YIN-a-lized @ Lokapala

Last night we had another sweet Yoga Session at my friend Harald Stehrer's Shop Lokapala in Schwanenstadt, Upper Austria. Many thanks to Harald for creating this wonderful place full of vegan delis, vegan cosmetics and full of many other things a vegan, conscious heart might be looking for!

AND a big shout out to the participating OÖ Yoginis, so cool you showed up, thanks for believing in me, supporting me and sharing your practice with me. NAMASTE.

ARDHA CHANDRASANA 

- half moon pose.

Yesterdays practice was meant to slow down after a busy week We did a calming, YINALIZING, friday night flow, designed to connect to passive, cool Shakti energy. To Shakti and her lunatic power! The moon has an important significance in yoga (and not only!) mythology.

• Strengthens the abdomen, ankles, thighs, buttocks, and spine
• Stretches the groins, hamstrings and calves, shoulders, chest, and spine
• Improves coordination, stability and balance
• Helps relieve stress
• Improves digestion
• teaches concentration

SUP yoga

Childs pose. variation

• gentle stretches for the hips, thighs and ankles
• calms the brains and helps to let go of the day, stress and fatigue
• relieves back and tension from the neck and shoulders, when done with active arms like in the picture.
• we start SUP yoga sessions in balasana to get used to our floating yoga mats, by putting head and legs on the board we easily find balance on the water, by finding balance we find trust, by finding trust we open up, by opening up we get courageous for the next step:

Dolphin pose. varaition

• calms the brains, relieves stress and headaches, improves digestion
• I love to practice dolphin pose in a dynamic manner, so I move forward to strengthen arms and shoulders while inhaling and move back for a great stretches of the backside of my thighs and calves by exhaling
• relieves menstrual discomfort by amplifying blood flow in the lower back area

 Side plank. variation

• strengthens arms, belly, side body and legs
• if I want to concentrate and work with my core on the SUP I split my legs to find more stability
• if I play with my sense of balance and try to improve, I put the top leg on the bottom one for full pose

Bridge pose. variation

• stretches neck and spine
• opens chest
• stimualtes abdominal organs and lungs
• awakens tireds legs
• improves digestion
• this pose is pretty stable, even on the SUP, one leg up is a playful variation to explore stability and balance

Pigeon pose. variation

• stretches thighs, groins, psoas
• in the picture I added active arms for shoulder and chest opening
• when I practice pigeon on the SUP it suddenly becomes also a great balance pose, because it is completely asymmetric it is challenging to find the point of equilibrium

Downward-facing dog. variation

• clams the brains, when ever I practice down dog I feel hOMe, in down dog my body knows it's yoga time, time to let go of the day, it's the welcoming pose inviting me to relieve all sorts of stress
• energizes the body
• strengthens arms, hands, wrists (great for manual therapists!) legs and lower back muscles
• stretches shoulders, hamstrings, calves
• relieves menstrual discomfort as dolphin pose does and improves digestion
• I love to play with down dog, dogs are always playing this is why I rarely practice down dog as a static pose, in the pic you see me in a 3 legged down dog, one of many variations...

SUP yoga is for all levels. Come float with me this summer! ALOHA y namaste.

if you prefer staying o the mat for any reason this is my favorite: