Looking for a longer Power Yoga practice to fire up the lower body? Join me on the mat for an extra slow, spicy Power Yoga flow that will challenge your strength, endurance, balance, and mobility!
This slower–paced practice offers opportunities to work your full ranges of motion specifically in the hip and knee joints; some modifications are made available, and we move through an extended warmup to properly prepare the muscles and joints for a longer workout. The last 10–15 minutes of the class is dedicated to cooling down the practice with active and passive strength, mobility + flexibility focused exercises. As always feel free to make this practice your own; modifying when necessary, adding weights for an extra challenge, and/or skipping movements altogether when they just don’t serve.
This flow moves extra slow intentionally. When I take the time to not only breathe fully with my movements, but to feel into every part of the movement itself, I build control, strength, endurance and stability. Furthermore, the challenge of moving so slowly through these poses and transitions helps me to tap into presence and not only gain a greater awareness around my areas of imbalance, but access an increased sense of inner peace and connection.
While the fullest extensions of every movement may not be accessible to every body, the benefits of every exercise–modified or not–are fully accessible. This practice is designed to not only build strength throughout all the major muscle groups in the lower body, but provides you with long-term, sustainable tools for long-term joint health. As we age, we tend to lose access to full range of motion in our joints; some of this is just natural wear and tear of the body, but major contributing factors include not moving enough and/or not moving the body in functional ways. Many of the mainstream movements that have been advertised for a long time are not functional: a great example is the traditional squat, always keeping the knees behind the toes. While I do not want to misconstrue my message by making any form of exercise “wrong,” – every exercise and style of workout can serve a purpose depending on your intention – I do want to shed light on the fact that limiting the types of movement patterns you allow your body to take will not serve your joints, muscles or neural pathways long term.
Our bodies are meant to change as we grow older, therefore it’s important to change up our movement patterns, workout schedules, and types of exercise in congruence to the internal changes that are occurring. There is no singular recipe or method that will work for everyone; this is why it is imperative that you get to know your body in and through movement, so that you can be in a constant exploration of how you can best serve it. I don’t mean to say that you should never repeat an exercise or movement pattern; repetition can be helpful in a variety of different aspects. However, I want to help students cultivate a deeper awareness of moving with intention, rather than shifting into auto-pilot just to check “exercise” off their to-do lists. This process may sound intimidating, but I promise you can start intentionally moving at any time, any age, any level of physical capability. . . and it can be fun! Let me know what questions you have in the comments below – I would love to continue this conversation and hear your feedback!
New Workout! Slow Power Yoga Flow for Lower Body
Looking for a longer Power Yoga practice to fire up the lower body? Join me on the mat for an extra slow, spicy Power Yoga flow that will challenge your strength, endurance, balance, and mobility!
Slow Power Yoga Flow for Lower Body
This slower–paced practice offers opportunities to work your full ranges of motion specifically in the hip and knee joints; some modifications are made available, and we move through an extended warmup to properly prepare the muscles and joints for a longer workout. The last 10–15 minutes of the class is dedicated to cooling down the practice with active and passive strength, mobility + flexibility focused exercises. As always feel free to make this practice your own; modifying when necessary, adding weights for an extra challenge, and/or skipping movements altogether when they just don’t serve.
This flow moves extra slow intentionally. When I take the time to not only breathe fully with my movements, but to feel into every part of the movement itself, I build control, strength, endurance and stability. Furthermore, the challenge of moving so slowly through these poses and transitions helps me to tap into presence and not only gain a greater awareness around my areas of imbalance, but access an increased sense of inner peace and connection.
While the fullest extensions of every movement may not be accessible to every body, the benefits of every exercise–modified or not–are fully accessible. This practice is designed to not only build strength throughout all the major muscle groups in the lower body, but provides you with long-term, sustainable tools for long-term joint health. As we age, we tend to lose access to full range of motion in our joints; some of this is just natural wear and tear of the body, but major contributing factors include not moving enough and/or not moving the body in functional ways. Many of the mainstream movements that have been advertised for a long time are not functional: a great example is the traditional squat, always keeping the knees behind the toes. While I do not want to misconstrue my message by making any form of exercise “wrong,” – every exercise and style of workout can serve a purpose depending on your intention – I do want to shed light on the fact that limiting the types of movement patterns you allow your body to take will not serve your joints, muscles or neural pathways long term.
Our bodies are meant to change as we grow older, therefore it’s important to change up our movement patterns, workout schedules, and types of exercise in congruence to the internal changes that are occurring. There is no singular recipe or method that will work for everyone; this is why it is imperative that you get to know your body in and through movement, so that you can be in a constant exploration of how you can best serve it. I don’t mean to say that you should never repeat an exercise or movement pattern; repetition can be helpful in a variety of different aspects. However, I want to help students cultivate a deeper awareness of moving with intention, rather than shifting into auto-pilot just to check “exercise” off their to-do lists. This process may sound intimidating, but I promise you can start intentionally moving at any time, any age, any level of physical capability. . . and it can be fun! Let me know what questions you have in the comments below – I would love to continue this conversation and hear your feedback!
With curious joy,
Marina