How Balanced Are You? Yoga For Finding Freedom

Finding Balance
Balanced living? Oh, sure, yup, I mean, of course. I take all the time I need to rest and rejuvenate and stay calm and peaceful and happy and sleeping well and eating well and spending time with my soul man and seeing friends and staying connected with my family and keeping my apartment neat and tidy and the laundry done and…Of course I’m balanced! I’m a yoga teacher!

Does Tree Pose Count?
I’m also everything else that every other woman is, and there are plenty o’ times when balancing in tree pose is the best I can do. Luckily, I have my morning sadhana/home practice to keep me (relatively) steady. My Hatha yoga practice tends to be very fluid, fairly dynamic, with quite a few vinyasas. But on days when the rest of my life is on the run, keeping up with deadlines and new projects, I need a practice for stillness. A practice for freedom. On these days I ixnay the vinyasas, start with a good long chant, and move into some basics, which I hold, and repeat, and hold. When I’m still on the outside, I feel still on the inside.

Anti-Busyness Yoga Flow
This is just a starting point; add more as you have more time. The key is to hooooold and repeat.

Start in cross-legged, sitting on support
1. Chant something for at least 10 minutes
– Narinjin Kaur Khalsa’s Meditations for the Aquarian Age
– Krishna Das Calling From Afar
– Wade Morrisette We Are One

2. Neck rolls
– make a figure 8 in the sky with the crown of your head

3. Spinal flex
– put your hands on your knees, inhale your chest forward/shoulders back; exhale your chest back, belly button in, chin tucks
– continue

4. Cat/cow
– come to all fours (hands and knees below shoulders and hips)
– tuck your toes under
– inhale, drop your belly, look up, lift your sit-bones
– exhale, draw your belly button in, tuck your chin, press your mat away, arch your back
– continue

5. Down dog

6. Warrior I, Warrior II, Exalted Warrior, Triangle, Extended Side Angle, Half-Moon
– Hold each pose for at least 5 breaths
– Repeat on the other side

7. Repeat 6

8. Take a balance pose
– tree
– dancer
– airplane
– warrior III

9. Squat

10. Headstand or rabbit pose or shoulder stand

11. Child’s pose

12. Reclined twist

13. Ommmm x 3

14. Savasana

If you liked this post you might enjoy:
Yoga for Sleep: Get Some
Top 5 Tap Into Peace Stress Busters

Related links:
Florian Yoga Companion on Why Bikram Yoga Works When You’re Busy