Make a Plan, Set a Strong Foundation, Feet, Hands, Head

≤30 min. Just like in any structure, foundation is key. Work with several different foundations with different poses in this sequence. Yoga teaches us to make a commitment to a plan and have a physical expression of focused engagement the hands, feet, and even the head (if that is part of your practice). We start in poses that are very familiar -- cat/cow, and bird dog. Moving into a warmup we balance in lunges, then work strength of your arms in plank and side plank pose. The foundation shifts from two feet to one foot to vrksasana (tree pose), with full commitment to the steadiness of the standing leg. Standing poses include prasarita padottanasana and stay in the wide stance in a horse stance with the variation of a twist. The foundation that many of us may not be used to working with is the head -- as the practice draws to a close, we set a strong foundation for sirsasana or headstand. Do not do this pose unless you have received and practiced under the guidance of an accredited yoga teacher. One of the expressions that inspired this practice is: "We come for our vanity, we stay for our sanity". In talking with others that have practiced yoga for some time, frankly some did not find this expression spoke of their interest, since it may imply that we engage in yoga purely to enhance appearance. In practice surely many of us do come to the mat with a plan to address physical aspects, yet what probably keeps us coming back to the mat is our understanding of how the yoga shifts our attitude and behavior.