Yoga for cyclists

The next 6 week course starts this Thursday (20th). I have really enjoyed these classes, and began to feel the benefits after only one or two! I had to miss a month or so due to work, and went back last week. Regular sessions definitely make it much easier! I could really feel the time off...haha.

theres a whole load of downloadable short teachings on here from Erich Schiffman, whos is one of my favourite teachers from the Krishnamurti/ Krishnamacharya tradition:-
http://movingintostillness.yuku.com/forums/67/t/Questions-for-Erich.html

greetings all,

Sending healing vibes your way Oliver, it seems bones just do seem to take a while longer as we get that wee bit older ;-), consume mammoth amounts of tahini maybe?!

miss s, great to see you again last week, we missed you! May the thursday shifts drift away from thee ;-). Indeed dickthehippy, as miss s pointed out, new 6 week course starts this thursday - course cost is £52.50 full/ £37 conc. Or you can drop in for £10.50 full/ £7 conc per class. If you've done some yoga before, latter option is fine, if not, I'd encourage you to enrol on a course first time round. Maybe meet you soon!

and yes, good ol' schiffmann, inspiring chap. Moving into stillness in itself a great movement meditation! His hair is longer than I remember it in that image - he has a rather sweet chewbacca aspect to him! ;-)

peas all...
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This sequence came to me the other eve,
its an easy sequence for the occasional tired morning, or an evening when you may be going out again. This starts on your back, and moves through postures until culminating in standing up, and animating yourself through full body salutation.
1.Supta padangusthasana- 3 variations.
2.Supta ardha padmasana.
3.Supta parivartasana
4.Dandasana.
5.Paschimottasana (moving through flat back & reps as needed)
6.Paripurna navasana
7.Ubhaya paschimottasana
8.Urdhva Mukha paschimottasana
9.Krounchasana (both legs)
10.Virasana
11.Supta virsasana
12.Ustrasana
13.Bidalasana
14.Dandasana/ Chaturanga dandasana (link reps as needed)
15.Adho mukha svanasana/ Urdhva mukha svanasana (link reps as needed)
16.Adho mukha svanasana
17.Walk up to Uttanasana
18.Tadasana
19.Surya Namaskara (favourite version as needed)

hope you like it.

thank you for sharing *m.f. Will give it a go tomorrow! Bet you've been enjoying beach parctice these days?!

Hi,
yes, yes, yes- found an unbeatable rooftop spot underneath Canford Cliffs, will find pics, hold on.

...love....

Today I took hippy and digger through some basic yoga
few sun salutes (a cycles)
then a range of forward bends
downward dog against a wall, inverted down dog against the wall, twists, camel etc

nice one D.J.
everyone is a yogi really, it just takes time to let go of all that other stuff first and get into it, dosent change you, just makes you more like you.

turns out hippy had done it once before on a cycling club holiday back in oz, he was v open minded

digger had been wanting to give it a bash too for quite a while

one issue was that both have a history of breaks and damage, so trying to work around frailties (esp as i am not an instructor, just a v frequent practioner) was interesting

really helped me clear out some metabolytes from the zoncolan climb yesterday

first half was just salutes, second half was more static iyengar style once warmed up

sounds good. We have to learn the stability of the standing postures first,
simply because they create the foundations, literally and metaphorically of a practice. Iyengar teachers especially focus on alignment in them,
thereafter learn the more demanding postures.

Even if you just did Surya Namaskara (sun salutations) regularly, whichever variation you liked-
that sequence would go a long way towards good, strong posture, with stability and improved flexibility over time.

I have been attending the latest session - last week seriously stretched out my back. was quite tender for day or two but feeling MUCH better for it. Recommend to anyone.

:-)
it works, thats all, happy for you.

very nice rooftop *m.f! perfect for an inspiring practice and i suspect glorious any time of day but dawn and dusk must be particularly extraordinary!

Good on ye dancing james for passing on some yoga postures to hippy and digger! As *m.f pointed out, teaching anyone a sun salutation is a brilliant thing - even if just surya namaskar is done every day, it makes a significant difference to body, mind and the rest of your day/ night. As for downward dog, Donna Farhi refers to it as the garlic of yoga, that pretty much says it all. And all variations on this are good as they address different parts of the body and deepen awareness on what the body starts to do as it and mind start to tire - which is as important to be aware of! Twists are great too of course for cyclists whose spines are often limited to a prawn status with only a little lateral movement as a result of pedalling. And camel comes highly recommended for cyclists as it is a very doable backbend and yet very powerful. I often get students to do this posture with the back of their heads up against the wall (rather than the traditional head back) so that the backs of their necks get a good stretch too. So a grand choice of postures all round I reckon!

Working around previous injuries can indeed be a challenge, but a really valuable learning curve. The great thing about yoga is that there is a variation for just about any complaint. Using props is immensely useful and they can consist of all manner of household objects - books, folded pillows, rolled up towels etc. www.yogajournal.com can be a good place to start on looking for variations on postures depending as a result of different complaints.

sem, glad to hear your back is feeling well stretched!

om...

is it possible to sign up for this? i'm working in mile end, i've been a runner/cyclist my whole life, but i also need some alternative form of relaxation to help with extreme anxiety i've been suffering from recently. so kill two birds with one stone.

Rebecca's going away for a month now, Dale, so there won't be a class during that time. However, the bodywise yoga centre where it takes place will exhibit a fair degree of constancy of spatio-temporal parameters (sorry, the forum has got to me today) and can be found here:

http://bodywisehealth.org/

I obviously love Rebecca's class but just in case you need something to tide you over.

coolio, thanks.

Living guru B.K.S Iyengar and P.Jois (r.i.p)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._K._S._Iyengar

two pictures of Natarajasana, variously known as king dancer, Shiva the cosmic dancer or others, this Iyengar version involves a total rotation of the shoulder, and is one of the most complete postures, requiring perfect balance, persistance to move into over long practice, nothing gets close to the feeling of executing this beautifully from beginning to end, then after a deep bow to the masters.

Greetings all,

Hope you're all enjoying cycling in the heat!

Indeed, as Oliver pointed out I'll be away for a month now, hopefully giving my cardio-vascular system a serious wake-up call cycling and yogaing in Colombia. So the next yoga for cyclists 5 week course starts Thursday 29th July. Meanwhile, there are some other great teachers at bodywise - Angelika, Jacqui, Sally-Anne and Marco. The latter is a traditional Iyengar teacher - the dude that *m.f posted. The other three have developed their own techniques - all very interesting, particularly Sally-Anne's who incorporates alot of spiral work.

I am trying to organise a workshop too which will take place on an August weekend sometime. 'Twill be three hours long and addressing participants issues. More on my return...

Have a great July, may the promise of a British Summer continue!

Ommmm...

Cheers, Rebecca, I firmly aim to be at the start of the next session--hopefully better by then.

I'll only be able to do the first two, though, on account of going on holiday. :(

Oh well, any yoga I can get once I can support myself better again!

Hey all, I'm really interested in starting yoga, would this class be too advanced for an absolute beginner? I consider myself in good nick, gym and swimming a few times a week plus cycling so relatively flexible i suppose but never done yoga before but really want to start....
Should I go to a beginners course to begin with for a few weeks and then begin this class when Rebecca gets back?
cheers

sounds like a good way to start, check out if Bodywise are drop ins, find the beginners class and go, then sign up for the course if you like what you have done first.

cheers m.f, thought that might be wise. I like jumping straight into deep water but maybe its best to go for slightly shallower to begin with!
nice one

out of interest, what is it exactly that makes you want to start? I kind of knew about yoga at 19 people used to say "you should do yoga, would chill you out" had read books
and I said, yeah Ill do that, all through my 20's until it finally came to me when I could attend class regularly.