Hi guys,
I hope you’re having a great week so far. I wanted to take the time to breakdown a few basic movements that we see frequently in our yoga practices. These are the movements that we perhaps need a little more attention. In this 3 part series I’ll breakdown the most common postures that we see, including Chaturanga, Downward Facing Dog and Up Dog and Cobra. Todays back to basics? Why You Need a Steady Chaturanga….
The chances are if you’ve been to a “Vinyasa Yoga” class before then the likihood is that you would have been asked to do a “Vinyasa” or “Chaturanga” or “Half Push Up to Upward Facing Dog” before. The question is, do you know what this really means and do you know how to modify this so called “Vinyasa” to keep you shoulders safe in your practice?
In its simplest terms when you are queued by a teacher to “flow through your vinyasa” or “Chaturanga” ,the likelihood of what they want you to do is to flow either from Downward Facing Dog to Plank to Half Push Up to Upward Facing Dog. Or stepping or jumping back into Half Push Up to Upward Facing Dog. So what’s the big deal? This movement is tough! Chaturanga is known by teachers in the industry as the “Shoulder Shredder” – Ouch! This is because the movement is constantly been done with incorrect form in a lot of yoga classes. This puts the structural integrity of the shoulder and rotator cuff at risk.
In “Power Yoga” classes or “Vinyasa Yoga” classes this movement is repeated many times. This repetitive motion done without proper form will undoubtedly lead to injury eventually; which is known to put a lot of yogis out of their yoga practice for quite some time. It’s not the fault of the student; often these movements are taken for granted that yogi’s know how to do them, so teachers don’t always break them down. From a teachers perspective it’s often a struggle to squeeze in enough time for their sequences in a 55 minute (or so class) so they don’t always want to spend time covering it. I always break mine down at the start of class, but not all teachers do.
Not only is it crucial to know how to perform the movement correctly, it’s important to know how to break it down if you need to. By breaking down the movement you’ll build not only a stronger Vinyasa, you’ll also serve to build much greater strength in your arm balances, handstands etc as a result.
Check out my YouTube video below to see how to perform your Vinyasa correctly and how to break the movement down if necessary.
Keep it safe, go back to basics! I hope this helps. Please always feel free to get in touch. I’d love to hear from you and always happy to help!
Sending health & happiness,
Kim x