Tagged plank

Teaching the Core to Move Your Body

I challenge you to complete your whole yoga practice by moving your body with your core. Consciously let your core move you into the next pose. The minute you feel your other body parts tense up, stop. Take a break, perhaps childs pose, and pinpoint your core again.

I really really want to be able to do a handstand using my core instead of kicking my legs up. The problem for me is teaching my injured neck to NOT activate and tense up when my core engages. I practiced Half Sun Salutations extremely slowly letting my core direct my movements, then played with planks and ended up here :) goodnight !! #yogini #yogateacher #plank #corepower #neckinjury #mindovermatter #himom #backbend #fitgirls

I chose to practice yoga tonight with this mindset because I am retraining my body to activate individually, so that eventually, my neck won’t feel the need to tense up to compensate for lack of strength. Also because my goal is to be able to do a handstand with the grace and ease of one of favorite yoga instructors – Mackenzie Miller.

Mackenzie Miller is one of the many yoga instructors that inspires me today. Her whole body is extremely strong and flexible, allowing her to do beautiful handstand variations and back bends with ease and grace. Her instagram videos (@mackenzieyoga), have inspired me to set my newest goal, and to find a new way to meet it.

Goal: To do a handstand by using my CORE instead of KICKING UP.

Obstacles: Avoiding muscle spasms and tension in the neck….

  1. when my core activates
  2. in weight bearing poses in general
  3. and when I am upside down.

Tonight I focused on avoiding muscle spams/tension in my neck when my core activates with Half Sun Salutations, standing oblique stretches, and playing with variations of plank.

I literally went through each motion in Half Sun Salutation at snail speed…my core was burning, and my neck was learning to stay calm. I also did a few side stretches holding the wrists, focusing on letting my core move my body into the pose – into the side stretch. 

I ended up playing with plank, forearm plank, and side plank with my knees on and off the ground to begin working through my second obstacle. Also went from plank to down dog. My neck DID tense up a few times, and I took child’s pose manyyy times, but baby steps!! I know I will get there, and this is huge progress for me :)

 

 

 

Yoga with a Block Teaches “Inner Thighs to Spin Back”

ImageA lot of people view props in yoga as a bad thing. Props can teach the muscles to properly activate, help your form, or just make the pose more comfortable in your body. I took Risa Albertson’s Hatha Yoga Level 1 class at YogaWorks Valencia today, and she worked all the poses with a block.

In her class, she focused on the importance of “spinning your inner thighs back.”

Really didn’t think a small foam block could make my thighs burn so much, and activate my core…but it did….

Here’s a few poses she focused on, and why the block helped!!

  1. Plank – The tendency in plank is for people to work mostly their arms and shoulders. However, plank is supposed to work your CORE and LEGS. Yes, your legs. Engage engage engage!!! Place the block in-between your thighs, and “spin the inner thighs back” so your legs and core engage. http://instagram.com/p/l55kmVtDso/
  2. Bridge – Bridge = Death grip in the butt. Seriously, everyone does this so that their hips lift up without engaging their core, back, or quads. Risa had us place a block in-between our thighs, and lift our hips just a few inches off the ground. Immediately, I felt a lot of things working. http://instagram.com/p/l55RY4NDsC/
  3. Down Dog – I’ve been working a lot on my down dog form. Allison Nelson helped me the other day with my arms (my forearms were almost flat on the mat…), and this time, Risa worked legs. Same concept here as plank. Your body’s weight in down dog should be pretty evenly distributed amongst your arms and legs, but no one seems to engage their LEGS. It’s very hard to feel, but the block helped a lot. http://instagram.com/p/l551nONDtJ/