Yoga Tips

Today I did Tony's one on one Yoga--Fountain of Youth, which was amazing by the way--and he mentioned a couple good pointers to keep in mind and practice while doing the poses.

With warrior one, you are supposed to square up your hips for proper form. Well say you are lunged so that your right leg is back and your left knee is bent. If you have your arms above your head and find that your hips are twisted, drop your right arm straight out in front of you. You will find that it straightens out your shoulders, then your hips.

Another pointer that Tony gave was in terms of the knees. When you're doing warrior one, two, or reverse, you want to be sure that front knee isn't falling in to the middle of the body. You want to keep your knee over your ankle front to back and side to side as well. Bring your foot closer to the center if your knee is collapsing.

When you're doing seated single leg hamstring stretch, you can intensify it if the block isn't enough for you (or if you need the block but don't have one). Cross your left leg across your straight right leg so that your left ankle is laying on the floor on the right side of your right thigh. Bend forward reaching over your left leg toward your right foot. Breathe and stretch as you would if your legs weren't crossed over each other.

I have moderately weak knees from dislocation and then favoring that knee. When I go into reverse warrior, it puts alot of strain on the medial (aka middle) part of my knee. I'm sure this isn't the best for yoga form, but what I do to take the strain off my knees is widen my stance. I don't actually line up my heels. I know you're supposed to, but I do not.

I do hope those few pointers help ya out!!