#Hatha yoga flow sequence plus#

I’m not going to claim it’s a replacement for a full-on strength session at the gym (hey, yoga can’t do everything, nor should we expect it to). While I do like to supplement my asana practice with other strength-building, joy-inspiring activities, I also enjoy the strength-boosting benefits gleaned from a yoga sequence like this one. That’s because a shorter class gives me the gift of time to enjoy other activities that help me feel good and breathe well-like running, weight lifting, and, you know, hiking in the park with loved ones. I also have a new appreciation for ten- to twenty-minute practices, whereas in the past I did 60–90 minute practices daily.

It also probably has something to do with shifting trends in the yoga world in general: Today lots of teachers are focusing less on prescriptive alignment and aesthetics and more on functional movement strength-building. I’m not sure when this shift in priorities occurred, but I suspect it had something to do with growing a little older and wanting my practice to serve my life rather than the other way around. Though I don’t think there’s anything wrong with practicing fun, stretchy poses, and flexibility gains are definitely a great benefit of yoga, today the physical part of my yoga practice is much more focused on strength and stability than achieving foot-to-head contact in dancer or catching hold of my ankles in wheel (I never could manage that last one!).

I also can’t touch my foot to my head in dancer pose anymore (a feat that took me years to accomplish, but never actually felt that good in my body no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise), but I feel a lot stronger than back when I could. While my five-years-ago self would have been disappointed that I’d “let my practice go” to such an extent, my priorities are just different now.

#Hatha yoga flow sequence plus#

Still, I gave it my best shot, and while I do still have a decent amount of hip and hamstring flexibility-mainly due to some combination of genetics plus years of dance, I suspect-my standing archer of today was nowhere near as “picture perfect” as it once was. “You know? I don’t think I can do that anymore,” I replied. The pose he was referring to is trivikramasana, also known as “ standing archer pose” or sometimes “standing splits.”

'Hey, can you do that cool bow and arrow pose you used to practice all the time?' my boyfriend, an avid photographer, asked-we were hiking through a park and he was eager to test his brand-new camera out.