Downward facing dog, Germany, September 2024 Well, my injury at the front left hip still does not allow me to do all the asanas I would like to do. Especially the twists are impossible. But I am realizing progress. I will remain patient and see every day what is possible and what is not. I took my yoga mat with me on a short trip to Lake Garda in Italy. I only managed to practice once. Most hotel rooms are too small and not inviting to do gymnastics on the floor. The one hotel I stayed at had a roof terrace with deckchairs and sunshades. I rolled out my mat next to it. There were children rom ..read more

View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize This week I am concentrating on forward bends. This movement is also restricted on the left side due to the injury to the hip flexor. I am trying to find the limits. Then I relax. A relaxed state allows me to go a little deeper into the position. I see slow progress. My left hip now needs much more attention than the right. The right side is an orientation for me. It all starts with forward bends. Where am I at the moment? I first have to determine what is possible and what is not. From there, the journey can continue. The classic for ..read more

Forwardbending asana, June 2024 Exactly what I wanted to avoid happened. I injured myself in the gym on one of the strength machines. I also know which machine it was. It was supposed to train the abdominal muscles. To do this, I stretched my feet under a roller. The upper body should be moved forward. A large roller pressed lightly on the back. The task was now to push this roller upwards with the abdominal muscles. The weight may have been around 20 kg. Instead of my abdominal muscles becoming active, my hip flexors became active. At first I thought it was just a simple case of sore muscles ..read more

Getting into Sirsasana, March 2024 What could be a signature asana for me after 30 years of practice? I asked ChatGPT this question today. I liked the answer. For someone (or something) that doesn't know me, the answer is very good. The answer seems to come from someone who knows asanas and knows the classics. I came up with the question while scrolling on Instagram. A yogi commented under the asana scorpion while in handstand that this used to be his signature asana and that he hadn't practiced it for a long time. Wow, I thought, a signature asana, that would be it. That's how marketing wor ..read more

Back bending, Germany, March 2024 You have to push against the wall with your feet. This could help to open up the upper body. Pictures are always inspiring ..read more

Germany, March 2024, Dhanurasana - a variation with a strap I'm always trying out new variations of asanas that I already know. I don't mind being challenged. Reach for the stars. You might just end up on the moon. But if you hadn't reached for the stars, you wouldn't have landed on the moon either. For me, being overchallenged was always better than being underchallenged, even in my jobs in the past. In today's position, I naturally ask myself: will the hand ever reach the foot? I'll see. Life is an experiment. Translated with DeepL.com (free version ..read more

View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize On Saturday I went to the asana coaching workshop. We were four women. One of them wanted to learn the crow. The crow is called kakasana in Sanskrit. In Ashtanga yoga, the crow is the pose you practise in the second series. These two postures are usually mixed up. Kakasana: 1. the elbows are slightly bent. 2. the shin crosses the upper arm before moving forward into the pose. This is how we were taught in the lesson. This is also an important difference to bakasana. 3. the back is straight. 4. you look forward. 5. try to turn your hands inwards. As ..read more

Germany, Feb 2024, Vrschikasana, first attempts Yesterday was the Asana Coaching workshop with the Sivanandas. A lot of yogis filled the lobby pretty quickly. It turned out that most of them wanted to do soft yoga. Only four women, including myself, had signed up for the asana coaching. One woman wanted to learn the headstand, one woman wanted to learn the crow and two women, including me, wanted to learn the scorpion from the headstand. As you can see in the picture: My scorpion already looks different than it did before the workshop. I learned a lot. But I didn't manage to hold the position ..read more

From Sirsasana to vrschikasana: The devil must have been riding me when I signed up for the 2-hour workshop and wished to learn how to go from headstand to scorpion. I worked on my headstand in February. I can hold it for three minutes. I tend to get bored. Unfortunately, after three minutes I fall out of the pose. After three minutes, I don't have the strength to do slow, controlled movements. But pushing myself into scorpion requires even more strength. It's madness. As you can see, the backbend is pretty weak. When I fall out of the pose, I fall from very high up. I'm going to the session ..read more

Plank exercises can easily be incorporated into the sun salutations. It is a good idea to insert strength exercises before or after chaturanga dandasana. Ultimately, chaturanga dandasana is a plank position. The exercises are again taken from Sean Vigue's book '30 days of planks'. In today's post, I present six more plank variations. 1st exercise: Support yourself on your elbows. The body remains straight. Then bend your leg. Then change sides. 2nd exercise: From a classic plank position with outstretched arms, first place the forearm of one arm on the floor, then the other. Then return ..read more