yoga for fatigue

I really love my yoga. The Iyengar kind.

Today I had to take my class and I was feeling really tired and listless from staring at work schedules too long. I was stressing a bit because I decided to teach a backbend class and you need to be fired up to fire up.

Backbends are really great for opening the chest out and invigorating a dull body. That’s why when I’m singing my favourite morning song (see my first post) the first thing I do is stick out my chest, take a deep breath of fresh morning air, throw my head back and… you know the rest. Anyway I digress. In this winter climate, it’s too easy to walk around with your shoulders hunched over in the beginnings of the foetal position,  feeling generally fluish and lethargic. When people come to class I feel it’s my duty to help them to find their internal sunshine. Sometimes of course they are already sickly – then a teacher must always respect their present state and work with them to overcome it. Prevention of sickness is the ideal.

I started off slowly and got so engrossed in the class that I came out feeling sprightly and all opened out. It’s true that is partly from demonstrating the poses but considering I was giving out, one would assume that I would be even more exhausted than when I started. Just goes to show that even teaching an invigorating class can bring back the fire to your day.

The programme is part of today’s post. Feel free to use it if you are an experienced teacher or student. Otherwise, please consult your senior teacher and ask them to help guide you through the program. It is designed for beginner students and a cold climate. Feel free to adapt it to your level and climatic conditions.

Thanks to Bill Grainger @http://www.yogafont.co.uk/ for the wonderful font that so helps to visualise a class for me and of course to all my teachers and my guru BKS Iyengar.