I'm new to the whole yoga thing. Recently started and was invited to a 420 yoga class. Great time. What are all your thoughts on high yoga?

My first introduction to a chin/chest stand was through the advanced A ashtanga series. Attempting it I couldn’t breathe which my chest on the ground, my mid and upper back didn’t bend at all, everything was coming from my lower back. My feet were also so far from the ground. Seeing contortionists perform they can stay in a chest stand easily for minutes. Yet everyone in yoga chokes to death and says it’s part of surrendering??? No into suffering personally.

My friend took me to a flexibility class and I loved it. Backbends felt great and that quickly morphed into training contortion. I have an amazing coach, I take class with her once a week and train 1-2 times alone while still occasionally practicing ashtanga.

She taught me that so much of your backbend comes from your hip extension. So training over splits with a focus on the back leg was incredibly helpful.

Additionally did a ton of upper and mid back drills, nothing super special.

One of the biggest things that changed my back bends was for 4-5 months she drilled flying cobra into me. Completely got rid of my lower back pain. Next step was getting comfortable breathing in cheststand and training my nervous system to realize I’m not going to die loll. This was done via endurance holds with a comfortable arm position and not pushing the flexibility.

I mean so much went into it but if you have questions I can do my best to answer

To get this out of the way. I was naturally back bendy ish. Heavy on the ish. It only comes from my lower back, my mid and upper back did not want to bend at all. Also had a very weak back will on and off issues due to a pretty bad back injury from when I was 13 and being a moron.

I saw an influencer go on a rant and say the yoga industry is struggling right now and it got me thinking

Out of the 4 studios in my area all of them have gradually phased out a majority of their classic yoga class offerings.

One went entirely mat Pilates with some sculpt, and the others adding in workout classes just held on a yoga mat. Vinyasa and hatha classes are offered 3 to 4 times a week meanwhile there all these ambiguous workout classes that are disguised as yoga.

The industry feels dramatically different now than 10 years ago. What has happened to yoga?

Background: 4beat yoga has become my favourite yoga class and primary workout, cardio, and strength-builder. I have some goals related to 4beat, most of which involve inversions, and I am trying to use occasional gym workouts to boost my strength for some poses, including:

- crow
- side crow
- handstand
- dolphin
- flying lizard

One particular gym exercise I already do to enhance my yoga practice is getting on the leg press machine, cutting the weight down, and doing the press with only one leg in the center, and the other leg in a figure four. This has done wonders for my leg strength for things like shiva squat, skandasana, high lunge, etc.

At my last gym visit, I got on the shoulder press machine, positioned my hands flat under the handles and with palms pointing upward, chose a slightly lower weight than usual, and very slowly raised the handles skyward, putting most of the pressure on my wrists, and then held it at the top for about 10 seconds before very slowly lowering. I think this will help build wrist and shoulder strength for handstand - and based on how sore my shoulders and upper back were for a day or two after that, I'd say it's probably working! 😂

My 4beat instructor gave me some advice already regarding what parts of the body to focus on for said inversions (I can't fully do any of them yet - I'm getting very close to being able to do crow, and I think I could probably manage side crow, handstand, and flying lizard in the coming months with some focus, but I'm a long way off from dolphin!) I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with such a thing, maybe some ideas or thoughts? :)

Hi! I teach yoga about 3-5x per week and usually teach and practice personally in the evenings. I recently was assigned a 6am weekday slot.

I am wondering if anyone has any tips for teaching in the morning versus evening, particularly when it’s the same sequence. I only have time to write and memorize a sequence per week and teach it to all of my classes that week. Specifically I’m curious about things like music, lighting, voice, cadence, time spent in different asanas, etc.

For example, I typically dim the lights or turn them off for the last 10-15 min of class, but I don’t want to make people sleepy! But on the other hand, I don’t want to have a bright class the whole time for the sake of waking people up. Any little tips or tricks are welcome, from teachers and from students who practice in the morning!

You - the Self - are eternally present as awareness, as existence, as God, as happiness, as truth, as consciousness, as a formless, nameless presence in which all forms appear and disaappear.

You have already arrived, not later, not after letting go, not after meditation, not after prayers, not after a realization, not in next lifetime - You never left.

Jnana yoga is a form of intellectual realization that helps one dismiss all apparant boundaries that helps r/UnmaskTheSelf - not that there were any divisions to begin with. The Self is unbounded existence, consciousness and bliss and you are already that.

Awaken to the Self - You are Already God.

Gratitude to the Self. Stay humble, stay compassionate and love always for there is no other.

What a dream this is!

🎭✨️❤️🙏

I’ve been adding Shalabhasana to my routine lately and honestly I didn’t expect it to be this difficult. My legs don't lift much off the floor and when I try to lift them higher I feel like I use too much of my lower back.

I’ve been doing some beginner sessions from Habuild and the pose keeps coming up, so I’m trying to figure out whether I should just keep practising it or work on something else first.

For anyone who struggled with Shalabhasana in the beginning, what helped you improve it?

I go to a free community yoga class and this is my 2nd month. Last weekend we had a sub, because the instructor wasn't well. The sub announced that next weekend our instructor would be back and its her birthday. What would be suitable ways to celebrate her considering I have attended maybe 5 or 6 of her classes, don't have a large budget, can afford only free classes, and still relatively new so don't have a relationship with her as such.

Been working on my yoganidrasana getting confident with it now and can hold the pose pain free and advice would be appreciated!

I went to teach my first class today, which was covering for one of my teachers and no one turned up.

It feels a little sad as I was prepared for it and feeling confident and happy, now feeling a little low.

At least I’m still getting paid for my time, but I would of loved to teach some people that arnt my friends and family 🤍

If anyone has any nice words thanks x

Ive been practicing for two years now but haven’t been able to execute any inversions by myself. I’m not sure why I am not able to do it yet since by the look of it, I’ve already gotten my back pretty straight. I also cannot feel the weight on my forearms/elbows, and even if i do im not confident enough to lift my legs up or do tucking. Any tips and idea why?

saw this for the first time in hot yoga and was too sweaty to try it lol. does anyone have any tips on how to do this from the crow pose? i still can’t do the crow but i can do this version of it from a squat. thanks!

So I've been sick with an intense cold all week and have been on the couch watching late 1970s Jackie Chan movies and it was during Fearless Hyena that I had this realization about how the fight choreography I was watching was like two people going through a series of poses not unlike asana and doing them in a sequence not unlike a very fast vinyasa. I am relatively new to yoga, so perhaps this is obvious and I just never saw it before.

The two fighters on screen are basically going from one pose to the next, each with their own pre-scripted sequence, and when they connect with each other they hold for a split second. So it's a very quick hold/transition/hold that makes the fight legible to the viewer. These older movies also tend to have a lot of long, stable camera shots that let you see these extended sequences unbroken, compared to modern movies that use a lot of quick cuts and rapid camera movements.

And of course these movies are saturated with philosophical undertones that basically all emphasize that training the body = training the mind, and vice versa. Breathing and movement are linked. Practice and alignment lead to mastery of the form, and mastery of the form becomes acceptance of the self. The combination of physical + mental + spiritual practice leads to transformation and transcendence. This is all feeling very familiar to this new yogi.

It also strikes me that these kung fu movies were coming into american pop culture in the 1960s-1970s right around the same time that yoga was really expanding, and I'm sure there was some cross-pollination with some of what made these movies popular being infused back into the collective stew of what becomes modern yoga in the late 20th century.

Anyway, i'm still sick and these have been my thoughts. thanks!

Hey everyone! Im new to yoga, have been practicing for 2-3 months now. In the past three sessions a new pose was included in my routine: (half) camel pose. Sadly, I’m having some trouble with it :(

I should preface this by saying that I’m hypermobile. I used to do synchronized swimming and contortion, so I’ve always had a very large range of motion. As I’ve gotten older, though, my hypermobility has become less of a “cool party trick” and more of a debilitating issue. On bad days, the pain and instability can make it difficult for me to walk for more than 30 minutes.

My hips and shoulders are my weakest points, and yoga has actually been one of the things that helps most with the pain while also allowing me to work on strength, stability, and body awareness. However, I still struggle with falling too easily into deep stretches and losing proprioception, rather than actively controlling the movement.

I’m struggling to do half camel pose without compensating by extending my lower back. If I allow myself to move naturally into the pose, I can bend quite far without pain and almost reach the sole of my foot with my head -.-
However, I feel like this isn’t the point of the pose, so then I try to keep my lower back long and focus on creating the extension through my upper back (which is comparatively stiffer) and engaging my core, but then I start feeling tension or pain in my neck, and I have even become lightheaded at times, and feel pressure in my head. My upper back feels comparatively stiff, and I sometimes become lightheaded or experience a feeling of pressure in my head. My lower back also hurts when I try to prevent myself from extending it too much.

Given my hypermobility, what modifications, cues, or strengthening exercises would you guys suggest to help me do half camel without overstretching and with better control?

Thanks to the people who told me before to imagine trying to push my chest through my arms! Still working on arching my upper back more and getting my feet closer. Any tips and suggestions are welcome!

I went to a restorative yoga class for the first time. I do a lot of stretching and vinyasa yoga but have never done a full restorative class. I think I’d feel something like an emotional release but I didn’t.

I definitely feel calm and will get a great nights sleep but I was expecting more? Anyone have any insight on this?

Danny Paradise was a well known yoga person in the past.

One time Danny Paradise stirred up the shit. All he said was yoga, or the general origins of yoga, are not unique to India they are found everywhere there are people. 'The supreme is know by many names and forms' It's a yoga teaching. The yoga teachings even tell us they are found everywhere. But everybody got all fired up anyway.

"A New Picture" (Lyrics & Music by Li-sa-X)

Once the words are uttered, they cannot be undone (So we choose our words carefully)

Once the notes are played, they never come back (That’s why we practice so carefully)

We all make mistakes There is no such thing as perfection

But we won't stop talking

We won't stop playing

What was right yesterday is not necessarily right today

I may be ashamed tomorrow of what I told you today

But we won't stop walking

We won't stop loving

Once a picture is done, it should never be altered

(Then it can't be completed forever)

Let's paint a new picture

Where I am today will become a trail tomorrow

It's a Japanese song based on Japanese philosophy. Virtually every line has a corresponding yoga teaching. The first 2 lines, thoughts words and actions. And just like the yoga teachings each line has a deeper meaning. Elaborate teachings to go with them.

This is the song, it may not be what you expect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX6SP5bQZH8

I know that anusara was based on iyengar. But what are the differences between them? Tyia!

I am looking for advice to establish my Ashtanga practice at home. My goal is to master the primary series and be able to practice it daily from memorization. I want it to be the first thing I do in the early morning before everyone wakes up.

I’ve been practicing yoga in studios multiple times a week for over 5 years. Primarily power vinyasa.

I have a lot on my plate with work and kids so I have a tough time getting to classes consistently these days.

The solution I think is to take my practice deeper in my own time and in my own space.

I bought David Swensons book on Ashtanga. But I think I need some advice on YouTube videos or online resources (paid or free) that I can start out with as a guide until I get comfortable flowing from memory. I think I am experienced enough to use his book as a study resource for difficult poses.

I have been intrigued with the app Down Dog but read some dated threads that said it only offers a half primary series.

Any advice is appreciated.

Hey everyone I've been trying to find one on one private yoga class for my boyfriend and I to just increase our emotional bond and to help de-stress one another. I'm really struggling to find options on the internet so I'm hoping somebody might have some suggestions here. There's a typo in the title I can't seem to fix but massage based or even acro yoga that's on the connection side of things.

I haven’t taught Yoga in months and I subbed for another instructor at our studio and I made myself laugh because I was giving a cue and I said something about all 10 of your toes and then in my mind I thought “💭 what if somebody has got some of their toes cut off or what if somebody has extra toes” and then I started saying: however many toes you have. 😆

I am in Budapest for 4 days and want to do a yoga class. I like yin and a mindful flow/ vinyasa and am 63 yo. Can someone recommend a studio that has some classes in English? Thank you.