We started the day with Kapalabhati - or breath of fire. It's a bit intense because you do very short, quick bursts of inhales and exhales. You can do this during some postures like table top or navasana (boat pose).
Then we learned the proper way to do Uddiyana Bandha. Ever since I started doing yoga at studios, I have heard teachers say this or suggest we do it without fully explaining it and I assumed it just meant tightening your core. Pretzel asked all of us to say what we thought it meant and pretty much told us we were all wrong! This is essentially an abdominal lock that is supposed to exercise your digestive system. It's a really intense way of engaging your abdominal muscles and releasing all your breath. This has a pretty good description of how she walked us through it if you want to try: http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/1707. Make sure to do it on an empty stomach. (If you feel a little bit like you are drowning, you are doing it right! :))
It was really tough for us all to pick it up - people with hula and belly dancing experience had a leg up. :) But it was pretty invigorating once we got the hang of it.
Pretzel said it really bothers her when teachers suggest you can do this while you are doing asanas...it would be really tough to do much of anything else! It was good to finally know what it was and to know that you can't actually do it during most postures! She suggested doing it 10 times per day...! I've been doing it once or twice in the morning when I wake up - it definitely gets you going!
The Manipura Chakra:
No comments:
Post a Comment