Beginning Vacation – En Route to Athens
June 20, 2010
May 25 -
And so our vacation begins after a day of clients, finale with the “Rapid Fat Blast Bootcamp”, teaching yoga at Tao on the rooftop, finish packing and off to the airport. We left LA on the red eye to Zurich. Swiss Air, is now my second favorite airline (behind Virgin America). The airline had wonderful qualities like ease in check-in, pleasant staff on the flight, comfortable seats, tasty food, good movie selection, landed on time, and our bags arrived quickly. These features are not always available on most airlines!
We enjoyed a five-hour lay over in Zurich, to the best of our ability. The airport is clean with comfy seats. We even found an area with piano bar and guitar player. He played “new age” versions of many popular songs, it was quite relaxing. Speaking of relaxing, we found a chair massage place that we decided we should try out, very nice.
The second leg was a short flight but I fell into a deep airplane sleep. By the time we arrived to our hotel and got settled, I was awake? So Brooke and I stayed up chatting for a little while with the manager of the hotel.
(Th May27) Pireus, Greece. (European Continent) The first stop in Athens was the Acropolis. This was so amazing to see! The magnificence of these temples is outstanding. We had numerous highlights here. The Parthenon, Temple of Athena, Temple of Zeus, the Olympic stadium (original Olympic games – not the 2004 Olympics). They had this brand new modern museum that had statues and many artifacts dating all the way back to the beginning of Athens. Although the building was so modern, there was a glass sidewalk that you could see from above the original bulding and how they were partially cutout!
The first pic is the entrance to the acropolis.
A view of the magnificent Temple of Athena
The second pic I am standing in front of the Temple of Athena.
We are in front of the backside of the Acropolis. You can see the cranes and how they are “refurbishing” it. Brooke was there ten years ago, and they have made significant progress since then.
The original Olympic stadium from the first Olympics back in 1896. The stadium was made completely of marble that was imported.
Raising my arms to the Olympic rings!
Ok – So I had to do one Yoga pose, Dancer Pose, in front of the Olympic stadium.
Seeing the Acropolis and these magnificent ruins, was a phenomenal way to start our trip. After a day of sightseeing we headed back to the boat, relaxed and got our bearings.
We sailed off into the sunset heading for Santorini, Greece. This is one of our favorite locations as we were there last year as well. This time it will be fun taking Brooke’s mom Ruth and Gary to show them our favorite spots. By the way – these beautiful scenic pictures are all taken by Brooke – he has such an eye for this!
“Yoga Strength for Shaping Up”
June 17, 2010
It is time to learn and perfect “new” yoga strength moves for your fitness routine or for just shaping your physique. Here are two poses that are terrific for core strength, balance, strength, and great for shaping those shoulders and triceps. I have decided to break down the “Dwi Pada Koundinyasana”, which can be translated to “two-legged side press”. Another variation is one leg arm balance, which looks like a side press with split twist, also known as “Eka Pada Koundinyasana”. I will explain two different variations and how you can advance them both.
Let’s start the breakdown by how to get in to Dwi Pada Koundinyasana pose. (Yes – this will take a considerable amount of shoulder strength, abs, and glute work for balance.) The shoulders should lean forward over your hands. The hands should be placed slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Both arms will maintain a slight bend in the elbows. Moreover, everyone has one side that is more flexible than the other, so try propping your legs on each shoulder to see which is more comfortable. (Another way to test your flexibility in your back is to lie on the floor with both arms to the right side and both legs to the left side, straight and in an L or V shape. One side should feel more comfortable as the back is stretched and twisted.) Lean forward and extend the bottom leg toward the side-front and parallel to the floor. Once you find your balance point, the other leg will be placed on the top.
This skill can be advanced by adding a V-Straddle. Lift the top leg up towards the ceiling while the bottom leg remains balanced on the arm. The bottom leg should be placed between the shoulder and elbow. Another even more advanced variation is to add a push up in this pose. How?? Balance! Keep your focus forward and down towards to ground. The elbows should remain pressed in toward your ribs as you bend towards the ground. (HINT: This is awesome when you add a beat or accent to your music as you do the push up!!) Try this first with the legs closed, then, see if you can try it with the V-Straddle. I used to use this push up variation in my routine.
The Eka Pada Koundinyasana, side press with split twist begins the same way. But instead of bringing the top leg up to balance on the other leg, it will extend back and up towards the ceiling. In this pose you will have to lean forward a little more to counter balance the length of the leg.
In addition, the twisted split press may be advanced by adding a push up. This requires more balance because the body is in a longer position. Make sure you can hold this balanced position for at least ten seconds before attempting the push up.
Both of the above skills are very difficult. If you begin now by practicing your skills in parts and building up the hold time for each of the positions, your strength will continue to improve. Give yourself enough time and patience to learn new skills. Challenge yourself and add new strength moves to your routine. What are you waiting for? Now is the best time is the best time to get started, right?!
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