4/30/09

Seated Yoga Break for Gardeners

A seated yoga break for gardeners. The standing variation of this sequence is included in the post below.



The Gardener's Yoga Sequence: Standing or Seated is:
Tadasana (Mountain Pose, stand or sit up tall, lifting from arches, pelvic floor, base of ribs and base of skull)
Chest expansion (lace your hands behind your back, lift them
away from your back and stretch open your chest)
Samasthithi (stand or sit tall with arms reaching for the sky, fingers
interlaced and palms facing up)
Chandrasana (crescent pose, from Samasthitihi arch slowly from side
to side and stretch open the sides of your waist and hips)
Parsva Chandrasana (same pose but reach forward and to the
side to stretch into your lower back and your back ribs)
Virabdhrasana (warrior pose, lunge with the back foot turned out and heal down,
interlace your fingers and lift your arms behind your back and then overhead)
Pavritta Virabdhrasana (same pose, but revolved and twisting the chest to face over the front leg)
Parsva Virabdhrasana (warrior 2, with back hand resting on your thigh and front arm reaching for the sky)
Wide legged Utkatasana (stand with feet wide and turned out, come to a
half squat, rest your hands on your knees)
Cat/Cow in wide legged Utkatasana (same pose but
begin to tilt your pelvis, alternately arching your spine toward the sky and toward the earth)

Yoga for Gardeners

May: The gardens in Corvallis are in full GROW mode. Tulips, dogwood, redbud, cherry trees, and lilac are all blooming in the studio garden. The weeds are growing faster than I can keep up. Mulch needs to be spread. The amazing miracle of spring is at hand.

And with all the garden work pending, people start coming to the studio with common gardener's aches and pains: low back, knees, ankles, wrists, shoulders .... lots of body parts getting a different kind of work out than they are accustomed to.

My advise: take a short walk before you get down in the dirt. Limber up your muscles. Then watch the clock, get up out of the dirt and stretch every 30 to 45 minutes. Take another short walk around your garden. Smell the flowers, enjoy the fruit of your labors. Then settle back into the gardening at hand.

Here are a couple short yoga break sequences for gardeners. Improvise around these stretches the next time your out in the garden. The exact sequence is not so important, let your body move through and around these ranges of motion.

A yoga break for gardeners: