause in Eagle leg supine twist
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 on other side
1. Flow to high lunge
2. Taking Eagle arms, begin to draw circles in the air with arms
3. Pause with elbows lifted high, shoulder blades grounding down onto back
4. Vinyasa to repeat 1-3 on other side
5. Flow to high lunge on first side
6. Take Eagle arms, and step the back leg forward into Eagle Posture
7. Hold Eagle, 5 cycles of breath
8. Unwind to Warrior III with eagle arms
9. Step back (carefully) to high lunge with Eagle Arms
10. Unwind arms to high lunge
11. Repeat steps 5-10 on other side
1. Eagle pose
2. If feeling balanced take elbows to knees, and then back up
3. Repeat on other side
4. Repeat both sides again!
He mentioned that his favorite post-gardening pose was Eagle Pose (Garundasana). I had been expecting a gentle back-bend or less hyped-up shoulder opener. The reason? All of the shoveling, hoeing, digging, etc. felt like a lot of shock to his joints. Eagle pose, in all of its twisty wonder, provides a great massage to the major joints affected by gardening. In addition, it presses on major lymph node bundles to assist with detox. Huh. Hadn't thought of that. Hearing other P.O.V.s: Another reason why its important to get my nose out of yoga books and read more blogs and post more often (again) on my own.
This isn't a full sequence, but is a series of poses using Eagle or integrating Eagle into a flow. Try it post-gardening session. I'm curious as to whether it helped!
1. Begin lying on the back
2. With Eagle legs and arms in a "T" position, drop legs from side to side (only as far as you can go without the opposite shoulder blade coming off of the ground)
3. Pause in Eagle leg supine twist
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 on other side
1. Flow to high lunge
2. Taking Eagle arms, begin to draw circles in the air with arms
3. Pause with elbows lifted high, shoulder blades grounding down onto back
4. Vinyasa to repeat 1-3 on other side
5. Flow to high lunge on first side
6. Take Eagle arms, and step the back leg forward into Eagle Posture
7. Hold Eagle, 5 cycles of breath
8. Unwind to Warrior III with eagle arms
9. Step back (carefully) to high lunge with Eagle Arms
10. Unwind arms to high lunge
11. Repeat steps 5-10 on other side
1. Eagle pose
2. If feeling balanced take elbows to knees, and then back up
3. Repeat on other side
4. Repeat both sides again!