Yoga for the Dancer: The Various Yoga Disciplines, cont.
The wisdom of Yoga can be applied through activities and situations with every opportunity you can obtain. There are so many tools of Yoga at your disposal to apply with everyday circumstances. Good Yoga practice is beneficial in any situation. Awareness to any situation is the key. Yoga enhances positive attitudes through practice. Yoga develops love, forgiveness, understanding, laughter, compassion, patience, kindness and so many more virtues. The practice of Yoga can calm and alternately energize at once. Even though Yoga is internal, it also flows to the outside world situations you encounter. Transforming a few minutes of Yoga practice into everyday situations can help you calm, center and endure. There is a peace that engulfs a regular practitioner of Yoga. Why not let that peace engulf you?
White Lotus teacher training program accepts all levels of students. They take beginning Yoga students and teach them a comprehensive introduction to Yoga and teaching it. Experienced teachers attend to expand their knowledge and techniques. White Lotus teaches the philosophical context of asana performance. The two weeks of intensive classes won’t make an expert and that’s not the point of their program. “It’s like making yogurt— after you put the culture into the milk, it takes time for the milk to turn into the yogurt, but the process has been initiated,” Ganga White explains. “White Lotus certification just means the culture is in the milk. People have gotten a visceral, nonverbal feeling of living Yoga— as well as a comprehensive set of teachings, practices and techniques. This culture will continue to work within them for months, even years, after they leave here”.
The backbone of the Hatha Yoga curriculum at White Lotus is the Flow Series. It’s a challenging 90-minute routine that is to be learned and taught by all students. It’s a series of classic postures synchronized with the breath. It’s designed to build cardiovascular strength and stamina, cultivate mental and physical balance and flexibility. It also strengthens the upper body while toning and stimulating the internal organs. Oxygen circulating the blood is increased, as the back is strengthened and a deep relaxation is created throughout the body. The series includes sun salutations and standing poses for strength and endurance, it graduates to back bends to energize the spine, then moves to forward bends to calm and counter stretch, to cool the body down twists for the spine begin and the practice concludes with inversions and pranayama (breath) to tone the endocrine system and recharge the bodies energy. The breathing technique is designed to slow the breath and draw the attention inward creating a meditative state.
The Flow Series is a skeleton structure for students to adjust, improvise upon or even abandon according to their needs. It is designed as a complete, meditative workout that stretches and strengthens every part of the body. White maintains, “We believe in adapting the Yoga for the person, rather than trying to fit the person to the Yoga”. The basic framework is there, modifications or difficulty in the exercises can be substituted. Modifications and props are taught to encourage students with special needs. The emphasis is on teaching students to listen to and respect their own body’s needs and the needs of the people they teach. Here’s To Your Dancing Health!
Shoulder Side Stretch
The Shoulder Side Stretch benefits the shoulders and the sides. The arms are stretched and toned. The wrists are worked as the spine is stretched. The waist is toned and the internal organs are massaged. The side stretches even into the hips. This exercise helps relieve tension in the shoulders and upper back. Dancer and I disclaim any liabilities or loss in connection with the exercise and advice herein.
1. Stand with your feet under your hips and raise your arms overhead. Place your right hand in front of your left and close your palms together.
2. Lift up in the torso and stretch over and out to the right. Hold 10-20 counts.
3. Return to the standing position and lift up and over to the left. Holding 10-20 counts. Next, place your left hand in front and stretch to the left first and then to the right. Rest and then repeat the series.