Power Yoga

An Individualized Approach to Strength, Grace, and Inner Peace

Ulrica Norberg, Dorthe Nors

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781616081720
• eBook ISBN: 9781626369054
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Self Improvement
• Index: Biological Sciences

Beautiful photographs and helpful advice for anyone who enjoys yoga. According to Power Yoga, more than 16 million yoga enthusiasts in America spend almost $3 billion dollars on classes and products each year. Yoga is becoming an increasingly popular activity, and author Ulrica Norberg helps yoga-goers put their money to good work by demonstrating technique in vivid detail and by revealing yoga's extraordinary power to heal. Norberg believes yoga can aid us in developing our own life philosophies through a synthesis of Eastern ideology and self-reflection. Her book Power Yoga is at once a testament to the beauty and grace of yoga and a how-to guide that explains practice and form. Norberg takes readers through the elements of yoga and the basic movements and techniques specific to power yoga. Filled with beautiful full-color photographs illustrating sun-salutations (the basis of power yoga exercises), numerous asanas (poses), and meditation techniques, her book is useful for all levels of instruction and inspiration. This is one of the few practical yoga books that truly expresses the joy, physicality, and temperament of yoga, which has become a passion for so many Americans—young and old and men and women alike. 150 color photographs

Asanas—Poses

Not until you succeed in being really flexible and soft, can you become really strong and forceful.—Zen Buddhist proverb

Standing poses

Standing poses develop strength and power. They give you a perfect posture, self-awareness, balance, presence, and involvement. When you do the standing poses, you can tell that they require your full attention in the phase between the hard and the soft parts, and between contraction (tension) and expansion (stretching out). You will find that when you lose balance, stop breathing, or lose your posture, it happens when you begin to think about something else (the future or the past). Standing poses teach us to be focused on the present. That process will, in time, make us feel how different parts of the body (including the five senses) work together to manage certain exercises and to keep our balance. If this sounds like a philosophical description of a physical activity, that’s exactly what it is!

Kundalini—primordial power

If you think of the chakra system, you might ask yourself whether or not you can concentrate on the different chakras during training. You can’t do so consciously. Sometimes you can do it to improve your mental training, but this only takes place on an advanced level. If too much prana is flowing through the channels, nadis (page 37), it might awaken our primordial power, Kundalini. Kundalini is a latent universal energy in all living things. In yoga teachings, this power is symbolized in the snake that is placed at the Root Chakra, Muladhara Chakra. Here it blocks the door to the deepest channel in our spine, Sushumna Nadi. When the snake is woken up, it creeps slowly up the spine and sends cosmic energy upwards in the body. This releases tension and stress from the body and you feel incredibly strong, vital, and free. This energy can sometimes be stored throughout life, but also in different chakras for shorter periods of time. In Power Yoga the movements, poses, and breathing rouse this primordial power, helping you to be attentive towards others and yourself. If you’re a beginner, you’re not thinking of either streams of prana or Kundalini Power. First and foremost, you’re concentrating on creating body heat in order to prevent the muscles on the back of the legs from hurting when you stretch them. You can only reach the theories beyond rote practice by performing the exercises. According to Yoga Korunta (page 33), asanas should never be done without a following movement: Sloka vinya vinyasa din nakraeayet—“Oh, yogis, don’t ever do asana without vinyasa.”

Vinyasa

Power Yoga is based on maintaining a flowing movement using breathing as an engine. This structure is created from different movement sequences, Vinyasa. Here the movement is initiated with the purpose of creating heat and concentration. Dog in Vinyasa (the sequence Downward Facing Dog, the Plank Position, Upward Facing Dog to Downward Facing Dog—pages 64-65, movements 6-9) is a typical example of Vinyasa, and it runs like a thread through the entire physical structure of Power Yoga. On the following pages (pages 81-84), Dog in Vinyasa will link some of the poses together.

WARNING

Do the exercises in this chapter a couple of times a week, but make sure always to start with Sun Salutation A and B and finish with relaxation. It is highly recommended that the Plough, the Fish, and Corpse Pose are part of the closing sequence of the training (pages 109-112). The development of these exercises can take longer for some people than others. Work slowly and with care on each asana and listen to your breathing. It is very important that you pay attention to the signals your body is sending you. These signals tell you how far you can go in each exercise.

Vasisthasana: Side Plank Pose

Begins with the Downward Facing Dog and is followed by Dog in Vinyasa.

Advanced: Right foot behind left foot. Tighten the legs, lift the hip and open up.

1. From Downward Facing Dog: Inhale and look at the right foot. Exhale and place the right knee behind the right hand. The upper side of the foot is resting on the floor. The right foot is pointing towards the left leg. Move your hands forward. Balance on the palm of the right hand and keep a straight line from hip to knee. Keep a straight line from the right shoulder to the right hand, too. Take four breaths.

2. Move the left foot diagonally and keep the entire sole on the floor. Tighten the front side of the thigh. The toes are pointing away from the body. Look down at the right hand. Lift the left hip and shoulder. Push with your right hand so that you’re not hanging on your shoulder. Inhale. During exhalation, lift the left hand and keep your eyes focused on the ceiling.

Advanced: Cross the feet, having the point of gravity on the outer side of the right foot. Left foot is resting on right foot. No soles on the floor. Press with your right hand.

Try opening the hip and the chest towards the ceiling. Look up and focus on a point. Stay up there and breathe. Focus on a point on the floor if this puts a strain on your neck. Feel how the l...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Publisher’s Note:
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• What is Yoga?
• Back to the Roots
• The Energy System
• Breathe for Life
• Salute the Sun
• Asanas—Poses
• Relaxation and Meditation
• Yoga Questions & Answers
• Postscript
• Bibliography
• Index