Yoga Poses
Here I am going to talk about the different types of yoga poses and why you might want to include them in your personal practice. Learning the reasons behind the poses will help you put together your own personal yoga sessions that you can design specifically for what you need and how you are feeling in that moment.
In addition to attending classes and following a long with a teacher, I am a huge advocate of building your own personal home practice. Even the best yoga teachers cannot feel what you are feeling in your body. At best they are a guide. Only you know how you are feeling and what feels right and what doesn't. So let's get started with an overview of the different types of yoga exercises.
In addition to attending classes and following a long with a teacher, I am a huge advocate of building your own personal home practice. Even the best yoga teachers cannot feel what you are feeling in your body. At best they are a guide. Only you know how you are feeling and what feels right and what doesn't. So let's get started with an overview of the different types of yoga exercises.
Seated
Let's start with seated poses because we already sit too much and we want to get this one out of the way quickly. Seated poses can mean sitting in a chair or on the floor. Typically seated poses are used as a way to get focused, to meditate or to warm up.
Since most people already sit way too much, I don't spend a ton of time on seated poses in yoga. I find people just don't benefit from it. In addition, if you are like me and have a tight lower back/butt area, sitting cross-legged on the floor is brutal. I kid you not during my yoga teacher training the hardest thing for me was sitting cross-legged on the floor. They call it "easy" pose. Ok. Not for me.
For about the first two weeks every day during our lecture I sat on the floor fidgeting between cross-legged then stretching my legs out straight and back again. Now in the training the teachers made it very clear that the whole point of yoga is to listen to your own body and do what you felt was best. No one was making me sit like that. There were plenty of chairs in the room but the thing was I was 26 years old. Most of the people in my training were over 40, many over 50 and a few over 60. And you mean to tell me I'm the one who can't sit on the floor and needs a chair!
Then one lecture one of my teachers was making a point about not identifying with what other people think of you and I kind of shot up off the floor, grabbed a chair and took a seat. The funny thing was, right after I did that about 6 other people did the same thing. We sat in chairs for the remaining 2 weeks of the training during lectures. I guess some other people were going through a similar internal battle as me!
The point being seated poses are deceiving. Use seated poses in your practice to focus on alignment and learn how to sit better so you are not slouched at work and in the car. Be cautious how long you remain in any given seated pose as sometimes it can really tighten you up.
The cross-legged seated posture is so highly associated with eastern spirituality that people feel the need to incorporate it into every class and practice. There is no need! If it's comfortable great but if it hurts you like it does me just skip it!
Since most people already sit way too much, I don't spend a ton of time on seated poses in yoga. I find people just don't benefit from it. In addition, if you are like me and have a tight lower back/butt area, sitting cross-legged on the floor is brutal. I kid you not during my yoga teacher training the hardest thing for me was sitting cross-legged on the floor. They call it "easy" pose. Ok. Not for me.
For about the first two weeks every day during our lecture I sat on the floor fidgeting between cross-legged then stretching my legs out straight and back again. Now in the training the teachers made it very clear that the whole point of yoga is to listen to your own body and do what you felt was best. No one was making me sit like that. There were plenty of chairs in the room but the thing was I was 26 years old. Most of the people in my training were over 40, many over 50 and a few over 60. And you mean to tell me I'm the one who can't sit on the floor and needs a chair!
Then one lecture one of my teachers was making a point about not identifying with what other people think of you and I kind of shot up off the floor, grabbed a chair and took a seat. The funny thing was, right after I did that about 6 other people did the same thing. We sat in chairs for the remaining 2 weeks of the training during lectures. I guess some other people were going through a similar internal battle as me!
The point being seated poses are deceiving. Use seated poses in your practice to focus on alignment and learn how to sit better so you are not slouched at work and in the car. Be cautious how long you remain in any given seated pose as sometimes it can really tighten you up.
The cross-legged seated posture is so highly associated with eastern spirituality that people feel the need to incorporate it into every class and practice. There is no need! If it's comfortable great but if it hurts you like it does me just skip it!
Balance
Balance is a word that is thrown around a lot in yoga. Yoga aims to bring us into balance physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, nutritionally, financially and so on. An authentic yoga program will have you examining balance in all areas of your life.
Here we are talking specifically about physical balance, as in balancing postures. Postures such as tree pose and crane pose are a great way to not only improve balance, but improve focus as well. One of my special little tricks in the business world was to take a 5 minute balance break when the workload was getting hectic. Just a couple minutes of tree pose helped me focus my mind and be a much more productive and attentive worker.
I always try to incorporate balance poses into my practice. Sometimes it might be the bulk of the practice while other times a small portion. Typically I will try to bring in at least a small amount of balance work early in the session because I like how it forces me to get really focused. Usually if I am wobbly or fall it is due to a lack of focus and not muscular fatigue or lack of strength.
Here we are talking specifically about physical balance, as in balancing postures. Postures such as tree pose and crane pose are a great way to not only improve balance, but improve focus as well. One of my special little tricks in the business world was to take a 5 minute balance break when the workload was getting hectic. Just a couple minutes of tree pose helped me focus my mind and be a much more productive and attentive worker.
I always try to incorporate balance poses into my practice. Sometimes it might be the bulk of the practice while other times a small portion. Typically I will try to bring in at least a small amount of balance work early in the session because I like how it forces me to get really focused. Usually if I am wobbly or fall it is due to a lack of focus and not muscular fatigue or lack of strength.
Forward Folds
Forward folds are a fan favorite in yoga classes across the nation. Hanging loose in a forward fold is probably in the top 1 or 2 most beloved yoga poses.
Why do people love forward folds so much?
Because that's what they are used to. That's what's comfortable. If you sit in a chair or car most of the day I hate to break the news to you but you are kind of doing a mini forward fold that whole time you are sitting.
Think about it. When you are sitting in a chair your lower back, butt and hamstrings are stretched (lengthened) while your quads, hip flexors and abs are relaxed (shortened).
Now if you are doing yoga for balance and you have been in a forward fold for most of your day why would you go to yoga class and do bigger, deeper forward folds for most of the class?
People go to yoga to feel good and doing a class full of down dog and forward folds feels amazing. It's not that challenging because your body is used to lengthening stuff on the back side of your body and shortening/relaxing stuff on the front side of your body. In addition the forward folds send fresh, oxygenated blood to the brain which gives a nice head rush.
I've had a lot of runners ask me why yoga is not fixing their tight hamstrings and this is why. This is the reason. They sit all day stretching their hamstrings, then run stretching their hamstrings even more, then do yoga stretching their hamstrings again thinking this will fix their pain but it never does and never will. The hamstring continues to be long and tight. Imagine a rubber band pulled to its maximum. It's long and tight. On the front side of the body the quads and abs continue to relax and get weak like a rubber band hanging loose.
Your hamstrings never feel better because you are doing the opposite of what you should be doing to bring balance into your body.
Now their are some people out there who will need a lot of forward folds for whatever reason, but the majority of people I have taught have needed to lower the amount of forward folding hamstring stretching they were doing and increase the amount of back bends and quad stretching.
As always everyone is different. This has been my experience.
Why do people love forward folds so much?
Because that's what they are used to. That's what's comfortable. If you sit in a chair or car most of the day I hate to break the news to you but you are kind of doing a mini forward fold that whole time you are sitting.
Think about it. When you are sitting in a chair your lower back, butt and hamstrings are stretched (lengthened) while your quads, hip flexors and abs are relaxed (shortened).
Now if you are doing yoga for balance and you have been in a forward fold for most of your day why would you go to yoga class and do bigger, deeper forward folds for most of the class?
People go to yoga to feel good and doing a class full of down dog and forward folds feels amazing. It's not that challenging because your body is used to lengthening stuff on the back side of your body and shortening/relaxing stuff on the front side of your body. In addition the forward folds send fresh, oxygenated blood to the brain which gives a nice head rush.
I've had a lot of runners ask me why yoga is not fixing their tight hamstrings and this is why. This is the reason. They sit all day stretching their hamstrings, then run stretching their hamstrings even more, then do yoga stretching their hamstrings again thinking this will fix their pain but it never does and never will. The hamstring continues to be long and tight. Imagine a rubber band pulled to its maximum. It's long and tight. On the front side of the body the quads and abs continue to relax and get weak like a rubber band hanging loose.
Your hamstrings never feel better because you are doing the opposite of what you should be doing to bring balance into your body.
Now their are some people out there who will need a lot of forward folds for whatever reason, but the majority of people I have taught have needed to lower the amount of forward folding hamstring stretching they were doing and increase the amount of back bends and quad stretching.
As always everyone is different. This has been my experience.
Back Bends
Back bends are pretty much the opposite of forward folds. Back bends stretch/lengthen the stuff on the front side of the body while shortening/strengthening the stuff on the back side of the body. If you have lower back or hamstring pain it's likely some back bends and back strengtheners will help.
Back bends can be down standing, seated, on your knees and laying down. Bending backwards tends to be challenging and uncomfortable so many people skip back bends or don't give them enough attention. At times back bends can be genuinely frightening. It's a totally different feeling than the comfort of a gentle, loose forward fold.
For a lot of people you need to weave the back bends into your practice slowly and cautiously. They are much needed and very helpful but if you don't know what you are doing you can cause yourself harm. Always be extra mindful when you are compressing your spine and err on the side of caution. I like doing a gentle camel pose as my primary back bend. Camel pose is included my daily practice of the five tibetan rites and every morning I'm refreshed and invigorated as I move through the camel pose.
It's important to dabble in back bends and work on strengthening your back but keep it gradual. No one wants to throw their back out because they held wheel pose for five minutes. Take it easy and monitor your progress.
Back bends can be down standing, seated, on your knees and laying down. Bending backwards tends to be challenging and uncomfortable so many people skip back bends or don't give them enough attention. At times back bends can be genuinely frightening. It's a totally different feeling than the comfort of a gentle, loose forward fold.
For a lot of people you need to weave the back bends into your practice slowly and cautiously. They are much needed and very helpful but if you don't know what you are doing you can cause yourself harm. Always be extra mindful when you are compressing your spine and err on the side of caution. I like doing a gentle camel pose as my primary back bend. Camel pose is included my daily practice of the five tibetan rites and every morning I'm refreshed and invigorated as I move through the camel pose.
It's important to dabble in back bends and work on strengthening your back but keep it gradual. No one wants to throw their back out because they held wheel pose for five minutes. Take it easy and monitor your progress.
Twists
Somewhat similar to back bends we have twists. A twist is exactly as it sounds, you twist. Twists are done from the spine and rotate outwards. For the most part in yoga we try to move from our center. With a twist you want to move from your core, or your center. Visualize twisting from your spine and the twist spiraling outward.
This is opposed to turning from your head or your chin, or turning your shoulders. Most people twist more than they need or should. Yoga is an internal practice and you should always be hyper focused on how you are moving and how you feel in yoga especially during twists. People do get injured doing yoga and a lot of times it is coming in and out of twists.
It's a fine line. Twist correctly and you may notice a reduction in pain, increase in mobility and possibly even more positive side effects. But twist incorrectly and you may cause injury and set your practice back.
The main things to keep in mind while twisting are keeping your spine long and twisting from your center. If you are hunching/rounding your back anywhere your twisting too much.
Since my lower back is on the tight side and I can barely sit cross-legged on the floor, doing seated twists for me is usually out of the question. I tend to do most of my twisting while standing because I find that is the easiest way for me to keep my spine nice and long.
Gradually explore some gentle twists for yourself and see how it goes.
This is opposed to turning from your head or your chin, or turning your shoulders. Most people twist more than they need or should. Yoga is an internal practice and you should always be hyper focused on how you are moving and how you feel in yoga especially during twists. People do get injured doing yoga and a lot of times it is coming in and out of twists.
It's a fine line. Twist correctly and you may notice a reduction in pain, increase in mobility and possibly even more positive side effects. But twist incorrectly and you may cause injury and set your practice back.
The main things to keep in mind while twisting are keeping your spine long and twisting from your center. If you are hunching/rounding your back anywhere your twisting too much.
Since my lower back is on the tight side and I can barely sit cross-legged on the floor, doing seated twists for me is usually out of the question. I tend to do most of my twisting while standing because I find that is the easiest way for me to keep my spine nice and long.
Gradually explore some gentle twists for yourself and see how it goes.
Inversion
Inversions are poses where some or all of you is upside down. Doing inversions can be scary, it can be fun, and it can be beneficial. There are gentle inversions like putting your legs up on a wall/chair and there are vigorous inversions like forearm and handstand.
The cool thing about inversions is the whole upside down part. For most of the day your body is working super hard to pump blood upwards against gravity to your brain. Imagine for a moment your brain sitting up there doing all this work for you all day; thinking, analyzing, storing data, drifting off into a sea of nothingness for minutes at a time...
And that whole time your brain is up there working a mile a minute waiting on this blood like:
The cool thing about inversions is the whole upside down part. For most of the day your body is working super hard to pump blood upwards against gravity to your brain. Imagine for a moment your brain sitting up there doing all this work for you all day; thinking, analyzing, storing data, drifting off into a sea of nothingness for minutes at a time...
And that whole time your brain is up there working a mile a minute waiting on this blood like:
Well imagine your brains absolute delight when the tables are turned, you flip upside down and basically dump buckets of life force directly on top of your super computer:
As cool as the head rush may be always use caution and make sure you check with your doctor before trying these exercises.
Restorative
While back bends, twists, and inversions can be challenging and scary, restorative poses are just the opposite. Easy to do and friendly to all, restorative poses are one of the most overlooked delights of yoga.
A restorative pose is when you gather up blankets, pillows, bolsters and set yourself up in a pose for 5-15 minutes. The bolsters and pillows are used to fully support your body so it can completely relax. There are a handful of restorative poses and any one of them done for 15 minutes can make a huge impact on stress levels.
At my retreat the restorative session often times becomes peoples unexpected favorite part of the week. Getting to completely relax and unwind really does wonders for stress. Once you learn the process you can do restorative yoga anytime, by yourself, completely for free. I have found restorative to be one of the best ways to destress and unwind. It can be beneficial after a hard athletic event, a challenging work week or anytime you are in need of complete relaxation.
A restorative pose is when you gather up blankets, pillows, bolsters and set yourself up in a pose for 5-15 minutes. The bolsters and pillows are used to fully support your body so it can completely relax. There are a handful of restorative poses and any one of them done for 15 minutes can make a huge impact on stress levels.
At my retreat the restorative session often times becomes peoples unexpected favorite part of the week. Getting to completely relax and unwind really does wonders for stress. Once you learn the process you can do restorative yoga anytime, by yourself, completely for free. I have found restorative to be one of the best ways to destress and unwind. It can be beneficial after a hard athletic event, a challenging work week or anytime you are in need of complete relaxation.
Core Strength
Central to any yoga or fitness program should be core strength. Maintaining a strong core is what allowed me to stay injury free throughout my college track career and improve each and every year. Having a strong core can improve your posture and how you look, feel and move.
I wish a strong core was something I could package and sell to you because I would make millions. If a strong core was a product the benefits listed on the package would seem so exaggerated it would probably seem like a scam.
For some reason their is a subset of the running community with a particularly loud voice that feels core strength is a "myth" and it is a waste of time to work on it. I emphatically disagree and agree with the trainers, coaches and athletes from every other sport on the planet who agree core strength is vital to athletic performance.
Any well rounded yoga class should have you dabbling in enough core strength exercises to get you through your daily life. Keep in mind when I say core strength I am not just talking about abs, I'm talking about hip flexors, muscles in the pelvis, and back muscles. People forget the back is part of the core and pay the price for it.
If you are an athlete you would be wise to dedicate time to improving your core strength. My college track coach was a huge advocate for core strength. He was a football guy who somehow ended up having a lengthy, successful career as a cross country and track coach. Other coaches had their guys running upwards of 90-100 miles a week for training with a couple workouts mixed in. After running that kind of mileage you are completely wiped out.
My coach had a different philosophy. We would run around 50-60 miles and then spend 30-40 "miles" worth of time working on core strength. The people who followed my coaches plan improved every year and were very rarely injured. The 100 mile per week runners were often injured and their improvement was less consistent.
Additionally, because I had a balanced training program and didn't over do it with one particular motion (running) I was able to successfully continue running after college and maintained a healthy, injury free running career thanks to my foundation of core strength.
I wish a strong core was something I could package and sell to you because I would make millions. If a strong core was a product the benefits listed on the package would seem so exaggerated it would probably seem like a scam.
For some reason their is a subset of the running community with a particularly loud voice that feels core strength is a "myth" and it is a waste of time to work on it. I emphatically disagree and agree with the trainers, coaches and athletes from every other sport on the planet who agree core strength is vital to athletic performance.
Any well rounded yoga class should have you dabbling in enough core strength exercises to get you through your daily life. Keep in mind when I say core strength I am not just talking about abs, I'm talking about hip flexors, muscles in the pelvis, and back muscles. People forget the back is part of the core and pay the price for it.
If you are an athlete you would be wise to dedicate time to improving your core strength. My college track coach was a huge advocate for core strength. He was a football guy who somehow ended up having a lengthy, successful career as a cross country and track coach. Other coaches had their guys running upwards of 90-100 miles a week for training with a couple workouts mixed in. After running that kind of mileage you are completely wiped out.
My coach had a different philosophy. We would run around 50-60 miles and then spend 30-40 "miles" worth of time working on core strength. The people who followed my coaches plan improved every year and were very rarely injured. The 100 mile per week runners were often injured and their improvement was less consistent.
Additionally, because I had a balanced training program and didn't over do it with one particular motion (running) I was able to successfully continue running after college and maintained a healthy, injury free running career thanks to my foundation of core strength.
Stability
Somewhat similar to core strength are what I like to call stability poses. Stability poses are similar to balance poses with the added challenge of being done on an unstable surface such as a balance disc, bosu ball, or exercise ball. In addition to the core strength program I mentioned above, I have long been a fan of stability exercises.
Around my junior year of college my teammates and I began standing on exercise balls. It made working out really fun and gave us a challenge to continue to build on. We continued to improve our skills as we went from standing on the ball, to do doing squats, to throwing medicine balls and more.
After I had been standing on the ball for a couple weeks I began to notice that I was getting much less tired running up hills. I went to Fitchburg State and there are a lot of hills so I was keenly aware how they affected me. Somehow the stability work I was doing made running up hills far easier.
I attacked the core strength and stability really hard my junior and senior year and made huge improvements in my performance. My Junior year I ran 33:30 in the 10K and one year later in my last collegiate race I ran 31:15. A lot of factors went into that improvement. Two of the most important were core strength and stability.
Around my junior year of college my teammates and I began standing on exercise balls. It made working out really fun and gave us a challenge to continue to build on. We continued to improve our skills as we went from standing on the ball, to do doing squats, to throwing medicine balls and more.
After I had been standing on the ball for a couple weeks I began to notice that I was getting much less tired running up hills. I went to Fitchburg State and there are a lot of hills so I was keenly aware how they affected me. Somehow the stability work I was doing made running up hills far easier.
I attacked the core strength and stability really hard my junior and senior year and made huge improvements in my performance. My Junior year I ran 33:30 in the 10K and one year later in my last collegiate race I ran 31:15. A lot of factors went into that improvement. Two of the most important were core strength and stability.
Movement
Finally we come to what I call movement poses such as walking, running and different drills. I like to include movement with different yoga pose types because I think it's important to incorporate the principles of yoga into everything we do. Fundamentally, yoga is a mindfulness practice, and mindfulness is about paying attention to the current moment. That means the same way you flow with your breath in and out of yoga poses, so too should you flow with your breath as you flow from your desk to the copy machine.
Incorporating yoga into your daily life is easy. As you walk around pay attention to your breath. Now you are doing yoga as you walk. In a meeting at work? Adjust your posture so you are tall and aligned and then begin to notice your breathing. Now you are doing yoga while in a meeting at work. You don't need to be doing any of the postures listed above to do yoga. You need to be mindful.
The more you practice yoga postures in a controlled setting the easier this will become. You practice being relaxed and focused in a balance pose so you can later be more relaxed and focused while giving a presentation at work or school. Do you see how that works? It's like training for anything else. Practice staying relaxed and focused in a controlled setting so it becomes easier in more challenging settings.
I have found it to be extremely helpful for people to learn how to practice yoga while walking, running, and sitting. Many people only consider themselves to be doing yoga when they are in a class. They are missing out! You can actually be doing yoga all the time for no extra charge whatsoever!
Think about how much more quickly you would progress if you practiced yoga all the time. Even if you just sneak little bits and pieces into your day, how would that change things for you?
So many people have asked me my secret on how I stay so calm all the time whether it be at work, in traffic or wherever and I'm telling you the secret right here, right now. This is how I do it. I practice yoga daily. Every morning I do the five tibetan rites. I continue to be aware of my breath, and my thoughts throughout the day with an ongoing awareness of keeping the breath fluid and relaxed and releasing any negative thoughts that do not serve me.
That's it. That's how I do it. It's yoga. I do yoga.
Incorporating yoga into your daily life is easy. As you walk around pay attention to your breath. Now you are doing yoga as you walk. In a meeting at work? Adjust your posture so you are tall and aligned and then begin to notice your breathing. Now you are doing yoga while in a meeting at work. You don't need to be doing any of the postures listed above to do yoga. You need to be mindful.
The more you practice yoga postures in a controlled setting the easier this will become. You practice being relaxed and focused in a balance pose so you can later be more relaxed and focused while giving a presentation at work or school. Do you see how that works? It's like training for anything else. Practice staying relaxed and focused in a controlled setting so it becomes easier in more challenging settings.
I have found it to be extremely helpful for people to learn how to practice yoga while walking, running, and sitting. Many people only consider themselves to be doing yoga when they are in a class. They are missing out! You can actually be doing yoga all the time for no extra charge whatsoever!
Think about how much more quickly you would progress if you practiced yoga all the time. Even if you just sneak little bits and pieces into your day, how would that change things for you?
So many people have asked me my secret on how I stay so calm all the time whether it be at work, in traffic or wherever and I'm telling you the secret right here, right now. This is how I do it. I practice yoga daily. Every morning I do the five tibetan rites. I continue to be aware of my breath, and my thoughts throughout the day with an ongoing awareness of keeping the breath fluid and relaxed and releasing any negative thoughts that do not serve me.
That's it. That's how I do it. It's yoga. I do yoga.