02.03 – 02.09 Asana: Preparing to Dream Big

Feb 3, 2025

“One must have first of all a strong foundation.” – Sri Aurobindo

Weekly Focus: Asana (physical postures of Yoga)

Yoga asana is the foundational grounding of the yoga practice. Asana contains the physical postures that we practice on our mat, from mouintain pose to downward facing dog to savasana. As the third limb of yoga, asana is a tool to help us prepare for deeper levels of yogic engagement.

While there are many physical and emotional benefits to asana such as exercise, stretch and relaxation, this week we consider asana as a preparation towards finding our authenticity, passion and heart’s desire. Asana can help us to shift energy, to feel whole, and create more space to envision our possibility.

Dreaming, using our imagination and envisioning our deepest desire’s can be a very heady practice. Winter is a season full of Vata energy. Vata qualities are quick, thin, cold and rapid, which can leave us feeling a bit spacey or anxious. Our asana practice helps us to get grounded and to move stagnant or frantic energy, combatting these vata energies. Winter is also a season of Kapha energy which presents as slow, earthy and fluid. It can be useful to connect to this Kaphic nature to help us root into our bodies and prepare our minds to think more deeply.

How can you utilize your asana practice as a way to get grounded and begin to envision your heart’s deepest desires? It may be clearing out that frantic energy and anxious thoughts, by helping to focus the mind, or to build confidence through strength. Have you tried considering your yoga asana practice in this way before?

Here are a few simple practices to get asana in your day-to-day:

  1. Set your alarm 15 min earlier — 15 minutes is all you need to start your day with some energy. By giving yourself 15 extra minutes in the morning, you would have just enough time to go through a few rounds of Sun Salutation C – an excellent wake up flow to build energy and open up the body.
  2. Take a 10 min stretch break — set yourself an alrm during midday to take a 10 minute stretch break. Stand up, reach your arms overhead and stretch side to side. Reach up and down for your toes several times and take a few deep breaths in a forward fold. If you have space, walk in and out of a downward facing dog. This will give you the opportunity to reset and ground back into your body. 
  3. Get ready for bed 15 min earlier — utilize time before bed for a slower more meditative asana practice. Take 15 minutes to spend 2 -3 minutes in the following poses: child’s pose, supported fish pose, supine twist, and legs up the wall. This will help you release the day and feel prepared for a good night’s rest. 

Passive Pose of the Week: Makarasana (crocodile pose)

Zoe Lowden practices makarasana

Makarasana offers a moment of rest and reset in our asana practice. This pose can be a reminder that there is more to asana than strengthening and stretching the body. 

  • Come to lie down on your belly.
  • Stack your palms one on top of the other.
  • Allow your forehead or one cheek to rest atop your hands. 
  • Separate the feet to the edges of your mat, and if able, turn your toes out to the edges of the mat. 
  • Stay here for 7 – 10 breaths. Take big full breaths, feels the back of the body inflate, and the front of the body press into the floor. 

Makarasana is an excellent pose to help us turn on our passive response system and to down regulate. As we feel the body move against the floor with a slow, controlled breath, we can slow down our heart rate and consciously allow the body to relax. We recommend this post after strenuous exercise or anytime you need a moment to simply calm down and recenter. 

Active Pose of the Week: Utkattasana (chair pose)

Marta Gruber practices utkatasana

Build strength and stability in chair pose. Utkatasana is a wonderful pose to bring focus and attention towards the strength in our body, our mind, and our breath. Just as asana builds a foundation for our yoga practice, utkatasana is a foundational pose in yoga asana. 

  • Begin in a standing Mountain pose (tadasana).
  • Inhale and reach your arms up overhead.
  • Exhale and bend your knees while dropping your hips back like sitting in a chair.
  • Keep lifting up through the torso and chest as your sit back.
  • Hold for 3 – 5 breaths. Take an inhale, and as you exhale fold forward over your legs to release the pose. 

Depending on how deeply you drop your hips in this pose, the angle of your spine may vary slightly. For those of us who like to keep a more upright spine, do not drop the hips as much and allow for less bend in the knees. This will give space for the spine to stay more vertical. If you like that deep knee bend and a little burn in your thighs, sit back more in your chair and allow the spine to angle more from the hips. The torso will have a roughly 45 degree angle from the hips, even as the spinal position stays extended. One is not better than the other, they are simply different. Try them both and see what suits your needs for the day!

Join us in class this week to practice your yoga asana. See the full schedule HERE.

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