Yoga Tuesday

I was thinking yesterday as I was on my living room floor doing my plank, that I missed my lunchtime exercise sessions with the ladies at the office. For those of you who don’t know, a few of us spend 10 or 12 minutes during lunch every day exercising. Since Tuesday is yoga day, and Noelle suggested that we use the blog to keep in touch, I thought I’d lay out our routine for anyone who’s interested.  If anyone wants to exercise together, we can always have a Zoom meeting.

Here is Tuesday’s yoga routine.

Mountain pose

Stand up with legs should width apart. Spread out your toes. Roll your shoulders down and back (they shouldn’t be up by your ears), so you have good posture but your back isn’t stiff. Imagine there is a string attached to the top of your head pulling you up straight. Hang your arms at your side, palms facing in.

While you’re in mountain pose breathe in to the count of three. Breathe out to the count of five. Repeat two more times.

Another breathing exercise.

Stretch your arms out in front of you, interlace your fingers so your palms are facing away from you. Inhale as you move your arms above your head. Pause. Separate your hands. As you exhale, bend your arms as you pull them down. You will look kinds of like a “W” and you should feel your shoulder blades push together. This will open up your chest a little bit. Repeat two more times.

Side bend or side stretch (sorry, I’m not a yoga teacher sometimes I don’t know what the poses are called).

From mountain pose, raise both arms straight over your head. Interlace your fingers with your palms facing down. Tip to one side with your hands extended above your head. You should feel the stretch on the side of your body, but it shouldn’t hurt. You only need to bend enough to feel the stretch. Hold the stretch for 10 to 12 seconds. Move back to the center and tip to the other side. Hold the pose for 10 to 12 seconds. Repeat again on both sides.

Torso twist

From mountain pose, extend both arms in front of you at approximately chest height. Fingers outstretched and palms facing down. Keeping your hips facing forward. Twist your torso, so that one hand is pointing forward and the other is pointing backward. Your head is turned to the back. Hold the pose for 10 to 12 seconds. Move back to the center. Twist to the other side so that the opposite hand and your head and pointed backward. Repeat on each side.

Tree

From mountain pose, move one foot to rest its sole against the opposite leg. If you’re a beginner or have balance issues, stand next to a chair and use it for support. If you feel you can do it, move the sole of your foot to rest against the calf of the opposite leg. Do NOT rest your foot against the opposite knee. Open up your hips. Your knee is pointing out to the side not the front. Put your hands together in prayer position (unless you need to hold onto a chair). If you’re feeling like you can do it, raise up your arms like the branches of a tree. Work up to holding this pose for at least 30 seconds. Repeat standing on the opposite leg. If you’re really advanced, you can rest your foot against the inner thigh of the opposite leg instead of the calf. I can’t do that; I think my legs are too fat.

Runner’s lunge

With legs facing front, stand with one foot forward and one foot back, with your legs a couple of feet apart. Your front knee is bent, and your back leg is straight. If you rest your back foot flat against the floor, you’ll feel a stretch in your calf muscle. Lean forward to feel a stretch in your hamstring and lower back. If you want, bend over your front leg and rest your hands on the floor on either side of your front leg. Make sure your knee does not extend over your toes. Move the toes of your front foot up and down to feel a stretch or straighten and bend your leg. But you can remain in the more vertical version of this.

Triangle pose (you might want to Google this one)

Stand with your legs a couple of feet apart (whatever feels comfortable). Point one foot to the side. Open your hips and point the other (back) foot forward. The instep of your back foot should be in line with the heel of your front foot. Your feet will kind of look like a spread out “T.” To do the modified version of this pose, bend your front knee (the one with the foot pointing to the side). Bend to the side and rest your elbow on your bent knee. Raise the opposite arm straight over your head. Turn your head and look up at your extended hand. To make this more advanced. Straighten your front leg, and bend so that you can reach your straight arm down to your heel. Sorry this is really difficult to describe.

Warrior 2

You’re going to start the way you started the triangle pose. Point one foot to the side. Open your hips and point the other (back) foot forward. The instep of your back foot should be in line with the heel of your front foot. Your feet will kind of look like a spread out “T.” Hold your arms up and out to the side. Move your arms so the front arm is extended over the front leg and the back arm is extended over the back leg. Fingers together; palms facing down. “Sit” or maybe sink down into the pose. Make sure your front knee does not extend over your toes.

I don’t remember what this pose is called, sorry.

Relax your arms from the warrior 2 pose. Point one foot to the side. Open your hips and point the other (back) foot forward. The instep of your back foot should be in line with the heel of your front foot. Your feet will kind of look like a spread out “T.”  Rest your front arm on your front knee. Take your back arm and extend it over your head. It shouldn’t be straight up in the air. It should be pointing the same direction as your front knee. You should feel a stretch on the side of your body that has the extended arm. Make sure your front knee does not extend over your toes.

Warrior 1 “Exalted Warrior”

Release your arms from the previous pose. Your torso will be facing a little more in the direction of your front knee for this one than it did for the previous warrior pose. Point one foot to the side. Open your hips and point the other (back) foot forward. The instep of your back foot should be in line with the heel of your front foot. Your feet will kind of look like a spread out “T.” Extend both arms straight above your head. Fingers together, palms facing inward. Look up toward your hands. Sink down into the pose. Make sure your front knee does not extend over your toes.

Go back up to runner’s lunge and repeat the whole sequence on the other side. Try to hold each pose for a few seconds.

We often like to end our session with an inversion pose. This is supposed to help with circulation.

Legs up a wall

Lie on the floor on your back. Try to scoot your bottom as close to the wall as you can. Extend both legs straight up so they are resting against the wall. If you want, extend your arms above your head. That is, rest your arms on the floor, extended straight over your head. Hold the pose for about two minutes. Or longer if you want. After about two minutes my feet start to fall asleep.

Sorry if these instructions are hard to follow. You should be able to find demonstration videos of these poses online.

Have fun doing yoga! Stay tuned tomorrow for leg day. WooHoo!