Contact

Questions about a pose, a correction you'd like to suggest, or just want to say hello? I'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch

Email me at: skiloveman@gmail.com

I read every message, though replies can take a few days — mornings are for practice.

Corrections

If you spot an error in any post — a miscounted vinyasa, a misnamed pose, anything — please tell me. This blog aims to be a reliable guide, and corrections make it better for everyone.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Utthita Trikonasana: The Triangle Is Not About Touching Your Toe

Image
After the two forward folds, the practice turns sideways. Padangusthasana and Padahastasana asked you to go down; Trikonasana asks you to go out — and that small change is where a lot of students quietly lose the thread. In a morning room full of practitioners you can hear it happen. The ujjayi that was steady through the folds turns thin and short the moment the hand starts hunting for the toe. So let me say the useful thing first. The triangle is not a pose about reaching your foot. It is a pose about staying long while you turn. Utthita Trikonasana — the chest stays open as the torso turns. How you get in, breath by breath From samasthiti, inhale and step or lightly hop the feet apart, arms opening to the sides at shoulder height. The distance is roughly one leg-length — in the traditional measure, the right hand should be able to find the right foot without the ribs collapsing. Turn the right foot out ninety degrees, and turn the left foot very slightly in. Both heels stay g...
Read more

Revolved Triangle (Parivrtta Trikonasana): The First Twist in the Ashtanga Primary Series

Image
Yesterday, in Utthita Trikonasana, you learned that the triangle is built from the legs up. Today the Primary Series asks something new of you: Parivrtta Trikonasana, the Revolved Triangle, is the first twist in the entire practice — and the first pose that asks you to twist and balance at the same time. It is honest, humbling, and wonderfully clarifying, because it will show you exactly where your practice is today. Parivrtta Trikonasana - torso revolved over the front leg, opposite hand reaching toward the floor What Is Parivrtta Trikonasana? The name breaks down simply: parivrtta means revolved, trikona means triangle, and asana means posture. So this is the same triangle you built yesterday, turned inside out. Instead of opening the chest toward the ceiling, you rotate it across the front leg, so that the opposite hand reaches down toward the front foot while the same-side arm rises toward the sky. Twists like this one ask the spine to rotate evenly through its whole...
Read more

What Is Ashtanga Yoga? A Beginner's Map of the Practice

Image
Ashtanga: the same postures, the same order, carried on the breath If you have ever watched someone move through a yoga practice that looked less like a class and more like a moving meditation — the same postures, the same order, breath after steady breath — there is a good chance you were watching Ashtanga. I have been standing on a mat in this tradition for many years now, most of those mornings before sunrise, and I still begin every morning with the same first breath I took as a beginner. This post is the first in a daily series that will teach you, one small piece at a time, how to practice the Ashtanga Primary Series at home, even if you have never stepped on a mat before. Today we are not doing any poses at all. We are drawing the map, so that everything that follows makes sense. What is Ashtanga yoga? Ashtanga is a style of hatha yoga in which you practice a fixed sequence of postures, always in the same order, linked together by breath and movement. Nothing about the sequ...
Read more