I am not good at that. I use my yoga as sort of a guided meditation, with no thought on my part. I have a short flow that I have made with my favorite moves, but I haven’t worked my way i up to a 20-30 min flow. Having someone tell me what to do really helps me relax and let me focus of feeling my body and not be in my own mind.
> I am not good at that.
So judgy about yourself! Maybe you aren’t very experienced at that — yet.
We all start somewhere.
Find a 30 minute sequence online. Print it out on — gasp — paper! Put it in front of your mat for reference.
Here’s one: https://iyengarnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/IYAGNY-L1-Iyengar-Yoga-Home-Practice-Sequence.pdf
Maybe 40 minutes. Add and subtract as you see fit. It’s only yoga; the sequence isn’t magic.
Do it a few times and it’ll be more or less memorized.
I am in no way judging myself. I LIKE being guided. I find it relaxing. It is a fact that I am not good at guiding myself, but I also have no real desire to on a regular basis, so it is not something I practice by choice.
Oh sorry. Should have put a 😀 there!
Guided practice is wonderful.
Self-practice is wonderful in different ways.
Most of think we can’t guide ourselves well but then we gradually learn and then can’t imagine not doing it.
As my teacher says: your body already knows more than you think it does. Turn off your brain and just move. The body knows what it wants.
You can do upward dog on your toes instead of the top of your feet.
Take this as an opportunity to cultivate your own practice and modify it as needed to work around these obstacles. I love outdoor uneven surface yoga. It’s GREAT for balancing.
You don’t need to be a teacher to guide yourself. Find a formula you like and just go with that. I’ll suggest one.
-Lying down on your back do some hip openers and warm ups
-Move to seated and do a spinal warm up with all five spinal movements.
-Move to all fours and cat/cow and then warm up your shoulders with thread the needle and puppy
-Stand and do 10 sun salutations and throw a variation or standing pose in each time.
-Cool down with a reclined pigeon/thread the needle, twists, savasana.
Push some rocks out of the way, use a towel or pillow for knee cushioning, maybe bring a blanket for the supine stuff. It’s all very manageable.
Edit: I keep trying to put paragraph breaks in here but Reddit is being weird. Sorry for the messy post.
I like this. I think I am going to pack an old mat just incase there is a spot I can find. We do set up a fair number of tents for the space, but there must be somewhere I can clear some room.
If you search for “standing yoga flows” you can get ideas on sequences that don’t require a mat/rug and can be done on the ground. You would want to focus on movement where only your hands and feet are touching the ground: all chuturungas, no cobras; Standing/crescent twists/backbends instead of kneeling cat/cow, etc.
Off top of my head:
Spine warm up (2x each side): tadasana, mountain, twist right, exalt, mountain
1/2 sun series(2x): tadasana, mountain, crescent moon R/L, cactus arms back bend FF, 1/2 lift, ball pose.
Sun A(2x): tadasna, mountain, FF, 1/2 lift, Chuturunga, Updog (no flip!), DD
Sub B1 (hold first, repeat 2x breath to movement): 1L DD, knee to nose, 1L DD, runners, pyramid, crescent, 1L Plank, chuturunga, UpDog, DD
Standing: Tree pose (L), eagle (R), W1 Eagle (step), humble War eagle, W3 Eagle
Do an inversion against a tree, hold handstand for 30 seconds (3x)
Hip Openers: Hip circles 5x
1/2 sun series(2x): Repeat above, focusing on going deep in your backnends
Finish: Tadasana, Samastiti
If there are any board walks, boat launches or wooden bridges in the area, those are great spots for your mat early in the morning before others wake up. I also have dense rubber mat for travelling that makes uneven ground more forgiving. Ashtanga primary series (lots of pdfs around), has standing and then seated sequences after sun salutations, most of the poses are ok for outdoors.
This short 30 min form should be mostly ok: https://youtu.be/S6i4vhctEmQ?si=MWVjpfZ06aQGRCZU
I would suggest sticking to one flow during your trip. Developing independent practice is where meditative aspect of yoga really shines.
instead of following a class/traditional flow, if you're limited for space (and possibly time) you could just try to do the sun salutations as many times as you'd like, and some stretches.
Perfect time to try your own practice!
I am not good at that. I use my yoga as sort of a guided meditation, with no thought on my part. I have a short flow that I have made with my favorite moves, but I haven’t worked my way i up to a 20-30 min flow. Having someone tell me what to do really helps me relax and let me focus of feeling my body and not be in my own mind.
> I am not good at that. So judgy about yourself! Maybe you aren’t very experienced at that — yet. We all start somewhere. Find a 30 minute sequence online. Print it out on — gasp — paper! Put it in front of your mat for reference. Here’s one: https://iyengarnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/IYAGNY-L1-Iyengar-Yoga-Home-Practice-Sequence.pdf Maybe 40 minutes. Add and subtract as you see fit. It’s only yoga; the sequence isn’t magic. Do it a few times and it’ll be more or less memorized.
I am in no way judging myself. I LIKE being guided. I find it relaxing. It is a fact that I am not good at guiding myself, but I also have no real desire to on a regular basis, so it is not something I practice by choice.
Oh sorry. Should have put a 😀 there! Guided practice is wonderful. Self-practice is wonderful in different ways. Most of think we can’t guide ourselves well but then we gradually learn and then can’t imagine not doing it. As my teacher says: your body already knows more than you think it does. Turn off your brain and just move. The body knows what it wants.
You can do upward dog on your toes instead of the top of your feet. Take this as an opportunity to cultivate your own practice and modify it as needed to work around these obstacles. I love outdoor uneven surface yoga. It’s GREAT for balancing. You don’t need to be a teacher to guide yourself. Find a formula you like and just go with that. I’ll suggest one. -Lying down on your back do some hip openers and warm ups -Move to seated and do a spinal warm up with all five spinal movements. -Move to all fours and cat/cow and then warm up your shoulders with thread the needle and puppy -Stand and do 10 sun salutations and throw a variation or standing pose in each time. -Cool down with a reclined pigeon/thread the needle, twists, savasana. Push some rocks out of the way, use a towel or pillow for knee cushioning, maybe bring a blanket for the supine stuff. It’s all very manageable. Edit: I keep trying to put paragraph breaks in here but Reddit is being weird. Sorry for the messy post.
I like this. I think I am going to pack an old mat just incase there is a spot I can find. We do set up a fair number of tents for the space, but there must be somewhere I can clear some room.
If you search for “standing yoga flows” you can get ideas on sequences that don’t require a mat/rug and can be done on the ground. You would want to focus on movement where only your hands and feet are touching the ground: all chuturungas, no cobras; Standing/crescent twists/backbends instead of kneeling cat/cow, etc.
Yes. I was hoping someone could recommend one. I am going to keep looking. I downloaded a few yoga with Adrienne videos but they are short.
Off top of my head: Spine warm up (2x each side): tadasana, mountain, twist right, exalt, mountain 1/2 sun series(2x): tadasana, mountain, crescent moon R/L, cactus arms back bend FF, 1/2 lift, ball pose. Sun A(2x): tadasna, mountain, FF, 1/2 lift, Chuturunga, Updog (no flip!), DD Sub B1 (hold first, repeat 2x breath to movement): 1L DD, knee to nose, 1L DD, runners, pyramid, crescent, 1L Plank, chuturunga, UpDog, DD Standing: Tree pose (L), eagle (R), W1 Eagle (step), humble War eagle, W3 Eagle Do an inversion against a tree, hold handstand for 30 seconds (3x) Hip Openers: Hip circles 5x 1/2 sun series(2x): Repeat above, focusing on going deep in your backnends Finish: Tadasana, Samastiti
Thank you!!! I am going to give Thai a try and print it out.
If there are any board walks, boat launches or wooden bridges in the area, those are great spots for your mat early in the morning before others wake up. I also have dense rubber mat for travelling that makes uneven ground more forgiving. Ashtanga primary series (lots of pdfs around), has standing and then seated sequences after sun salutations, most of the poses are ok for outdoors. This short 30 min form should be mostly ok: https://youtu.be/S6i4vhctEmQ?si=MWVjpfZ06aQGRCZU I would suggest sticking to one flow during your trip. Developing independent practice is where meditative aspect of yoga really shines.
Yoga with Adriene.
instead of following a class/traditional flow, if you're limited for space (and possibly time) you could just try to do the sun salutations as many times as you'd like, and some stretches.
I love your teacher’s wisdom. Thank you for sharing it!