Breaking Down Yoga’s Transitional Poses: Plank, Chaturanga, Updog, Downdog
Breaking Down Yoga’s Transitional Poses by Veronica Grant
If you go to a flow yoga class, the sequence will almost certainly include the downward-facing dog, plank, chaturanga, upward-facing dog, then back to down dog transition. Referred to as a connecting vinyasa or just vinyasa, it is an integral part of most flow classes, and it is used to warm up or reset the mind and body between sides or new sequences.
Mindfulness in Children
Mindfulness in Children blurb by Danielle Bulgrien, article by Crystal Schelle
photo credit: Ric Dugan
We often hear about how mindfulness can help us manage the stress of our busy, over-scheduled lives. What we may not realize is how mindfulness can be as useful for children as it is for adults. Children may not always grasp the meaning behind an emotion or how to respond to something they don’t like. As a result, they may act out or they resist an experience simply because they don’t have a full understanding of why they’re upset. Finding a way to practice the thought pattern, “this is something that may be negative now, but it will pass,” could be a great way to prepare children for the obstacles they face in elementary school, high school, and into adulthood.
The following article discusses how two Maryland mothers came to the realization that mindfulness training, coupled with yoga practice, would be a great method for helping children work through difficult experiences and emotions.
Open Minds Wants to Expose Children to Mindfulness by Crystal Schelle
The Teachers
The diverse family of DC yoga teachers at Yoga District are dedicated to making yoga accessible to everyone through a huge variety of yoga class types, from vinyasa flow to restorative and beyond. Most Yoga District teachers are graduates of Yoga District’s nationally-attended 200 hour teacher training program. All Yoga District classes focus on coordinating breath with body movement to promote flexibility, strength, and peace of mind. We strongly believe in yoga as therapy, so catch one of our classes whenever you need a healthy dose of self-care.
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The Next Step
The Yoga District 200 and 500 hour teacher training certification programs, registered by the Yoga Alliance are unique in their emphasis on diversity of teaching styles studied, personal attention, and trauma sensitive yoga. It's no coincidence that Yoga District is regularly voted the leading studio in the nation's capital, and that most of its classes are taught by graduates of its training program. As a full time yoga school, small group trainings are led up to eight times a year by a dedicated faculty including Jasmine Chehrazi, contributor to the Harvard Karma Yoga Project teacher training, teacher training faculty at George Washington University, Yoga Alliance Standards Committee Advisory Board Member, Yoga Activist Founder, and Yoga Service Council Advisory Board Member. So take your practice and community involvement to the next level by joining a training. There's a reason why our graduates call the training "transformative."
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