AHHH August! August brings the beginning of my favorite season of the year. The summer months are too hot and the winter months are too cold, but the end of summer and early fall are just right. My emotions are more balanced, my physical body feels more comfortable and everything just seems to flow more easily.

Being out of balance can be very uncomfortable and unsettling. There are seasons of the year, cycles of the moon, transits in the sky and just periods in our lives that can bring us slightly out of balance. Two of these periods of life are Adolescence and Menopause.

This month we have brought you iHanuman Recordings with Iyengar Yoga Teacher, Bobby Clennell, author of “The Women’s Yoga Book”. She shares with us practices to help move more gracefully through Menopause and Post Menopause.

In a coming feature we will share with you some practices from Teen Yoga Teacher, Christy Brock, for helping teens use yoga to help balance the chaos that often ensues during this often awkward period.

There are times in our lives when we feel great and we should revel in the joys and celebrate. We are so blessed to have the ancient art and science of yoga to nourish us when we experience these times of bliss as well as the periods of suffering.

We hope all is well with you and that you are enjoying your yoga practice. Perhaps you will share with us some of the ways yoga has helped you through painful periods or through the blissful times of life.

Contact Us or Leave a Comment on Our website.

We LOVE to hear from you.

“Thank you for helping to build the bridge with iHanuman.”

Namaste,
Sara Miles Pope Agelasto
Managing Editor and Co-Founder, iHanuman.com

One of the poses that tends to be a staple pose in my daily yoga practice is Uttitha Trikonasana or Extended Triangle Pose. Why? This pose is like Downward Facing Dog in that its gives a forward bend, a back bend, a twist AND a side stretch. About the only asana it does not replicate is an inversion. And it’s the side stretch thant enlivens every aspect of my being – physical, emotional and spiritual. I could spend hours in this pose trying to get more length in the sides of my body, particularly the lower torso.

Lately, I practice this pose with the help of my dear friend the wall which allows me to keep BOTH of my shoulder blades evenly against it as I inhale, extend, exhale and lower down. Try it. If I am being completely honest with myself, some days I can barely get my lower hand to a block. I usually pause and place my hand on my shin and with each inhale lengthen the torso and draw the sternum up towards the sky and with each exhale take the shoulder blades back against the wall and down the spinal column.

The wall behind the back body gives us a great measuring stick of where we are in space. Once I find the length in the spine with my shoulder blades evenly on the wall, I can begin to access the back bend inherent in Trikonasana. The spine begins its upward opening spiral towards the ceiling, vertebrae by vertebrae, from the base of the sacrum to the top of the head. Trikonasana even becomes a  a magnificent twist. SO,  what is not to love? But don’t take my word for it. Practice along to this video demonstration with Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher, John Schumacher.

We are happy to have accomplished three of our big goals this year.

1. Providing High Quality Monthly Audio and Video Content and Weekly Articles on the Ancient Science and Art of Yoga.  This month’s features is Yoga, Poetry and Music. Sit down by a cool stream and listen to this meditative piece.

2. Releasing Our First Compilation of Music for Yoga, Meditation and Bodywork. Check it Out!

3. Reaching our halfway point to Our FIRST 108 teachers. We are offering a special lifetime membership to iHanuman for our first 108 teachers. Tipping us over the balance is this month’s Featured Teacher, Amrita Donna Davidge. Are you or someone you know wanting to join? What are you waiting for?

We hope all is well with you and we hope you will share with us your goals and passions for the second half of the year, as well as your recommendations for how we can make your experience with iHanuman richer and more enjoyable.

Contact Us or Leave a Comment on Our website.

We LOVE to hear from you.

“Thank you for helping to build the bridge with iHanuman.”

Namaste,
Sara Miles Pope Agelasto
Managing Editor and Co-Founder, iHanuman.com

New Feature: Mystical Nature Poetry with Gerry Ramakrishna Sackett and Sam Eberle

Featured Music Selection: Music for Yoga, Bodywork and Meditation Compilation Dedicated to Ganesh

Featured Audio Classes: Matt Harris Live Class Downloads

Featured Teacher: Donna “Amrita” Davidge

Herbal Corner: Cool Down with Peppermint Tea

Photo Credit: NganGuyen

I often exclaim that I cannot imagine NOT doing Yoga simply because of inverted poses. I feel so lucky to have discovered yoga during a time in my life when I was strong and somewhat fearless, because I jumped head first ( pun intended ) into practicing inversions and I have never looked back . I often wonder how out of balance I might feel if I did not practice inversions. But I also understand that practicing inversions can not only be scary but require a significant amount of strength. The Iyengar Method teaches us that preparation is required to practice these poses. How do you prepare for inversions?  Standing Poses, Standing Poses, Standing Poses.

Standing poses give you strength and stability to tackle all of the rest of the yoga poses, including inversions.

One standing pose that will put you right on the edge of practicing an inversion is Prasarita Padottanasana – Extended Legs Wide Apart Pose. This pose is also beneficial to practice in the summer because it can have a cooling effect. Practice this pose slowly, pausing with the spine extended and the gaze forward before bowing down and moving the crown of the head towards the floor. Take the stance a little wider than most of the other standing poses and place a block on the floor in between the feet if the head does not reach the ground. Feel the strength in the legs and press firmly into your palms to raise the shoulders up the back towards the sacrum.

After several sessions practicing this pose, begin to notice that the strength in the arms brings lightness to the feet and eventually the heels will lift and finally the toes will lift. Before long, the legs float up towards the sky and you are practicing inversions. We will offer several other techniques for practicing inverted poses in coming weeks. What are some of your favorite preparations for inversions? Below is a video iHanuman created with John Schumacher teaching Prasarita Padottanasana. Enjoy!

The Virabhadrasana Series of Yoga Asanas require challenging work in several areas of our physical body. Although Virabhadrasana is often translated as Warrior Pose in English, the meaning of the word is the name of a great warrior, Virabha, who was a fierce incarnation of Lord Shiva.

While Virabhadrasana II may be the easiest of the 3 Virabhadrasana poses, all of the poses require considerable strength in the legs. It is helpful if you can get a view of yourself in Virabhadrasana II because you will want to work on bending your front knee over the front ankle bone. This may be further down than you think without the help of a mirror. After several sessions learning how to the practice this pose without a prop, the use of a chair as a prop in this pose is phenomenal.

Using the image above as a reference, place a chair on your yoga mat and facing away from your chair, place the hamstrings  of one of your legs on the seat of the chair. Extend your back leg back away from you and without the strength required to hold up your front leg, notice the freedom of extension in your back leg. What a treat!

Additionally, enjoy the video instruction we created of Senior Iyengar Teacher, John Schumacher below.

I also enjoy comfort and inspiration from archetypal women: Goddesses, like Sarasvati – the Hindu goddess of Wisdom, Music and Creativity; Healers, like Kuan Yin (pictured above) – the Boddhisattva of Compassion; Nurturers like Mother Earth; as well as Enlightened Spiritual Women like Mother Theresa.

Many women have been taken away from their traditional roles as nurturers and healers, but we need to reconnect with our feminine nature and embrace our innate power. Even The Dalai Lama acknowledged this when he exclaimed that Western women will heal the world. How empowering!

We urge you to embrace your own femininity and nurture this energy in the other women in your life, as well. We are honored to offer you some tools to foster your journey this month.

Our featured offering is a FREE Yin Yoga Class - Assist your own exploration through Yin Yoga Poses.

Consider joining or hosting a women’s circle, iHanuman Yoga Teacher, Sara Avant Stover is hosting a Teleclass this month with Sabrina Chaw.

Our newest teacher, Candice Garrett has written a book on Prenatal Yoga.

I spent the weekend with Women’s Yoga Teacher, Bobby Clennell. Look out for a future feature with her on Breast Health and Menopause.

Women are spiritual, creative, powerful and intuitive beings. Take some time this month to explore for yourself what that is all about. Share with us some of your experiences. We would love to hear from you.

“Thank you for helping to build the bridge with iHanuman.”

Namaste,
Sara Miles Pope Agelasto
Managing Editor and Co-Founder, iHanuman.com

The Woman’s Yoga Book: Asana and Pranayama for All Phases of the Menstrual Cycle

The moment I picked my new copy of her book, I felt a deep connection. Just like the moment I met Bobby, I felt a great connection with her. Bobby spent the weekend teaching us some of the basics of Iyengar Yoga including sessions on backbends and inversions. But she also taught a session on Breast Health as well as a session on Menopause. The session on Breast Health included many poses which open across the chest in addition to poses which stretch and activate the liver.

One pose that we explored as we entered and exited other standing poses was Utthita Hasta Padasana, Extended Hands and Feet Pose. This pose can be easily overlooked, but is an important pose because it helps us to measure correctly the distance our feet should be spread apart in standing poses. When you step or hop your feet apart your ankles should be below your wrists when your arms are spread wide apart. Additionally, this pose is beneficial for the breasts as it opens up the chest. As you extend your arms and draw your shoulderblades down and in toward the breastbone, feel the openness across the chest and space in the breasts.

People who have never practiced yoga before often ask me to teach them a yoga pose. The Iyengar student in me cannot help but start by teaching Tadasana. People are often astounded by how much integrity and poise there is when conscious attention is brought to the simple act standing. They are amazed at how much attention can be brought to the four corners of the feet, the inner line of the legs, the lift of the knee caps and the release of the tailbone. Once we build the foundation. we move to the upper body and take a deep inhale to engage the abdomen, lift the sternum and lift and roll the shoulders back. After a few deep breaths, folks are usually smiling and inevitably ask for more. And the more I usually offer is the simple act of raising the arms over the head in Urdhva Hastasana, Upward Arms pose.

We extend through our finger tips, palms facing the body and on an inhale, draw the arms first to shoulder height and ensure that the shoulder blades are drawn into the body, which helps to lift the chest. Exhale here and then on an inhale draw the arms over the head, palms facing each other. After a few breaths here, people are surprised by how invigorated they feel. Finally, we turn the palms towards the back of the body to feel the rotation of the outer upper arms inwards. Keeping this rotation of the outer upper arms carefully turn the palms back towards the center line of the body. Again after a few more breaths we slowly lower the arms back down by the sides of the body on an exhale.

These simple actions are often enough to convince people of the benefits of the yoga and I can direct them to an upcoming yoga class or download in our store. For a beautiful demonstration of Urdhva Hastasana, watch Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher John Schumacher, teaching from his home studio in Bethesda.