shoulders

TREE POSE MINI YOGA CHALLENGE (improve balance, focus & brain power)

Posted on by pennyjoliver

Soon the trees will be arrayed in their gorgeous fall wardrobe! As diverse as their many colors, I love the way yoga poses heal and help us. Take the simple and basic Tree Pose. Studies have shown that the practice of Tree Pose improves balance and coordination, helping us to build a firm foundation so we won’t fall over so easily in life. Tree Pose also boosts brain power. The nerve endings in our feet communicate with our brains to create new neural pathways that establish stability on one leg – much like a tree, in fact!

Tree Pose

Spread your toes wide on your right leg.

Focus on an object directly in front of you for.

With both of your hips facing forward, place your left leg on the ankle of your right leg. If possible slide it to your inner thigh.

Keep your shoulders pressed down, with your palms pressed together in front of you. Lift them up over your head if your feeling balanced.

Breathe deeply in Tree Pose for 10 long inhales and exhales.

Repeat the process while balancing on your left leg.

It’s okay to sway, and even fall. Just get back up and try again. Your building strength, balance and coordination with every moment that your standing on one leg.

Thanks for practicing Tree Pose with me! May you find the beauty of the trees this fall to be spectacular! See you next month 🙂

 

 

WARRIOR POSE (Slay your hunched over shoulders)

Posted on by pennyjoliver

Got a few moments? Can you join me for 5 minutes of Warrior training to counter the effects of sitting at a desk all day? We will stretch and strengthen our entire body with the all-inclusive ” Warrior Pose.” With a simple clasping of hands behind our backs, we optimize the pose by opening our hearts, chest, and lungs, reversing the hunched back posture.  Add a bow forward, and we up our training by causing our core to kick in to help keep our body up!

1.) Warrior Pose

Step to the side. Keep your heels on the same line and your back toes slightly turned in. Your hips should face forward. Step in with your back leg if the pose grows challenging. Bend your right knee. Place your hands in a praying position. Breathe deeply through your nose for 5-10 counts. Surrender your thoughts and be present for these few moments.

Your inhales should be long and deep through your nose as you go back. Your exhales should be long and slow as you bow. Hold the breath in at the top of the stretch. Hold your breath out at the bottom of the bow. This will enhance the effects of the pose.

Just a quick reminder to all the warriors out there….

Stand tall and be proud that you are a warrior in God’s army, for He thinks you are a mighty warrior! He says it many times in His word. Below is just one example. Best part? You already “own” the victory, when you placed your life in God’s hands!

The Lord is with you mighty warrior.

Judges 6:12


2.) Peaceful Warrior Pose

Clasp your hands behind your back. Look up. Inhale deeply and hold it.

3.) Humble Warrior Pose

Keep tension in the clasping. Bow forward. Lead with your chin. Exhale slowly. Extend up and over your forward leg. Hold the bow and the exhale.

Inhale and slowly come up back to Peaceful Warrior Pose. Repeat the process 5-10 times and try it with your left leg forward.

With God at your side you can do mighty things.

Be the Warrior He created you to be!

Yoga on!

xxoo

<3

 

STRESS, LET’S BREAK UP!

Posted on by pennyjoliver

Do you feel it too? All tensed up and nothing to help you?

Sometimes in life your going along and – pow! – you are all tensed up. Well, that’s me today. Actually that’s me all last week. I’m sitting here with achy shoulders that won’t stay down. They disobey my command to relax and quietly try to climb up into my neck all day. Then the neck becomes strained from holding the shoulders up. Tension then rides down my back and takes up space in other places. Sometimes, my ears ring and I feel my face all crinkled up from holding all my body’s tension. My mood is not kind, and fatigue sets in despite my efforts to get a good night sleep. I wonder how I got this way. I can’t imagine why, because I did yoga last week and yoga is my little stress reliever. Thinking upon God while I stretch and flex is my way of breaking up with stress before it becomes a problem. But today is a culmination of a week’s worth of unreleased tension, and I have been trying to analyze why it’s happening to me.

Bing! The light bulb goes on! “I think I know why,” I exclaim to myself… and now to you, because although my body engaged in the yoga I did everyday, my mind did not join me. I rushed through the yoga poses without being fully there. I did not come to the yoga party fully dressed! It’s not that our minds need to be on the mat at all times, but we do need to let our thoughts arise, whatever they may be, so that we can let go of them. Letting each thought that arises go, in the flow of your breath, lets tensions release. Once we let go of any stress in our minds, our stress will disappear in our bodies. That’s the gift of yoga. Our outer world shifts to reflect our new perspective.

We can enhance the gift of yoga by handing over all our cares, worries, fears and doubts to God and really break up with stress. Then make it your practice within your yoga to hand it over to the care and responsibility of Almighty God. Proverbs 4:23, tells us to,

Be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life.

Medical research is just catching up with God’s words from thousands of years ago. Studies and medical research are increasingly proving that you become what you think. I’m thinking that me and stress, yeah, we’re gonna break up!

How about you?