Thursday, August 28, 2014

Seven Basic Yoga Standing Poses

Utthita Trikonasana - Extended Triangle Pose
Photo by Matthew Greenfield on Wikimedia Commons

This is a bit of a shameless plug on something I first wrote a few years ago on one platform, but then took it down for various reasons.  I've re-written it for a new platform.

Seven Basic Yoga Standing Poses tells why the yoga standing poses are a cornerstone to the practice of Iyengar Yoga, and then gives short descriptions along with accompanying YouTube videos of Senior Iyengar Yoga teacher, John Schumacher, teaching the following poses:
  • Tadasana - Mountain Pose
  • Utthita Trikonasana - Extended Triangle Pose
  • Utthita Parsvakonasana - Extended Side Angle Pose
  • Virabhadrasana II - Warrior Pose variation 2
  • Virabhadrasana I - Warrior Pose variation 1
  • Parsvottanasana - Intense Side Stretch Pose
  • Prasarita Padottanasana - Wide stance Forward Bend
I used only the videos by John Schumacher, because of the cohesiveness of showing the poses all described in a similar way, and because of his very clear and succinct way of instructing, and his strong, clean-lined poses.

I introduce all of these standing poses to my Beginning Level classes, and we continue to return to them on a fairly regular basis in my more Experienced-level classes.   My Gentle classes also do these poses but with more support, often using a chair and / or a wall to add stability.  

These important standing poses help us develop better body awareness as well as greater strength, stability, and flexibility.   

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.