A Yoga Sequence for Shifting
In late September I wrote about a seasonal theme of shifting: shifting into Autumn, into a different lifestyle (that hopefully includes more yoga!), and shifting perspective. I also mentioned using drishti to help us make those shifts gradually.
So, as your Yoga Mama, I have to check in and ask: what has shifted for you in the past month since that post? Was it a physical, mental, emotional, or even spiritual shift? It can sometimes be hard to notice or appreciate any shifts that have taken place. Or maybe you came to a pause after some shifting you’d already been doing (think: the pause between the breaths, which I also wrote about a few times this past month).
Why this theme of shifting? In the mainstream view, yoga is about holding poses. In my experience, it’s just as much about transitioning from pose to pose, and we can experience that as we move from one pose to another, from one phase of life to another (imagine pregnancy or postpartum as very big shifts), from one season to another, and from one breath to another.
As we reflect on what it means to shift with grace, ease, and intention, let’s practice a little yoga sequence together. Here it is:
Cat-Cow
Bird dog
Child’s pose
Cat - Down dog
Plank - 8-part bow - face down
Baby cobra
Supta Parivrtta Vrschikasana (Scorpion Twist Pose) on both sides
Roll over onto back, rock back and forth and then up to seated
Prep for Ustrasana
Ustrasana (choose your variation)
Check out this video below if you are not familiar with the poses above!
Also, here’s a post I wrote some years ago for the Kidding Around Yoga Blog, in case you want to share some yoga with your kids or infuse your own practice with a little fun and lightheartedness. In the post I include a yoga sequence that is inspired by the water element, commonly associated with Autumn.
What’s next?
Going forward from here, I’ll be sharing a kids yoga practice next Friday before I dive into the next seasonal theme on November 10, 2023. Essentially, these will be 6-week cycles with the following offerings:
Seasonal theme/reflection
Yoga pose focus
Breathing practice
Restorative yoga pose
A yoga sequence to tie together the month’s themes
A kids yoga practice for little ones or young-at-heart mamas
Why 6-week cycles? You may have noticed I began this series near the Autumnal Equinox. Every six weeks, there are significant turns in the season (not just the 4 seasons!). The posts won’t line up with them exactly, but having some kind of connection to this flow of seasonal change has been very grounding for me and I thought it valuable to share the cycles of Mother Earth with all of you Yoga Mamas!
Please feel free to comment here if there is something you’d like me to add/take away from or modify in this 6-week structure. This space is meant to be a community where we co-create a yoga practice that suits our varied and busy lifestyles as moms. You can also join the conversation on this thread linked here.
And just because I love you all (and I love yoga, too)...
And might I add that I love writing as well. Urban Yoga Mama has been a labor of love for me since 2018, but I also have aspirations to make it my ‘work.’ That is why I’ve been aiming to launch the paid subscription tier (which would include #2, 4, 5, and 6 above in the list of posts, whereas the free subscribers would get #1 and 3). However, these past 6 weeks I’ve been testing the waters regarding what readers need/want and at this point, I am realizing that perhaps it’s not quite time to add that paywall.
I’ll still be offering the weekly post structure I have proposed above and keep it free to all until it seems a better time to launch. Chances are, by then I will have modified the structure a bit, especially after some important feedback from you all.
What does this mean? It means that until then, if you’d like to show some love and support for my work, you can still subscribe at $5/month or $55/year. Feel like the value of this newsletter is higher than that? You can become a founding member! The suggested annual rate for that is $100, but you can choose any amount above $55.
Most of all, talk to me! Tell me what you want to read more about, what you’d like to focus on or learn here, and share the love by sharing posts with other mamas you think would enjoy this space. Thanks so much for being here with me; it makes motherhood and my yoga practice that much more inspiring.