Bikram Yoga Green Valley and Details Magazine

The following was published a few months ago but I never put the link up here on my blog. I'm finally just getting to it now. One of the top ten studios listed here is the one I go to and the one with the little logo on my blog - Bikram Yoga Green Valley.

http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201102/10-best-bikram-yoga-studios-in-america

Greg

Posture Discussion Part VIII - Standing Separate Leg Stretching

Ahh yes, Standing Separate Leg Stretching. This is the hardest posture in the entire series for me. It's not my least favorite posture, since I know my body obviously needs it, but it's very hard for me.

One of the most difficult parts of my body to deal with in Bikram are my hamstrings. They tighten up very easily (one reason I need the room really hot) and they will tend to hurt quickly any time I lock my knee. Obviously I work through the pain, but it's certainly not easy.

I can actually do this posture correctly, with the proper grip of my hands around my heels and head touching the floor, but I spend most of the time concentrating on locking my knees. This is what ultimately helps my hamstrings. Most of the time I don't even worry about getting my head on the floor, and just focus on locking the knees. I'm not saying this is what everyone should do, it just helps me in particular. The dialogue is pretty clear about touching the forehead to the floor, so by all means listen to the dialogue.

There are a few common points I see people omit in this posture which if corrected help increase the gains from it.

1) Not locking the knees. This seems to be the most common thing to fix, including and especially with me. It's hard to keep your knees locked, especially since you're doing an inversion posture, which by itself can be uncomfortable.

2) Doing the proper grip of the heels. This gets messed up quite often, with people grabbing for their ankles or lower legs. The problem with not grabbing the heels (or at least the outside of the feet) is that you have nothing to pull against. And as we know, pulling is the object of stretching!

Another point which seems to have differing opinions is whether or not to put one or both feet on the mat and towel. My studio strongly encourages everyone to stradle their mat, but I know some people and studios are fine putting one foot on the mat, and in some places even turning sideways and doing the whole posture on the mat. I personally hate putting one foot on the mat in this posture because I think it makes it too easy. If you don't use the mat or towel, you really build up leg strength on this one (and Triangle).

Next up...everyone's favorite, Triangle. I may have some other posts before I get to that one, so stay tuned!

Greg

Posture Discussion Part VII - Balancing Stick

Ok, I started doing this a few months ago, so I'll try and finish my posts about the different postures. Remember, these are just my experiences and data with the postures. If you have detailed questions ask your teachers!

Balancing Stick is "only" 10 seconds, but try timing it sometime and I bet you'll come up with more than 10 seconds. Some of my teachers like to joke that it's "10 Bikram Yoga seconds." For me, this posture is a great example of a posture that is much harder due to the sequence it's in. It comes after Standing Head to Knee and Standing Bow, which if you're working hard take a lot out of you. Especially if the room is hot, because you'll be nice and warm by the time you get to Balancing Stick.

First off, this is another posture where you have to put your hands above your head and interlock the fingers, palms flat. I feel like this doesn't get enough attention, as it provides a much better stretch if you get your palms flat against each other.

The second point is locking the knee. This often gets neglected (including by me) yet it's just as important in this posture as it is in Standing Head to Knee and Standing Bow. In fact, I've noticed that concentrating on locking the knee in this posture has helped me quite a bit in other postures where you have to lock the knee.

The other points of "T as in Tom" and "No broken umbrella" get hammered home pretty well by the dialogue, the key is maintain it for the whole time. This is one of the postures where you can't really see what you're doing too well, so it's nice if you can get someone to take a picture of you so you can see if you're a broken umbrella or not!

Next up...Standing Separate Leg Stretching.

Greg