The Minimalist Yogi

I believe that every morning has so much potential; early morning is a powerful and sacred time for personal ritual and practice that can carry you through your whole day. But also, a good nigh sleep makes for the best mornings; when I am well rested I feel that I am more in tuned with the start of the day, more grounded and connected.  Establishing a morning ritual, or routine can make each  morning less unpleasant and more exciting, over time and slowly these practices  can become ingrain. Every morning I like to dedicate at least 6 10 minutes to  yoga, depending on the day I am leaving the house be it at 5:30 am or 7am, I  modify the sequence to accommodate for the day. On days where my morning starts  at 4:50 am I dedicate at least 5-6 minutes of morning to a Surya Namaskara A  and B, or a simple flow that integrates it simple sun salutation. Whereas, on  days where I have leave late in the morning I dedicate at least ...

Exploring this flow for while now, I've done some version of it, but still not completely satisfied, but here is a version I've done yesterday. Majority of this flow consists of hip openers which has a lot of benefits. According to San Francisco vinyasa teacher Stephanie Snyder we hold stress and negative emotions—such as fear, guilt, and sadness—in our pelvis. For this reason alone, Snyder believes it’s particularly important to do poses that move prana (life force) through  that area.  But before going ahead trying the flow few things to keep in mind, take your time with opening your hips, because hip ligaments are strong, and DON'T PUSH yourself. Be aware of your breathing and and your knees. If you have any knee issues like I do modify the poses, props to help you as you can see that I use a yoga block while doing the split to protect my knees. Lastly, before starting you might be a little tense depending on when was your last practice, so lubricate your join...

         Yesterday the place I work at had a launch party for their new collection for back to school, I am not supposed to say negative things about the store, but I feel obligated to say this. The new collection is great, and its something I can see myself wearing however, I think the store has bought into the mainstream style instead of being different and distinct from other brands the store new collection is pretty much combination American eagle, forever 21, Urban Outfitter, and Smart Set. Regardless the launch party was pretty good. I am still continuing with my summer yoga challenge of trying every pose and challenging my ability. I have to say I am pretty impressed with myself, and what I’ve been able to do. Apart from committing to go to yoga once a week, I am also committing to practicing at home. One of my toughest challenges is a headstand but, after many practices I can do supported headstand without the aid of a wall. I have to ...

         So it’s been a while since I last blogged, and a lot has happened since the last time. Some good, bad, and some eye opening experience that I needed in order to let go. For today ‘ll try to keep things on the good side. First I got a position with my school that is similar to a teaching assistant, however realizing that I’ll have students looking up to me like I am teachers scares the hell out of me. Regardless, I cannot wait to start I always look forward to new challenges. Another good news I’ve been practicing a lot lately, and I have finally conquered one of my biggest challenge of the summer that’s doing a headstand, which started slow but after falling twice on my back I realized that’s the worst that could happen. So, finally I can do it without the aid of a wall. Once your legs are up in the air you can experiment with them, and try different pose like tree, happy baby pose or forward bend. My favorite is eagle and forward...