Tag: asana

The King of the Asanas – Headstand

Moving with our fear.

Headstand is an elegant inversion, insisting on patience, presence, and control to be done properly. For many of us, headstand is an opportunity to brush against our fear. Fear of the unknown, of falling, of not being in control. As such, the practice of headstand become an opportunity to practice intimacy with this fear. When we move slowly and with awareness, we can breathe through our fear reflex and assess where we really are. Rather than getting caught up in a fear narrative, we practice slowing down and observing our response. Whether we actually go upside down or not is actually irrelevant! More interesting is developing our capacity for self-observation and spaciousness.

Iyengar writes, “Regular and precise practice of Sirsasana develops the body, disciplines the mind and widens the horizons of the spirit. One becomes balanced and self-reliant in pain and pleasure, loss and gain, shame and fame, and defeat and victory.” -Light on Yoga

Risk factors:
The neck. When we practice sirsasana, it is important that we work gradually to put weight on the head. When we are starting, place very little weight on the head and instead work to support the body through the work and stability of the shoulder girdle. This will prevent the delicate cervical spine from being overloaded.

The lower back: It is easy to “banana” in the lower back and crunch the lumbar spine. We must work to open the shoulders and engage to core to prevent collapse in the low back.

High/low blood pressure: Since we are increasing cranial pressure, it is prudent for students with blood pressure issues to proceed with caution or ask their doctor. Also, students with similar pressure issues such as glaucoma or hiatal hernia should seek advice from their physician before working on headstand.

Component Parts:

The upper arm and lower arm are both in flexion. The upper arm will be working towards external rotation. Investigate poses such as Utthita Hastasana (arms raised in tadasana), Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), Vrksasana (Tree with arms raised), and Gomukhasana Arms (cow-faced pose, the top arm). Dolphin and Forearm Stand Prep are great preps.

Thoracic Spine. Even though we’re not backbending in sirsasana, the action of the upper back feels like backbending as we draw the shoulderblades deeper into the body. Backbends and twists are great way to access this action in the upper back.

Core. To support our body weight and keep the lower back long. Poses such as plank, forearm plank, Vasisthasana (side plank) are all great educators for the core.

Neutral legs. Find the connection of the adductors and the neutral position of the legs in lunges, Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I), Utkatasana (fierce/chair pose), and parsovttanasana (pyramid pose)

Warmed-up hamstrings. To get into headstand requires walking the legs in to the body, which is facilitated by long hamstrings. Warm up the hamstrings in uttanasana (forward fold), prasarita padottanasana (wide-legged forward fold), parsvottanasana (pyramid pose)

Variations:

Do at wall or in corner. I highly recommend practicing this pose at the wall until confidence in one’s balance is developed.

Dolphin – prep only (head off floor, legs in Adho Mukha Svanasana). Raise one leg at a time

Prep (head on or off floor, but feet stay on floor), with block at wall, pressing into shoulderblades to encourage thoracic action (need a friend to help with this one!)

Possible Sequence:

Virasana on a block (neutral legs)

Add utthita hastasana, fingers interlaced (flexion in upper arms) x 2, right and left interlace

Extended child’s pose (arms in flexion). Work action of thoracic spine

Plank, forearm plank variations (core)

Adho Mukha Svanasana (flexion, hamstrings, neutral)

Lunges (neutral legs)

Lunge with open twist (thoracic)

Surya A (hamstrings, neutral legs, arms in flexion, core) x 5

– last time add parivrtta parsvakonasana (thoracic)

Uttanasana – held (hamstrings)

Trikonasana (hamstrings, possible flexion arm variation)

Vrksasana (balance and arms in flexion)

Utkatasana, holding block (arms flexion)

Parvsottanasana (R/L), with straight back (hamstrings, work thoracic)

Parivrtta Trikonasana (thoracic, hamstrings)

Tadasana with Gomukhasana Arms

–To Wall–

Virabhadrasana III with hands at wall (core, neutral legs, hamstrings)

Virabhadrasana III with back foot on wall (core, neutral legs, hamstrings)

Dolphin (Sirsasana prep)

Sirsasana

Child’s pose

Adho Mukha Svanasana (to release neck)

Variation of Salamba Sarvanghasana (shoulderstand) with block under pelvis and legs in air

Twist

Reclined Ankle to Knee

Savasana

Natarajasana

Natarajasana, Pose of the Lord of the Dance, is a complex pose that is deep backbend with the added fun of balance. As with any backbend, is it essential to fully warm up the thoracic spine and hip flexors as well as integrate core stability for the safety of the lower back. A myriad of arm variations possible in this pose also allow for shoulder and chest opening.

Risk factors: Falling, low back.

What to warm up:

The hip flexors (front of the thighs). Low lunge, high lunge, and Virabhadrasana I are great poses for opening the front of the thighs. Hanumanasana with a bolster and a focus on a sagittally neutral pelvis in order to access the BACK leg. Instead of treating Hanumanasana as a stretch, instead use it to access and tone the adductors, make the legs neutral, and then open the hip flexors of the back leg. Ardha Bhekasana can also be used to stretch the quads, particularly when we focus on anchoring the pubic bone as we draw the shin in.

The thoracic (upper back). Work to open the front of the heart by broadening the collarbones, lifting the sternum, and drawing the shoulders deeply into the body. Can you work to isolate the drawing in of the upper back while you keep your lower back long? It’s a little bit of a conundrum, but this is exactly the paradoxical work that backbends require. Poses such as sphinx, bhujangasana (baby cobra), dhanuarsana (bow), and salabhasana (locust) can refine this work.

The inner thighs/neutral legs. The adductors link to the core and help keep our legs neutral when they would otherwise flare into external rotation. Prepare the legs to remain neutral through engaging the adductors in lunges, Virabhadrasana I and Virabhadrasana III. By engaging the inner thighs and rolling them slightly to the back body, we widen the sacrum, create length through the back and more room to squeegie the buttocks flesh down the thighs.

The shoulders. Classical Natarajasana has the standing leg arm reaching forward, while the bent leg arm reaches over the head in external rotation and flexion to grasp the foot or big toes. (Like the upper arm in Gomukhasana.) While this is quite a feat for most of us dealing with tight shoulders and hip flexors, we can approximate the actions of this pose by using a strap around our bent knee ankle. Make a Grecian sandal with your strap by wrapping it around your ankle and threading the two ends between the big toes. Presto, you’ve made your leg longer! Work the actions of the pose here: draw the inner things to each other, tailbone to the floor, lower back long, upper chest opening. Breathe and then climb your hand down the strap as the opportunity avails. To prepare for the classical variation, use poses such as Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog), Utthita Hastasana (hands up in tadasana), Gomukhasana (cow-face pose, arms only), and inversions to open the shoulders.

A great variationof Natarajasana is to reach back with both hands and clasp the foot (like your clasping your hands around the top of the foot). In this variation, the shoulders are in extension, which creates a delicious opportunity for opening the chest. Use Prasarita Padottanasana C (wide-legged forward bend with hands clasped behind), Purvottanasana, Setu Bandha (bridge), and Dhanurasana (bow) to prepare the shoulders for this variation.

Props: Use a strap as a Grecian sandal to assist in the classical variation (see above). Use the wall to assist in balancing.

Variation: At Wall. Start in Virabhadrasana III at the wall, hands at the wall, with one foot under the hip and the other reaching back into the center of the room. Keeping the lower back long, begin to move into a backbending variation by walking the hands up the wall. Alternatively, strap the arms above the elbows and bring the forearms on the wall parallel, fingers pointing up. Option to bend the lifted knee , keeping the thigh open and neutral. Natarajasana at the wall!

Energetics: Natarajasana is a pose about opening into fear. We are asked to open our hearts on uncertain ground (on one leg). Before you begin, relax. Smooth out the breath. Grounding the energy and stabilizing the standing leg are crucial pillars. Once the base has been established, then slowly open the upper back into a backbend. Less is more at first. From a stable base, let the breath open the pose from the inside.

asana sequencing yoga

Giving Gratitude Legs – Ustrasana

Frequently when we leave yoga class, we’re feeling pretty good. We’re stretched, we’re stronger, our minds are a bit more settled. After all, feeling good in our own bodies is a crucial first step on our hatha yoga path. And if that’s what gets us to the mat, so much the better. But at some point in our practice, we begin to have the terrible inkling that our yoga practice is actually happening all the time. It’s just a little more obvious when we’re in our lulu’s and on our mats.

Our practice is just that: practice for our lives. The point of our practice isn’t to have the perfect downward facing dog – although greater physical health is certainly a side effect of yoga. The real juice of our practice is revealed in very practical and everyday situations. Our practice means having a little extra space to respond when someone pushes our buttons or cuts us off in traffic. It’s having the space to feel upset without lashing back. Or it’s using that feel good energy from our class to give back to our families and friends a bit more fully. While improving urdhva dhanurasana is fun, the real potency of our yoga practice is actually experienced off the mat and in our lives.

In honor of Gratitude Week, I’m inviting everyone to “Give their Gratitude Legs”. Take that gorgeous, expansive generosity that begins to flow in class and deliberately manifest it as something tangible in your life. Bring the energy from your heart chakra and manifest it into your legs and your hands — and take action.

Devote just one hour this week to manifest your gratitude. Spend the extra hour with your kids, research a charity to donate to, or listen to a friend that needs some healing.

After all, if we don’t pay it forward, then who will?

Pose of the Week: Ustrasana

In honor of giving gratitude legs, this week’s pose is Ustrasana. Camel pose requires a deep connection to our core, to our legs, to the earth. Out of this deep strength and connection into our roots, we can open our hearts into gravity and radiate. The interplay between opening up and grounding down makes ustrasana the perfect pose for manifesting gratitude.

Risk factors:

Because ustrasana is a backbend with gravity (as opposed to backbends where we lift up INTO gravity), it is vitally important to maintain the strength and connection of the front of the body to avoid over compressing the lower back. What makes ustrasana so invigorating and challenging is the play between opening and strengthening the front body. Another risk factor is the neck, as we’re often tempted to drop the head back and cut of the long line of energy up the spine. Dropping the head back should only be done when the chest is fully opened, and even then should only be done if it comfortable to the student. I keep my chin tucked into my chest as long as possible and often do not drop my head back at all.

What to warm up:

The thoracic (upper back). Coil open the upper back back by broadening the collarbones, reaching forward with the sternum, and drawing the shoulders deeply into the body. Can you work to isolate the drawing in of the upper back while you keep your lower back long? Imagine drawing the sides of the waistline to the back body as you lengthen the sides and lift the chest.

The core: The stability of our core is essential in controlling the opening our spine in ustrasana. While the core is important in all backbends, its role is crucial in ustrasana because we are resisting gravity. Engaging the inner thigh line (the adductors) will help to engage the core and support the backbend. As we move into backbends, we can grip the buttocks, which can cause external rotation in the thighs and squash the sacrum. By engaging the inner thighs and rolling them slightly to the back body, we widen the sacrum, create length through the back and more room to reach the sitbones away from the back. Practicing plank and forearm plank can also teach the front body to engage without shortening.

The hip flexors (front of the thighs). Prepare the hip flexors for ustrasana through lunges and Virabhadrasana I. To particularly access the quads, use a runner’s stretch or King Arthur’s Pose (low lunge with the lower leg vertical up the wall).

The shoulders in extension (arms reaching back). Warm up the shoulders in extension through garudasana arms (lower arm), salabhasana or bridge. I also like using a strap during uttanasana or prasarita padottanasana to encourage arm extension. Choose your leg variation, then hold the strap behind you with the palms forward, just wider than your hips. Draw the heads of the upper arms back (no slouching). Keep lifting the strap to the ceiling (rather than over the head) as you fold. Lift the shoulderheads up.

Props: The wall. I almost always do ustrasana with my hip points glued to the wall. I can clearly draw my inner thighs back into the room and lengthen my sitting bones to the floor. Keeping your hip points at the wall will ensure that you keep your hips and knees lined up and that you continue to use your legs and abdominals to support your weight. Use a bolster across the back of the shins to bring the floor up to you. Blocks on either side of the ankles do the same thing. You can place a block between the thighs to engage the adductors. An important note in ustrasana is to continually lift up as you go back. As if you’re lifting your upper back over a limbo bar. When your hands find purchase (on the bolster, blocks, or feet), lift up out of the arms and radiate your chest up to the sky. Finding and nurturing a sense of strength and containment as you drop back in ustrasana will help prepare the body for more rigorous drop backs from standing.

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YogaFLIGHT – an unexpected journey

My session at the Vancouver Yoga Conference had taken a pause. An hour-break, then we’d all come back for four more hours of chakra realization. So far, I’d been banging my hips and sacrum on the ground, trying to tune into my pelvis and the first three chakras. Now I was fantasizing about tuna sandwiches.

Such musings were interrupted by a voice to my neighbor to the left. It was one of those rich and resonant voices that reminds you of James Earl Jones. The kind of voice that Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan spent years in drama school to develop. A voice that puts fussy babies to sleep and reassures angry crowds.

The voice belonged to a man radiating kindness. I was complimented on my note taking, asked very politely if I would be interested in a five-minute experiment in YogaFLIGHT. YogaFLIGHT? Was that like Acro-yoga? I asked. Similar, yes, but YogaFLIGHT was the integration of two passions: yoga and skydiving. Finding the freedom of weightlessness here on the ground.

I put off the tuna sandwich. Definitely interested.

Slade, my yogaFLIGHT guide, started me off in a variation of Prasarita Padottanasana. He lay on his back and supported the weight of my hips with his feet, then stretched my arms over my head for one of those deep, delicious expansions. “Breathe,” he reminded me. Oh right, breathing. I closed my eyes…and let go.

To be honest, I cannot tell you exactly what happened. Slade’s quiet, confident voice would occasionally say things like, “Now reach for your feet,” or “This is called sleeping tortoise,” and I would find myself suspended in a miraculous yoga concoction. I don’t know how it looked from the outside, but from the little crowd of smiling faces that I awoke to I can imagine it looked pretty fun. However, I can describe how I felt: present, connected, safe, light, expansive, joyful. As if the playfulness and wonder from my childhood could merge with a deep and present awareness of another human. For those five minutes, everything dropped away except gravity, partnership, and breath. Guided by Slade, this divine experience was uplifting and centering at the same time.

For those of you who have not yet experienced the freedom and joy of partner yoga and “flying,” I humbly and fervently recommend you do. I was lucky to have YogaFLIGHT drop into my lap unexpectedly, and even more fortunate that my first guide was such capable and trustworthy partner.

The rest of my day sparkled.

More about sKY and slaDE.

asana yoga

Urdhva Dhanurasana

Urdhva Dhanurasana, aka Upward Bow – don’t call it Wheel, that’s a different pose ;). One of the ultimate yoga stretches for the front of the body, Urdhva Dhanurasana challenges us to maintain our strength though the core as we radiate through our upper chest and heart and stretch our hip flexors and shoulders. Any restriction in the shoulders or hips will immediately translate into a crunched lower back, so Upward Bow requires a great deal of warming up and opening in order to be happily explored.

Risk factors: The low back. This is priority number one. In order to keep our low back long and strong, we much engage the rectus abdominus and create containment through the front of our body. Opening the shoulders and hip flexors will help us to find an even arch through the spine and take pressure off the lower back to do all the bending.

What to warm up:

The shoulders in flexion (reaching forward and up). Whenever we have the arms over our head, our upper arms must in in external rotation. This means that poses like adho mukha svanasana (down dog), urdhva hastasana (arms over the head in tadasana – I love this when squeezing a block between the wrists, arms straight, front ribs in), and handstand (urdhva hastasana upside down) will be great warm ups for the shoulders. You should be able to straighten the arms above the head without bending the elbows or bowing the spine. If this isn’t possible yet, then keep working on the shoulders and wait before trying Upward Bow. With time, it will come.

The hip flexors (front of the thighs). Low lunge, high lunge, and Virabhadrasana I are great poses for opening the front of the thighs. We are particularly interested in the psoas rather than the quads, as the knees in Urdhva Dhanurasana aren’t really that bent.

The thoracic (upper back). Work to open the front of the heart by broadening the collarbones, lifting the sternum, and drawing the shoulders deeply into the body. Can you work to isolate the drawing in of the upper back while you keep your lower back long? It’s a little bit of a conundrum, but this is exactly the paradoxical work that backbends require. Poses such as sphinx, bhujanghasana (baby cobra), urdhva mukha svanasana (up dog), and salabhasana (locust) can refine this work. Twists such as parivrtta parsvakonasana and parivrtta trikonasana are excellent at teaching the body to open the upper spine while engaging the abdominals and lengthening.

The core. To maintain a long lower back, we must use strength through the front of the body to contain the area between the front hip points (the ASIS) and the lower ribcage. Poses such as plank, forearm plank, and navasana (as well as other non-yoga varieties that might be in your repertoire) can bring awareness to this area. Doing a mild camel with your frontal hip points stuck to the wall and focusing on lifting up an out of the hips can be an effective way to bring attention to the work of the abdominals.

The inner thighs. The adductors link to the core. Also, as we press into backbends, the tendency is to grip the buttocks, which can cause external rotation in the thighs and squash the sacrum. By engaging the inner thighs and rolling them slightly to the back body, we widen the sacrum, create length through the back and more room to reach the sitbones away from the back. The adductors can be accessed in almost every pose, but are particularly obvious in neutral lunges when we can “scissor” the inner thighs towards each other. Putting a block between the upper thighs or the inner feet immediately creates and adductor-engaged imprint in the body.

Props: Use a strap shoulder-width above the elbows to prevent flailing out in the arms and loss of external rotation. Strap the upper thighs at hip distance apart to keep the legs parallel the hips (and inner thighs down, and sacrum wide). A block between the upper thighs cues the inner thighs to engage and roll to the floor. A block between the feet or a strap around the big toes helps to keep the feet parallel and tracking (keeping the thighs neutral rather than externally rotating). Blocks tilted at the wall can take the pressure out of the wrists by decreasing the angle at which they need to bear weight.

Energetics: Urdhva Dhanurasana is one of the great heart openers. But we cannot move to opening unless there we have strength through the core of the body. We need a solid foundation through the legs, pelvis and lower core (energetically we need stability in chakras 1-3) in order to radiate and expand through the upper chest (chakra 4, the heart chakra). In a recent workshop, Anodea Judith invited us to open our hearts while staying in our core. In relationships – the purview of chakra 4 – we often find ourselves either hardening and retreating or becoming too malleable and floppy. We are either defensive, or we let too much in. Urdhva Dhanurasana invites into the great balance; the more strength and grounding that we can find in our center, the more open and receptive that we can safely become.

Backbending thoughts from Aadil Palkivala:
Physically speaking, backbends move the spine into the body, creating strength in the back of the body and length through the groins, abdominal cavity, rib cage, throat, and frontal shoulders. Backbends charge the kidneys by drawing them into the body, rejuvenating the adrenals and drawing the life force given by the kidneys back into the body. Backbends generally open up three major areas of the body – the pelvis, heart and throat. Therefore, they can open the hips, free the chest from congestion, and bring back a healthy curve to the neck. Most of our daily habits (sitting, driving, working at a desk) cause a collapse in the front of our bodies and push the spine backwards. This is why you will often feel bony lumps on the spine of older people. Backbends bring healthy alignment and mobility back into the spine, moving the vertebrae forwards.

Psychologically speaking, backbends move us toward our future and away from our past, since the back of the body represents the past and the front of our body represents our future. Backbends quieten the hyper-analytical activity of the front brain, and because of the extension produced, trigger a feeling of openness in the limbic system (the emotional center of the brain). In contrast, when we are in a state of fear or anger, we curl up and go into a position of flexion (protection). Thus, psychologically speaking, backbends move us from fear to power.

Energetically speaking, backbends move the spine toward the Pillar of Light in the body. They open up congested and stagnant pelvic energy. This allows the energy to move upward in an expression of aspiration for growth, where it can be transformed by the wisdom of the Heart Chakra. Backbends open up the Heart Chakra, expanding the feeling of love and joy. They also open the throat, allowing the Heart Chakra to express words of beauty and love. This opening also allows the mental energy to move more easily down to the Heart Chakra.

However, a caveat: All the above happens in backbends only if there is the intention for this to happen as you practice. Otherwise you will simply become more flexible!

asana sequencing wheel yoga

Levitating, inverting, abs. By request.

I arrived early to my Tuesday class, so asked some of the students if they had any inspirations for the practice. “Levitation,” replied one particularly cheeky monkey. “Inversions!” another cried. “I may get in trouble for this,” said a third, “but I’d like to do abs.”

Alright, I thought. Levitating, inverted abs it is.

Challenge is an inherent part of any arm balancing themed class. After all, a solid core connection is essential for any standing on the hands, and that invariably winds up being, well…hard. You need to connect to the arches of the feet, then follow the inner leg line of energy through the adductors, into the pelvic floor, into the transverse abdominals. It takes a little effort.

And now, I have to mention India.

While I was in India, I did not practice. Well, okay, maybe a couple times. But for the majority of my trip, I spent my time walking, eating, observing, haggling, and generally doing everything but yoga. So I went from having a 2 hours plus practice most days of the week to doing almost nothing.

And it was GREAT.

You see, about a week into my trip, I suddenly realized that something was different. I didn’t hurt anymore. The repetitive injuries that I’d been “working through” had faded and my body seemed to be functioning happily. Rather than fall apart without my yoga practice, my body seemed to be actually doing better.

Now, this isn’t because yoga is bad for you. On the contrary, yoga is very (very) good for you. But I’d been practicing in a way that became counter-productive. I had been over-stressing my body because I liked the challenge. I wanted to advance my practice, and it seemed like the only way to do this was to do harder poses. Wasn’t it?

There’s a part of all of us that thrives on challenge. On advancement. (You type A’s know exactly what I mean.) But when we overdo it and impose a practice on on our body, rather than experience the practice, our body sends us signals that we’re going too far. If we’re ambitious, we rarely listen and instead “push through,” only to be stopped in our tracks eventually by some sort of injury.

Does this mean we shouldn’t challenge ourselves? Of course not! But we must challenge ourselves while still respecting the voice of our body. So, in other words, how can we honor ourselves and still attempt levitating, inverted abs?

We must listen to ourselves. Rather than “do” your practice, “be” your practice. Be inside your practice, rather than inflicting it on your unsuspecting body. When the challenges come (and they always do), give yourself the space to respond rather than react. Instead of shutting off or overcompensating, breathe and integrate the experience. These moments of stress in yoga class are fertile ground for practicing how to consciously respond to anxiety off the mat.

Notice: what’s your pattern for coping with challenge? Do you ferociously attack it, or succumb without a fight? Can we practice being with the challenge without adding a psychological agenda? Can we actually soften in order to be strong?

Since you may be curious, we wound up practicing the transitions from tripod headstand to bakasana and back again. Fun, fun, all day long. Levitating, inverting abs, indeed!

asana sequencing yoga

Breath, Breath, Everwhere

A recent workshop with John Scott (www.stillpointyoga.com) has revolutionized my ashtanga practice. Ashtanga is a vinyasa system, but I must admit that I have spent more time “polishing my asanas” than I have exploring how the breath supports the poses. During the workshop, I was reminded keenly of Mark Whitwell’s viniyoga (breath-based) style (though Mark would undoubtedly decry such labels). Inhalation is surrender; exhalation is strength. As both teachers state, it’s a “strength-receiving practice.” Suddenly, the two very different practices of viniyoga and ashtanga merged. Ultimately, all practices unify.

Because the external configurations (bend your knee in Warrior II!) are sometimes all that we can control, we often spend more time making sure we look good than inhabiting and breathing through the asana. Our culture veers to the external. Progress is linear. The more we work, the more we should have to show for it. The more we practice yoga, the more advanced our asana should become. However, what about the revolutionary idea that our asana should NOT get better, but instead become DEEPER? What if we couldn’t prove that our asana had actually improved? All we could point to is a deeper sense of stillness and peace? Would we find this as valuable?

During the workshop, John rallied us to a breath-focused practice. Rather than “polishing our asanas,” we let go of the external practice and felt the series from the inside. We even spent one practice with our eyes closed. Through drawing the sense inward (pratyahara), we let go of the externalization of the poses and instead focused on the breath. Through this breath-based concentration, I found that the inhalations and exhalations supported my practice. I wasn’t working through the primary series as much as I was being carried through it by the vinyasa. Ironically, surrendering to the breath advanced my practice more than my effort ever had! Injuries melted away. Emotional cleansing flowed. Concentration increased.

Not every day of practice will be transformative. There are many days that feel like a slog. But my rudder is newly fixed. I have a new tool in my toolbox for spiritual exploration. The workshop transformed the purpose of my practice from simply “getting further” to “getting deeper.” Rather than propelling my practice forward through effort, I am beginning to also surrender and let it carry me. I wonder where it will take me next.

asana yoga