My Yoga Pose For The Month - Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)

Warrior II or Virabhadrasana II is my yoga pose for the month of November. This pose may seem easy but many practitioners are not doing this pose correctly. They tend to lean forward or have their knees buckling to the centre causing the hips to be not properly aligned.

Warrior II is a very good pose for strengthening and stretching the legs, ankles, shoulders and arms. It enhances balance on both sides of the body, expands the chest, encourages deeper breathing and improves coordination and concentration.

Doing the Pose

1. Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.

2. Turn your right foot in slightly to the right and your left foot out to the left 90 degrees. Align the left heel with the right heel. Firm your thighs and turn your left thigh outward so that the center of the left knee cap is in line with the center of the left ankle.

3. Exhale and bend your left knee over the left ankle, so that the shin is perpendicular to the floor. If possible, bring the left thigh parallel to the floor. Anchor this movement of the left knee by strengthening the right leg and pressing the outer right heel firmly to the floor.

4. Stretch the arms away from the space between the shoulder blades, parallel to the floor. Don't lean the torso over the left thigh: Keep the sides of the torso equally long and the shoulders directly over the pelvis. Press the tailbone slightly toward the pubis. Turn the head to the left and look out over the fingers.

5. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.

Points to note

In the pose, the hips remain open and you keep the hip of the back leg from creeping forward by rotating the upper thigh outwards.

The knee is pointing the same direction as the toes, and is directly over the ankle. If the knee of the bent leg is extending beyond the ankle, walk your foot forward to take unnecessary pressure off of the ankle.

Ensure that your shoulders are in line with your hips and slightly drop the shoulders away from the ears.

See video below on How to do the Warrior 2 pose.

How to Do the Warrior II Pose

Be Yoga Year-End Promotion

It is going to be Christmas soon and if you are thinking of what present to give to your partner, how about a yoga membership at one of the best yoga studios in Malaysia? Be Yoga is having a year-end promotion where they are offering 1-month limited membership at RM100.00 (normal price is RM288). The offer is valid from 16 November to 15 December 2009 for the first 100 sign-ups only.


Beyoga which is located at Metropolitan Square in Damansara Perdana offers a variety of classes which include vinyasa, hatha, ashtanga, yogilates, chi-lates, hot yoga, yin yoga, yoga dance, partner yoga, kds yoga and prenatal yoga. You can check Beyoga website for the classes details and time-table.

The strong line-up of teachers which include Azmi, Lila, Ninie, Matthew, Robert and Ken whose dedication and love for yoga has inspired so many students including me in our yoga practice.

You can contact Be Yoga at 03-7728 6182 / 7729 6182 to learn more and be part of the Be Yoga family and hurry! before the 100 sign-ups are gone.

By the way, Be Yoga is having a "BREATHS, BANDHAS & DRISHTIS" workshop with Azmi Samdjaga this Saturday, 21 November 2009 at 9.00 am to 12.00 noon. You can call them up to check if there are still any seats available.

Fashionable Yoga Mat Bags 2

I had previously blog about fashionable yoga mat bags and posted the pics of some of them. These yoga mat bags can hold more than your yoga mat and can be used for outings as well.

Recently, I came across a website which sells designer Yoga & Pilates mat bags featuring high quality fabrics, chic design details, and luxe satin lining. The mission of the company is to make workouts another reason to look and feel amazing because the better she looks, the better she feels and the better she will perform.


The creator of the yoga bag line is a busy Pilates Instructor who truly understands the functional needs of a proper mat carrier. The bags are specifically designed to be an all-in-one travel tote with a medley of accessories pockets on the inside, easy to reach water bottle holders on the outside, and a strong golden zipper to keep your mat and workout essentials safely in place.

You can check out the whole collection at www.ogorgeous.com where you will find these lovely bags with bows, sparkles and brocades. Just read their shipping policy and they accept international orders outside of the US. So if you are a fashionista of fitness, you can always order one!

Yoga Adjustments

I just came across an article about a man suing a yoga studio in Boulder, California over an unwanted adjustment in class. This leads me to thinking about how I feel whenever the teachers come to adjust me. For me, it is a matter of trust; I would only allow an experienced teacher to adjust me as I would have confidence that he or she would not pushed me beyond my body’s limit which might end up injuring me. Teachers do adjustments by using their hands and sometimes even their body to help with your alignment or to get you deeper into a pose. If you are not comfortable to being touched, tell the teacher before the start of the class. And if you feel pain during an adjustment, tell the teacher to ease off or stop.

As I have been practicing with Azmi and Lila for so long now, they have got to know my body very well as they know how much deeper to push my body into a pose and when I need help to get an extra stretch. During an adjustment by the teacher, it is very important that you work with your breath as it creates awareness. You become more in tune with your body and you will find yourself going deeper into the pose as you relax. A good adjustment should not cause you tension and pain. If you feel your breath getting shallow, jagged or held, it is your body telling you that you have gone beyond your limit as the body will tighten to protect itself. Always listen to your body, no matter what the teacher might say as you will only benefit from the yoga asanas if you feel good in them. There is good pain and bad pain doing a yoga asana. A good pain is one where you stretch beyond your comfort zone and challenge yourself to explore your flexibility while a bad pain is one where you go beyond your body's limit and end up injuring yourself.

“Practicing asanas began to teach me about myself. The body is such a great school of learning. It makes you pay attention.” Lilias Folan

Guided Relaxation for Savasana

Although I have been doing yoga for more than 2 years now, I still find difficulty being fully relaxed in savasana (corpse pose). I had previously written on savasana being the most difficult pose to do. Click link to read more.

In savasana, our mind tends to wander and instead of being fully relaxed, sometimes we let in thoughts that would affect our emotions. This is especially so when you have a bad day in the office and during savasana, your mind will be going through the events of the day and instead of being fully relaxed, you might end up feeling more agitated.

In savasana, we are told to still our mind and let go of our body, but I wonder how many of us can really do that. I find that as I listened to the instructions of the teacher and even when my body is at its most relaxed state, fragments of thought still continue to interfere and cling to my mind.

I have heard from some practitioners that they have dozed off during savasana and have dreams and sometimes, I can even hear someone snoring.

In savasana, you first have let go of your body until it is so relaxed that you need not be aware of it anymore. There are many different ways to relax your body. You can mentally scan your body from the toes up, for muscle tension and ordering each muscle to relax. Or you can actually tense up each muscle group - the toes, the right leg, left leg, hips and buttocks, abdomen, etc, and let them go, one by one, until your whole body is relaxed. The next step is to focus on the breath by merely observing your breath. The breathing should come as naturally as your heartbeat and feel in tune with the rhythms of your body and then let that go too. Finally, the most difficult part is the ability to detach yourself from your thoughts. You have to learn to let your thoughts float by and observe how it will slow down and even stop. When you have really let go and there is no tightness in the chest, throat or head, you will experience just a whisper that hints at true bliss. Keep a touch of that blissful feeling inside of you as you slowly come out from savasana. Awaken your body bit by bit by wiggling your toes and circling your fingers and when you rollover on your side, take your time and take a few deep breaths.

Don’t worry if you are still having difficulty doing savasana as it takes time and practice and even seasoned yogis cannot perform savasana at its fullest. But as you develop this skill of detachment, you are increasing your capacity for inner peace and knowing.

Listen to the audio recording below for a guided relaxation savasana practice.

Audio | Guided Relaxation

Sweating It Out With Hot Yoga

Hot Yoga class has not been one of the classes that I would like to go to but Beyoga had recently started the Hot Yoga classes and with Lila teaching the Saturday morning class at 9.00 a.m, my sister and I decided to join the class last Saturday and yesterday.

Hot Yoga is conducted in a heated room and promotes profuse sweating, which is believed to help rid the body of toxins.

For the two classes I attended, Lila had started the class with a breathing exercise. Last week's breathing exercise was Standing Deep Breathing while yesterday’s class started with Kapalabathi. These pranayama exercises helps to cleanse our body and brings fresh oxygenated blood into the body. I felt a bit light-headed while doing the breathing exercises as I was not used to the heated room and doing the pranayama exercises after such a long time (I have done them while practicising in YZ). Lila had advised us to stop if we felt dizzy but I felt alright after a while and managed to complete the 2 rounds of the breathing exercises.

After the breathing exercise, Lila guided us through some standing, stretching, balancing and forward bending poses which included different variations of the chair pose and balancing stick pose. The poses are quite challenging but the heated environment helps us to go deeper in the pose as the heat helps to warm and stretch our muscles and makes us more flexible. After the standing poses, we laid down on our stomach and did poses that help to strengthen our backs such as the sphinx, locust and bow pose. After doing some twisting poses, the class ended with savasana, the total relaxation or corpse pose.

I find the hot yoga class quite draining when it ended and last week, my sister and I had actually signed up for Azmi’s Hatha class after the Hot Yoga class, but we had to skip the class as we were too exhausted to continue another class. So it was also just one class for us yesterday.

The surprising thing about doing the Hot Yoga class is that after taking my shower, my energy level came back and I actually felt good throughout the day (I went shopping last week and yesterday after the class and did not feel tired).

Here are some tips when attending a Hot Yoga class:-

- Bring a towel to mop off your sweat as you will be sweating profusely in the heated room.
- Make sure to drink plenty of water before and after class so you don't get dehydrated.
-Rest in child’s pose if you feel dizzy and then join back the class when you feel better.
- Let your body cool down first before taking your shower.

Some practitioners like to go to the Hot Yoga class as they think that it will help them to loose weight which is a debatable issue. For myself, I will go to the Hot Yoga class once in a while to get rid of the toxins in my body and moreover, Hot yoga is considered to help correct and improve sleep patterns, promote better digestion, improve cardiovascular functions and metabolism.