Video

Yoga Handstand Video Tutorial: Handstanding 101 “The Basics”

| kukhahnyoga

Yoga Handstand Video Tutorial: Handstanding 101 “The Basics“

Do you want to do a handstand but have no idea where to start?

Good!

You have come to the right place!

This handstand tutorial video will cover all of the basics from hand placement to how to kick up!

  • Place your hands on your yoga mat shoulder distance apart and spread all ten fingers gripping the mat lightly with your fingertips
  • Wrap your triceps back towards your ribcage and roll your biceps forward.
  • Engage your biceps by trying to “wrinkle the mat” between your hands. You will probably not actually cause the mat to wrinkle but this isometric contraction will help your bicep muscles to fire up!
  • Pull your navel in towards your spine and your bottom floating ribs in and up towards the tops of your thighs.
  • Walk your feet as close as you can to your hands. This should feel a lot like Ardha Uttanasna with your hands flat on the floor and your feet about 18 inches behind your hands. Do this while still keeping your shoulders firmly planted on your upper back and not sliding forward towards your ears. If this happens, slide your shoulders back down and maybe walk your feet back an inch or two.
  • Lift one leg into the air and straighten it all the way. Think of trying to stretch the skin on the back of your knee.
  • Turn the lifted foot pinky straight down towards the ground squaring off the hip.
  • Keeping the lifted leg as straight and firm as possible bend your standing leg and on an exhale kick the straight leg up into the air. (Exhaling as you go up will draw your navel towards your spine and help to engage your core)
  • Keep your eyes fixed just in front of your index fingers the whole time. Resist the temptation to gaze back at your feet.
  • Once you find your balance squeeze your inner thighs together (think thigh master!) draw your navel towards your spine and reach your tailbone towards your heels!
  • You can practice this at the wall and then move away from the wall as you feel more confident.
  • Practice, practice, PRACTICE! It is 99% effort and 1% theory!
  • Subscribe to my blog for more yoga inspiration, videos, practice tips and much, much more!
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New Yoga Video: Big Beautiful Backbends With Briohny Smyth

| kukhahnyoga

Love Briohny Smyth?

Good.

Me too!

I thought I’d share yet another beautifully made and meticulously produced video of her by Equinox Fitness.

I think is pretty inspiring, and hope it gives you another reason to unroll your mat today and dive into your yoga practice!

What’s cool about this one is you get to hear her voice as she lays down some yoga wisdom on backbending. I personally love backbending and love to inspire my students to pursue the bigger backbends with enthusiasim snd a healthy dose of caution and patience.

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Hilarious Music Video: Put Your Phone Down! By Fog and Smog

| kukhahnyoga

Here I present to you another music video gem by Fog and Smog! If you loved Whole Foods Parking Lot (and who didn’t?) and Yoga Girl (could be my favorite being a yoga girl myself) then you will laugh to your little hearts delight at this new funny music video by our boys from the bay!

Here it is a hilarious music video on the urban annoyance of people glued to their mobile devices (As I pause to answer a text…just kidding) Thank you Fog and Smog for this public service announcement!

Why Dynamic Stretching Rocks: Get Rid Of Your “The Fuzz”

| kukhahnyoga

You just have to watch the video I’ve posted above by Gil Hedley on fascia, stretching and what he calls “The Fuzz”.

“The Fuzz”?

Yes, the fuzz!

(nutshell) “The fuzz” is fascia, and it grows on us at night like moss on an old log. It needs stretching and that’s why yoga feels so darn good.

You see, I fell in love with yoga for the same reason most people fall in love with yoga. (No, it’s not so I have an excuse to prance around all day in stretchy pants instead of real clothes, although that is a definite perk!)That absolutely scrumptious feeling of juicy stretchiness after a few rounds of Surya Namaskara-ing and good ‘ol down dogging.

Aaaahh.

So what causes that feeling and why does it feel so darn delicious anyways?

Well for one thing we are feeling some stretch in our muscles wich release endorphins. Secondly we are stretching the fascia which is connective tissue that actually encases our muscles (The mossy fuzz stuff I was telling you about, it encases our muscles kinda like a thin sock on a foot.)

Here Jill Miller of Yoga Tune Up describes this process and why dynamic stretching is so important…

“When we move our bodies fully, encouraging motion into every joint and muscle fiber in the body, we aid in loosening up adhesions that regularly grow between the sliding surfaces of muscles all over our body. When we are stagnant, we literally grow internal moss all over our musculature. This “inner moss” is fascia, an important connective tissue webbing that strings our body together. However, fascia can grow like an inner scab over places in our body that are not utilized for movement. Sometimes this is helpful, for example in protecting a muscle that has been injured. However, fascia does not distinguish between an injured muscle and a “lazy” or underused muscle. It will just grow and continue to restrict movement unless it is regularly mobilized, as in a massage or specific motions that help activate heat and stretch within the muscles, tendons and connective tissues.

When we dynamically stretch away our restrictions by breaking apart our tension areas, we feel better physiologically and psychologically!”

So keep it moving and stay moss free!

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Handstand Help with Briohny Smyth

Video | | kukhahnyoga

Need some help with Handstand? Watch this tutorial with Briohny Smyth. (thanks Yogis Anonymous for this video) !

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Yoga By Equinox Parody Video = Hilarious

| kukhahnyoga

Yoga By Equinox Parody Video = Hilarious

If you saw the amazing video I posted of my friend Briohny Smyth doing yoga in a video for Equinox fitness you will get a good laugh out of this “Equi-not” as he calls it yoga video parody by humorist Michael A. Stusser.

To his credit also Michael gave an interview with magazine Well and Good in NYC  which is totally worth the read in which he discusses the controversy surrounding the  Equinox video with Briohny Smyth and give’s his take on the situation.

For those of you too busy (or let’s be real…lazy) to click on the link above I’ll give you the short version of what he said to the people being negative .

STOP WHINING!

Just because she is wearing underwear doesn’t take anything away from how beautiful and talented she is or how amazing the video is.

ZIP IT!

I couldn’t agree more.

Thanks Michael Stusser!

Enjoy the video!

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Badass Yoga Video: Briohny Smyth Inspires Us To Get On The Yoga Mat

| kukhahnyoga

Badass Yoga Video: Briohny Smyth Inspires Us To Get On The Yoga Mat

Wanna see something badass? Watch the video above of my friend yoga teacher Briohny Smyth doing an incredible yoga video for Equinox Fitness.

This video is inspiring because it’s like watching two old people holding hands as the walk down the street, it shows love and commitment. I think maybe what inspires me the most however is that it shows a continual curiosity.

Yoga is endless.

Just when you think you’ve mastered one aspect of it, trust me you’ve only just begun.

I often liken my yoga practice to a relationship. If you ever find yourself in a long relationship regardless of how amazing you or the other person is you will probably feel bored at one point or another. It makes me want to cringe just saying it, because part of me does not want to accept that to be true.

However, the good news is, you don’t have to be. See, boredom is the assumption that there is nothing left to know, there is nothing new. This is never true. You can never know anyone completely, because they are always evolving with every breath. You just have to be curious. Dig deeper. The same goes for yoga, you will never know everything about yoga. In fact, the more you know, the more you know you don’t know. So cliché’ yet so true. Hopefully this video makes you peel back the curtain and be curious. Roll out your yoga mat and gaze at it like a newfound lover. Get curious.