Kobe: November 30 – December 2, 2020

Workshop at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Kobe, Japan.

 

I’m helping this student realign her elbows. Her carrying angle will hamper her efforts to lift all the way up through her shoulders and hips. When I remove my feet from her elbows, she has to move them back toward the wall herself. She also has to move her shoulders forward.

Gripping her hips firmly between my feet, I am rolling this student’s shoulders back.

Amit Pawar,  Prana Homoeopathy Yoga Center, Pune, shows us how its done! He instructs one of his teachers how to make a similar adjustment, but here he draws the upper torso forward as he moves the student’s shoulders back. She is less likely to jam her lumbar spine this way.

Roll your upper arms in and pull your arms back into the shoulder sockets as you allow your pelvis to slide down the wall.

Maintain the entire backs of the legs from pelvis to heels, parallel to the ceiling.

You get more leverage when your feet are against the wall, and you can hold onto some ropes. Press your feet into the wall and move your inner groins back.

Krounchasana. Stay toward the middle of the sit bones and raise the anterior spine.

Eka Pada Sirsasana. Keep your hips level with each other as you bring one of your legs forward and down.

Sarvangasana. To get a better, sharper grip, spread your fingers and thumbs, palms facing the floor, place them between two ribs, and lift!

In addition, clip the outer shoulderblades in and roll the outer, upper arms down.

 

© 2020 Bobby Clennell.

Taipei. December 12 – 15. 2014.

Workshop at Shelly Yoga.

Students taking pictures of my Elements and Koshas posters.

Preparing for  Eka Hasta Bhujasana

….with Eka Pada Sirsasana

Eka Hasta Bhujasana

Bakasana: rocking and rolling – shifting the weight back and forth from the blocks to the arms and hands.

Tuck the arms high up under the inner thighs before you lift off.

Suck the abdomen back to the spine.

This student’s hips are too high.

Another day, another session: we pushed up from a chair into Urdhva Dhanurasana, elbows and forearm bone on the wall, middle fingers face straight ahead.

Due to the wieght of the pelvis, women tend to drop the hips in this pose.

Raise your heels, raise your tail bone and pelvis,

Without dropping your pelvis, stamp your heels down. Open the backs of the knees: lift the back thighs away from the backs of the knees toward the buttock crease.

On the last night in Taipei my host, Shelly took us to an outdoor restaurant high up in the hills. It was cold, so we were all  bundled up just like these two waiters. There was a heater under the table, which made my knees hot.

© 2015 Bobby Clennell.

Charlottesville and Allied Yoga Revisited — March 2013

Inversions

Working with a carrying angle.

Preparation for Sirsasana.

Lift-off (Ardha Sirsasana).

Eka Pada Sirsasana; to keep the hips even, lift the outer hip of the leg you’ve dropped down.

Elements and Koshas

Illustrations to show how the Vayus, Nadis, Chakras and Elements are interconnected.

Baby Backbends for Grownups

Ustrasana

Learning how to lift the chest in Ustrasana.

Acarna Dhanurasana (Archer Pose)

One of the many preparation poses (Supta Padangustasana)

Preparation for Acarna Dhanurasana.

More preparation for Acarna Dhanurasana.

Shaaron Honeycutt practicing Acarna Dhanurasana: Vignanomya Kosha — the wisdom body and the aha! moment where you become one with the pose.

Photos by Tay Strauss at Allied Yoga.