Self-Practice Journal, Week 5

For one of my RYT classes this semester, I'm required to keep a weekly self-practice journal. This is for yoga practices I do on my own, not guided in a studio, gym, or via video. Each week I'll have a post that details at least three of my self-practices.

Week 5
Practice 1
Date: February 10, 8:40p-9:10p
Intention: Stretch the quads (a friend asked for a practice to help her with sore legs)
Content: Seated neck rolls, wrist rolls, forward fold, Sage twist, Dandasana with soft knees. Cat-Cow, Child's Pose, Downward Facing Dog, standing Forward Fold, Tadasana.
Goddess Pose (up and down 8 times) // Utkata Konasana
Sunflower Pose (8 times each side) //
Low Crescent lunge left (hands on the mat) // Anjaneyasana
Low Crescent lunge right (turn to face the opposite end of the mat) // Anjaneyasana
Side-to-side low lunges (4 times each side) // Skandasana
Low Crescent lunge left (hands on the thigh) // Anjaneyasana
Low Crescent lunge right (turn to face the opposite end of the mat) // Anjaneyasana
Side-to-side low lunges (4 times each side) // Skandasana
Low Crescent lunge left (hands elevated) // Anjaneyasana
Low Crescent lunge right (turn to face the opposite end of the mat) // Anjaneyasana
Side-to-side low lunges (4 times each side) // Skandasana
Pigeon left leg // Kapotasana
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Pigeon right leg // Kapotasana
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Hero's Pose (on a block) // Virasana
Child's Pose // Balasana
Camel Pose // Ustrasana
Child's Pose // Balasana
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Standing Forward Fold // Uttanasana
Tadasana
Tree Pose left leg // Vrksasana
Dancer Pose left leg // Natarajasana
Tree pose right leg // Vrksasana
Dancer Pose right leg // Natarajasana
Forward Fold // Uttanasana
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
lower to the mat
Sage twist
Supine twists
Supine Bound Angle Pose // Supta Baddha Konasana
Happy Baby Pose // Ananda Balasana
Savasana
Reflection: I enjoy the challenge of sequencing for others. It's satisfying to know I can give them something to help complement their existing workouts, and help them better understand the benefits of yoga. This practice was invigorating and fun with the two balance poses.

Practice 2
Date: February 12, 2-3p
Intention: Create an athletic practice for runners
Content: Seated neck rolls, wrist rolls, and raising the arms with breath. Sage twist, cat-cow, and cat-cow with leg extensions/knee curls under the torso. Child's pose to cow, and back to child's pose (moving with the breath). Downward dog to plank, and back to downward dog (moving with the breath).
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Three-legged Dog // Eka pada adho mukha svanasana
Warrior II // Virabhadrasana II
Reverse Warrior // Viparita Virabhadrasana
Low Crescent Lunge // Alanasana
Three-legged Dog // Eka pada adho mukha svanasana
Switch Sides
Sun Salutation A // Surya Namaskar A
Tadasana
Forward Fold // Uttanasana
Plank // Chaturanga
Chaturanga Dandasana
Cobra // Bhugasana
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Repeat
Sun Salutation B // Surya Namaskar B
Tadasana
Chair // Utkatasana
Forward Fold // Uttanasana
Plank // Chaturanga
Chaturanga Dandasana
Cobra // Bhujangasana
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Warrior I right side // Virabhadrasana I
Downward Facing Dog // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Forward Fold // Uttanasana
Tadasana
Repeat left side
Figure 4 Standing Balance // Eka Pada Galavasana
Crow // Bakasana
Wrist rolls
Knot (like threading the needle, but prone. With one or both arms)
Bow Pose // Dhanurasana
Seated Figure 4 or Gomukhasana
Bound Angle // Baddha Konasana
Sage Twist (with fold over the leg added)
Supine rolls
Supine twists
Happy Baby // Ananda Balasana
Supine Bound Angle // Septu Baddha Konasana
Savasana
Reflection: I haven't done much power yoga lately since I've been sick, so it was challenging to come up with a practice that would appeal to an athletic group (I plan to use this practice for a volunteer opportunity at Salt Lake Running Company). But I like the movement in this practice, and using Salutations within the practice instead of right after the warm up. I'm not an avid runner, so catering a practice to those who are required me to think about the anatomy of running and what stretches might be most beneficial.

Practice 3
Date: February 13, 8-830p
Intention: Create a practice for kids aged 5
Content: Standing warm up: inhaling arms overhead and exhaling to release (like a balloon), axial extension and forward fold (like pulling clouds from the sky and placing them on the ground), starburst (exploding like fireworks into star pose), walking in place, chair pose, shooting cupid's arrows (standing bow and arrow pose).
I told a story to the kids and had them act out the yoga poses that correlated
Child's pose (sleeping cat) // Balasana
Cat-cow pose (waking cat) // Dhurga-go
Downward Facing Dog (dog walks by the cat) // Adho Mukha Svanasana
Tiger's Pose (cat arches its back, then releases and extends its tail) // Vyaghrasana
Forward Fold (cat finds a waterfall on his walk) // Uttanasana
Kneeling lunge and fold over leg (elephant drinking from the stream)
lunge both sides
Cobra (a snake hidden in the grass scares the elephant and cat) // Bhujangasana
Bridge (the cat gets away from the snake by going to the other side of the stream) // Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
Squat (the cat sees frogs on this side of the stream) // Malasana
Seated Bound Angle (and there are butterflies) // Baddha Konasana
Tree Pose (the cat watches the butterflies land in the leaves of a tree) // Vrkshasana
Child's pose (cat is tired and needs to take another nap) // Balasana
Savasana (hand on heart and hand on belly to create awareness of the breath).
I did each pose with the kids for four breaths as I told them the story. Then I had ten minutes with the kids to explore animal/plant-related poses of their choosing.
Reflection: I'm nervous to teach to kids for the first time, so it was good to go through this practice a few times to prepare. Kim McKellar suggested I approach teaching this class with a story, and I'm glad I did. Telling a story helped me decide on a sequence of poses to teach the kids. After a couple of run-throughs on my own, I decided I needed to break it down into a smaller chunk of time. I didn't want to lose the kids' attention or overstimulate them. I worked on doing just 15-20 minutes of a practice, and then gave myself time to be free-flowing and give the kids some power to choose what kinds of poses we'd do