Benefits

• Enhances flexibility
• Enhances gracefulness
• Improves posture and body positioning on the ice
• Decreases risk of injury
• Balance
• Total body muscular endurance
• Teaches body awareness

Yoga for Figure Skaters

• Poses are based on traditional vinyasa flows and figure skating elements
• Begin with a warm-up consisting of breathing exercises, rhythmic limbering and dynamic stretching
• Emphases on balancing the spinal joint actions of flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation
• Warm-up movements include working the large muscle groups through traditional flow, resulting in an elevated core body temperature and heart rate
  • Plié squats, chair pose, sun salutations
• Standing balance poses that mimic the elements such as including Standing Big Toe Hold (spiral variation), and Dancer Pose (catch-foot or Biellmann position)
• Standing strength poses from the dominant side of the body, utilizing principles of dynamic tension and isometric contraction, increasing the total body muscular endurance
  • Warrier I & II, Reverse Warrior, Triangle
• Balance postures for the opposite side of the body, to challenge and mimic advanced skating elements such as the layover and spin/spiral positions
• Upper body conditioning, inversions
  • Shoulder stand, head stand, Dolphin, modified hand stand (forearm balance), hand stand
• Finishing elements include targeted core strengthening exercises and deep static stretches
  • Static and flowing poses that target the rectus and transverse abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, as well as pelvis muscles
  • Gate pose, plank, side plank, modified half moon
  • Stretches to include frontal and sagittal splits, seated wide angle side bend, lying spinal twist
• Physical benefits (increases in extension, balance, and core strength) + relaxation, psychological well-being, development of an effective competitive mindset

Prasarita Padottanasana

A useful learning exercise was to have my photo taken doing a number of postures. Although it is certainly possibly to “feel” when something is right/wrong, it is much easier to see it in a photo.

A great link for the holidays: Yoga and World Peace

I have a fear of falling. When I watch others appear to effortlessly float through an Ashtanga yoga class and I am struggling not to fall over, I can’t help but wonder 2 things:

1. Is it really a fear of falling, or is it a fear of failing? And if it is the latter, of what am I afraid of failing? There is nothing to fail at. In some respects, it is a flashback to my days as a clumsy child in gym class, the one who tripped over her own feet, could not shoot baskets, and was the last one picked for a team. I seem to have a real block when it comes to any asana requiring balance, to the point where I am afraid to try because of my fear of falling and somehow making a fool out of myself.
2. Could my lack of balance in yoga be related to the fact that often my life is not balanced (but it is getting better!). Is this an allegory?

Either way, I need to face this fear.

“Religions must also be inclusive and not look down with contempt upon one another, because their particular ideals of God are different.” What a wonderful statement of peace… so many beautiful statements have come from the words and writing of the wandering monks of India – the saints, the saddhus, and the fakirs. To me, this one resonates fully with truth: contempt brings us away from union, contempt separates us from our fellow human beings.

http://www.ramakrishna.org/

I’m sitting here now, eating a light lunch at the Lotus Tea House, and working on my yoga posture sheets. Tonight, I am going to instruct John on Trikonasana and use his body, so to speak, for my analysis. I am filled with gratitude for his unwavering support in all of my endeavors and his willingness to assist my love of learning and understanding.