True North Yoga - From the Adirondacks

We're just days away from the winter solstice, the day when the sun begins to fight its way back to dominance after the longest night of the year. The ancients celebrated the solstice with fires, which burned through the long night to encourage the sun's return. In yoga we honor the sun by practicing Surya Namaskar, or sun salutations.

Sun salutations are vinyasa, a flowing sequence of asanas. Movement is coordinated with the breath. Surya Namaskar builds heat in the body by igniting our internal fires, creating our own internal solstice celebration.

After warming up, we'll move slowly through a the series of poses that make up the core of sun salutations for those who have never tried this before. Then we'll flow through some complete rounds of Surya Namaskar and put that power to work in Warrior I with Eagle arms. I'll leave you with a moving meditation to complete your celebration of the sun.

All you'll need is your yoga mat. Enjoy, and Happy Solstice!

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The hip joints are designed for motion. Healthy hips enable fluid movements, but for many of us the hips feel more like stone than water. In this practice, we'll get into those hips from every angle, slowly opening the hip muscles.

All you'll need is your yoga mat for this juicy practice.

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With Thanksgiving and its indulgences less than a week away, it's a good time for a core-focused yoga practice. This series of asanas will require you to engage your deep abdominal muscles, which support your low back. You'll test those muscles with some balancing poses and finish your practice with an easy twist to stretch what you strengthened. You only need your yoga mat to engage your core, and your low back will thank you when you're lugging those holiday packages.

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This is the first podcast yoga class from Debbie Philp of True North Yoga, a tiny yoga studio tucked into the hamlet of Schroon Lake in the Adirondack mountains of New York State.  In this class, Debbie explores heart-opening asanas and helps you find your inner light, the divine spark in each of us that is so worthy of love.  Cultivate self-love, just in time for Valentine's Day.

For this class you will need a yoga mat, a folded blanket or flat pillow, and two yoga blocks.  (If you don't have yoga blocks, big books or sturdy boxes about 8 inches high can be substituted.)

Namaste.

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The first podcast will be up soon, so keep checking back.