Laughing Yogini’s Asana Practices:

• BEGINNER’S SEQUENCE
• WEIGHT and LEVITY

Please read  Home Practice and seek advice from your medical practitioner before beginning.

There are as many ways of practicing as there are yogis and yoginis–and for good reason. Have fun even while you challenge yourself. Practice with a sense of discovery and play. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Dariel in rope-supported handstand

You need to honor your SELF and your needs/abilities first. That means that if you are menstruating, you honor that; if you have an injury or are recovering from an injury, you honor that; if you are depressed or grieving, you honor that; if you are jumpy as heck, you honor that; if you are ill, even suffering with a head cold, you honor that; if you are lethargic and lazy, you honor that. This doesn’t mean that you practice necessarily how you feel, but hat you listen to your inner guidance and practice with feeling, sensitivity as well as knowledge of the benefits and challenges of particular practices. Perhaps you consult trusted sources (see Laughing Yoginis’s Yoga texts page) or have a practice sequence designed for you by your teacher. Perhaps you’ve already burned through my practices and you’d like to try one of Hillary’s Yoga Practice Podcasts.

If you are feeling free-wheeling and you have enough experience and are in appropriate physical shape, you might try one of Eric Schiffmann’s Free-form yoga practice sessions.

A general and simple sequence for your practice would be:

1. When you begin, always spend some time centering usually with your breath and create or ask your Self your intention for bringing yoga into your life and for your practice today. We believe your thoughts create your existence; intentions are very important–whether we are aware of them or not. You may wish to chant OM at this point or to say a prayer honoring this sacred practice.
2. Move into warming up the body. This is often a time to transition from the sitting meditation of centering into the moving meditation of asana practice. Cat-cow, supta padanghustasthana, seated twists are all good warm-ups. Listen to your needs and think about what specific poses you are going to practice. Warm-up the muscles that will be needed. Keep the mind focused on the movement through the breath.
3. If you can move into a sun salutation, a downward facing dog sequence, or a couple of standing poses such as triangle, revolved triangle, half-moon, etc.
4. These standing poses may be the focus of your practice OR you may wish to work on Forward Bends, Backward Bends, Inversions, Twists, or Balance Poses. Whatever you choose to practice, follow-up with one or more cooling poses, such as supta baddhakonasana, or supta virasana, or upavistha, or paschimottansana, or a reclining twist.
5. If you are going to practice inversions, try handstand, forearm balance, or headstand, followed by shoulderstand, plough, &/or viparita karani. If you are menstruating, have glaucoma, or are tired, move into legs up the wall.
6. Then slide into savasana for an absolute minimum of 3 minutes, preferably 10-20 minutes.
7. Come out of savasana slowly so as to not disturb your nervous system and sit quietly, practicing gratitude for a few moments.
8. Embrace your life as an extension of your yoga practice.

During the week, you should try to practice standing poses one day, restorative poses one day, inversions, backbends, forward bends, and twists on other days as you feel the need.

How long? Well, that really depends upon how much time you can devote to your practice. Just be sure to do something every day.

Tahiti Daffodil (Devin)