Yoga-Snack: In Your Chair

January 20, 2010 by Eve Costarelli 1 Comment

Today I tried something different with my Yoga-Snack. I based today’s class on the Yoga Calm 15 Minute “in-chair” lesson.

We started seated at the tables, pushed back a little. There we took 3 large belly breaths, in and out of the nose and then to spice it up, we took 3 Volcano Breaths, breathing in through the nose, arms up together above the head, look up, then the exhales are through the mouth, blowing “fire” out. Then for a laugh, we closed our mouths and with our tongues licked on top of our teeth, up to the gum, all the way around the front of every tooth, as if you were licking peanut butter off that was stuck there. We did this 3 times in both directions. This really relaxes the jaw and tongue.

In sequence, for a light vinyasa (flow) class, we stood behind our chairs with our hands joined at heart center (When you bring your hands together it helps to balance the right and left sides of your brain):
1. Mountain Pose (hands at heart center)
2. High Mountain (hands joined above head-tall llike a mountain)
3. Forward bend arms crossed above head (hand to elbow) to top of chair or table.
4. Stand up, feet together
5. One leg back, lunge, holding chair
6. Then arms joined up above head, look up
7. Feet together (front foot joining back)
8. Lean body forward, both hands grasping chair, top of body parallel to ground (Chair Dog).
9. Dancer’s Pose both sides
10. Step opposite leg forward and repeat lunge sequence on opposite side through (8).
11. Stand up, feet together for High Mountain
12. Mountain (Hands at heart center)
13. Seated twist
14. Head on desk, whole class challenge, 2 minutes of stillness & silence