If you’re like me, you leave a yoga class feeling more flexible, stronger, peaceful, calm and centered. You think to yourself, “I need to come to yoga class more often.” Or you might even make the intention to do so but, inevitably as it frequently does, life gets in the way. Even as a yoga teacher, I struggle to get to my mat as often as I would like. Seeking a solution, I turn to pocket practices and vitamin poses. Pocket practices are used in yoga therapy to facilitate health and well-being. They are short and can easily fit into your daily routine, often as simple as taking a pause and three diaphragmatic breaths before going into a store to do an errand or a mini seated sun salutation at your desk for a periodic break from computer work. They could be a 10-minute series of poses that you do every morning before you shower and start your day. The main point is that they are doable and work for your life circumstances. Another positive benefit is that, unlike a yoga class, they are tailored especially for you, hence the name “vitamin poses.” We all have different constitutions and stories that make us unique. What might be useful for one person to maintain health and wellness isn’t most beneficial for another, just like the vitamins we take and the food we eat. For example, a mom with young kids might need a little work on her side body to counter always carrying her child on the same hip. She might also benefit from some deep breathing for those moments when she needs to balance her energy and model emotional self-regulation. In another case, a person who works at a desk job might benefit from some poses to counter rounded posture. Someone in the later years of life might practice chair pose and an adaptation of tree pose for balance and fall prevention. A teen who has trouble sleeping might benefit from yoga nidra before bed. To begin to build your own pocket practice ask yourself the following: What components of yoga practice most resonate for you, your body, your story? What are your vitamin poses? Are there a few that you could incorporate into your day?
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Carol Ann DavidsonWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2024
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