Heather Day Seven thru Fourteen: Part Two

Car Yoga.

While on vacation, (a road trip from Boston to Iowa), we spent a total of 42 hours in the car just to get from one place to the other. So I put together a 45 minute car yin yoga flow - not to be done while driving mind you, but definitely to be done with the seatbelt on. Safety first!!! Keep in mind a sweaty flow isn't really possible and probably not advisable in such a small space, but making some time to open up those parts of your body that get crunched from hours of sitting is a welcome prospect. So, here it is:

For the hips/groin, start with at least five minutes of square pose on each side. You can fold forward and actually lay your face on the dashboard, or push the seat all the way back so you may fold deeper.

Believe it or not, you CAN do saddle - which is the best and most accessible way I can think of to open the front of those hip flexors that get so used to being bent in a seated position. Lay the seat down, sit on your heels facing the front of the car(if you had to unbuckle to get there, rebuckle) and lay back. Depending on the capability of your specific car to lay down, you may have varying depths of saddle at your disposal - but you don't need a deep pose to reap the benefits.

Then, turn around (unbuckling and rebuckling when necessary) and lay down on your stomach. You can come onto your elbows for sphinx pose here. When I did it, my legs from my knees down were dangling off the front edge of the seat. My knees didn't really enjoy that, so I bent them and rested the tops of my feet on the dash. That really intensified the back bend, so I actually ended up laying back down on my chest and still got a GREAT back bend.

Then readjust to bring your knees onto the seat and your hips to your heels (perhaps allowing your feet to dangle off the edge of the seat and come into childs pose.

Another great way to re-open the back body is to sit down like normal in the seat and spread your knees as wide as you can and fold forward as deeply as possible - trying, without straining, to lay as much of your belly on the space or seat between your legs. Make sure that your head dangles and your neck is released.

Next you can lay down. Drawing one leg up at a time(straight or maybe slightly bent) you can come into supta padhangustasana. If you are flexy you can hold onto your toe, if not, find the appropriate angle that gives you that nice hamstring stretch and rest your foot on the ceiling of the car. *for you ashtangis out there, there will obviously be NO opening to the side in this pose! =)* Your resting leg may either be on the dash or you could put your foot on the floor of the car.

From here you can also work with paschimotanasana. Rest both feet on the floor or on the dash and come into a nice forward fold over your legs.

You can also do janu sirsasana in the car believe it or not! Just sit sideways in the passenger seat facing the driver to bend your left leg and facing the passenger window to bend your right leg. You then extend your other leg toward the floor of the car, folding over the extended leg. It is GREAT!!!!

For svasana, just lay back, find the most comfortable laying down posture you can, close your eyes and be proud of yourself for doing yoga in the car!!!

Wishing you happiness and mettA from a little dot in the universe called Boston,
Heather