Nichol's TIPs: Wheel Pose, daring to leave the nest, and freeing your body through heart opening
WELCOME to Nichol's TIPs - a weekly newsletter where I share a TUTORIAL, some INSPIRATION, and a PRACTICE.
This week, we'll explore Wheel Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana), daring to leave the nest, and freeing your body through heart opening
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URDHVA DHANURASANA (Wheel Pose) TUTORIAL
***click here to watch tutorial video
STEP 1.
FIND neutral pelvis.
"Curl your tailbone off the floor and lift one vertebra off the floor at a time. Press your pubic bones up toward the ceiling."
STEP 2.
HUG your inner thighs in &
PRESS DOWN through the inner edges of your feet.
"Hug your inner thighs in as though you are holding a block between your legs and press down firmly through the inner edges of your feet."
STEP 3.
KEEP YOUR LEGS STRONG as you press up.
"Keep the muscular engagement in your legs as you press up away from the floor."
AND FINALLY, PUT IT ALL TOGETHER!
QUOTE and a QUESTION for INSPIRATION
QUOTE.
by Pema Chödrön who is an American Tibetan-Buddhist, ordained nun, teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, and author of several dozen books:
"All too frequently we relate like timid birds who don’t dare to leave the nest. Here we sit in a nest that’s getting pretty smelly and that hasn’t served its function for a very long time. No one is arriving to feed us. No one is protecting us and keeping us warm. And yet we keep hoping mother bird will arrive. We could do ourselves the ultimate favor and finally get out of that nest. That this takes courage is obvious. That we could use some helpful hints is also clear. We may doubt that we’re up to being a warrior-in-training. But we can ask ourselves this question: “Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?”'
- Source: The Places That Scare You by Pema Chödrön
QUESTION.
How might you cultivate the courage needed to relate to your life directly? Which practices, activities, relationships, and environments might help you to leave the nest and live more fully?
Freeing Your Body Through Heart Opening PRACTICE
Here is a LINK to a practice that features wheel pose (about 44min in) and explores some deeper backbending shapes that can be entered from wheel pose.
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Until next week,
Nichol Chase