September Challenge # Day 14 Twists

And we have our last day of twists - who is going to win this week's challenge? :) We will see very soon :P

Today's pose is a really nice twist -

Reclined Spinal Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)

Twists are a great way to decompress and squeeze out the anxiety and frustrations of your day — just like wringing out a sponge. They also stimulate and detoxify the organs of your torso. If you’ve ever felt worn out at the end of a workday or after a weekend of over-indulgence, Reclined Spinal Twist is a great pose to help restore balance.

Reclined Spinal Twist offers many benefits, many of which are listed below:

• It stretches the back muscles and glutes.
• It massages the back and hips
• It helps to hydrate the spinal disks.
• It lengthens, relaxes, and realigns the spine.
• It massages the abdominal organs and strengthens the abdominal muscles. As a result, this pose tones the waistline and also helps to remove toxins.
• This twist also encourages the flow of fresh blood to your digestive organs, increasing the health and function of your entire digestive system.

This pose is particularly beneficial (and feels good!) after practicing backbends.

Instructions:

• To begin, lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. You can rest your head on a pillow or blanket for extra neck support. Let your arms rest at your sides.
• On an exhalation, draw both knees to your chest and clasp your hands around them. This is Knee-to-Chest Pose (Apanasana).
• Extend your left leg along the floor, keeping your right knee drawn to your chest. Extend your right arm out along the floor at shoulder-height with your palm facing down.
• Shift your hips slightly to the right. Then, place your left hand on the outside of your right knee. Exhaling, drop your right knee over the left side of your body. Keep your left hand resting gently on your right knee.
• Turn your head to the right. Soften your gaze toward your right fingertips. Keep your shoulder blades pressing toward the floor and away from your ears. Allow the force of gravity to drop your knee even closer to the floor. If your right toes can touch the floor, allow your foot to rest.
• Hold the pose for 10-25 breaths. On an inhalation, slowly come back to center, bringing both knees to your chest in Knees-to-Chest Pose (Apanasana).
• Exhale, and extend your right leg along the floor. Repeat steps 3-6 on the opposite side.
• When you’re finished with the pose, hug your knees to your chest for a few breaths in Knee-to-Chest Pose (Apanasana). Then, slowly exhale as you extend both legs along the floor.

September Challenge # Day 12 Twists

It is a weekend and here as a bit of challenge for you :) Let's TWIST!!! :)

Side Crane (Crow) Pose (Parsva Bakasana)

How to get into it:

• Bend your knees to a half-squat, thighs parallel to the floor. If your heels don’t rest comfortably on the floor, support them on a thickly folded blanket. Take your left elbow to the outside of your right thigh as you soften your belly.
• Exhaling, twist your torso to the right, bringing your left lower ribs across toward your right thigh as far as you can.
• Slide the back of your left arm down the outside of the right thigh, bringing your outer armpit as close to the outer thigh as you can. Keeping the arm in place, do a slight back bend and draw your right shoulder back to twist your torso more deeply.
• Exhaling each time, repeat these alternating backbending and twisting movements until you reach your maximum rotation. Then slide your left upper arm several inches toward your right hip and press it firmly against your right thigh; maintaining this pressure, draw the upper arm back toward your right knee without allowing the skin to slide. This will rotate the flesh of the upper arm outward, locking it in place. Once your arm is in position on your thigh, note the point of skin-to-skin contact. Try not to change it throughout the pose.
• Now squat down fully, buttocks just above your heels. Place your left palm on the floor just outside your right foot. If the hand doesn’t easily reach the floor, tip your torso to the right until you can put your palm down flat. Maintaining contact between your left upper arm and your right outer thigh, lean even more to the right until you can place your right hand on the floor. Your hands should be shoulder width apart and positioned on an imaginary line drawn diagonally away from your right foot angled in the direction of the heel. Set your fingers parallel to each other. Most of your weight will still be on your feet.
• Concentrate on maintaining the point of contact between your left arm and right thigh as you slowly lift your pelvis and shift it to the right, aiming to bring the middle of your abdomen above and between your hands. This is not the precise balance point, but if you get this close you’ll probably be able to find the perfect position by feel. As you get close, the weight on your hands will increase, while that on your feet will decrease until they lift easily.
• Now put the finishing touches on the pose. Keep your feet together and press out through their inner edges. Draw your heels toward your buttocks. Exhaling, soften your belly to prepare for the twist, then pull your left hip strongly down and lift both feet up. Your left arm may remain slightly bent, but straighten it as much as you can without allowing your legs to slide down.
• Straighten your right arm completely. As you lift your right shoulder, twist your spine further. Lift your chest and head, and look forward. Breathe evenly and naturally. Hold the pose for 20 seconds or longer, then lower your feet back to the floor with an exhale. Repeat it on the other side for the same length of time. 

Beginner's Tip

To secure your balance, lower your forehead onto a block or bolster as you lift your feet off the floor.

Benefits

• Strengthens the arms and wrists
• Tones the belly and spine
• Improves sense of balance

All the winners of Valentines Yoga Challenge

We had an amazing Valentines Yoga Challenge form 1st February until a big Final Day on 14th February.

I was so pleased with all the photos you posted on our FB Group , so many of you took part in the challenge, even if not every day. You got more and more creative, and I was happy to hear that you are waking up in the morning thinking of the next pose :)

We will have another challenge soon - Spring Challenge :P as you were saying you are missing the everyday poses. I am missing them too!!!

Here are all the winners of this Challenge, with the name of the pose, and which gym are they coming to my classes :)

Day 1 - Linda in Tree Pose (Vrksasana) (DLC)

Day 2 Raymond in Salamba Bhujangasana - Sphinx Pose (Hitchin)

Day 3 Deborah in Three-Legged Downward-Facing Dog (Tri Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana) (Hitchin)

Day 4 Tony in Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Hitchin)

Day 5 John in Half Lord of the Fishes Pose (Hitchin)

Day 6 Melissa in Big Toe Pose (Forward Fold) - Padangusthasana (DLC)

Day 7 Kate and Angela in Warrior III Pose Virabhadrasana III (Hitchin and Ban)

Day 8 Andrea in  Bridge Pose- Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (HRLC)

Day 9 Kim in Side Plank Pose - Vasisthasana (Hitchin)

Day 10 Lucka in Cow Face Pose - Gomukhasana (private tuition)

Day 11 Janine from New Zealand :) in Half Frog Pose - Ardha Bhekasana

Day 12 Sarah in Wild Thing - Camatkarasana

Day 13 Dave in his favourite arm balances (DLC)

And the winners of Final Day 14 

Val and Annerly

Kim and Adam

Kate with James

Thank you for taking part in our first challenge ever, I will soon announce the second one :)

Keep practicing and feel free to post pictures on our FB Group.

Namaste!

Valentine's Challenge Day 14

This is the FINAL DAY of our VALENTINE's YOGA CHALLENGE!!!!

Some of you have already asked me if we can continue with the challenge, well... It is entirely up to you, this is the last official day, but if you would like, we can have it another week, just let me know.

Todays challenge has to do a lot with Valentine's Day - I want you to do any poses, but it has to be two of you on the picture (it can be also cat, dog, ... be creative if you don't find your valentine so easily), here is an inspiration on the picture, and if you were following the challenge I did few months ago, I did a trick you can do, too :P

And today has a special prizes:

three of you will win an hour private yoga class with ME :)

I had really hard work to pick three best photos... but I did it! :)
The winners are:
Val and Annerly
Kim and Adam
Kate with James
Congratulations to all the winners, the poses and photos you posted were amazing!!!
Let me know when you would like to have your private classes :) 

I would like to thank all of you who participated in our first Yoga Challenge,
I had fun and I hope you had fun, too!!!
These two weeks has been great, I am pleased how many pictures you posted...
I will miss the challenge, but soon we will have another one!!
Thank you and Namaste!

Valentine's Challenge Day 13

And we are in the Day 13 of our great challenge. 

I am so proud that so many of you are posting your pictures, 

I am very impressed how much effort you are putting into this 

- THANK YOU ALL!!! 

Day 13 should be even a bit more challenging than yesterday, 

it is also Friday the 13th, so please, be very very careful with practising!!!! 

Today, I want to make our challenge a bit different... 

I just thought we should make it different as we are almost at the end. 

I challenge you to take a picture in any arm balance pose you like - anything!! 

It can be an easy Scale Pose, Crow, Handstand, etc. 

Please, be creative and show me your favourite best one!!!

Good luck with Day 13!!!! 

I was so impressed by your poses!!!
What creative poses, settings, pictures, many many of you posed, I am soooo happy!!!
Today's winner is Dave with his awesome scorpion!!!
Congratulations!!!!
I hope I'll see you tomorrow :)