Sukhasana “Easy Pose”
Simply put, this is easy pose. Find yourself seated on the ground with the legs extended. To make it complicated begin in a staff pose or dandasana. Extend the arms up into the air while bending your knees and crossing either shin over the other. Allow your arms to come down an use your hands to align the feet with the knees. This would be a good time to get real. Roll side to side, make sure your butt and hips feel even to the ground. You want this to be a disciplined pose but always feel comfort and ease. Once grounded and centered; roll the shoulders down from your ears, straighten the spine, and bring the crown of the head up. Allow the spine to grow up through the crown of the head like a string extending from the sky and pulling you up. Dive each hand down and “pull up roots from the ground” as the arms rise on each side and the palms meet in a prayer above the head. Bring the prayer down through center to your heart and take a deep breath in through the nose, then a deep lions breath exhale out of the mouth. Do this prayer inhaling and exhaling a deep lions breath as many times as you like. The rest of this pose is easy. When your prayer is over, place your hands on the knees. Palms can face down to have a grounding pose or palms may be facing up to be more open to receiving new energy into the body. Practice breathing through the nose down into the belly, feel the belly rise then the chest lift with air. Exhale from the belly; pulling navel to spine and then feel the sinking in your chest. Repeat this breathing in and out from the nose for five breathes or a longer if you would like a meditation. This pose is great to strengthen spinal muscles, open the chest, and gently open the hips in external rotation. Sukhasana can be a great benefit to practice meditation or to infuse great neck, shoulder, and eye exercises into your daily routine. Which ever benefit you look for be sure to experiment with this pose by sitting on a block or blanket to help relax the knees during time of discomfort. For a more restorative or longer practice you might enjoy sitting on a blanket/block with blocks supporting the knees. Enjoy the comfort and discipline the practice of sukhasana can bring to your body; look for many more variations and tools to help personalize this pose.
Dandasana “Staff Pose
Wow, could there be a less exciting pose to focus on? Truth be told, this pose is foundational for all seated poses. It can also be found as an intense strength-builder for the upper back, chest, and abdomen. The practice of staff pose can improve the posture and alignment while calming the mind. To begin; find yourself seated with your legs extended in front, your body in an L shape with a ninety degree angle. Hands can be down along your side, palms down with fingers flat pointed towards the feet. Sit forward on your sit bones and draw the thighs to the floor. Flex your feet and toes up while pressing out to ground through your heels. Keep your big toes, heels, and knees together. Now taking more focus to your torso, lift from the base of the pelvis so the torso moves up as you broaden across the collarbones and the chest lifts. Do not collapse your lower back. Broaden the shoulders next, keeping the crown of the head up and the shoulders down from the ears. Draw your belly into the spine and feel your body ground through the tail bone and sit tall. Make sure to breath into the belly, up into the lungs and out the nose. Control your breathing and keep the chin parallel to the floor. The eye gaze should be directly in front. Inhale and exhale through this pose for at least five full cycles. To develop calm and comfort in this pose, you may be supported with a bolster or pillow under the hips if you are feeling tight. A blanket can be placed under sore knees if your are tight. A wall can also be useful to align yourself during dandasana. Make sure the shoulder blades are touching the wall the lower back and head are not if you choose to do this pose along the wall. Folding a blanket then placing it between your lower back and the wall can help the shoulder blades rest against the wall surface if you choose this variation. Always explore and practice this pose to find comfort and discipline in your private practice. Which ever variation of this pose or props you may use; always be sure to keep your ears, shoulders, and hips in a straight line