Community & Government, Wellness
Finding Your Center
Lesson time 14:33 min
Donna shares techniques to center your body.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Staff Pose | Dandasana • Head to Knee Pose | Janu Sirsasana • Sage Pose One | Marichyasana I
Teaches Yoga Foundations
Renowned yoga instructor Donna Farhi teaches you the most essential physical and mental elements of creating a safe, sustainable practice.
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[RELAXING MUSIC] - Three years ago, I had a serious horse riding accident, and it broke my pelvis in two places. And I've been using yoga since the very first night in hospital to today to restore my body. First two years was mostly about learning how to walk again without pain. And in this last year, I'm witnessing quite a miraculous restoration of my ability to move more freely and do things like sit comfortably for meditation. Staff Pose or Dandasana is a foundation for all sitting postures in yoga. For this pose, you will sit on the floor with both your legs extended in front of you. This small but mighty pose will strengthen your core muscles, which will help to improve your sitting posture. I invite you to try these postures at home as I take Christina through them. Sitting on the floor, for Christina, she's actually slightly behind her sitting bones. So her lower back-- and you could exaggerate that maybe Christina for clarity-- her lower back is rounding. And she's literally sitting on her spine rather than sitting on the pelvic bones. Even without saying anything to Christina, she's attempting to get her pelvis level by using the downward pressure through her arms. The first and easiest solution would be to take a blanket and place the blanket underneath the pelvis. So rule of thumb, as much as you need, as little as possible. Do you think maybe one more might be even better? We can always go back. See, now that would be too high for me, but for you it could be perfect. Now keep in mind that the higher you've raised your pelvis, the more likely it is that you're going to hyperextend through the back of your knees. You can see this gap underneath your knees. So my inclination would be to create a little support underneath the knees so that the knees are touching something rather than getting pressed down into the hollow space underneath the legs. Head to Knee Pose, Janu Sirsasana, offers many opportunities to learn the correct action for forward bending. You'll start this pose in Staff Pose, and then add a Forward Bend with a gentle twist. When we Forward Bend, we want the pelvis to rotate around the femurs to initiate the Forward Bend rather than the pelvis remaining fixed and the lower back beginning the flexion. So Christina is going to demonstrate Head to Knee Pose. And you can see that Christina's knee is not making too much progress towards the floor, which is totally fine because it is likely your bony structure. So important to remember that our range of motion is not only determined by whether or not we have flexible muscles. It's determined by our genetic makeup and the blueprint that we got at birth for our skeletal structure. So I actually have a very similar hip structure. I can't get my knees very close to the floor. And fortunately, getting your knees onto the floor is not any sign of spiritual advancement. So here, I'll use a towel so that her leg may be a little bit further under...
About the Instructor
With nearly 40 years of experience, Donna Farhi is one of the most sought-after yoga instructors in the world. Now the “teacher of teachers” is sharing her approach to creating a safe, sustainable yoga practice with students of all levels. Whether you’re looking to realign with the heart of traditional yoga or are just getting started, learn postures, foundations, and philosophies to guide you on your journey.
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Donna Farhi
Renowned yoga instructor Donna Farhi teaches you the most essential physical and mental elements of creating a safe, sustainable practice.
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