American Yoga

In the last few weeks I have had the privilege to attend yoga classes with senior Iyengar yoga teachers in San Francisco and Washington DC. By the way, I am positively surprised by the positive vibe going on in Washington DC! I love it here! It helps that I am surrounded by fantastic people at an international symposium regarding sustainable buildings.

In San Francisco I visited the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco. I went to Janet McLeod's and Kathy Alef's class. In Washington DC I attended Giulia Mainieri's class at Unity Wood Yoga. In all three classes we did standing poses, forward bends and padmasana. We focused on the groins and shoulders. I took very valuable information from all three of these classes, the main points being:

• sitting in dandasana - rolling the top inner thighs down towards the floor
• extending the spine by elongating and relaxing - this is not a forceful movement. This allows the shoulders to relax into the correct position, rather than pressing it back
• relaxing the trapezius, outer shoulders moving back, armpit chest moving forward and up

In Padmasana:

• rotating the shin, so that the sole of the foot faces the ceiling and is high up on the thigh (ideally it presses into the abdomen)
• ensuring that the downward movement of the knee originates from the top of the femur.
• pubus moves up, so that the groins can release; lower abdomen moves in and up.