How to lift your energy

In Today's Email:

• Is doing yoga in front of a mirror helpful or distracting? Mirrors can offer…

• Should I practice when I’m on day 1 of my period? Sorry to all our male readers… this is a special one for the ladies.

• Key poses to lift your energy: As you finish this chest-expanding, back-bending sequence, you’ll feel more receptive to all that life has to offer.

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Is doing yoga in front of a mirror helpful or distracting?

Mirrors can offer useful feedback, especially for yogis who learn best via visual information. This external, reliable, and unbiased reference point can keep you on track and enhance your understanding of alignment principles and relationships—like the tilting and tucking required to find a “neutral” pelvis in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).

However, it’s important to keep in mind that yoga is a state of being realized from the inside out, and mirrors may discourage this intimacy by putting an emphasis on appearance, performance, and external validation.

Yoga connects us to our innate wakefulness and basic goodness when it emphasizes nonjudgmental explorations about how we feel, rather than how we look. While I might suggest using a mirror to augment verbal instructions, years of experience have taught me that a deeper understanding of yoga is only gained.

Should I practice when I’m on day 1 of my period?

There are no hard-and-fast rules—better to discover for yourself what best serves you. If you do choose to do yoga, skip inversions. 

During your cycle, your body’s energy is naturally moving downward, and inversions reverse that movement. There is a quietness in our bodies during the menstrual cycle; forward bends, gentle twists, and supported backbends are intelligent choices for your moon days, as they encourage that exquisite interior inquiry from looking inside, not outside.

🧐 DID YOU KNOW?

Learn to juggle: If you want to master Sanskrit, nail Crane Pose, and revamp your diet, you may have more success if you tackle everything at once. A new study from the University of California, Santa Barbara found that when it comes to life changes, multitasking is more effective than focusing on one change at a time. The study put college students through a six-week program that incorporated daily physical exercise (including yoga), mindfulness practices, and lectures on topics like sleep and relationships. All participants showed dramatic improvements after six weeks in areas ranging from test performance to mood. The researchers concluded that a comprehensive approach creates an upward spiral, in which one success reinforces the next.

Key Poses To Lift Your Energy...

As you finish this chest-expanding, back-bending sequence, you’ll feel more receptive to all that life has to offer.

AS YOU PRACTICE First, encourage soft receptivity in the front part of your body. Then integrate this softness with the strength of your back muscles, and enjoy a gentle opening into deeper backbends. Move with the pulse of your breath throughout the sequence, and when the practice progresses to more challenging poses, engage the muscles of your back body while retaining the receptivity of your front body.

Level: Intermediate

Good for: Promoting upper-back health Props needed: One blanket Intention: Unity

Reflection: Experience a heightened awareness of your connection to all other beings. “It is best to focus on our Oneness, to re-emphasize what is the same about each of us rather than dwell on what is different,” said the Dalai Lama.

Additional benefits: Relaxes the neck

1. Bidilasana-Marjareyasana (Cat-Cow Pose) Roll onto your side and come onto all fours. On an inhalation, stretch your heart and tailbone away from each other, lifting your head slightly. On an exhalation, round your spine, contracting the abdominal wall, letting your head and tailbone curl inward. Repeat slowly for 10 cycles of breath.

2. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) From all fours, curl your toes under and lift your hips up and back to Down Dog. Press your thighs straight back and lengthen your lower back. Push your hands into the floor and firm your arms. Breathe into the space between your shoulder blades, releasing the back of your heart toward the front of your heart for 10 breaths.

3. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose), low variation From Down Dog, come forward into Plank, and lie on your belly. Firm your legs and press the tops of your feet down. Lengthen your tailbone back toward your feet. Place your hands near your bottom ribs; inhale and coil your spine inward, lifting your chest forward and up. On an exhalation, slowly roll down. Pulse up and down eight times; then release and lift back to Down Dog.

4. High Lunge Step your right foot forward, keep your back heel up, and bend your front leg to a right angle. Let your back knee bend softly and lift your hip points up away from your thighs. Interlace your fingers behind you and reach your shoulders back. Dig the bottoms of your shoulder blades in and open your chest wide. Feel your heart lift and your side waist release back for eight breaths. Step back to Down Dog and switch sides.

Meme

NAMASTE ❤️

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