Day Seven

Day Seven

Focus: Shoulder Stand, Salamba Sarvangasana

Reading: Chapter Seven of One Simple Thing

Mouth: The Yoga Bible (pages 286-287)

Anatomy: The Yoga Anatomy Coloring Book, Pose by Pose (pages 60 & 61)

Instructions:

Welcome to Day Seven! Halfway!

  1. Read Chapter Seven of One Simple Thing.

  2. Then, color page 60-1 of The Yoga Anatomy Coloring Book Pose by Pose. Warm up and Practice the pose after coloring.

  3. Finally, read aloud the cueing for this pose from pages 286 & 287 of The Yoga Bible. Practice this pose with your eyes open and your eyes close. Pay special attention to the cervical spine and all of the instructions to keep yourself safe! I particularly thought about the notes inside the Yoga Anatomy book that we should focuson weight being in the triceps of the arms to keep it off our neck.


Bonus: Look back in the coloring book on where the cervical spine, thoracic spine and lumbar spine are in your previous poses.

Extra credit: In One Simple Thing, in chapter seven, Stern discusses the idea of tapas being "a restriction of momentary pleasures and putting up with the resulting hardship... The practice of resisting momentary pleasures increases our will power and also gives us space to question, Do I really need this experience right now?...things clouding our minds or vision are cleared away... we can see which way we need to go" (page 120). Look back at the last object that you bought, and consider this idea of tapas.

My Journal Entry from Day Seven:

From One Simple Thing:

  • "Practice surrender simply by offering the results of your actions to the unknown, or to the universe, with the idea that we truly do not know what reality is...We live in less than 1 percent of the known universe, and even that tiny percentage is unimaginably vast, and a great mystery. We know so very little about it " (page 121).

  • While I have an allergy to organized religion as I've experienced it in the West, it is easy for me to plug into this feeling of vastness that Stern speaks about above. I'm happy to offer forth my yoga practice to that expansive feeling of vastness.

From today's yoga class:

  • Key Words: Restorative

  • Today's class was a restorative yoga class at Harlem Yoga Studio with Shabu Ahamed. I felt particularly grateful during class. It is my favortie time of year in New York City--fall. I woke up and there was a slight chill in the air, but it warmed up and was sunny as the day went on. Cardigan weather (see cardigan selfie at right)! I was also grateful that I had the day to myself to structure as I chose.