The holidays are officially here! While we know that this is a wonderful time filled with lots of joy, family and friends, we also know that it can be a very stressful time. Not to worry though — yoga to the rescue! Yoga can alleviate stress due to travel, family and can even help aid in digestion after that big turkey meal.
This week’s featured classes will help reduce stress, prep for a big meal, will help aid in digestion and will help you find a way to give thanks during it all – even after a long flight.
- A Thanksgiving Story with Steven Espinosa: With gratitude for the breath, move mindfully, consciously, and with awareness, flowing through a series of standing poses. Warm up your body with sun salutations, then balance in ardha chandrasana (half moon), vashistasana (side plank) and warrior poses. Then come down to the mat to open your hips and quads.
- Roley Poley Flow with Kathryn Budig: Let’s face it, the last thing you want to do after a massive Thanksgiving meal is workout. In fact, a nap sounds about right, but instead, how about doing a bit more? This easy, steady paced flow is perfect for when you want to move, burn off some excess holiday goodness, but not punish yourself. Practice a simple sequence with gentle twists and soothing hip openers and fill up on self-gratitude.
- Thanksgiving Yoga on the Ground with Alex: Thanksgiving Yoga on the Ground – Feeling sluggish? The holidays can bring a lot of abundance to which your yoga practice can adjust. Practice supporting the changing needs of our digestion with gentle twists and back strengthening poses. Using props, move through a sequence of supported postures on the floor that will assist you in bringing a sense of ease and openness. Conclude with a brief meditation on abundance, gratitude and community. Give thanks and enjoy your body! Props Needed: A blanket and a bolster.
- Yoga Before Big Meals with Jo Tatsula: This is a great pre-holiday class, perfect to take before eating any big meals!! Before we start the flow, take a moment to allow the atmospheres around you and within you to mix and merge. Becoming one with your space. Then it’s a nice steady flowy flow that builds into a dancing warrior sequence using warrior 1 & 2, reverse warrior & extended side angle pose (Virabhadrasana 1 & 2, Utthita Parsvakonasana). We work the actions of side plank (vasistasana) and build to side plank tree (vasistasana vrksasana). Use the heat of the flow to open the chest, lungs and heart with these tasty backbends ~ locust pose, bow & bridge (Salabhasana, Danurasana & Setu Bandha….Urdhva Danurasana is optional!) Finish with pose of your choice ~ hip opener or inversion. Happy Holidays!
- Personal Post-Travel Practice with Darren Rhodes: Darren Rhodes shares his personal post travel practice featuring forward folds, twist, and hip openers. After this practice you will be ready, set, go!
- Post Turkey Flow with Dice Iida-Klein: An all-around flow that geared towards burning off the bird, post turkey day! We begin on our backs to wring out the laziness and make our way into a modified Surya Namaskar A. From there we continue through quite a few standing postures and incorporate our tripod headstand into the flow. We breakdown tripod headstand and a few of the transitions in and out of it. Using danurasana for backbends, we finish with janu sirsasana and paschimottanasana. Down with tryptophan my fellow yogis!!!!
- Antidote for Holiday Excess with Felicia Tomakso: Antidote for holiday excess? Stimulate healthy digestion and elimination with a gentle sequence of twists alternating with abdominal strengtheners and forward folds. Take a break two hours after or one hour before you eat to enjoy your food even more.
