My yoga studio recently changed locations and their new space is 10x more awesome than before. Besides a bigger space and a cooler building, the biggest change is that the new studio has wall space! (The old one had couches and cabinets lining the walls to save room).
This may not sound like a big deal… but that means we could try out new moves that involved the wall! And it was pretty awesome and I wanted to share some! The first thing we did was a simple wall squat like this:
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We did it three times in a row. The first time was to hold it as long as we could (my thighs were burning!) The second time, we did it by adding long breaths in and out. The point was to get us to focus on our breathing instead of the pain (good practice for childbirth!) And the third time, we did deep breathing and added a “Hmmm” sound to it. When you tone your voice, your muscles vibrate a bit and it helps your body relax. I hope I can remember all of this when I’m in labor, it is so fun to practice!
And later, I did a handstand! Well, an L-Shaped handstand. We started in Down-Dog and then walked our feet up the wall so we ended up looking like this:
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It was so exhilarating to be upside down, especially with a big belly in the way. It took so much pressure off my joints and gave the baby so much room! And since my baby has been head down for months now, it probably felt pretty cool in there for him/her to be ‘upright’ for a bit. We did this move with assistance, but I’m dying to try it again. I wonder if Irving would be a willing volunteer to help me. (Irving, yes?) =)
I might be a total dork and bring my camera to my class next week so I can get a few pictures of me doing these moves. I have fallen completely in love with Yoga during the past eight months and I just renewed my membership for another 10 classes. For those who are counting, I only have 6 weeks of pregnancy left, but I’ll carry over my remaining classes to the ‘Mommy and Baby’ sessions post partum. I am SO excited!
Kelocity.com 